Will
I ever know the pain of a father losing a son at his prime adolescence? I might
understand but can never feel his pain. Seeing him broken makes me feel that
the god has been little harsh this time by taking the son; leaving pain and
despair for family. The fact that they couldn’t even get his remains aggravate the
loss. The real loss, no one really saw it coming.
One
unfortunate day, a father gets call from unknown number informing that his son
has been washed away by the river, and the search team has been sent to
retrieve a ‘body’. Numb with the news, the choice of word ‘body’ pricks his
sense with the possible truth that his son is no longer alive. Wails from home reverberated
in the valley, gathered crowd couldn’t lessen the pain. While the mother and
daughter cries their heart out, father scold them that their son is still
alive, praying it to be true. Who was he trying to fool, them or his every
broken pieces? He tried his best to stand firm, it broke us to see him crying
like a baby while pretending to wash his face. He couldn’t even grieve openly,
that’s how men usually are.
His
son has kept everything intact at home, with the promise to return home. A
promise he failed to keep; he specifically ask his mother to keep his favorite
Chelsea jersey, it is still hanging on wall while ‘buray gho’ they have ordered
for his graduation is still lying in the cupboard. He is gone too soon to be
true, a father says. Had he known that he will be gone this soon, he wished he
hugged him tight during his last departure and said how much he loves him.
They
couldn’t even get to see the body to say a proper farewell. The alienation and desolation
speaks a volume about his loss. His smile no longer reaches his eyes. Time was
supposed to fill and heal the loss, however with every passing day, the burden
of losing a son seems to weigh him down; gnawing from inside as his bone are projecting
outside.
Whenever,
someone calls ‘Dorji’, he turns back to see the person and always wish him to
be his son. The undeniable hope and then despair is visible to whole universe,
longing for his son continues. We might forget with the time but will he? I
think there should have been proper closure for them to say goodbye to each
other.
