Are Relationships Man-made?

When a child asks his/her father wittingly or unwittingly "Who Are You?", immediately, the father, emotionally stirred, is prompt to answer the child’s rhetorical question. When wittingly the child poses the same question rhetorically, it has its own meaning restricted to an unwanted pressure tried on each aspect of life. The father, instead of being indifferent to the child’s attitude, can set his mind to profound thinking upon the child’s milieu in which he finds himself clutched to unbearable burden of problem. When unwittingly the child poses the same question, it has a meaning, which, till the attainment of the maturity of the mind, cannot be well-defined. The father, however, should not ignore the child’s statement. He ought to ponder the statement of the child who, Wordsworth says, is the Father of man.
If a stranger, who is unsympathetically made strange owing to the existing idiosyncratic and inscrutable circumstances which always over reach their counterparts --- human beings, comes to you and poses the same question "Who Are You?", immediately, your answer will be "I Am…"(you will mention the name christened by the man whom you (can) call "father".) But if your father asks (may be for a fun) you the same question, you will instantly say "I am your son."
Let’s think of the two different answers to the same rhetoric question. Who’s a stranger? Who’s your father? A stranger is also a human being like your father (whom you call a human being "your father".) A stranger is a human being, who is made strange to you due to inscrutable circumstances that do not bind both you and the man whom you call a stranger emotionally, physically, and intentionally. The man whom you call "father’ is also a human being who never thought of your existence before his physical contact with a woman whom you (can) call "your mother". Did he and she think about you? They just thought about themselves, their desires, their erotic desires and dwelled upon how they could attain the extremity of pleasures. It was momentary; yet it took time first to the woman that something new grew in her womb, she felt. Yet she did not know that you were to grow in her womb. You grew within her; yet she could not watch you grow. She did not feed you, but you were fed with her. What a mystery!
What is relationship? Merriam Webster Dictionary says: "It is the state of being related to (or inter-related to) something or to someone. How can one reach the state of being related or inter-related to someone or something? How is a man related to a woman? (How ought a man to be related to a woman?) Traditionally, a man is related to a woman by making a physical bond in the concept of wedding (which is superficially interpreted.) The man, with likes and dislikes, reaches the state of being related or inter-related to something or someone. It is purely physical, which is the result of the man and woman’s overt physical behaviour. The man and the woman together beget an issue which they claim to be the product of their relationship bound physically. The product of the man and the woman relationship is called to be their child (who never knows of the ones who beget him until he acquires the knowledge from elsewhere.) Here, the man, the woman and their begotten child are made a tiny group which is made to be called as a family. We are to think on how this family circle is made established. A man from elsewhere and a woman from somewhere are physically yoked together (if their hearts cannot understand each other), but once for all, if their tradition cannot be changed. In this family circle, the man and the woman, it is said, are made related to each other in a physical bond. Their child is made related to the man and the woman physically since he is born through them. Hence the child is allowed to call the man as "father" and the woman as "mother", and he is called as their "child".
When the same man and the same woman beget another offspring, another kind of relationship is made established between the already existing child and the newly-born offspring. However, it is quite interesting to study their relationship, which may be called as "brother or sister" relationship, though they have no physical contact in any way; yet they are made related through the same man and the same woman. It may be called a reachable distant relationship between the first child and the second child.
Another kind of relationship is also discussed. How are you related to the one who is your father's brother's son or daughter of his sister's son or daughter? Your father's brother's son or daughter seems related to your as what is called "cousin brother" or "cousin sister". But your father's sister's son or daughter seems related to you as what is called "cousin". Don't you think it'w quite deliberately strange? And further it is said that one sect of people stresses pm tje fact tjat cpisoms pm the opposite sex may be allowed to a physical contact by the concept of wedding. The other sect of people stresses on the fact that "cousin sister" on the opposite sex may not be allowed to a physical contact by the concept of wedding. Isn't it ridiculously strange? What difference you make in establishing your relationships between you and your brother or sister born of the same woman and the same man, and between you and your "cousin brother' or "cousin sister" and between you and your cousin? The difference we all make is nothing but the difference in thinking of the relationships we make traditionally and deliberately.
Traditionally, we are forced to fix labels to the relationships we make within our so-called famijly ties. The levels are treated in terms of "close" relationship and "distant" relationship. Is that we cannot measure "distant" relationship? Is that we can measure "close" relationship? With whom can we make "close" relationship and with whom can we make "distant" relationship? We've set an unintelligible limit to make relationship within the so-called family ties (we do not care on how it has been established,) and we name this unitelligible limited relationship as "close" one, and the one beyond it as "distant" one. The who is your next-door neighbour who is always within your reach, ready to "help" you (if your next-door neighbour has a "sincere" and loving concern over you) while your "close" or "distant" relatives are out of your reach physically (we make relationships physically, but strive to express the same physical relationship emotionally?) Isn't it awkwardly strange and ludicrous?
