DESTINY

A Short Story

Every year, Dinesh attended the friends’ reunion. He always told everyone that he lived in America with his son. Once a year, he came to Odisha—and that too during the winter, especially to attend the reunion.

Everyone knew that Dinesh was extremely fond of his friends. They also knew that he had once been deeply attracted to his college classmate, Renuka. But during their college days, considering the social barriers and restrictions of those times, he had never been able to express his feelings to her.

Whenever the reunion was proposed, everyone would think, “How fond of his friends Dinesh is! He hasn’t missed a single reunion. Every year, he comes all the way from America just to meet us. Yet there are people living in India, even in Odisha, who don’t attend the reunion.”

Dinesh would be the first to write in the group, “I will definitely join.”

Some friends would tease him jealously, “Come on, he comes only to see Renu. Otherwise, his soul—or perhaps his ghost—will keep wandering around without finding peace! At this age, everyone is over sixty. Who knows how many more years we have? So he probably comes just to have a glimpse of her and satisfy his heart.”

But Renuka had never been able to attend the reunion. She only chatted with everyone in the group.

Renuka herself was a doctor. Five years had passed since she had battled breast cancer. Taking inspiration from Sonali Bendre and Yuvraj Singh, she had fought the disease bravely and would often say with a smile, “We are all fighters. Fear is not in our nature.”

She inspired and encouraged others in the group as well.

Renuka had been a government doctor. Two years had passed since her retirement, and because of her health, she had stopped seeing patients. She wanted to take some rest and had therefore stopped going to her clinic.

Her son, daughter-in-law and grandson lived with her. Her grandson was extremely dear to her. He was studying in Class II. He could neither sleep properly nor enjoy his food without his grandmother.

For quite some time, Renuka had been feeling feverish. She would take some medicine and feel better. But during a routine check-up, she received devastating news—the cancer had returned.

Her son was shattered after seeing the report.

His wife said, “Mummy will need chemotherapy and a lot of care and attention. Neither of us has enough time. If we employ someone from outside, there is no guarantee of how they will take care of her. We should keep her in a cancer care shelter home for some time and then pay the required amount to Prem Daan Old Age Home and arrange for her to stay there permanently. We can visit her from time to time. Otherwise, one of us will have to give up our job.”

A few days later, after Renuka’s chemotherapy, her son and daughter-in-law took her to Prem Daan Old Age Home and left her there.

They told her, “We’ll come and take you home after a month. A specialist doctor will be visiting here for your post-cancer treatment. So stay here for now. We’ll come every day. Don’t worry.”

Renuka happily spent a month there.

There were many residents in the home, but so far she had spoken only to the woman in the adjoining room, Hemalata Patnaik.

Hemalata would come to her and tell her tragic story. She would cry while speaking about how her son had lied to her and abandoned her in the old-age home. She would talk about her granddaughter and weep bitterly.

Renuka would console her.

“They will come and take you home. Don’t worry.”

But after waiting for many days, Hemalata had gradually lost hope. It seemed as though she was now waiting only for death.

Meanwhile, Renuka had started feeling a little better.

Every morning, she would walk barefoot on the dew-covered carpet of grass in the garden. The chirping of the birds filled her heart with peace. She would sit in the courtyard of the small Radha-Krishna temple inside the home and pray for the well-being of her son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

She would speak to her son over the phone.

That morning, she was missing her grandson terribly.

She called her son.

“Son, only eight days are left until my grandson’s birthday. He won’t even cut the cake without me. Come and take me home today. My grandson must be missing me terribly!”

“No, Ma. The doctor has advised you not to come home. Your check-ups will be done on time there. We cannot stay at home because of our work. Who will look after you? We’ll come on his birthday. Don’t worry. Shilu will cut the cake there. You come home only after you are completely well.”

“I am a doctor myself. I understand my reports. I can now continue my treatment at home. The reports are good. What is the problem? You can withdraw money from my account and buy my medicines. I’ll come for a check-up once every three months. What is the benefit of staying in an old-age home?”

From behind, Renuka could hear her daughter-in-law saying,

“Look, we managed to bring her directly from the hospital to the old-age home because she was unwell. If she comes home again, Mother will never agree to go back. So don’t bring her back. When we go to work, who will look after her? Instead of hiring someone to take care of her, it is better for her to stay in the old-age home.”

Renuka was stunned.

She had never imagined that her son and daughter-in-law could think this way.

It felt as though the ground beneath her feet had suddenly collapsed.

The sound of the morning prayer from inside the temple gradually seemed to fade into silence. The golden rays of the morning sun appeared to her like the darkness of night.

She did not know when she collapsed on the grass.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on her bed. Her clothes were wet and her sari was dishevelled.

Sitting beside her was a tall, elderly man with white hair.

Renuka looked at him in confusion.

“Perhaps I blacked out. I had gone to the temple in the morning. I’ve just completed chemotherapy, so I’m still weak.”

She tried to get up.

“Please lie down. Don’t get up yet. Take some rest. I’ve already called the doctor. He’ll be here soon. I’m sitting beside you. Just lie down for a while,” the elderly man said.

His voice sounded strangely familiar to Renuka.

Without saying anything more, she turned her face and lay down.

But her daughter-in-law’s words kept echoing inside her mind.

