The Untold Misery Of A School Boy-Part One

                          
                
                     "...As flies to wanton boys are we to Gods
                     They kill us for their sport.."
                      -From King Lear By William Shakespeare

No parents in this world should go through the trauma and pain the parents of Rahul,a ten year old school boy, have gone through.
I read about this highly disturbing and mind shattering tragic incident about five years ago.
As a very caring father of two little daughters I still feel truly terrible whenever this incident comes to my mind.
It was a small news column in a local newspaper but was large enough to disturb the mankind.
I tried to visualize the whole tragic incident with my creative eye and I am trying to present it before you all with as much detail as possible.
I request all those readers who are highly sensitive and emotional in their nature to stay back and not to proceed beyond this point..
I also request pregnant ladies and elderly people with heart ailments not to read this story..
Others,
Please go through....
Rahul,as I told you was a cute little boy of ten years age studying in a decent convent school of Hyderabad, India.
He was the only son to his parents and naturally was the cynosure of all eyes in the family..

His parents,Shekhar and Supriya, were decent employees in a software company and one can confidently say that they were a happy go lucky family with everything offered to them on a platter by the Almighty.
Everything was so picture perfect in their life till that day…
The day that shattered their families..
The day that has sent Rahul’s mother Supriya into coma for life..
And that day shall remain forever in the memories of everyone associated with that incident..
And On that day..
Rahul’s father Shekhar as was the daily routine dropped Rahul at the school at around 8.30 a m…
Rahul was studying fifth class in that convent school..
After saying “Bye” to his father Rahul ran into the school in a flash..
But before running into the school Rahul did not forget to kiss his dad on his left cheek..and his dad too did not forget to reciprocate the same..
But at that moment neither Rahul nor his father knew that it is the one last time that they are kissing each other in their life and that they will not be seeing each other again..
The school is quite big in size both in terms of strength as well as appearance..

The entire school arena at that time was cacophonic with children running here and there..
It was a co education school with children coming from higher middle class and aristocratic families..
The school was getting ready for the daily assembly and prayer..
In one go Rahul ran into his class room straight away,thrown his bag into his table and rushed to greet his friends..
Before the commencement of the assembly and actual classes, the children hardly get ten minutes of time to play or greet each other..

So they try to squeeze the maximum out of that time without wasting a moment..
Rahul wanted to come early that day by at least fifteen minutes but some how it did not work out.He wanted to spend more time with his friends in the ground because from the following day the school will remain closed for two weeks due to Christmas holidays..
The entire school at that time was colorful and joyous wearing a sort of a festive look and holiday atmosphere all around…

At 8.45 A M..
The assembly bell rang..
All the children gathered at one place for the prayer..
Together they very mechanically finished their prayers..

and later in a line moved into their respective classes…
At 9 A M..
Classes began..
And..
Class periods followed one after the other..
At 12 P M
Came the lunch break..
During the lunch time Rahul and his friends gathered at a regular place they normally gather for lunch..

At 12.05 P M..
Rahul opened his Tiffin box and was irritated at the sight of too much of curd rice stuffed into it..
He hates curd rice..
And he often tells his friends that one day he shall, come what may kill the person who invented curd rice..
His mother insists that he should eat curd rice often to stay healthy..
Discussions and arguments go on in the house whenever curd rice is on the menu in lunch for Rahul..
But it is needless to say who wins those arguments..
And as a result curd rice occupies maximum space in the lunch box the next day..
And same thing happened that day too..
But Rahul still was happy as he found some French fries in the next box..
So far so good..
Cracking jokes on each other the naughty friends group finished their lunch..
They sat there for some more time laughing at one another..
At 12.30 P M..
A bell rang signaling the end of lunch break..
And pretending all the quietness in the world the naughty children are back in their respective classes..
Rahul was feeling heavy and for a moment thought that he had an overdose of lunch..
He told the same to his friend..His friend laughed...
At 12.35 P M
The afternoon session of classes have begun..
Though a brilliant student Rahul was a tall boy..
In any school tall students are made to sit in the last bench and Rahul was no exception..
Consumption of too much of curd rice was making Rahul very sleepy..
There was a window beside the last bench and a cool breeze of air was blowing mildly at that time..
Rahul was trying his best to ward off the sleep..
But it was becoming extremely difficult for him to control.
He somehow managed for two periods and after half of the last period it was impossible for him to resist the sleep any further..
And the gentle breeze was playing it’s role too..
Finally it became impossible for Rahul to exercise any control over his sleep..
Starting with a casual nap..
He slowly very slowly dropped into a deep slumber..
At 4.30 P M the final bell rang..
Exactly at this time the first major contributing factor to the whole of the tragedy occurred..