A father's child (after the child's mother death) is totally neglected by the same father's second wife (a woman who has been given a position physically.) A few exceptions are there. How do you name the relationship between the father's child and the same father's second wife? Yet, it is formally accepted as mother-child relationship. What name do you give to the relationship between the father's wife's child and the same father's second wife's child? Do we call "half-brother" or "half-sister" relationship? How silly are we to cut the relationships we make and weigh them literally!
A child born of a woman and a man outside the so-called ritualistic marriage law (which seems to be ostentatious in its seeming attributes, but wholly set apart alien to hidden thoughts of human beings) may be treated as an intelligence offspring to those who are blindfolded of the fact that the child is also a human being born of innocence (may be due to a deliberate ignorance of the ones who beget it.) Has the child lost its "father" and "mother" if it is thrown away as an orphan? Its "father" and "mother" may wantonly and deliberately break the relationship between their child and them (they can do so, for they themselves form certain inconvenient principles temporarily maade for a short-period convenience to satisfy themselves of their erotic desires. The orphan-child may be brought up by a group of human beings, to say frankly, some have love, others have various other reasons,) and a new relationship is established between the orphan-child and the ones who bring it up. When the child grows, can it make up the relationship earned in the orphanage or try to seek the ones who dropped him/her on the road? Yet, the relationship between the orphan-child and the ones who beget him may not be as genuine as the relationship between the orphan-child and the ones who brought him up. Who are strangers here? (The world bears no strangers for it carries every one in its arms; but every one in the world seems to be strange, dividing oneself with one's ideosyncrasies which are nothing but conveniently pre-conceived inconveniences to make oneself different in indifference.
How do the ones who have no accesss to beget a child establish a relationship with their "adopted" child? Once the child seemed alien to them before their adoption (it is but a self-made statement to convince oneself.) Now they practise themselves to be familiar with their newl-adopted child, and their overt behaviour is the only witness of their efforts. The adopted child is also used to the new relationship, unaware of its own whereabouts and its "look-after" parents. Can the child call them its "father" and "mother"? Or should the child wait for the ones who actually beget it and call them "father" and "mother"? (So strange!)
A man and a woman are physically yoked (if their hearts are not faithfully united together) with traditionally fixed inconsistent laws in the so-called marriage bond, and are allowed to part when one of the so-called physical partners dies (or divorces himself or herself.) How does their relationship exist if the living one (may be bearing the sign of widow or widower) is again bound to another one? They themselves made a relationship and had no thought of continuing the bond, but deliberate enough to break it when no found a new channel to purgate his feelings.
What name do you give to the relationship made between a man, who belongs to one so-called caste and a woman, who belongs to another so-called caste, when bound in the physical contact made in traditional rituals and rites of wedding ceremony. To which caste does their child belong --- to mother's caste or to father's caste? What kind of relationship is made between the child of the man's brother's son belonging to one so-called caste and the child of the man's wife's sister's son belonging to another so-called caste? Are these two children "close" relatives or "distant" relatives?
When an American man is wedded physically to an Indian woman, the child born of them is called as American-Indian, who picks up two different cultures. When the same child (if the child is a male one) grows and weds a Japanese girl, what kind of relationship is made between the Japanese girl and the American's "half-brother" (if the American's father has a son of his second wife)? They say, emotionally,(if either of the party is financially sound) that they are relatives (if not financially sound, he's no more relatives to them.) How self-fish and stupid are we!
Let us recount the rhetorical question posed in two different situations, by two different persons: WHO ARE YOU? Why do we not individually ask this rhetorical question to each of us? "WHO AM I?" Does each one of us think of how each one of us is related to oneself? Each one of us ought to think that each one of us is a human being uniquely born, whose purpose is to establish the real and true relationship among the fellow-human beings. Each one of us is NO way alien to ourselves since each one of us has the same power to think, the same red blood to survive,the same flesh to pull on unto the grave. How then did each one of us separate oneself from our fellow-beings? Did language play its role? Did colour play its role? Did the so-called caste play its role? Did profession play its role? Did religion play its role? Did science play its role? Why does each one of us not think deeply on how each one of us restricted oneself unintelligibly making unintelligible whims and fancies that totally nullify the concept of ONENESS in mankind? What makes us to make different kinds of relationship among our fellow-human beings? Language, caste, colour, profession, religion, science are all mere tools to each of one us to make different kinds of relationship. Then who is responsible to all these whimsical different kinds of relationship? It is EGO-CENTRIC nature seated in the heart of each one of us that stubbornly believes in the concept of egoism and pushes a self-styled drive out from the deepest of the deep. One's ego prefers to self-dominate human values and this self-dominating nature never realises the concept of acceptability of positive attitude to life. One's ego prefers what it desires, and denies what it hates.
Can each one of us kill the EGO super imposed in our heart and live with broad-mindedness in our thinking, making all unintelligible relationships, nullified, and and be of the same mind until we all reach the grave?

