Gayathri P

Drama Tragedy

4.1  

Gayathri P

Drama Tragedy

Nurture The Yellow Leaves

Nurture The Yellow Leaves

12 mins
18.3K


I took some cold water in my hands and splashed it hard on my face. I felt a bit relieved and stood staring at the mirror thinking of my life. All of a sudden, I heard my phone ringing with one of my favorite ringtones, “standing on the bridge and waiting in the dark, I thought you would be here by now”. I wiped my face and answered the call.

Mom asked me, “Have you started?” I replied,” No ma, about to start”. My mother continued, “What..!! You haven’t started!! You have packed right? It’s already 6 pm and you have to catch bus by 8 and there will be traffic. What if you get stuck in traffic and.”

Yeah I packed”, I took my bag and reached the door and said,” Okay mom, I’m starting now and will call you after boarding the bus.” Mom said, “Okay. Call me, get some food packed. Bye take care.” I said “Bye” to my mom and went downstairs calling the cab driver.

It took me an hour to reach the bus stop. It was very crowded and noisy as usual with people and traffic. Most of them were busy either talking on their phones or looking at their screens while I could still hear women discussing about the saris displayed in the nearby showrooms and men seriously talking about the current politics and cricket.

I managed to find a place and called my mom and said, “Mom I just reached. See have to stand here for an hour and wait for the bus”. Mom answered, “That’s okay. Find some place to sit. You are not alone right? Are there any people at the bus stop?” I told, “hanh ma” looking at the crowd. “Wait, Dad wants to talk to you”, mom handed over the phone to my dad. “Hello, is it safe over there..? Have you had any food?” said my dad. “Yeah dad, everything is fine. I will call you back. Bye”. “Okay, take care”, said my dad and ended the call.

I was standing at the bus stop twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the bus to arrive. I decided to read an article online to kill the time. I was done with the article in few minutes and watched some series after that. It was amazing how we get everything at our finger tips. Thanks to the Digital world and my network! It was already 8:30 and still there was no sign of bus. I called the driver again and got the same reply, “Will reach in 15 minutes madam”, which he was telling for the fourth time. Finally, the bus arrived at 9:30 and there were few calls from my parents and friends meanwhile.

I boarded the bus, placed my luggage and made myself comfortable. I called back my parents and friends to let them know that I got into the bus safely. I put on headset and dived into the world of music as the bus started.

I could see the silver moon through the glass window. It was a full moon day. I opened the window and welcomed the tender breeze that started blowing my hair. It made me relaxed as my favorite song was running in the background while the cold freezing wind was kissing my cheeks. Trees were moving so fast as if they were dancing in the shining moonlight while moon stayed back and accompanied me. I closed my eyes listening to the song and thinking how it was portrayed so beautiful onscreen and wondering whether anyone else could make such a mesmerizing melody other than A.R.Rahman.

The bus stopped suddenly with a twitch which brought me back to this world. I was just looking through the window and noticed an elderly couple on the platform. The man was holding his wife with one hand and trying hard to feed her with the other trembling and withered hand. Both were looking very weak and old, shivering in torn clothes and no sheets to cover themselves. I hardly see any food there. I felt broken seeing that heart wrenching moment and was sad that I couldn’t able to do anything except keep looking at them as they moved out of my sight. I went deep into my thoughts which were never faded by time.

2 years ago, At Home:

It was my birthday the next day! Don’t know why we feel so happy on our birthdays! Even though it gets reduced as we grow up but had some sort of happiness. It might be that feeling as we came into this world on that day. It was already 12:00 am, my parents wished me and I started getting calls from my friends and family. Wherever I stay, I always try to be at home on my birthday to spend time with my family. We always go to temple but this time we planned to go somewhere else. We (myself, mom, dad and my brother) headed to an old age home after doing rituals at home.

Old age home:

We bought some sweets, fruits and other food items on our way to the home and reached there after few minutes. We got a nice welcome with warm smile from the manager of “Gandhi Old Age Home”. He inquired about the occasion and entered the details in the daily register. He called everyone to assemble in the main hall. I opened our bags and started to distribute the food items we brought. My mom and brother were helping me while my dad was talking to the manager.

There were around 40 to 50 people in the home. They asked me what do I do and what was special on that day. They blessed me with their wonderful and warm greetings and wishes as I told them that it was my birthday. Almost all of them were about 60 years and everyone had their own problems. They were the people who got retired from work and thrown away from their houses by their well-educated children sorry not children, parents of their own children.

“There are few people upstairs, you keep it here, I will give them later” said the manager. I replied, “Its fine, I would love to go and see them”.

I started stepping the stairs.

Staircase led me to a small corridor where there was a tiny room. I couldn’t find anyone, it was so dark I kept walking and saw a passage in left. I could see a room and an old woman who was so lean and not even in a condition to speak. I went towards her. There was another room on the other side where there were few people who were all at the same stage and they all look very old. I gave her sweets and fruits. Her face was fully covered with wrinkles and folds. She took only fruits with her shivering skinny hands. I felt something wrong within myself when she touched my hands and really got hatred towards this world at that moment.