Continued in The Untold Misery Of A School Boy-Part-Two

There Cannot Be a Bigger Tragedy Than This-Final Part

That is all..
She went into a terrible state of shock to say the least..
Million thoughts struck her mind at once..
And one thought struck her mind a million times..
Billion times..
Trillion times and zillion times…
“…orey kannaaa..nenu choosey prapancham lo nuvve naa sooreeduvi raa..”
“…orey kannaaa..nenu choosey prapancham lo nuvve naa sooreeduvi raa..”
“…orey kannaaa..nenu choosey prapancham lo nuvve naa sooreeduvi raa..”
“…orey kannaaa..nenu choosey prapancham lo nuvve naa sooreeduvi raa..”
(Son..My dear son..you are the light of my world)
(If only am gifted with all the space on the web I would write the above Telugu language sentence a zillion times)
The helicopter was moving slowly..
As tears were flowing down her cheeks..She closed her eyes..
There is darkness..
Opened them....
There is darkness again..
Looked up..
And silently questioned the invisible Gods.
”Why and why and why...??????????..What is that sinful crime I committed to deserve all this pain….?????????"
She knows that she will not get any answer..
So..
She looked around..
In desperation,in helplessness..
But she found only silence.....
Unbearable silence..
Unusual silence..

As if all is not yet over..
As if something more painful is to follow…
With their eyes filled with tears and minds filled with doubts all the coast guards were looking at her with bated breath..
She too looked up at them helplessly..
Palely
Blankly..
Poignantly..
And finally..
Thankfully..
Later..
Looked around,once again
Looked at heavens..
And lastly..
Looked down at the waters that consumed her beloved son..
Suspecting something tragic,the coast guard on the ladder was shouting at her and moved down briskly..
Tried to come down quickly..
The other guards too were signaling at her with all the physical signs humanity can understand..
But she has already gone into a shell,into a world of her own where she could neither see anything nor hear anything or understand anything..
She has gone into a state of delirium..As that one above mentioned thought was knocking her constantly..
Shaking her constantly..
Rattling her constantly..
She closed her eyes quietly for a moment..
Chanted prayers..
Coming down swiftly and shouting at her the guard was using all his expertise to reach her..
Now she opened her eyes..
Took a deep breath..

Her mind was clear and calm..
She has taken the decision..
The unmentionable and indescribable decision..
The coast guards were watching her..
And also the pilot..
And also the palm tree..
And also the five elements of nature..
Everyone, everything were watching her with bated breath and rapt attention..
But..
They just remained watching..
As the right hand of the great lady that was holding the rope ladder..
Till that point of time..
Left it..
Left it with unmentionable pain..
Left it
With unmentionable trauma..
That is all..
It all happened in seconds..
The coast guard on the ladder tried his best to reach her and hold her..
But it was all too late..
As they were all watching her helplessly..
She
Slowly,,
Very slowly
Slided down..
Down..
Down..
And
Further down..
Like a kite cut off in mid air..
And with a huge..
Thudddddd..
Crashed into the waters..
And in seconds her body was consumed by the water and vanished beyond sight as the brave saga of that extraordinarily courageous lady came to a tragic end..
The coast guards couldn’t believe what they have seen..
Even if they have believed it,they may not have digested it..
Even if they have digested it...
One life may not be sufficient for them to erase it from their memories..
After that..
The flood water flowed quietly as if nothing has happened..
The guard on the ladder moved up..
The helicopter moved on..
We moved on..
Our lives moved on..
Our world moved on…
But..
But..
But…
But…

........................THE END....................................