Nothing But Wind

Music the world filled with,
And is God-breathed the melody in it.
Music moves the world around on its way,
And it’s wind in music dwells.
Muse of Music! Let me imbibe thy notes
For sans thee my voice lies half-dead
When my heart is to sing
That
NOTHING BUT WIND is music.
My soul enters the sylvan woodlands---
The abode of musical birds,
And in quest of music haunts every nest.
It’s music that birds chirp,
And I lay my soul on a pasture,
And the chirping of birds does caress my soul:
The cuckoo sings with twain quick notes,
The nightingale babbles with nectarous notes,
The sparrow squeaks with mumbling thoughts,
The throttle bubbles with drizzling thoughts,
All sail into, my soul cherished
When wind turned to music through birds.
Crickets join the orchestra with their wings rubbed the air,
And music flows when their wings flap.
My soul journeys along the bank of musical stream,
Where bamboos rustle when wind penetrates them:
It’s "Bamboo" music breathed thro’ flute,
I learnt the love for music born thro’ bamboo
Perfected with beautiful melodies.
Dwelling on pastures music grows personified:
Harps reverberate at the hands of the shepherds,
Green music born of pastoral spirit join the bleating of lambs:
The lambs bleat and music is breathed,
And the whole of the pastures flutter with joy.
Into deep woods my soul moves,
And lions roar I hear, elephants trumpet,
And ravens voice hoarse notes
When "bamboo" music is tried by machines:
Harp turned to Guitar, bamboo turned to piano,
And music now flows thro’ science ---
Science that survives with computers.
When engine whistles I hear music
And train follows it with "friction" music,
Rhythmic beats perfected on rails. "Friction" music turned to "roar" music
When air-plane has been invented.
My soul speeds up --- speeding up
And hears jet engines launch musical roar
Yet perfected by computer technology ---
An impeccable rhythm thro’ jets.
My soul runs atop the mountain peak
Where rockets zoom into the sky with "rocket" notes
Blasting off for the stars,
Measured with "light year wavelength".
Stars roll down with noise and roar,
The universe being filled with "lightning" sound.
Seeks solace the world shrouded with machines…
………seeking solace thro’ divinity
With mantras chanted;
Yet "disco vogue" lingers on earthly pleasures,
And man is belittled by his social excusable sins,
And his society turns to animalism.
Down from the mountain peak my soul rolls down…
The peak that showed me fleeting moments of life.
An inevitable holocaust shrouds the earth,
And a victim with wounds and bruises am I.
Back into the sylvan woodlands my soul runs now---
Into the sylvan woodlands, the abode of musical birds,
And haunts every nest in quest of music.
To breathe "bamboo" music I run,
For I learnt the love for music born thro’ bamboo.
Forlorn! Bamboos are found nowhere.
My soul longs for "bamboo" music,
Yet learns a truth that music is NOTHING BUT WIND.
And my soul is convinced that Wind is Music, and Music is Wind.
Longing for silent music at the threshold of woodlands
My soul now lies.

Muse of Music! My heart sang a truth
That
NOTHING BUT WIND is MUSIC.
And it’s my garland of thoughts presented unto thee.

This verse is penned as being inspired by the musical album created by Ilayaraja,the first Asian who composed symphony at Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London. A musical genius in India

1. Judas' Kiss

defeat to virtue,
yet a way to salvation,
predestined downfall.

2. Cucumber

coolness thro' Nature,
mind undisturbed and steady,
ever-flowing Thames.

3. Pandemonium

puritanic hell,
dirty politics lurking,
quagmire of conflicts.

4. Waste Land

mind of idleness,
graveyard of profanity,
mindless cocktail hall.

5. signature

spontaneous mark,
the sceptre that rules one's life,
the fate in disguise.

6. Movie hall

escape from blackness,
pleasure packed in passing thrill,
a chamber of dreams.

7. Sycophants

toothless harbingers,
merciless killers of truth,
lawless magistrates.

8. Smokers

walking towards grave,
leading the co-existents
with vapour of death.

9. Adolf Hitler

the darkest hero,
drowned in the blood of the Jews,
whose culture doubtful.

10. Titanic

a fall to pleasure,
a monument for ages,
an art to artists.

11. Wright Brothers

born to fly sky-high,
whose diction of science is speed
with friction-free craft.

12. 'Big Bang'

conception deprived,
towards the world of voidness,
code of ethics fooled.

13. Ridiculous

oscars for the dog,
the man of soul neglected,
unforgiving crime.

Haikus

1. Honey

sweetest of nature,
sweetest of relationship,
dream disguised in taste.

2. Symphony

orchestral delight,
musical notes dramatized,
musical mission.


3. Sky

unreacheable reach,
a mysterious mirage,
unmeasured domain.

4. Loneliness

death awake in life,
fruitless sojourn gripped with cares,
mind and heart idle.

5. Calendar

count down visible,
a record of memories,
profile of present.

6. Relationship

an artistic bond,
made for give and take on earth,
a bond of mirage.

7. Monalisa

is her smile mystic?
enigmatic master piece,
sarcasm disguised.

8. "Second Childhood"

innocence eaten,
experience a fool proof,
drama justified.

9. Othello

a dark ghost of doubt,
denial of loyalty,
endangered to fall.

10. Wordsworth's Solitary Reaper

melliflouous pain
hath been a panacea
to idle walkers.

11. unfortunate champion

drowned in endeavours,
genius back of limelight,
nailed on misfortunes.

12. A Penny

life to the needy,
trash to billion dollars,
treasure of heaven.

Which is greater --- human relationship or blood relationship?

