In the year 2065…

I would like to share my recent travel experience. I am now 78 years old. Well, I have not retired from my job and every day I wake up with more enthusiasm to contribute to my cbhosen field. One of the reasons for such enthusiasm in its true sense is to eat tasty food my wife prepares flawlessly. Last Thursday, I received a call from my granddaughter, Mahati. As usual, the most energetic voice was heard. She started persuading me for a vacation to her husband’s native over the upcoming weekend. I was also a little exhausted with multiple projects and wanted to take a break. I told her to just get a confirmation from her grandmother and I am all in. In no time, my wife came to me and told me we are joining Mahati and her husband over the weekend. I felt super happy.

Morning My/Our grandchildren came to pick us up in the early hours of Saturday and started the drive towards Sirsi. The journey was filled with lots of fun, music, eatables, and a lush green route. Mahati’s husband Madhwesha has got great driving skills and the best entertainer we could have ever got. After reaching his place, we ate a sumptuous meal. My wife and I rolled a mat in the open veranda of the house and relaxed for a while. The cool natural breeze was soothing and soon we slipped into a deep sleep.

By the time I woke up in the evening , others were enjoying playing games inside the house. I freshened up and informed them that I will be going for a walk. The pleasant atmosphere, the welcoming smiles of the people around, cattle, greenery, birds chirping as they made their way back and great temples in this place certainly deserves a mention. When I was returning after an hour’s walk , something caught my attention. While all the houses were beautifully built, people wore happiness and joy on their faces and the whole village looked wholesome with great culture and was sophisticated with modern aesthetics ,. There was one house greatly built, but pathetically maintained and a middle-aged man slowly came out to sit in the front yard with a box. Somehow, I felt he is unfit to live in such a beautiful location(/site), as he was an odd man. I slowed down and tried to observe the contents of his box. It was filled with a couple of glass bottles, some aluminum containers, and small boxes of plastic. The man didn’t even look at the people on the road. Even the people passing by didn’t care about him. I found it strange and just walked back home.

By the time I went home, the dinner was ready and I sat to enjoy it with the family. Madhwesha rendered a great song composed by Sri Vijayadasaru and proved yet again he was the best groom we could have found for Mahati. I told my wife that I would like to sleep in the open veranda and asked her to sleep inside the room. Madhwesha also came along to accompany me. Being a psychiatrist, in less than five minutes he asked what is bothering me. He also told me he could sense that I was a little lost after coming home from the walk. I felt good that someone brought this up and told him about my observation of the corner house in the lane behind. Madhwesha paused for a minute and told “If you want to know about it, I suggest you go and talk to the person directly. You will get first-hand information. You can do it tomorrow morning after breakfast. So you peacefully take rest and sleep now”

I started walking towards that house soon after the breakfast next day. As I approached the house, I found it to be locked. I waited for a couple of minutes there and the same person I saw the previous day appeared slowly walking towards the entrance. He looked at me and silently went inside. After 5 minutes he came out and sat opposite to me on the bench in the compound of his house. For the first time, I saw someone like him in my life. His hair was too rough, skin got completely burnt and patched, hardly any teeth left, a lot of pimples on the ears which was terrible to even see. His hands had lot of markings of injections. One of the legs had an artificial leg attached.

I smiled at him and introduced myself. He had tears as I spoke. “This is the first time in the last 13 years someone spoke to me so kindly and treated me as a human. Thank you” he said. Without wasting time, I came to the point and poured all my questions. He listened to all my questions attentively and took a deep breath. He started talking to me.

“Sir, I am happy that you came forward and asked me why I am living this way and showed compassion. Thank you for that. Well, I have no clue why I am going through this hell. I will tell you certain things which might sound strange and silly. But I know the truth and I have gone through enough.

If you look back into the year 2020, our world got infected with a virus called “Corona” or “Covid 19”. All the possible care, health infrastructure, facility, medicine, and vaccination were made available. Though the first wave of the dangerous virus didn’t cause extreme harm to our country in the year 2020, the second wave in 2021 was devastating. The spread of the virus was like a forest wild fire. Many innocent people started losing their lives. One of the key issues faced by the people was finding the right treatment and hospital beds. During that time, the Government appointed people to manage the increasing demand.

