Respecting parents and listening to their advice are followed worldwide, especially in India. However, in one educated well-settled family, the above-mentioned advice was not followed.In my early childhood, our family lived in Tamil Nadu. My father was a lawyer and he was friendly with another lawyer, whose wife was a headmistress in a government school. Financially, they were doing well. They had a boy and a girl—Gunna and Subha.
My mother on the other hand, was not working and took care of the three of us. Some evenings, when that aunty was busy at school, she asked mummy to look after her children and mummy would do it happily. Later, when aunty was transferred, the family moved to another place.
Years passed, and then we came to know that uncle passed away because of some stomach problems. Both children finished their medical studies and got married. After retirement, aunty settled down in Kerala. Only my eldest brother stayed in our native place. My second brother had a government job and was transferred from place to place. As for me, I got a job in a medical institution in another district and stayed there. We too lost our parents one by one.
I came to know that both Gunna and Subha had settled in the US. Aunty repeatedly requested that at least one of them to stay with her as she felt lonely. However, they did not come. Instead, they put her in an old age home, sold all the property and left. They did not heed their mother’s plea. Then she said, “One day, you will be in a similar situation.” Immediately Subha said, “We will go happily to an old age home.”
After my retirement I settled in Kerala and worked at a therapy centre. Once, I met a Tamil-speaking person, and because she did not know Malayalam, others found it difficult to communicate with her. She had suffered a stroke and was brought from an old age home. She found it difficult to move and even to talk.
She seemed familiar. I enquired about her hometown in Tamil Nadu. With great difficulty, she identified the place and named her parents. Then I stopped her and said, “Are you Dr Subha, Gunna’s sister?” Then she looked at me. I said, “I am Ponnu,” referring to my pet name. There were tears in her eyes as she smiled. I realised what she was going through. I stopped her and said, “God will forgive and help us. Be happy.”