No other living things on earth except man have the power of reasoning. It is obvious that he alone has intelligence. Hence he is greater than all other creations. (He was in the Mind of God, the Creator and was rendered life with "flesh and blood").
Obviously seen, man is interdependent on one another. He is born as an individual, but compels to live in society.
Man was not created alone, but with a helpmate – wife, to share his joy and pain both physically and mentally. Circumstances made man enlarge his population and define the enlargement as "relationship". Man begins his population with family, the microcosmic society, and extends to a greater dominion, the macrocosmic society.
Initially, man is trained to live in family, which is micro-cosmic domain, and is brought to the larger society, which macro-cosmic empire. In micro-cosmic domain, man learns the way how to enter the macro-cosmic empire. It is a logical analysis that family is a small-knit of individuals who are interdependent on one another, for these individuals ought to know the ideal of greater unity among one’s fellow-beings on earth.
But it is sad to say that this micro-cosmic bond has let in the philosophy "blood is thicker than water" justifying it with biological explanations. Time and again, this philosophy has strongly been rooted deep into the unseen power of reasoning which is claimed as the sole possession of every human being living on earth.
A man is bound to a woman in marriage. The bond made in marriage builds a sort of relationship. In due course of time, a third individual joins this relationship. Here beings "blood" relationship which may or may not extend. There is nothing wrong in establishing "blood", for it is quite natural and forgiving. In "blood" relationship, genes play a vital role in the making of strong bonds which may or may not be healthy.
Of course, "blood is thicker than water", however, when money and status creep into "one’s blood", "water" becomes thicker, and ‘blood" relationship turns "money and status" relationship. The "in-laws", "uncle-aunt", "cousin", "nephew – niece" relationships may possibly be corrupted by means of lucrative gain.
What if strangers are forced to build "relationship" amongst them? Building relationship with strangers is out of compulsion in order to seek "moral" support in an alien atmosphere. Helping hands may extend amongst them, but those helping hands have "restricted hearts". Possibly seldom occurs in continuing this relationship among a few awhile. (Time alone can justify it.)
Human relationship never seeks "blood" (family descent), "friendship" and "selfish intimacy" with others (even strangers), etc. It surpasses all these mundane bonds and establishes fraternity among fellow-beings irrespective of all so-called limitations of individual and social existence on earth.

Human relationship believes in equality in existence, equality in sharing rights, equality in using wealth, equality in every point of life, nullifying theoretical and practical concern over selected individuals and groups practicing charity one another giving no way to emergence of baseless difference and discrepancies among human beings. Human blood is RED.
If individuals recognize one another, human relationship is built. Recognition of one another’s joy and pain; recognition of one another’s needs and recognition of one another’s individuality strengthen human relationship. No one can deny "blood is thicker than water."
Human relationship surpasses material bonds such as religion, caste, creed, language, money and status, etc.
A labourer with his wife and their sick baby traveled 40 kilometers from his village to show their child to a child specialist. There was a long queue. Seconds transform to minutes, minutes transform to hours. It was his consultation. The "doctor" examined the sick baby. Diagnosis was over in seconds. "My diagnosis is still in pending. It takes another 24 hours. Come tomorrow." The labourer said," Sir, we traveled 40 kilometers. How is it possible? We’re poor." "But you must stay tonight." The "doctor" ordered. The labourer asked, "Where?" "Anywhere". It was the shout of the "doctor". Where is human relationship? If the labourer were the "doctor’s" "blood" relationship, the matter would turn affirmative. The "doctor" himself would have accommodated the labourer and his family. If the labourer were a rich man, he would not have any concern over accommodation. To persons like the "doctor", "blood is thicker than water."
Logical reasoning and human consideration are required to justify "which is greater --- human relationship or blood relationship?" Justification of greatness lies in human relationship and this ought to be established. Groundless arguments must be curtailed that human understanding can be realized by everyone. Materialistic thinking can be nullified that humanistic approach will be established for an ideal sojourn by every individual on earth.

Thy Smile

(In dedication to our Loving
Daughter Susanna Christy)

It’s the Eighth Wonder on earth Maria Patricia
And the First Wonder elsewhere.
Like a ray of a distant star M B J Pancras & P Christina Martin
Thy smile flashes across our world.
Like a drop of heavenly shower
It gently touches our souls.
Neither the enigmatic smile of Lisa
Nor the smile of Vinci’s model
Compared unto thy heavenly smile
For thou art God’s Gift with divine features.
Thy eyes do smile too
For they’re the lights of the Heavenly Star.
Thy smile is the handiwork of God,
Thy smile is the medicine to every grieving soul,
Thy smile is the utterance of God
Who dwells in the innocence of babes,
Thy smiling eyes do express Heavenly Light.
Let’s imbibe thy smile and dwell in innocence,
For innocence is beauty born of virtues.

Why Such Disparity?

It was a winter afternoon. Cold breeze was blowing across the horizon. People, waiting for their buses, looked shivering in cold. They were hidden behind their woolen clothes, yet the chillness broke the woolen barriers and tickled their skin. The bus station is the haven for those who have been predestined to survive in rags. It is not their fault, but the Maker’s. The predestined shaggy fellow-beings right from the infants to the aged adults were seen stretching their arms to the heartless souls who have been predestined to stroll in attires. It is not their life, but the same Maker’s. Why such disparity?
She was musing over the disparity of the Maker’s creation. The bus she had to board in had not yet arrived the station. She was waiting with her husband at the bus station.
"What ‘s time by your watch?" She asker her husband.
"It’s three, Compasilene." He promptly replied.
"Oh, it’s very chill, Helponso."
Compasilene was struck by the sight of a shaggy girl with an infant in her arms loitering around a car halted at the corner of the station. A woman sitting in the car clad in ornamental attires and decked in diamonds was staring the shaggy girl through the transparent blinders. The blinders had been shaded with mist, yet were visible from in and out. The woman was eating a sandwich. The shaggy girl with the infant, greatly hungry, peeped in. The woman was enjoying the taste. The girl touched the blinders hoping she would relish her appetite. The woman insider stared the girl, and chased her reaching her hand with the sandwich to the blinders. The girl gently stroked the "sandwich" visible through the blinders from outside. While stroking, her fingers encoded a universal message on the misty blinders. But how could the poor woman decode the message? After all the woman was poor in heart, may be pompous in materialistic countenance. She might be carried in a car, but her heart could not carry charity. The infant stretched its arms but the woman in the car had already hit the dust. The girl and the infant were betrayed not for the sandwich but for charity. She had already delivered the universal message and hoped for at least a heart of charity. Would the message strike a soul? The girl wiped out the dust from the infant’s eyes and from her own. She set out reaching another car.
Compasilene was hit at her heart. She flew to the girl and offered three new sandwiches. The infant in the arms stretched its arms and thanked Comapasilene in child-like gestures. Compasilene’s eyes were welled with tears of charity. The girl’s appetite vanished, for
there was a soul who could decode her universal message – HUNGER. The girl disappeared smiling. Her innocent smile and the infant’s child-like gratitude were imprinted deep in Compasilene’heart. Till now the girl and the infant are living in her inward eye.
11.14 p.m. 2 Nov 2006