I was thinking how someone could leave her alone in that state. Did she have nobody to take care of her, how was she able to manage here. I turned my head to look back as I heard some voice saying “She shouldn’t eat sweets. She’s diabetic”, said an elder man coming towards me. I asked him about the medical facilities over there. I was glad a bit after listening to his words. They were getting all the required medicines from a government hospital which had a tie up with an NGO and had medical checkups from time to time.

I gave her some more fruits and distributed all the food items to everyone. There was an old man sitting in the corner, so I went to him and gave him as well. He was looking very weak with his deep eyes and pale face. He asked me about the occasion. I told him it was my birthday. He smiled and put his hand on my head and blessed me with some greetings. I said “What happened to your family?” It shocked me when my inner voice questioned him.

He just smiled and said that he had a son who was living in the United States and a daughter in some part of India. I stood perplexed and asked him, “Why are you here then?” He said, “They won’t talk to me anymore and never took care of me after I got retired. I couldn’t tell you all those things and you won’t understand.” I felt a lump in my throat and tried to fight back tears. I sensed a change in his voice that made me look straight into his eyes which were covered with a thin layer of water. I still had lots of questions running in my head but I didn’t had the courage to ask him. I couldn’t control myself and not able to see anything clearly. I silently wiped my tears before someone could notice. I felt heart-broken and came downstairs.

Oh My God! How could someone do that to their parents? We left the place after donating some money for lunch and dinner for the day. I couldn’t get rid of those haunting thoughts from my mind. Whenever we see some old people or small kids on the streets we feel pity but if we go and find their stories, we could hear a lot of things which would make us feel ashamed of ourselves for living in this society.

Present:

My mind was still in those clinging thoughts when I suddenly realised that I was in the bus and it’s already 12 o’clock. I heard my mobile calling me and it’s my friends in conference singing me happy birthday.

I reached my hometown and welcomed by parents and relatives with lovely birthday wishes and greetings. I planned to go to that old age home again but I was expecting a less number of people this time. I went there with my school friend and welcomed by the same manager with his warm smile.

I was so surprised to see lot of changes in the place, it looked so perfect and completely different with new colours, garden and liveliness in the home still few people had turned older and weaker. There were new members added in the home. We distributed food and spent some time talking to them trying to be as normal as we could without getting too personal. We really had a great time and surprised to know that some of them were very friendly and good at their own interests like singing & painting.

I saw a man talking to them very closely. Later we came to know that he was the person who was staying nearby to the home and visiting it once in a while. He was aware of everyone over there. He came to us and introduced himself. We were talking to him about the home and facilities over there. He told us lot of things about the way how these homes work.

He said, “There was a manager before the current one who used all the funds received by the home for himself and you can understand how miserable the state of these people was at that time”.

He continued,” An NGO took care of the home after that manager got terminated and helped these people in all the possible ways. It’s been three years now and there is a drastic change in the maintenance of the home since then. They even started hiring people as nannies to take care of some members. They are maintaining records very well including every single detail with all the funds, clothes and other things people give for charity. Some of them are pursuing their passions and it inculcates others as well to get engaged in something where their hearts take them”.

We both felt very happy after listening to him. It was great that everyone was trying to make them feel home and helping them to enjoy the free-spirited life they were having by doing lot of things. He left the place after telling us these details. We spent some more time talking to them.

After being there for few hours in the amicable conversations with them, we decided to visit the place regularly. It was not the money or food we give but the time we spend with them is all that matters. They need love & care at this stage of life not the materialistic things. We said good-bye to everyone and ready to leave when I felt a woman was looking at me for some time. I didn’t understand at first and it took me a moment to realize that she was actually looking at someone else. There was a family who just entered the home and there was a baby boy playing with her grandmother. I was sure she was missing her grandchildren.

We could give them everything but that couldn’t replace the happiness and solace they get by staying with their family. This is the phase of life which was considered as the second childhood that deserves much attention and care. It was good that these old age homes were doing great job in taking care of elder people but what about the love and care they miss from their family. What about the love they had given to their children through their entire lives. It’s hard to leave anyone in a house of unfamiliar faces and having none of their own to be with.

We reached the reception and congratulated the manager after knowing that he was doing a wonderful job in making their lives better. We came out of the home and my friend hugged me suddenly and said “Thanks for bringing me here, I will always visit this place and the way I see my parents and grandparents has totally changed now.”

I felt happy. Its good but I’m not happy actually. In fact I don’t want these homes to exist. There are some people who took advantage of these and making business out of it but its better at least to see them under shelter than on streets. It is okay to support even if we are not sure whether they really need our help or not but why to miss a chance to lend our hands, we never know that it may help the needy.

There are people who are taking care of their families even when they have no food to eat and no proper place to live. If anyone has interest to do something, they will make the smallest effort of doing it which is not happening. We have to make a society where humanity lives on not the materialistic thoughts. It’s fine, if we don’t respect them but it’s horrible to let them live a terrible life. It should not be a burden but a need and responsibility to fulfil.

It’s not just the yellow leaves that fall in autumn. It is how we nurture them before they fall is important. Every stage of life has its own difficulties but parents are the one who stood up by our side during all these phases of our lives. It is a matter of humanity and responsibility to be with them in the last phase of their lives.


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