Losing things...

Some things you won't get back

All through life we lose things. Some are small, some are important. Some are tangible, some intangible. We never know what we would lose tomorrow and usually we forget what we lost yesterday. Sometimes we get back our lost jewels, many times the lost remains lost forever.

During our childhood, we lost our cricket balls. After a particularly strong hit the ball landed on a thicket. It was late. In the growing darkness we searched for it half-heartedly hoping that next morning we would find it. But that next morning never would come.

While growing up we lost bigger things. It was Sunday. The bus was not crowded. I got a seat in front of the ladies seat. The golden rays of the setting sun colored her sweet face. I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. Our eyes met at regular intervals. One silent minute felt like eternity. Just when a seat was vacated near her and I got up to occupy it, she stood up. Her destination had come. For a month I searched her off and on in that route.

My friend lost his heart. He thought he got one back from his girl in exchange. But after three years of intense courtship with him, she chose a better specimen for marriage. Who could explain to my friend that it is a natural phenomenon in the usual dance of hormones. He thought he had lost the world. For three days he couldn’t get up from bed, couldn’t eat or sleep. We know that the young recover quickly. My friend was no exception.

Still later I lost my father. I could not believe for a long time that he is no more. The whole world changed overnight. From a sleep I woke up. I started knowing my father from snatches of memory. Now more clear than when he was alive.

Once we lived in a house surrounded by gardens and lakes. We played amongst the trees. My father left the place on transfer. My childhood remained locked in that garden house. Many years later I returned back to my childhood house. I found it all boarded up surrounded by unkempt jungle.

During our college days we spent uncountable hours in a small teashop near our college. So many happy, sad, angry moments spent with friends in that teashop. Many years later, I took my wife to show my teashop. In vain I searched for it. After some time, I finally met a man who remembered the tea shop. It was closed down and replaced by a multi-storied building. It had just vanished from the face of the earth.

Recently, my friend lost his wife. He was disconsolate. His only son is settled abroad. In his two storied flat he would have to live alone till his own departure. I consoled him, saying—it is part of life. I knew full well it is true for him as well as me.

Enough of losing people and losing hearts! Let us share the knowledge of a few small losses. My son inherited my propensity to lose. When he was 10 years old he lost his watch in school. I asked him dumbfounded, how could it happen! He couldn’t remember clearly. The watch chain must have come lose and being a dreamy person, he didn’t notice the moment it fell off. The other day he lost his mobile from home. I recalled that a few repairmen came into our house. Or was it in school? We couldn’t pinpoint. So we moved on and gave him a new mobile.

The loss of his school fee book gave me maximum trouble. I couldn’t believe it is lost. I myself had misplaced it. I searched for three long days. My son helped me out in my quest with a sad face. Finally I accepted defeat and calmly told him a profound truth, “You know: most things can be recovered. I will get a new fee book, don’t worry.” And next day I got it and paid the fees without any problem. He was happy. 

He will know the truth of what can be recovered and what can’t be when he grows up.