She Would Too....

"Why don’t you join me in my brother’s marriage?" She raised her voice over the phone against her husband who had taken up his job in a private firm in Bustley.
"Leave your job." Unreasonable and angry retort came from the other side.
She was Frankenso who had been working in the school run by the Union Government. It was a transferable job. She was hailing from a decent and sociable family living in Metropolis. She had two brothers. Her father was running a textile shop and her mother was a housekeeper. Her brothers were the helping hands to their father’s business. Their business was a flourishing one.
Frankenso had been married four years before. Initially Frankenso had had good terms with her husband Surrenvole and their
Relationship had been intimate and showed positive signs of joy.
Frankenso was always frank and she would extend her helping hand to anyone in need. She would speak like thunder but simple and straightforward in her approach. She was carrying a load of agony in her mind because she had been separated from her husband by his submissive nature. Surrenvole was his mother’s favourite son and could not avoid his elder brother’s supremacy. Surrenvole was simple-minded and good, but his simple-mindedness has led him to submissiveness.
"Why should I leave my job? Who’ll look after me? What will I do at home?" Frankenso launched a volley of questions to her husband over the phone at a phone shop.
"I’ve some special appointment here. So not to join you in your brother’s marriage." Surrenvole’s reply was a little bit bitter.
Frankenso spoke over the phone nearly sixty minutes and the bill reached one hundred and twenty rupees. Yet no solution was found in her conversation with him. Tension rose within her in degrees. She had to commence her journey to Metropolis on the same day. She had expected Surrenvole’s arrival a day before, but her expectation had turned void.
"Frankenso. Don’t worry. A day shall come that joy re enters your life in your reunion with him." Consoled her friend Consolina.
"I know he won’t turn up. He would fail in his promise. But I shall go alone to join my family and be in my brother’s marriage." Stern was Frankenso’s reply.
Frankenso had another friend whose name was Comfoten. Comfoten too tried to convince Frankenso.
"Fran, worry, problems shall end soon."
"No, Comfoten, I don’t worry, but he leads me to tension. He always listens to his mother and brother’s words. He is a nice person, but he wants his mother and brother." Frankenso continued.
"You try to talk to Surrenvole and make him understand the situation and bring him into your fold." Comfoten and Consolina suggested together.
Comfoten liked Frankenso for her open-minded nature, and so he developed a healthy relationship with her.
"Until or unless he realizes his need for me, he won’t change his mind. I know who induces him. It’s his mother – my mother-in-law – the lady who has coveted all my jewels worth almost three lakhs. I can’t tolerate it. Let my husband have my jewels because he has the right. But what right does my mother-in-law have?" Frankenso poured out her emotional anger in a depressed mood.
"Tell Surrenvole to recover the jewels from his mother." Consolina suggested.
"Oh, he says, it’s safe that the jewels are with his mother." Criticized Frankenso.
"Surrenvole may attend the marriage straightaway coming from Bustley." Comfoten offered a hopeful hint to Frankenso.
"I don’t bother." Frankenso had no second thought.
It was fifteen minutes to six. The scorched sun was gliding down the western horizon. The evening seemed gloomy and dusty. People were walking on the road. They had retired themselves at their homes escaping from the afternoon sun. Frankenso had telephoned her husband to join her in her brother’s marriage, but no compromise had been made. Anger had been lingering on her face, her mind almost broken to pieces. With the dilapidated mind she walked fast to the road and hired an auto to the railway station. She had neglected Comfoten’s plan to drop her by his two-wheeler at the station. She had no one to confide her sorrow but to Consolina and Comfoten. She even shouted to Consolina and Comfoten that she would go alone by the auto, but Consolina and Comfoten convinced her to be calm. Frankenso requested both Consolina and Comfoten to accompany her. So the three started to the station.
Frankenso’s thoughts were always hovering over her family’s special occasion. She was very happy to go but alone, for she had to ride alone. The three reached the station. No sooner did the three reach the station than the clock on the tower of the railway station struck seven times. Frankenso looked at the clock. The three carrying the luggage hurried to the station platform.
"The train to Metropolis is at platform no.1 and to start at thirty minutes past seven." An announcement was going on followed by sequence of announcements for other trains.
The three sat on a bench sharing their views on various topics among one another. Frankenso was still in the broken mind, but managed to balance herself. Her mind raced forward imagining about the marriage occasion.
"Hey. Stop imagining." Consolina broke Frankenso" fantastic dreams. "Ah..Ah..Ah..Tomorrow at this time I shall be at the dressing chamber." Frankenso was awake and bluntly spoke.
"You’re very happy, aren’t you?" Comfoten reaffirmed her joy.
"You would be happier if accompanied by your hubby, wouldn’t you?" Consolina added.
"Oh, yes…But he won’t. He is struck in a special work, he says. Let him." Frankenso was casual in her reply.
Frankenso was indeed a girl of rigidity with certain flexibilities. Her rigidity lay with her family ties, and her flexibilities lay with social ties. Yes, she had a reason for her rigidity and flexibility.
Comfoten reminded Frankenso of the train’s departure time. The tower clock showed fifteen minutes past seven. The train with a shrieking noise entered the platform no.1 and halted with quivering jerks. Doors of the compartment were opened and the passengers were scurrying into theirs. Frankenso had already reserved a berth. So she had no tension for the journey. The three occupied the berth allotted. It was seventy-two. It was the side lower berth. She kept her two bags beneath the berth and tied them to the ring attached to the seat with a long iron chain and a lock. Eighteen minutes were left for the commencement of her journey. A little time to share among the three!
"Are you happy now, Fran?" Consolina asked.
"Quite happy." Replied Frankenso with an unseen sorrow.
"Enjoy the occasion." Affirmed Comfoten.
"I’m happy now with you both." But Frankenso’s joy was unrealistic.
"Surrenvole and you shall be united soon and the day is not far." Comfoten made a positive assertion of the statement.
"It’s God’s will." It was a plain reply of Frankenso.
The train jolted. Consolina and Comfoten alighted from the slow moving train. They shook hands with Frankenso extending their wishes to her for the marriage. Frankenso reciprocated their wishes.
"Bye bye, see you both soon." Frankenso waved her hands at the train moved from the platform.
"Same to you." Consolina and Comfoten wished her back.
The train left carrying Frankenso with it. And Frankenso started carrying her mind with heaviness of sorrow but the lightness of jollity with her. She was sorrowfully happy, her mind being obsessed with the loneliness in her life, coupled with momentary festivity with her family. She would join the momentary festivity. And she had a hope that Surrenvole would join her and the momentary festivity would bring lasting joy in the reunion of the couple. The train was carrying her hope. And the train would reach the destination. She would too….
31 October 2006 2.31 p m ---- 1 November 2006

