Every thing seemed perfect. Jugal and Veera had stars in their eyes. They often dreamt of a secure future, where they could bask in the glory of their childrens’ achievements. How were they to know that this was just the beginning of a long saga of disappointments, anguish and suffering? Jugal’s siblings stayed with them till they finished their Senior Cambridge and moved to different cities in search of jobs and further studies. Although Veera and Jugal had supported and helped them settle down, they moved on in life, conveniently forgetting the sacrifices made by their elder brother and sister-in-law who, with limited resources, had put them on their feet. The vivacity of youth was suddenly snatched from Veera as she turned into a pale shadow of her robust exuberant self. She did not keep good health and was constantly worrying about her children’s future. Jugal’s frequent transfers made things worse. He was in the Railway and would get posted to remote towns in the interiors of Rajasthan. He didn’t dislodge his family from Jaipur but came home over the weekends. It was a tough life for the entire family.

Chirag was a frail child prone to falling ill easily. He was, therefore, fussed over all the time. Kavita began to get neglected. Although the parents were not willing to admit it, their behaviour had altered greatly after the arrival of their son. Kavita spent most of her time with her aunts, servants and neighbours. She also became increasingly aggressive and violent. So while Chirag grew up to be sheltered and overprotected , Kavita became self-willed, insolent and unreasonable. It was easier to label her a problem child and attribute her violent erratic behaviour to her unknown antecedents. The final straw was when at the tender age of 13, one of her cousins brutally told her that she had been picked up from an orphanage and that was why she was different.

Her growing up years were painful. With on one to talk to and share her trauma, she was often left to fend for herself. Friends at school avoided her, calling names and making rude references to her being an adopted child. Her mood swings became more severe and she took to running away from home each time her demands were not met with. Veera resigned to her fate and was practically confined to the bed. Jugal tried troubleshooting during the few days he spent at home. He took Kavita to doctors, astrologers and mendicant. Life for both Jugal and Veera became a drudgery which had to be endured and seen through. They woke up every day with a heavy heart and a feeling of dread anticipating the worst to happen.

Things began to get out of hand and neighbours, relatives and even strangers started coming to their house, telling them to keep their grown up daughter under control. They knew intervention was necessary. In desperation, they acted on the advice of an astrologer and convinced themselves that marriage would help Kavita to get anchored. Perhaps a husband and family would calm her and force responsibility on her, they reasoned to themselves. Things didn’t happen that way. She kept returning home.

Her husband was a trouble-maker. He took advantage of the parents’ vulnerability and started blackmailing them. Every few months, he would come and tell them what a favour he was doing keeping an erratic, irresponsible, near insane wife and her two daughters with him and would demand a scooter, fridge or cash. He would keep threatening divorce. Pacifying him with gifts and, later money, became a pattern.

While Kavita was not a bad girl, her childhood insecurities had created deep scars in her mind. She perceived herself as a victim, as someone who had been wronged for no fault of hers. From being the apple of her parents’ eye, she was treated as a castaway. Her emotional hurts kept multiplying and she started blaming her foster parents for all her woes.

Chirag, on his part, was a weakling. He knew that whatever he did, his parents would bail him out. He grew up to be a shirker and always wanted an easy way out. He had no sense of responsibility either towards his parents or his elder sister. During his initial years, his frail health became the perfect alibi for his tantrums and poor grades in school. As he grew older, it became apparent that he didn’t want to work hard, study or acquire a skill. He kept giving examples of how people made millions without being academically qualified. The right break, connections and investments or back up support could open up gates of success for him. Only if his parents cooperated with him.

When he got married, the first thing he wanted was for his father to set up a business for him. Whatever gratuity and retirement benefits Jugal received, he invested them in a stock brokering firm. It went bust in the first year. Next, he sold his house and moved into a rented accommodation to set up a grocery store for him.

Veera, who had been ailing for a long time, finally breathed her last. Although he missed her sorely, he was glad she didn’t have to see her children in a more miserable state than what they were already in. He is a sad and unhappy man today. In the last phase of his life he doesn’t know where he went wrong. He thought he had done his best for his family but obviously it wasn’t been good enough. The dream of seeing successful and happily settled children has remained unrealised.

He is now an old man with no source of income, dried up savings and a completely dependent family. He dreads to think how he would make ends meet. At his age, there are no jobs going but he has to keep the family fires burning. Chirag was neither inclined nor capable for holding a job for long. He often thought of running away or taking his own life. Seeing the faces of his little grandchildren, he is filled with remorse and agony.

But a ray of hope emerged recently when his daughter-in-law came up to him one day and told him that everything would be alright. There was optimism in her eyes and a steely determination on her face. She told him that she had got a job for herself as an assistant in a beauty parlour and had also procured a job in a factory on daily wages for Chirag. It may not have been what both father and son had dreamt of but it was a beginning. She had decided to take things in her own hands and had a hard talk with her husband. He was now willing to start from the bottom of the ladder.

For the first time, Jugal questioned himself whether he had failed as a parent. Had he been tougher with Chirag and more sensitive towards Kavita, may be, both of them would have been leading normal, if not spectacular, lives.