LOVE IS...

Madhu was dejected, more than dejected…nearly suicidal. Parents…why did god make them?? Specifically, why did he make them so one dimensional…so orthodox?? The young graduate sat on the lawn turf recounting the horrendous incident that happened in their house that morning.

Earlier that morning:

“Where is madhu?”Asked Mr. Krishnan, as he took a cursory glance at the newspaper.

“Still in bed. Is anything wrong? Its Sunday after all”, countered Meera, Krishnan’s wife.

“Nothing. Except that your precious child’s cell phone has been beeping every ten minutes since 7 Am.”, replied the irritated father. “Must be some useless friend trying to find company for spending parents money in malls or multiplexes.”

Meera ignored her husband and continued her kitchen chores. Hardly 5 minutes passed when the beep of the mobile again interrupted the tranquility in the house.

“One should keep one’s mobile phone in their own room”, kvetched Krishnan.

“It is usually there only. Madhu must have forgotten to take it back from the hall yesterday”, Meera replied, coming to the aid of her only child.

There was perfect balance in the family when it came to Madhu. Meera was the loving, affectionate one who never hesitated to fulfill any of her kid’s wishes. She had argued with her husband when he refused to send madhu to live in hostel and study. “When will children learn to be independent?” she had stated then. His concerns about falling into bad company were pooh pooed by her reasoning that it would never happen to someone as level-headed and matured as their child.

Krishnan, on the other hand, was the sort of father who could be intimidating, over protective and demanding, all at the same time. Naturally madhu sided and confided with mother while father was the feared one.

One more beep and Krishnan had had enough. He traipsed his way to the sofa and picked up the guilty instrument. From browsing the inbox he got to know that all the messages were from Shashank, one of Madhu’s friends. Curiosity got the better of him as he wanted to know what was so urgent. As he flipped through the messages, his mind burst into a thousand queries…the truth that was revealed to him shook him tumultuously.

He went straight to Madhu’s bedroom and shook its resident awake.

“For how many days has this been going on?” cried an enraged Krishnan.

“What happened? What’s been going on?” queried a sleepy Madhu.

Krishnan pointed to his hand showing the mobile phone. Immediately Madhu knew that the cat was out of the bag.

“It’s all your fault. You were the one to support your child’s whim to study living in hostel. Now look where it has landed our dignity”, bellowed a ballistic looking Krishnan at his wife.

Meera didn’t understand the cause of this sudden anger in her husband. “Its love…and its something that has never happened in our family. I don’t know what mistakes I made as a father to get such a cruel punishment”, cried a hysterical Krishnan.

Meera had never seen him lose his temper like this before. What was so unpardonable about love? Theirs was a love marriage after all. So it never crossed Meera’s mind that her husband would so vehemently oppose their own child’s big step in life.

“Why is it wrong to fall in love? Have you forgotten the way you used to run behind me in our college days?” she called after his retreating back, but he seemed to have not heard it as he furiously made his way upstairs.

Not even a moment passed when she heard a blood curdling scream from her room upstairs. She hurtled her way 2 stairs at a time and came to a dead stop before her room. Her husband lay there flat on his back, a kitchen knife protruding from his belly…blood slowly staining the white mosaic of the floor.

Krishnan was rushed to the nearby hospital where they admitted him, not before Meera had signed a stack of ‘admission’ papers. As she stood waiting near the window overlooking the entrance she could see a white faced madhu staring blankly at their car. Meera felt sorry for the poor kid. Adolescent love was somewhat questionable, but going to suicidal extremes was taking it too far. How could Krishnan come to such a cowardly decision when he himself treaded the same path a few decades ago? He should have sat down and talked reason even if he didn’t approve of it. She decided to console the poor child.

“Its just that Appa is over protective of you. I am sure once he sees reason he will approve of your decision”, Meera said soothingly.

There was no reply. “Who is it by the way? Is it someone we know?” Meera went on.

“It is Shashank”, came the reply.

Meera’s head started to spin. Of all the curses…this?? What had happened to the level headed, sane Madhu that she knew? What was happening to the children of India?? Where had the good old values disappeared?? Questions were making haphazard entries in her mind. She could have given her consent to anyone…but Shashank?? It was indigestible…What will people think?? What will her family think?? She will have to make Madhu see reason…She will have to talk her SON out of it…