The Plan Of God

The Plan Of God

He was traveling in the train bound for Springfield. The rattling sound of the wheels was breaking the silence, but not the journeying sleep of the passengers. His heart beat faster than the rattling wheels.
“Sir, where do you come from?” He opened a question to his fellow traveller.
“From Winowhere. You?”
“Me too the same.”
“Sir, what’s your name?” The fellow traveller inquired his name.
“Tenshis. Yours?”
“Stranman”, the fellow traveller answered.
“Where are you going?” Tenshis inquired Stranman.
“To Springfield,” Stranman promptly answered. “You?”
“Me? The same.” Tenshis too was prompt in answering.

Meanwhile a train vendor passed Tenshis and Stranman, selling cartoon pictures for children.
“Hello, sir,” Called Tenshis.
“Here am I, sir,” the vendor reached Tenshis.
“Show me those cartoon pictures.”
Tenshis looked at some and picked three pictures.
“Sir, how much?”
”Each ten rupees.” The train vendor said.
Tenshis paid ten rupees to the vendor.
“Sir, don’t you buy some pictures?” Tenshis asked Stranman.
“No, sir.”
“I bought these pictures for my immediate future baby.” Tenshis expressed his joy.

Tenshis and Hopewill had been married 16 years and 10 months before. “Folks” had chased them out yet God had been with them handling the couple mercifully through His people.
Tenshis had always a tender heart. The Word of God had absorbed him. This tender heart had made him marry a girl who had been left an orphan by her “living parents” (but now both her “parents” are really no more.)
Tenshis and Hopewill had started their life from “rich poverty” for the Heavenly support had always been with them.
Maybe it was God’s plan to keep Hopewill’s womb shut awhile for His miraculous wonder. Tenshis and Hopewill had been children to each other feeding the needy as much as they could.
The “folks” had taken the extreme possibilities to break their heavenly-made bond, but never to break it. The world had forsaken them, but not the Creator. God had been always been their first ONE.

They had longed for a baby, but the right time had not yet come. This longing for a baby had been a continuing process and they couldn’t understand God’s plan; for them. They waited… they waited…

Tenshis was carrying a cell phone through which he could communicate with his wife at Springfield. Tenshis’s heartbeat sounded faster than the rattling sound of the wheels. The train swayed like cradle, but the cradling did not cherish Tenshis for his mind had been obsessed with the thoughts of his carrying wife and the baby who was to be born.

“Stranman, today I’m thrilled. “ Tenshis could not control himself.
“Why, sir?”
“I’m to get a baby.” Tenshis was rejoiced saying.
“Oh!”
“It’s after 16 years and 10 months of our marriage.”
“Really fantastic!” Stranman was amazed.
“It’s God’s will.” Tenshis stressed on God’s part of creation.
“When is it due?” Stranman inquired.
“Tomorrow.”
“Who’s with her?”
“But God. Her elder brother has always been her moral support.”
“Her folks?” Stranman anxiously inquired.
”Oh, no, they’re dead.” Tenshis said flatly.
“Your folks?” Stranman inquired further.
“Oh. My “folks! They’re cruel and stony-hearted.” Tenshis could not control his suppressed grief.

