Lonely Old Man... (Part 2)

Dear Reader, this post is the remaining half of “Lonely Old Man…”, yes it's the other half of my conversation with the old man.

After a short while, the old man finished crying, he spoke out, “I lived a life full of happiness, I had a beautiful and a very understanding wife and we were blessed with three sons and two daughters”.

“I was a cheerful but disciplined man, a government employee. I gave my children good education and the best comforts of life. I was very proud the day they got into dignified jobs, married and settled happily.”

“In those days, people around us who watched me and my wife play with our cute little grandchildren used to envy our happiness. Many of our relatives, friends and colleagues used to say that I have all the joy in this world and they wished to have lived a life similar to mine.”

Now he looked into my eyes and said, “Boy, all my life was heaven, I never knew then that there is hell waiting for me in my old age, I should have planned my life in a better way”. The old man gave a pause, so I spoke now, “But grandpa, you can still live a life of joy, yes I mean, continue living in the heaven”.

He instantly rejected my idea, “It’s all over son, people see me differently now, I’m just an old piece of scrap, they are eagerly waiting for my death so that they can relieve themselves from the responsibility of feeding and taking care of me. When I was young, I never treated my father or grandfather in this way, I always respected and loved them, I taught my children the same but they never learnt it".

“When my own children become old and face the darkness of four-walled closed rooms with painful health problems and loneliness, that day they will understand what their father went through and how much pain he felt when he was neglected”.

“Six months I live here, yes your friend’s father is my eldest son and six months I live with my middle son whose house is in the outskirts of this same city. My youngest son lives far away in Delhi but I’m too weak now for my age to travel long distances and adjust to live in a new place.”

“My two elder sons feel their aged father as a huge burden for them and they are angry on their youngest brother for living far away, safe and sound without sharing any responsibilities. And my two son-in-laws are worthless, they never respect me and they never allow my daughters or their children to visit me”.

The old man continued, “After my wife died four years ago, I had lost all the hope of my life, she was everything to me and when she was around, all my children gave both of us a lot of respect, but since her death, my sons started quarrelling over my property.”

“Unable to bear the quarrel, I legally distributed all my possessions to my sons. They acted so loving and affectionately in those days that I didn't put aside even a single penny for myself and signed off everything on their names."

"But little did I realize then, that I was doing the biggest mistake of my life”.

“That one big mistake of mine is killing me every day. I repent every minute, every second for giving everything away. Those were all my hard earned assets which I earned in a fair way spending every drop of my sweat wisely."

He concluded the conversation, "After willingly giving away such valuable treasure, even those street dogs would have been more loyal to me than these sons of mine, who carry my blood”.

Would street dogs be more loyal than his own children ?

It is a sign of - a completely broken heart…