Crossing the Mirage:Passing Through Youth

After the obsequies, that custom ordained, the near and dear stayed back to share the Yadagiris' grief.

“Praise be to her,” an elderly woman addressed Yadagiri, “the dear one didn't disgrace the family like those who elope in her situation. And to be fair to her soul, you should own up your fault for having been needlessly biased towards every match that was suggested.”

“It's no time for fault finding,” said Anasuya. “It's her fate that overpowered her life.”

“If only she were after you,” retorted the old soul, “her fate would've been different.”

“That's true,” concurred a deserted woman, “fair skins have an unfair edge.”

“None seems to realize how hard all this is on Yadagiri,” said one, who all along had had a crush on Anasuya. “He must be cursing that his children haven't taken after his wife.”

Chandra, who heard it all, felt disturbed.

"What if, like me, my kids too are born ugly?‟ he thought in distress. "It's clear that even having a beautiful wife is no guarantee to beget attractive children. Isn't it likely that history may repeat itself to perpetuate ugliness in the family? I better think how to avert the calamity.‟

When, came the time to serve the grand meal and with the relatives having left thereafter, pinpricks gave way to melancholy in the household.

Self-destruction seems to be an aberration peculiar to the human condition. Aren't man's miseries of his making, brought about by his own debilities? And yet, while lamenting over his shortcomings, he tends to blame it on life! But life seems to understand man more than he does it. Well, to preclude him from perishing in grief, life infuses in him hope for sustenance. Besides, by imparting an existential ethos in him to avert the cascade of tragedy--of human extinction--life seems to countervail itself to keep up its propagation.

Thus, while fate left the Yadagiris to nurse their psychic wounds, life had provided the balm for their healing.

"What is all my wealth worth when it couldn't provide warmth to my children!‟ he thought, having read the script that life had shown him. "As for my status, isn't it all in tatters anyway? What a paradox! My obsession for my children's glory brought me infamy that is besides harming their cause. But, where did it all go wrong? Oh, didn't I try to push them on the track of my biases? Well, all have their latent debilities and imbibed attitudes and it's only fair to let children sort things out as they grow. What sense does it make for parents to misshape children as their alter egos? What ignorance, couched in affection! It's the possessiveness of the parents that's inimical to the individuality of the children, isn't it?‟