The Mighty Fall

Over the next few days, I was busy with a number of things. Rent was held up, the accountant was sick, two of my staff took off for the village – unimaginable! The little free time I conjured was spent reconciling the lies my son spewed against what I believed to be the truth and trying to make my wife see that she was being made a fool of.

The trouble with women, when they see the husband busy at work they fret that the husband is not spending time worrying. If the husband speaks in worried tones, they wish the man were busy.

But I am not a man of worry, that is a privilege of the idle!

‘I’m so worried, I’m so worried,’ you can flutter about while something boils over, ‘oh GOD! The milk! Uff, what a mess.’

Uff! The mess!

I cannot flutter, I have calls to make, payments to check about, services to provide. If I don’t work who will bring home the money? Your son? Useless!! When I was 20 years old…

‘Your father was in business, he pulled you into it. You never enjoyed your college life, always working. Why aren’t you involving your son in the business?’

I argued, ‘When I tried to do that you said I was spoiling his youth with stupid accounts and forms.’

‘Oh yes, that was when he began college, but when he started failing was it not your duty to take him under your wing? Did you hear what that fellow said about my son? Are you sure HE is not bad company! How dare he? Some yogi baba maharaj, what does he call himself? Mahapurush, bah!’

Ah, the mighty fall from grace. Even the moniker someone had planted on the man was his curse. But to be fair, he had not introduced himself, ‘hello, myself Mahapurush.’ But… what had he said his name was?

I just couldn’t remember.

 

The Creeper

You know how it is, the man leads, the woman follows. The children are born, they should follow.

Our son was 22, quite useless, his mind was never in studies only play, play, play all the time. Now he was grown up and well… he had got into wrong company. It was all because of his mother, all maternal affection, not good if you want a boy to grow to responsibility.

She was standing in front of the ‘mahapurush’ hands folded, saree pallu covering her bowed head.

He was looking at her quizzically, as though wondering what this charming beauty was doing with a dark man like me. Well, at least I am tall. ‘Tell me beta, what is it? People are coming to me with so many problems, so many worries, I am feeling that everyone thinks the world moves around them.’

‘Well, maybe you prefer that the world travel around you,’ the retort stayed on my tongue as my wife gushed, ‘You are my only support, nobody else can help me.’

I was stung! I, her husband, am the only support she can seek. But I remained quiet.

The great man looked at me, a knowing smile on his face, ‘Child, only the creeper (he used the word Lata) needs support to grow, you are not a plant. God has designed you to provide your own support. What is your trouble?’

My wife stood upright, possibly embarrassed by his dismissal. Her pallu slid off her head.

‘My son, my son is in wrong company,’ she stammered.

‘Are you sure your son is not wrong company?’

‘My son!’ Now it was her turn to be stung. ‘My son is a very good boy! He doesn’t have any bad habits, swamiji. I am thinking that we should get him married. Once he has a family, he will become responsible.’

Mahapurush didn’t have an opinion, he gave a lazy nod. Before my wife could get carried away by her own brilliant idea, I butted in, ‘He needs to find work or join my business. He failed twice in college and he drinks a little too much. Start a family!’

My wife turned to me in a fury, her wonderful son doesn’t drink, you see, he is made to, by his bad friends. ‘He needs a calm loving woman,’ she opined.

But the great man said something here, ‘Have you seen animals, child? When their young are small, they teach them to find food. That is the primary and most important learning. Then they will leave their young alone, fight and find a mate or don’t. In fact, even the search for a mate depends on physical strength and the skill to bring food. Of all life I have watched, it is only the human that will seek a mate before it can find its own food.’

Though I didn’t like the animal comparison, this man seemed to be agreeing with me. Hmmm, not such a bad type maybe.