Sunday, January 31, 2010

Simple ,isnt it !!

What is Ammas views now, asked Radhika

It is the same dear. She is refusing to budge,answered,Radhikas father Pratap.
Radhikas face fell.

They were on Video chat.Radhika in a far off country & Pratap in chennai.

I will keep trying ,don't you worry.Pratap was trying to cheer Radhika.

Pratap a successful finance professional, in Chennai& Revathi his wife.Radhika their only child,now a citizen of a different country, wanting her parents too to migrate for good.

Radhi had sent the scanned copy of the Ad in their local newspapers,couple of weeks back.The rules for migration were very simple,it appeared.

Both she & her ever doting father have been trying to persuade Revathi,in vain.Though,Revathi was a MSc in Biological Sciences ,a gold medalist at that,chose to remain a home maker.

Pratap was at it it again..What do you say,Revathi. Today also Radhi was asking me.Why not we simply move.I don't think we can have any more happiness than being with our Doll.I have also had enough of my profession. This window for parents to migrate ,with citizenship, is just for three months.So we don't have much time left.We can always come to India once in a while to visit the temples which you are so fond of.

Revathi just had her characteristic smile & said it could be the other way,visiting their daughter once in a while.She simply refused to budge. How could she ..

That night as she was lying on the bed ,sleep deserted her & her thoughts rolled back in time..

Revathis was an arranged marriage & they had a very peaceful family life till the usual social pressure & associated murmurs led them to the doorstep of gynae & then an IVF clinic.They were confident,it must be something minor,more to do with her extreme shyness. The usual tests on both of them & on the date of discussion only Revathi could make it since Pratap was delayed ,courtesy,a board meeting.

Revathi,said the Doc,I have good & bad news for you.You are quite ok but Pratap is sterile. That was the gist, but fairly forthright,despite a verbose sermon,which was a necessity.It meant she could give birth to a child but perhaps with a seed from other unknown stranger.

Take your time,Revathi, These are difficult decisions & perhaps irreversible,said the Docter in her soothing yet professional voice.

A KUNTIan dilema was faced by her.She recollected the evening phone call her hubby had made to her,which in a nutshell exuded confidence that both of them were perfect but for her shyness.He had gone ahead even citing both their families had dozens of kids of all ages.She also fully realised how much Pratap wanted a baby & that too a girl.Besides he was a person who couldn't take disappointments easily,at his age.

It was indeed difficult especially when she wanted to go through this without him knowing the details but only to satisfy him on the progeny...
it so happened that evening she went to a discourse where the Swamiji dwelving into philosophy of life came out saying nothing belongs to us in this world & whatever we think is ours is also not ours.

That was it.she made up her mind.

A deep breath,Revathi called the doc if she could go ahead merely with her consent,explaining briefly the dilemma faced. It was agreed she will go the IVF way but to keep everyone in loop satisfied,semen will be frozen & stored,though it would serve no purpose

And finally, Radhika was born,Revathi as the biological mother& the father unknown..
Did it matter,perhaps no,but the Kunthian question remaining as an eternally unanswered issue.

Time rolled by,the secret ,getting buried by the layers of time ,deep in her heart.A doting father,a brilliant kid in Radhika,was excelling in every aspect of life,academics & otherwise,finally landing her as a citizen of the supposedly most advanced country, full of opportunities,sponsored by the ,worlds biggest IT company.

And now the fate was staring at their faces,in pressure building up on Revathi to migrate along with her hubby...

She was worried ,very worried,for one of the condition put up by that country was to bring in only Biological parents,identified with the now famous DNA finger printing which would clearly establish the.....

and she knew what that meant...



TC

CU