There Cannot Be a Bigger Tragedy Than This-Part Five

He was trying..
Unable to understand her son’s plight, the lady was still trying to cajole him..
The guard on the ladder was still trying to come down..
The helicopter was still trying to take them out to a safe destination..
That time it happened..
And happened in a whisker..
Suddenly the speed with which the wind was blowing till that time got doubled..
And as a result a thick drops of rain had hit her face very forcefully..
For a split second she closed her eyes..
And..
in an effort to hold the boy more firmly the lady lost the grip for a moment..
Just for a moment....
And in that just one moment..
It happened..
What should not have happened..
Happened..
With his eyes filled with faith that his mother is there for him the boy was still looking deep into her eyes..
The mother too was looking at him..
So also the guard and the his colleagues..
And then..
She finally understood the language of her son’s silence and tried to prevent the inevitable..
But still it happened..
For whom she weathered such a storm..
For whom she fought against the nature..
For whom she did everything beyond her capacity..
That boy..
Her beloved…
More beloved than the most beloved..
Slowly..
Slowly slipped off her hands..
Like a fielder in a cricket ground juggling with the ball before dropping a catch,she too juggled with her dear son for some time..
but failed...
As she was helplessly watching
The boy first got separated from her..
Lost his balance..
Did a somersault..
And doing all that with all the plight,agony and trauma in the world.
The boy was still looking at his mother..
Was looking deep into her eyes..
with his eyes still wide open turned away from and bid her adieu..
A soulfully sad goodbye..
And went down falling..
Falling..
And..
Further falling..
And finally touched the dangerously flowing flood waters underneath..
And vanished out of her sight…
In seconds..
She was watching so does the guard on the ladder and also his colleagues..
Over..All over..
All the battle and the fury
All the courage and the bravery..
All are over in one by millionth of a second..
Shaking her beyond comparison..
That is all..
.....................Continued In Part Six..........

There Cannot Be a Bigger Tragedy Than This-Part Four

The boy was literally going breathless..
The sound of the heavy winds, the sound of the helicopter engine combined with a typical lashing sound of the helicopter propellers were all creating eerie sounds that are normally experienced in any of the Alfred Hitchcock films..
The lady was trying her best to hold the boy very firmly but since both of them were very wet, her hands were slowly losing the grip over the boy...
Observing her plight a guard then decided to help her and slowly stepped on to the ladder to come down.
And exactly at that point of time it started raining very heavily slowing down all sorts of rescue operations..
It made her extremely anxious and restless.
The hapless boy in her hand was becoming very slippery though she was doing all that she could to hold him tightly. Unfortunately she was feeling the looseness in her grip over the boy which was making her more restless, more unsteady and panic..
The boy was not weeping but was looking pathetically into his mother’s eyes expressing great fear. There was so much of pain and agony in his eyes which only a mother can read and understand..
Unusual for his age the boy was still trying to support his mother.
The lady too was looking at her son and was trying to cajole him..
The boy was still seeing deeply into his mother’s eyes..
The lady may not understand but that time around she found something unusual in his eyes..
Something..
Definitely something..
Really really unusual..
What is that..
Did the boy see something..
Is he trying to convey something..
If so..
What..???
What….??????????/
Whatttttt…..???????????????????
Are any coming events casting their shadows..?????
Did he receive any hint from the super natural forces..?????????
A sort of a chill ran through her spine shattering her whole mind and body..
Shaking him vigorously
She was observing him with anxiety. Observing him with fear..
She was observing that…..
There is a gradual change taking place in the face of her son and in the looks of his eyes..
She was observing that..
His eyes were seeing something beyond the reach of human vision and comprehension..
May be he was seeing something about the future..
His future..
Their future..
Was seeing something about his salvation from this sinful world.
Something about his separation from his beloved mother..
Something inexplicable..
Something metaphysical..
He wanted to convey all that to his mother..
He was trying to tell his beloved mother about what he was seeing.
But there was something inexplicable again that was holding him back..
Is that his tender age that is preventing him from conveying his feelings and observations or is that the more powerful nature that was stopping from opening his mouth..
But the boy was trying.
Trying to tell his mother about the signals he is receiving from the cosmic forces..
About the indication he is getting from the Gods in the heavens..
From the angels of His service..
He was trying..
.................Continued In Part -Five..........................

