Reality
Fortunes of one family changed with one business mistake. They lost all they had — wealth, name, fame, their friends and respect — all in a day. It was a blow for everyone, a source of shame and turmoil. It was a catastrophe that was to shape life of everyone in the family .
The mother lost all the spirit and luster. Even though she never doubted the intentions of the father, she blamed him for his reckless decision and his uncompromising nature. She felt as if she was thrown into an unending darkness. It was only for her children she mustered all the courage, and carried on. But she saw a boon in disguise for her daughter. She believed it was due to these circumstances, her daughter was lucky enough to marry the man of her choice, otherwise impossible thing to happen in their hunky-dowry days. She felt sorry for her younger son but she thanked god everyday for she had one and a good one so that she need not depend on daughter all her life. The mother took up a job at the dusk of her life so that they don’t become burden for the daughter and wished for her son to start earning as soon as he could.
The daughter felt she was shouldered with the tremendous weight of responsibilities at tender age of twenty three. She felt she had to put up with unbearable stress that she did not deserve. She felt betrayed, alone and unsheltered. She lamented she could not pursue her dreams for she was left to take care of her family. She thought her younger brother to be the luckiest in this situation. He did not need to compromise his dreams and wishes for she was there to have his back. She had decided to give him all the support that she was deprived of. She felt sorry for her parents but she believed they need not worry because she would take care of them all their life.
The younger son felt luck could not have been more brutal. He cursed his fate because he thought it made his childhood miserable. He mourned for he lost everything he was entitled to at very young age of sixteen. He envied his elder sister for her privileged childhood. He felt it was him who had to compromise on everything. He felt ignored by his mother and he could hardly respect his father for what he had done. He felt indebted to his sister and had made up his mind to return all the favors he had taken from her. He was so traumatized that he had abandon a thought of doing business ever in his life.
The father felt horrible. He believed nobody could fathom the depth of grief for he had given his blood, heart and soul to raise the edifice and it had come crashing down in front of his eyes. He wondered how his virtue that was revered as courage all along suddenly turned into recklessness. He felt it was his very uncompromising ego that was yielding him a nerve to go on. He felt the internal struggle he was going through, his efforts to resurrect remained hidden under the veil of blame. He felt grossly misunderstood, even by his closed ones.
It was the same calamity that had struck all of them at the same time. But, its impact on all of them was fry cry from each other. This experience had varied reflections on everyone’s mind and life and they were far different from each other. There was nothing right or wrong about them. Their lives were product of their reflections. Their reflections were their reality, their truth.
There was not, may be there never is an absolute realty. May be there are very few absolute truths and rest all is subjective,some shade of grey. May be we all are like islands choosing our different realities from the same pool of experience and go on living our lives out of our own, different versions of realities.