Her body trembled.

The home she had built with her own hands seemed so far away. Where were her son and grandson? Where was her family?

Today, she had lost everything and had become completely helpless.

A driver may be excellent, but if the vehicle is worn out, he becomes helpless. In the same way, when the body becomes diseased, even the soul becomes helpless. No matter how much one wishes, one cannot always do anything.

A renowned, award-winning doctor of the city was now living in an old-age home.

Renuka could no longer hold back her tears.

The elderly man sitting beside her continued to console her.

The doctor arrived after receiving the call. He gave Renuka some medicines and advised her not to worry and to remain mentally strong.

He then left.

Even after waking up the next day, Renuka felt weak.

The following morning, she again went for a walk in the garden and reached the temple.

Before she could reach the temple, she saw the same elderly man ringing the temple bell and offering his prayers.

Renuka eagerly went up to him and thanked him.

“I feel as though I have seen you somewhere before. Anyway, you helped me a lot yesterday. I am truly grateful to you.”

“Humanity exists in everyone,” he replied. “And here, we are all passengers travelling in the same boat. If a fellow passenger faces a problem, shouldn’t we help them?”

“I am not a doctor like you. But just like you, I too lost my life partner. I now live here in this old-age home, supported by my pension.”

“You have come here recently. I came here several years ago.”

“When I was in college, I had once thought of giving a rosebud to a girl I liked. But I kept thinking about it and could never say anything. Later, I got married, built a family, and sacrificed everything for them. Today, that very family has abandoned me and made this old-age home my address.”

Renuka remained silent for a moment.

Then she asked, “Did you study at Lawrence College?”

“Yes.”

“Which year? And what was your subject?”

“1980, PCB.”

“I studied there too!”

“I know. You studied medicine, and I studied engineering. You are Renuka Patra.”

Renuka stared at him.

“Who are you? You look just like my friend Dinesh. But Dinesh lives in America.”

“I am Dinesh. But I don’t live in America.”

“My son and daughter-in-law live in America. They have completely severed their relationship with me. Out of shame and to save face, I tell everyone that I live in America.”

Renuka was speechless.

“But you attend our reunion every year! Because of my health, I can never attend. In the photographs, you are always dressed in a suit and look like a senior officer. I couldn’t recognise you now.”

She paused.

“You addressed me as ‘you’ with such familiarity yesterday. When you were sitting beside my bed, I felt as though someone very close to me was sitting there.”

Dinesh smiled sadly.

“You understood correctly. I saw your family when they brought you here. Your son left you here permanently. I even checked the register to confirm it.”

“You lost consciousness after your phone conversation. I was sitting in the garden and saw you collapse. I carried you back to your room.”

“You are missing your grandson terribly. I will bring him here to meet you. Don’t worry.”

Renuka could hardly believe what was happening.

“I still cannot believe that I would meet you here,” she said, unable to speak further because of her sorrow.

“I am very happy to have found you here too,” Dinesh replied. “But it is painful to see that nowadays, when parents become a little helpless, they are treated as a burden by their own children.”

The next morning, Renuka went to the temple.

She rang the bell and prayed to God for her grandson’s birthday.

Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind.

“Ma! Ma! I’m here!”

Renuka turned around.

It was her grandson.

She hugged him tightly.

Dinesh stood behind him holding a cake.

“Come, let’s cut the cake in your room,” he said.

Tears filled Renuka’s eyes. Her throat was choked with emotion, and she could not even find words to thank him.

They went to her room. Renuka cut the cake, showered her grandson with affection, and finally bade him goodbye.

Dinesh smiled and said,

“I got permission from his school and brought him here. Besides, who doesn’t know Dr. Renuka?”

Meanwhile, Renuka’s son and daughter-in-law had been worried that their son would refuse to cut the cake without his grandmother.

So they told him,

“Your grandmother is in the hospital. How can she come? Cut the cake this year.”

“I already cut it,” the boy replied.

“When?”

“This morning, with Ma. I went to the hospital where you left her and celebrated my birthday with her. I won’t celebrate it at home anymore. Every year, I will celebrate my birthday with Ma. You both go!”

His parents stood speechless, staring at their son.

After seeing her grandson, Renuka seemed to have regained her youth.

The next morning, she went to the temple and quickly returned to the chair in the garden before Dinesh arrived.

She was holding a rosebud.

She was wearing a red sari.

Dinesh arrived.

Renuka looked at him and said,

“When we were studying together, I had already read your heart. But my mind was bound by the chains of society. I was helpless and afraid.”

“Today, times have changed. Perhaps God has given me another opportunity to decorate this lonely and hopeless life.”

“I don’t want to let it slip away this time.”

“If you still wish to have the relationship with me that you once desired, then let it be.”

She extended the rosebud in her hand toward Dinesh.

“Take this—the rosebud you had always wished to give me—and place it wherever you had always wanted to.”

Dinesh gently placed the rosebud back into Renuka’s hand.

Then he said,

“How can I lie before Radha and Krishna?”

“Perhaps God has brought you here so that I can remain what I always was—a worshipper of an innocent, eternal love.”

And perhaps, after all these years, destiny had finally given their unspoken love a second chance.

— © Alka Mohanty

Principal (Retired)

BJEMS-2 Bhubaneswar 

[e-mail].