Tenshis called his wife over his mobile phone. Ringing was being heard.
“Hello, I’m Hopewill.” The voice of Hopewill was heard.
“Hopewill, how are you? How is your health? Did you go for checking? Did Samtran visit you?” Tenshis inquired his wife in tensed mind.
“Oh, I’m fine, but experiencing a slight pain at the lower abdomen.”
“Go to doctor.” Tenshis advised Hopewill.
“Yes, in the evening with Samtran.” Hopewill’s voice was heard over the cell phone.
Tenshis’s heart beat faster than that of the launched rocket into the sky.
He had to spend the day and night sleeplessly, brooding over the travail with loneliness experienced by Hopewill. Yet he continued praying to his Maker for His loving support both to the mother and the baby in.

Callous to Tenshis’s anxiety over his Hopewell and the baby in, the train continued puffing up towards Springfield, and its duty was to run on wheels.
“Stranman, where are we now? Tenshis’s anxiety rose.
“Nearly three hours to reach.” Prompt was the answer.

“Hopewill, how are you now?” Tenshis spoke over his mobile phone.
“We’re in the hospital. The pain has started. Samtran is with me. God is always with us. Don’t worry.” Optimistic response came from the other side.
“What did the doctor say?” Tenshis’s anxiety doubled.
“She said she’d give me medicine to boost the travail.” Hopewill’s voice trembled.
“God is always with us. Bear it for God’s sake.” Tenshis’s encouraging words touched Hopewill’s heart.

Tenshis looked at his watch. It showed half-past eight. He had no appetite. The train halted at Anxire station half-an-hour. Platform vendors ran up and down close to the windows of each compartment. Tired passengers filled their stomachs with platform breakfast. Tenshis’s mind was obsessed with Hopewill’s experiencing travail.

“Hopewill how is it now?” Tenshis’s anxiety rose.
“Tenshis, it is severe. The doctor said delivery takes place in an hour.” Reply came from the other side.
With mind loaded with the thoughts of Hopewill and the baby within, Tenshis took himself back to his seat as the train had started. His mind was restless and was calling Hopewill over his cell phone intermittently and inquiring of her condition. It was half-past eleven.
“Hopewill, how are you? Is the baby born?” A person like Tenshis could only understand Tenshis’s anxiety.
“Not yet. The doctor said one O’ clock. Samtran is with me. Our neighbourhood women are at my side. Above all God is with me.” Reply of Hopewill was heard.

Tenshis’s mind raced back. Life to the couple of Tenshis and Hopewill seemed struggling, yet has been smooth by His heavenly touch..
“Tenshis, your “folks” did not treat me well. They always lashed their contempt at me. Did you know I had not eaten well? They said, ‘I do not earn and I’ve come from rags.” Complained Hopewill tearfully.
“Hopewill, don’t worry. They do not call us, but by God. He is always with us. He never forsakes us. But bear this pain awhile.” Comforted Tenshis.

Tenshis’s mind was stirred back by a sudden jerk of the train. All of a sudden the train halted. He looked at his watch. It showed one O’ clock.
“Hopewill, is the baby born?” anxiously enquired over the phone.
“Not yet. Oh! Unbearable the travail.” Painful reply came from the other side.
“Who’s beside you?”
“The Lord, Samtran, the doctor and the attendants.
“Tell the doctor to take the baby out.”
“She said an hour could be waited.” It was the reply of Hopewell.
“What do others say?” Tenshis inquired.
“What can others say?” Hopewill had been given local anesthesia, and she could see what was happening. She was wriggling and twisting her whole body out of travail. She cried out,” Christ Jesus, save me, save my child. We’re yours. Do not forsake us. Nobody but You are with me.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. Hopewill’s tears stirred Tenshis’s mind, and he wept bitterly thinking of Hopewill’s lonely struggle with life for her first baby.

Tenshis cursed his “folks” who had stony heart, and their callousness towards the loneliness of a pregnant child expecting her first issue. Those “folks” had never cared of her since the time of her conception. They had never suggested timely and nutritious diet. They had never bothered of the baby within who had been conceived after 16 years and 10 months of Tenshis and Hopewill’s marriage.

The train was still at rest Tenshis looked outside through the window. A She-goat was feeding her newly born baby. The other goats were standing around the mother and the baby. Suddenly a child’s cry came within his compartment. Tenshis looked in. It was a three-month old baby. The mother took the baby and gave it to her mother. Immediately
Tenshis’s heart melted. “Oh, Hopewill has lost her mother. Nobody is at Hopewill’s side to receive the child.” Tears welled in his eyes.
The train shrieked and slowly took speed. Tenshis looked at his watch. It was Three O’clock.
“Hello, who’s speaking?” Tenshis enquired. Not Hopewill but some had lifted the cell phone from the other side. “It’s Samtran. Hopewill has been taken to operation theatre.”
“What?” Tenshis rose in anxiety.
“Nothing. But the baby has to be taken out with caesarean surgery.” Samtran tried to convince Tenshis.
“What? Why?” With anxiety and agony Tenshis enquired.
“If not, the lives of both turn dangerous.” Samtran flatly ascertained.
“Ok, then continue.” Tenshis surrendered to the words of Samtran.
“Speak to the doctor directly” Samtran said.
Immediately Tenshis called the doctor on line.
“Hello, doctor. I’m Hopewill’s husband. Please save both the mother and the child.
“Sir, we tried for normal delivery, but maybe it’s God’s plan that the child has to be taken out through caesarean. Actually the baby’s head gets struck at the mother’s pelvic bone. The pelvic bone is slightly small in size.” The doctor explained to Tenshis. And Tenshis had to believe whatever the doctor had said.
“Ok, madam. Proceed with your surgery. The Lord is with us.” Tenshis finally spoke.

