Lessons that stay!

I am sharing what 'I Saw and I Learnt' at BlogAdda.com in association with DoRight.in

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A day that usually begins with chirping of birds and enthusiastic cries from a group of children riveted in an intense play would on any other day end in a tiresome 2-hour commute. That, on any other day.

The start however was ever so consistent in its manner, the end got a bit distorted. We increasingly develop and attach strings to our routines. So, this aberrance in the 'end ' wasn't received very nicely.

I was sipping water from the glass when my mother answered my question. Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke.

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The number of people in the park started to reduce, in inverse proportion to the increase in time as clock ticked towards 8pm second by second. Those were perhaps the last rounds as dusk lurked. My Dad who has developed this habit of going for evening walks was walking his rounds too. 

A young kid strangely started to circle around him. Dad did notice but didn't pay much heed. As a part of the plan that it must have been, suddenly another guy (must be around 30) jumped in from behind the bush and caught my father by his neck. Pulled him back and twisted the neck. As my father was going unconscious his hand touched the older guy's trouser pocket. A knife it must have been.

The next thing he knew was lying in a ditch-shaped structure with injuries to his chin and nose and a strained neck.

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A feeling of angst and paroxysm emerged as I heard the story. Never had I seen my father speaking with an attitude and a voice as inexplicable as that. For what my dad's safety meant, I thanked God, would merely be an understatement. That attack was more a mental one, than a physical one.

Of course he lost his cellphone which I had gifted him (from my salary; the cellphone meant a lot to him) and a bit of cash but what he did not lose was his undying spirit. Within a few days, my dad was up and walking in the same park amidst the same crowd. Despite the repeated piece of verbal caution thrown at him by me and my family, he refused to give in.

Obviously he is more observant and circumspect now but he won't simply shy away by acts of terror which are coward to the core. And unknowingly, he passed on to me two very key aspects to this whole encounter.

With age not on his side, he maintained a sense of calmness by submitting himself on observing a knife. Something the youth in me would not have done and ultimately resulted in a dual blow of brutal injuries and aggravated mental distress to self and family.
As a second and crucial point, he made sure that attackers like such are not lulled into a false sense of superiority. He stayed strong over the period of time and did not give in to the trauma of an almost-murder attempt.

He epitomized what Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam says

Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you,

but to make you realize your hidden potential and power,

let difficulties know that you too are difficult.

Lessons in life are sprinkled everywhere around us, we need our receptors to be active and acceptable enough. For the two gems of wisdom that day and many more ever since we have grown together, You're my Hero Papa, You're my Hero.

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