Professional life brings money but miseries too
The colours of life were vibrant in all spheres of life in the house of Ghulam Rasool. Fun, love and trust were the words that echoed the walls. Sadness has engulfed the house where celebrations were common.Ghulam Rasool and his wife Begum Fatima (names changed) have a sorrowful tale to share.
While their children live far away in the West, the two of them are completely on their own, dependent of one another.
The decades-long turmoil has brought employment opportunities to the youth but has had a miserable effect on several parents as the trend among the youth for going out in search of better future continues.
As Rasool narrates his story, the eyes of the rumpled face become moist.
“My children once used to play in front of my eyes and we used to have our food together on dastar-khan (a cloth spread for dinning on the floor),” he says going down the memory lane.
“They are now living life of a civilized West where there is no place for unwanted weed, which I and my wife have become for them,” Rasool says sarcastically. “There is only one occasion in a week or sometimes in a month when my both sons enquire about our health over phone and our ears get an opportunity to listen their voice.”
With tears rolling down his eyes, Rasool says, “For the past 8 years, I have not seen my sons. How they appear I can guess but do they know how their parents look like?”
He says his biggest mistake was when I decided to send them out of the State to pursue their higher education so that they become engineers.
“Though they have become electronic and civil engineers, they have forgotten their motherland and are now settled in England and the United States,” Rasool says.
Rasool may be heartbroken but his wife is shattered.
“They send us money every month, but they have forgotten that more than money its love, which is more important for a human being,” Fatima says.
The old couple point out that not money but belongingness was the criteria.
“This affinity is lost in our lives,” Fatima says. “When our old bones start aching, we cry out of pain in a closed room.”
Fatima and her husband suffer from arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
The painful cries of old couple echo in the wall of the house where they reside have now subsided rich past of their youthful days.
“I still remember when for the first time I fed my elder son some 35 years back at a time when he cried out of hunger. Today when we are hungry for the entire day there is no one to hear us except for Allah,” Fatima says.
As Fatima narrates her woeful tale, Rasool breaks down saying, “There were days when I used to take my family out on a long drive but today my health refuses to. I want to take my wife out for a drive in these last days. I hope one day my progeny will return and I will enjoy driving again.”
The couple said this was their ninth Ramadan, which they are observing without children.
“Without them the charm of Ramadan is incomplete,” they said.
Whenever the old couple find their neighbour’s children playing in the garden, they always pray that their neighbours should not suffer the fate they did.
The old couple requested Rising Kashmir not to reveal their real names as it would bring disgrace to their children.
Sociologist Bashir Dabla said this was now a rampant problem in Kashmir.
“Time is not far when we will have old-age homes in Kashmir,” Dabla said.
Rakib Chatt