Hopewill had been experiencing an unbearable travail for about 12 hours.
“Oh! Jesus, save me, save my child. Let my tears reach Your Feet. Samtran, be with me. It’s a fatal pain.” Cried out Hopewill.
“Nothing will happen. You both will be saved. God is with you. I told the doctor to take the child out.” Consoled Samtran

Hopewill was taken to the operation theatre. She was lying on the bed, wriggling in pain. Still she was lying half-conscious, bearing the agonized travail for the sake of her first baby.
Tenshis’s mind paced to and fro beside Hopewill’s bed. His total being was with Hopewill and the baby to come out. His body laws simply oscillating in the running train.

Hopewill was given anesthesia. The wriggling body suddenly turned motionless. The surgeon and her attendants were ready with the instruments. After a short prayer the surgeon took the surgical instruments and started her surgery.
Samtran was pacing to and fro outside the threatre. Neighborhood women were also waiting outside as a moral support.

The train was nearing the destination. Tenshis looked at the watch. It was fifteen minutes to four. Having curiosity coupled with anxiety, Tenshis called Samtran.
“Samtran, is the baby born?”
“Surgery is going on.”
Tenshis switched off his mobile phone. His mind denied patience, and was troubled in anxiety. He looked at his watch. It was nine minutes to four.
“Samtran, is the baby born?”
“Ten, the baby is born. Here’s her cry. Hear it.
The child’s cry entered Tenshis’s heart over the mobile phone.
“Auha…Auha…Auha…”
Tenshis’s joy had no bounds. His heart romped in joy. Immediately he donated a copy of the Bible that he had had to Stranman.
Tenshis prayed to Father in Heaven:
“Dear Father in Heaven, thank You very much. Protect the mother. Protect the child. The child is Yours. The Child is Your Gift. God’s Gift!”

“Samtran, how is Hopewill?” Tenshis immediately inquired.
“She is fine, but unconscious due to the effect of anesthesia.” Samtran comforted.

Thirty minutes passed. Hopewill recovered consciousness.
“Madam how is my child? Did she cry? Is she all right? Does she have good eyesight? Does she have healthy arms and limbs? Is she healthy in all respects?” Hopewill inquired the doctor seriously.
“Yes, Hopewill, everything is fine. She’s all right in every respect. Really the child is God’s Gift.” The doctor reassured the health of the child.
“Madam, give me my child. I want to feed her.”
The child was taken to the breast of Hopewill. The child was breastfed for the first time. In every suck by the child Hopewill was experiencing joy that had no bounds. She felt she was in Heaven, because God had rewarded her ultimately.

The train touched the platform no. 3. It took nine minutes to halt. Tenshis had no patience, and so taking his belongings he ran first to the door to get down. The train made a final shriek. No sooner did the train halt than Tenshis jumped onto the platform. He hurried to hire an auto.
On his way, he called Hopewill:
“Hello, Hopewill, how are you? How is the child?”
“By the Lord’s grace, we’re fine.” Hopewill was seen pleased through her reply.

Hopewill called the doctor:
“Madam, give my child to Samtran who is everything to us, next to God. Call him here.”
Samtran was called. He stood beside Hopewill’s bed.
“Samtran, receive my child.”
Hopewill’s eyes were shrouded with tears. “Thank you, Samtran.”
Her heart was overwhelmed with gratitude.
The neighbourhood women were all moved in emotion. The whole of the hospital was filled with sensational emotion.

Tenshis, sitting in the auto, pressed driver to ride faster than his heartbeat. He took his cell phone:
“Hopewill, are you all right? Is our child all right? I am on way to see you both.”
His anxiety had no bounds.

It was twelve minutes to five. The auto screeched in front of the hospital. Thrusting the fare into the hands of the driver, Tenshis rushed to the maternity ward all the way carrying anxiety with him to see the God’s Gift.

“Hey! The God’s Gift! My Darling! Hopwell, how are you both?” An ineffable joy felt in Tenshis’s face. He took the child in his arms and imprinted a thousand kisses on the cheeks of the child. Holding the baby in the arms, Tenshis enquired Hopewill:
“Now, how are you? Are you pleased with God’s Gift? God has ultimately answered our prayers. He has turned the barren land to the land of fertility. Let’s resolve to bring up the God’s Gift in His ways.” Tears of joy rolled down the couple’s cheeks.
“Hopewill, as you had in mind, our God’s Gift shall be named as ‘Godsano.’ Tenshis recalled Hopewill’s words.
“Thank you very much, Samtran. We owe you a lot. God bless you.” Tenshis offered gratitude to Samtran. Joy danced everywhere around.