Courtesy: PURE FIX....

-     

P.Krishnamoorthy

It was the late afternoon of a Friday when the summer drizzle  played games with the beads of the sunlight. The government co-ed high school in a village in South India was busy with all classes in session for  the last period. Being a weekend, students were happy that they would have two days holidays when they would have their own free time without a strict schedule.  All students  in the eighth grade were busy in copying the homework  from the blackboard.  Keshav was the only guy breaking his head  as how to get money to play card game in the weekend. Swiftly his eyes focused on the gold chain that was in  Sunitha’s neck, the girl  sitting exactly before him in the front row. Also favorably for him the chain  had loosened from its holding hook. A flash of an idea struck him to quietly snatch the chain from her as she was concentrating on copying. He executed his plan very successfully and kept the chain in between the pages of his book to avoid any detection in body search later.   Being the last period, on hearing the bell, the  students were rushing to leave. Along with her friends Sunitha also was to leave the class when she found her gold chain missing. She shouted for help and started crying.  John Peter, the class teacher immediately stopped everybody from exiting the room, as according to Sunitha, she was sure she had the chain when she came to the class. A body search was conducted on all students. Since the chain was concealed in a book, Keshav escaped in the body search. When leaving he was caught red-handed as the book fell down from his grip and got  opened  with  the chain. 

    

Keshav looked very dazed as he was  held by others. He was wondering what punishment he had to undergo for this crime.  Earlier he had done similar minor offences in the school but he would do them so cleverly that its onus would finally land on someone who would be punished. His outside activities include cheating in card games with a gang for money and  other illegal activities. One of the students reported the chain incident to the Principal, as he was very much offended by the body search.  In minutes the Principal was in the scene. After  extensive enquiries along with the evidence and insistence by other students,  the Principal had to decide to handover Keshav to the local police. The only support he had was from John Peter who was a missionary besides a school teacher. He felt very bad at  the unfortunate incident. Keshav could not be exonerated as a juvenile for this crime as it was done wantonly by him.

Orphaned by Keshav’s mother’s death in child birth and his father’s  mysterious absence, he was deprived of paternal love in his early years. He was under the care of his uncle who was ill-treating  him all the time. Due to severe berating and harassment, he used to slip away often from home and got exposed to violent culture. Academically he was below average and was detained in every class.

John Peter was confused  as the students and the Principal demanding on Keshav’s punishment through police. By that the future of Keshav would be ruined forever even if he gets the minimum punishment and gets into a criminal record. For this consideration he suggested to the Principal, his temporary suspension from the school instead of reporting to the police. According to John, Keshav was not to be blamed alone for this scenario, as by fate, he was deprived of a lovable upbringing by parents and subsequent torture he was undergoing at home by his uncle. The total neglect and uncaring he experienced from his childhood had manifested to his present state of behavior. The people at home were also equally responsible for such a situation. Arguments followed on both sides and on personal pleading by John  with his drastic step of resigning his school job if he had to be handed over to the police, it was decided that Keshav to leave the school permanently.

John took Keshav to his church as Keshav was scared  to face his uncle after this incident. After a prayer to the Lord, John gave advice on various virtues in  life and how he should adapt to various  circumstances and challenges as they come. Above all, not to forget the people who would help him in trying circumstances? He was imparting ‘sermons’ on  values in life. It was very late when they returned to John’s place.

Keshav was totally confused after his thoughts of various decisions about his future. John’s advice on life had strongly imbedded in his mind. Tossed by various thoughts whether to stay in the same village or otherwise to seek better future elsewhere, he was tormented emotionally in deciding a conclusion. The tip of the scale finally favored him to leave the place for good. The next dilemma was whether to inform this decision to John or not. His inner conscience indicated that John may not agree with it. He was  not inclined to be a burden on him in future.

It was past midnight and as everybody in John’s place was sleeping,  Keshav walked out of the house. Next morning when John came to his room, he found Keshav missing. Instead he had left a note to him indicating he was seeking his future elsewhere and profusely thanked for saving him at the critical moment. He assured him that he would become a new leaf with his good advices and blessings for a better future. John prayed to the Lord to bless Keshav all success in his future life.

