ABANDONED

Jose gazed blankly at the ceiling fan. It was swirling at a slow pace, exactly akin to his life.

‘ Nobody can predict when this old rickety fan would stop its circular movement,’ he thought. ‘But if it is discarded because it is useless, I am sure to miss it.’

‘The same goes for me too. My heart will suddenly stop beating and I will be there no more, but will anyone miss me?’ he wondered.

Jose had come to reside in this Home for the Aged a few years back. In fact, he had been brought to stay here by his son and daughter in-law. ‘Probably they found him to be a thorn in their flesh with his old outdated thoughts.’ He looked around surreptitiously as he wiped a tear, as he did not want to let on that he was feeling unwanted and lonely. His cheerful and carefree attitude, though a carefully put-on act, had endeared him to the other inmates. He would crack jokes to enliven the atmosphere to bring a smile to their parched lips. But never could anyone even suspect that Jose desperately missed the company of his five year old grandson, whom he loved more than his life. There was not a word from his son, Kevin, about his health or how he was carrying on, and that really hurt.

He remembered the happy old times when Mary, his wife, would wait for him and little Kevin would run into his arms when he returned from office every day. They had been contented, even though they were not very rich. Kevin was the fulcrum around which their life had revolved. Mary wanted to give her son the best of everything, and insisted on sending him to U.S.A, when he had expressed a mere wish to go abroad for higher studies. They had pledged everything they had, their house, Mary’s jewellery and the hard-earned savings that they had put together so carefully for the future. Kevin studied well. He graduated and got himself a good job in Houston. It was there that he met and got attracted to Lisa, a colleague at work. Lisa was a beautiful woman and Kevin and she got married after a short courtship. Jose and Mary had been ecstatic. Jose retired from his job and along with Mary they had gone to visit their son. They came to know that that Lisa was pregnant. Mary stayed on in the U.S for the delivery and they celebrated the arrival of their grandson. Little James had been a delight and they had really enjoyed playing with him and seeing his innocent smile.

But the time came for them to return to their native Kerala. Within two months after their return to Kerala, Kevin called his mother back to stay with him as it was getting difficult for Lisa to manage her career along with the requirements of her baby son.

Mary had insisted that she would go only if Jose accompanied her, not otherwise. Despite his misgivings about giving up his happy village life, Jose had accompanied Mary to take care of their beloved grandson. Four years passed. All of a sudden, one day, Mary had a cardiac arrest and passed away. Then started Jose’s troubles. He was depressed with the loss of his beloved wife and became weak and fragile. It was now the turn of the son to look after his father. But that did not happen. Kevin grew irritable when his father expressed his inability to take care of James even for a day when his back was strained and painful. His scowling expression had revealed his displeasure. Lisa added fuel to the fire by saying that only Mary had had the patience to deal with Jose’s antiquities. She even mentioned that they had only wanted Mary to come and stay with them. And that it was only on Mary’s insistence that they had agreed to have Jose with them.

Jose had been flabbergasted. ‘Was he so unwanted just because he felt weak and unable to care for his grandson alone?’

Then came the frequent tantrums and fights between his son and his wife. Jose did not want this situation to worsen. So when a friend of Kevin mentioned a home for the aged, he quietly agreed to go and stay there.

Both, Lisa and Kevin had accompanied him to this place. Jose had planted a loving kiss on his grandson’s forehead before they left. And that was the last time that he had seen his cherubic face. Jose’s eyes misted over with tears. 

A loud thundering sound brought him out of his reverie. The old rickety fan had crashed bringing down with it a myriad of dust.

Jose smiled wryly. How like the fan he was! He had outlived his usefulness and hence he had been abandoned, his wishes unheard and his dreams crushed into a myriad of broken pieces.