There Cannot Be a Bigger Tragedy Than This-Part Three

That time..
That time…
She heard that sound..
“…What is that…????????”
Her hopes return..
She became highly attentive and alert.. Concentrated more on the sound. Tried to analyze..
No doubt..
It is definitely the sound of some motor engine..
She hurriedly looked into that direction..
She couldn’t believe her eyes,as she found a helicopter coming in her direction..
She didn’t want to take any chance..
With eyes wide open she looked into the direction of the helicopter..
The helicopter was appearing closer..
She did not want to waste a second..
Lifting her son in one hand and holding the branch of the tree with the other she carefully got up and turned herself towards the helicopter. it is a coast guard helicopter of the Indian navy pressed into service by the government for flood relief operations. There are around six guards on board with life jackets...
She waved at them.. Mobilizing all the bodily strength into her voice she screamed loudly.
The guards did not notice her and the helicopter passed off..
She knows and knows pretty well that it is her last chance to have any chances of survival..
She screamed again and again and louder and still louder..
And that time..
The guard sitting near the rear window of the helicopter with a binoculars in hand heard the scream and noticed her..
He waved at her as a signal that he noticed her..
With a rejuvenation of hope, she too waved at him in response..
The guard then instructed the pilot to take a U turn and turn back the helicopter and go down as nearly as possible to the Palm tree..
She was noticing everything with a subtle smile on her lips combined with a great relief..
First, the helicopter hovered around the area of the Palm tree for a few moments to assess the altitude and then slowly descended down to the maximum permissible level..
Later it remained stagnant there as one of the guards slowly dropped a rope ladder on to the tree, instructing the lady to hold it properly....
She tried to grab it but due to heavy winds the ladder moved around and went beyond her reach for a few minutes.. She tried again and after a few initial misses she very smartly grabbed it with a single hand..
The guard in the helicopter, who was holding the other end of the rope ladder, smiled in appreciation of her smartness as the other guards too join him in holding the ladder firmly. As they all look eagerly, she made sure that she was holding her son tightly with one hand and then tried to hold the ladder firmly with the other..
After making sure that everything is perfect, she very carefully got up from the place where she was sitting and moved.
All the coast guards were watching her every movement very keenly..
Cautiously holding the boy in one hand she did not forget to kiss the tree as a thanks giving gesture..
And then slowly…Very slowly.. Left the Palm tree..
Seeing her moving from the tree the helicopter started to move forward..
After parting away from the tree, she is now on her own.
Hanging in the air and standing on the last step of the rope ladder..
It is altogether a new ordeal for her now..
The wind was so heavy..
She was finding it extremely difficult to hold the rope firmly...still she was managing to stand firmly on the ladder and looked down..
Down there the water was still ferociously flowing and the winds were very heavily blowing around her with a more heavy roaring sound..
It is all so very frightening..
It can frighten even the strongest of the strong..
And the poor lady was very week to sustain that…
But fighting against all odds and all the whims and fancies of nature, she was still trying hard to stay composed, and at the same time was still feeling terrible to overcome the fright..
She closed her eyes for a moment..
Cautiously monitoring every movement of the lady the helicopter was slowly moving ahead. Instructing her to hold the rope tightly the guards then started pulling up the ladder carefully....
The distance between the helicopter and the lady was approximately thirty feet and she was standing on the first step of that thirty feet ladder. Due to heavily blowing winds the guards were finding it extremely difficult to hold the ladder firmly..
They have to first hold it firmly and then pull her carefully..
The weather was inclement and completely unfavorable for a smooth sailing..
The wind was mercilessly throwing the ladder in every direction and it was making life more difficult not for the guards and not for the lady…
But for the boy..

..................Continued in part-four.......................