As Keshav walked some distance he saw the rail station and a train ready for departure. He rushed and boarded the train. He later found that he was in upper class unlocked compartment. A middle aged couple was the occupants in it. On seeing the intruder, they were about to shout for help.  Keshav, in tears convinced them that he was an orphan seeking asylum for future living. The couple was returning to Mumbai from a temple in the south where they finished the first year ceremony for their only son Suresh who died in a car accident in Mumbai. The couple got moved by his pleading.  Also on seeing Keshav, they were surprised to find him with the same resemblance of their deceased son. They offered to take him to Mumbai and  help him for his future. Keshav was very happy and again he thanked John  for his timely help.

The transformation for Keshav was more of providential that made him to believe the divine faith. His thoughts were more positive that directed him to concentrate in his studies. Not a day passed without thinking John and his foster parents who later legally adopted him. From the  portraits at home, Keshav was astounded at the similarity between him and Suresh. Both in the school and college Keshav was an outstanding student and came out in flying colors. His faster parents were also very happy at the progress he made from an orphan child. Finally Keshav  had to leave them to take up a senior position in World Bank, Washington. Though they were not  happy to send him, they reluctantly agreed for his decision considering his future.

Though Keshav’s job was challenging and he had to devote more time in office. Often he was  feeling home sick and longing to see the foster parents,  but his profession kept him very busy. Time rolled by with the years passed and emotionally he became depressed with lonliness as the foster parents died due to health issues. He came to Mumbai to do the final ceremonies for them. An inner urge prompted him to make a visit to his old village and meet John Peter after a long spell if he was alive.

After completion of all ceremonies he made a down south visit to his village. It was evening when he entered the village. The setting sun was hiding behind the clouds in the crimson sky making a spectacular scene. The green fields in contrast  were a feast making everyone a silent spectator. Keshav enjoyed the natural beauty and compared  to the mundane metropolitan life. He was recollecting the old memories where he used to hang out in these fields with his friends. The rail station was as important to him as it opened a new page in his life book by  transforming a  reckless individual into a civilized soul.  Above all, the various virtues and values of life imparted to him by his mentor John Peters that were strongly carved in him, were recollected by him every time. As he was enjoying the nature’s unbounded  splendor, he had a sudden shock of his car suddenly stopped when it hit someone crossing the road. He got down and found a young girl was knocked down by his car. She was unconscious but stable. Keshav immediately arranged an ambulance to take her to a nearby hospital.

Though he had seen her for a brief moment, he got enticed with her beauty. Impelled by his inner impulse to see her again he made a visit to  the hospital. He felt relieved when the doctor said she was fine and normal and able to recognize others.  He introduced Keshav to the girl Diana as the man who arranged immediate ambulance  to the hospital in time. She had only external injuries and a hairline fracture on the right leg. He was eager to know about Diana’s parents and whether they had been informed about the accident. Diana was able to guess Keshav from an affluent family. But for no rhyme or reason  a sense of attachment with him was going thru her. Only the name ‘Keshav’ sounded familiar to her from the school days.  

Keshav heard some human voice crying “Diana” again and again. Followed the voice there entered a bearded gray haired old man. When the doctor informed him that his daughter was doing well and normal, he was relieved. Keshav introduced himself and enquired about the old man. Keshav’s ecstasy  was well manifested in his face when he knew that was his mentor, philosopher and guide John Peters and Diana was his daughter.  Reciprocally John Peter was also happy to see Keshav in a good shape after a long time since that night. Both happily hugged together. He also recollected Diana during school days as a minor girl. Decades have elapsed since then and now he saw her as a blooming beautiful adolescent. 

Keshav accompanied John to his home where they discussed everything happened during the years passed. John said his only unfulfilled commitment in life  was  his daughter’s marriage and he was on the lookout for a suitable alliance for her. Instantly Keshav seized that moment as he was pondering all along as to how to initiate his offer to John. He continued the conversation and conveyed his desire to marry Diana. This was a pleasant surprise for John as he was not expecting this from Keshav. He instantly expressed his whole hearted consent for his offer as  John knew that Diana had nobody in view of her own.  By this wedding Keshav was also blissful on his fulfillment of one of  John Peter’s ‘sermon’ that one should develop the ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE in life.