He
Theirs
was a broken relationship. Like any other father-son relationship, it had also
started with unblemished love and care for each other. He had fond memories of
his father from childhood. His was not a typical loving, showering with care
sort of a father. He was treated as an equal. For that matter, his father
treated everyone as equal to his age – be it children or those from the
generation bygone. Neither did his father shower love and affection towards
children, nor did he show visible respect towards elders.
All
through childhood, he grew up struggling to understand the dynamics of the
relationship they both shared. It was so unlike what his friends had with their
fathers. When he entered adolescence, he enjoyed the relationship thoroughly.
At an age when one yearns to be treated as a grownup, when one’s own father
does that, what more could one ask for? It was during the first year in college
that he learned of the growing distance between his parents. When he came to
know that the reason is another woman, he couldn’t wrap his head around the
situation. His parents eventually got divorced. The books he read, his friends
and even his mother after a while asked him to forgive his father for what he
did. His friends told him that whatever he did, that person is his father and
so, forget and forgive. He asked his
friends as to why is it so very necessary that one should forgive one’s father
or mother? They said because that is the nature of the relationship. How would
he know for he has never experienced that very nature of the relationship!
Time
passed by like milestones do on a long lonely journey. He thought to himself
that may be it is time. The unpleasantness is not helping anyone. Mother used to
tell him that she was in a happy place in life now and so was his father. She
asked him as to why he is bearing the burden of their broken relationship. By now, age had altered his perception of
righteousness. His idea of self and being selfish had undergone a sea of change
now that he had a family of his own. His wife told him to visit his father on
his father’s birthday. He asked his wife to come along. She told him that it
was a journey he should sail alone.
He
thought he will call up his father. Even though his father wasn’t one who liked
surprises, he thought this might be one that he may like. He reached his father’s new house and he noticed how similar the garden was to one he had at his childhood home.
His father’s wife opened the door and welcomed him with a broad smile. She
rushed to call his father.
They
had not met for many seasons now. He did not know where to look or what to say.His father looked at him and said “Thank you
dear son. Today, I too forgive myself”.
Arun Babu
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