One of such appointed people was Saroja. She was given the responsibility of making sure the people in need of medical treatment were served. As the technology had already evolved in a great way, they had released a website where people could book beds in the hospitals. Saroja saw a great opportunity to make a lot of money using this system. She formed a group of 5 young people, promising to give them a lot of money and prepared a blueprint. People were desperate and struggling to survive. Using this helpless situation, her team listed the Covid infected people in their respective areas, started calling them one by one, and found out who all got the doctor’s advise as mild symptoms and were suggested to be home quarantined(/quarantined at home) and take rest. Whoever confirmed this, a hospital bed was blocked in their names. Which means those beds will not be occupied by the people they spoke to. Meanwhile, as the demand increased rapidly for hospital beds and treatments, her team started secretly dealing with people by giving away the beds for 25,000 to 80,000 INR. People wanted to just survive and paid whatever amount they asked and got the beds.

In just a span of 13 days, Saroja had 10.5 crore INR with her. She promptly shared 2 crores with her team who made this happen and kept the remaining 8.5 crores with her. This was identified and investigated by Govt and stopped this scam. With just 10 lakh rupees spent on lawyers and court, Saroja got out of this scam and started enjoying her life. Effectively she spent just 1 month in this entire process and made a net earning of 8.4 crores INR. She and her husband brought a great house and admitted their children to international schools. They enjoyed life to the fullest extent possible.

However, the two children didn’t do well in academics. They constantly failed and didn’t even complete 10th class. Having observed this, Saroja got them married at an early age to big businessmen hoping to see their life would be prosperous.

When Saroja was 52 years old, she found out that her husband was having an extramarital affair at an the age of 55. When she confronted it with her husband, he threw her out of the home and brought the other lady, and officially declared her as his wife. Soon, Saroja and her husband divorced each other. The two children(/daughters) of Saroja were residing in the USA with their husbands. One of the daughter’s husband suffered a huge loss in business and due to which he committed suicide. The daughter was left alone in a remote part of America like an orphan. The husband of the other daughter was caught in a big fraud that he was involved in and sentenced to jail for 12 years. Unable to bear this insult, the 2nd daughter committed suicide.

When this news reached Saroja, she was already suffering from multiple ailments. Hearing this news, she had terrible and painful last days of life and died having no one by her side. The only daughter who was staying remotely in America was pregnant when her husband died. After she conceived a baby, she tried to impart all the great values to him with the support of the women empowerment wing in the USA. As soon as the son completed his 10th standard, she told him about their family’s previous generation and requested to go back to India and live in the house of his ancestors to further take care of some leftover fields and properties. Listening to his mother’s words, the son and the mother flew to India and started living in their ancestor’s house.

Though the son was well cultured and educated, he couldn’t complete his graduation due to unforeseen health issues. Mother died due to a snake bite while sleeping. The son became alone and realized that if he somehow convinces a girl to marry, the curse would continue. I am that unfortunate son of this pathetic family, sir.

Since the age of 20, I am going through all sorts of painful ailments. I have a lot of money, but nothing could cure me. I have my routine and this box which you see here is having 17 medicines that I need to consume daily to just survive. I eat medicines 5 times more than my food. Saroja was my grandmother. The things she did were brutal and exploited innocent lives. You may not agree that I am going through this because of what my Grandmother did. But I don’t want to continue the family and want to stop this suffering at my generation itself. I know how much pain and suffering my mother went through. I am experiencing horrible days of my life for the last 27 years. Though the world is so advanced and medical technology has evolved, nothing can cure my problem. I also heard that the team who worked with my Grandmother also had a similar downfall and the entire generation suffered without any betterment.

I am the live example, the 3rd generation person who is still reaping the fruits of 8.4 crores, my grandmother, quickly earned. I have to apply this organic oil all over my body before getting exposed to the sun, if not my skin gives me a burning experience that is worse than death. Every 3 days I have to bleed through my ears to calm down my pimples in that region. Legs have lost all their strength. Every joint in my body is broken devoid of important nerves. When I just lift my hands to put the food in my mouth, it hurts badly. My back is having ulcers filled with puss. I can’t sleep peacefully.

I never expect people to treat me well, but you came to me and spoke. I have my life in my way. You have got good grandchildren. I have seen Madhwesha and Mahati happily enjoying their life. God be with you, sir. Don’t sit for a long time in front of me. This pain is never-ending”

Having said this whole story without a break, he took his medical kit and quietly went inside and shut the door. I was feeling disturbed, strange, and helpless. I slowly walked back to my grandchildren’s place. As usual, they were waiting for lunch. Madhwesha came to me and told “Hope you are feeling better. Please come and join us”