Snakes & Ladders

I have a serious problem with you God!

Why? What happened? He asked.

It is early morning on a Friday and a father is off to work travelling from Mumbai to Pune on a official trip. Before boarding the train, the father texts ‘Good Morning’ to his sons, something he has been doing for years now. The elder of the sons is in Delhi studying engineering and the younger one is at a boarding school in the hills. The mother, too, is well placed in the academic world. Four parts of a perfect square in four different parts of the country yet what binds them is their mutual love for an easy life, travelling to many parts of the country and a spirit of adventure which is something that may be in their DNA because of the father who feared nothing. From cycling to Khardung La, the highest motorable road on a simple cycle to managing a VIP security pass and watching the Republic Day Parade from the VIP enclosure when he was just eighteen.

No sooner had the father stepped down from the rail car, when a call came. The father rushed to Delhi with a heart broken mother in tow. After completing the formalities, they left for Haridwar to spread the ashes of their elder son who, the night before, wrote a long letter before ending a young story abruptly. He called me up to inform me and I had nothing to say. The letter said that the boy was upset with his poor scores in the college examination and that he had failed his parents and his loved ones. No one will ever know the real reason why a friendly and happy boy would take such a step but the family he left behind is completely shattered. Sometimes the mother goes into the gloom, at others, the father. One evening after a week or so I got a call from the mother who sounded disturbed and said that your friend is gone into a shell and is refusing to eat and come out to meet people…can you speak to him. Took courage and spoke…we spoke for long and in between even recollected some funny incidents of life….idiot was I trying to joke at this hour but in some time got a text from the mother saying your friend has come out of the room, looks fine and is feeling very hungry…thanks.

Why did it have to be them O God? They were such good people, the father is like a brother to me and never has he done any harm to anyone living or dead. Yet this is how you treat him? When everything seemed going good for the family, you change their fate and story completely…why, God, why? And this is not the only reason for me questioning you and your benevolence.

They were two youngsters who had slogged their way into the science stream, got admitted into the best of college on sheer merit and worked their way through the tough three years of grueling hard work in libraries and laboratories. He was kid faced, a kid at heart and loved gorging food. She was mature, confident and brave, never afraid of any situation. Two very different people but as they say opposites attract and so they fell in love in the corridors of the heritage college and its famed canteen. Every day they would meet, at times with other friends and at times alone but always together. But both kept up with their passion for science and got their post graduation seat in India’s finest college for science at Bangalore.

Some time ago, the girl complained of a twitching sensation on her arms. She ignored it initially but when the frequency increased, she consulted the specialists. From one doctor to another, one consultant and specialist to another, one test after another and they concluded that she had a rare ailment. By now the girl’s parents who lived in another town came down and met the doctors. Test reports were shared with friends abroad but they all were unanimous, the ailment was there for certain. The illness is not life threatening but the girl needs to take some special medicines which have  side effects which brings down the  immunity levels drastically. The boy has stood firmly by the girl and when asked by her parents, will you still marry her…Yes I will said he.

Why would you do it God? A girl of no more than twenty five, just when her career and life seemed taking-off, you put a spanner. She wants to live life but you won’t let her…Why? Life seems to be like playing the game of Snakes & Ladders where we move up sometimes slowly and at times get an elevator called ladder but then there is you lurking with your fangs out…a slip here and down your poison brings us tumbling down. Wonder why we pray to you? Are you really good as we all believed or you are evil and will ruin lives just at anytime….Getting more and more convinced of you as you are the cause of most deaths, people dying to make your temples or killing others to spread your words….stop playing this dangerous game O God!

He was the brightest boy in the class if not in school. When we were struggling with Enid Blytons and comics, he was reading classics like Gone With the Wind. Almost in every subject be it Maths or Hindi, he would always be right there on top. From school he went to the best of engineering institutes, IIT, Delhi and from there a flight to the US of A was but a natural choice. I had lost touch with him but a few others had said he had made quite a name for himself in the tech world and also made tons of money by selling his patents. After working for many years, he felt the urge to return to India. With his two kids and wife, he landed on the Indian shores and decided to settle down in Bangalore where he took charge of a global internet service provider as its CEO.

Thanks to FB and Whatsapp, a school reunion was planned in 2005 and since then the tradition has continued with us meeting once every year around November end at Delhi with folks flying down from various destinations including from abroad. About five years ago we came to know he had taken charge in India of the biggest name in the technology world. We all felt happy and proud. It couldn’t have been better and happier times for the family till one fine day the daughter of 9 fell sick. What started off as a mere fever ended in her becoming bed-ridden and unable to manage her daily chores. The father initially took a six month sabbatical from work to ensure his loving daughter got the best treatment in India and abroad. All efforts failed to completely cure the girl. Last when I met my friend he said he had given up his job and nowadays just spends time with his daughter at home, cooking for her and taking care of her.

Here was one little soul caught between life and living life. Do you still want me to have faith in you? Do you still want me to light an incense stick before your picture? Why do you wreck such a perfect picture in an instant? All these are people I know so you need to answer me for sure.

No matter how hard you shout, The Master keeps quiet. He never justifies anything. Everything in this world that happens must be understood by us mortals in our own way. That no one is forever happy is the first fundamental truth of life. Take the richest men and the most powerful people, they have their share of sadness and tragedies. On the other, even the poorest and powerless have sparks of joy. The world and life is a mixture of good, bad and the ugly and everyone has his or her share of it. Scratch a surface and you’ll find everyone without exception carrying his cross and halo at the same time.

That He is the Creator, the Destroyer and Preserver is also a fundamental truth. You love him for being the creator of life, you praise him for being the preserver and giver of joy and also hate him for destroying everything that is yours. One whiff of air and all your beautiful castles and riches go up in air. But life goes on with all its pain and agony.

The Ultimate truth of life is that He is the Grandmaster of the Game of Life. Whether you find similarity with Snakes and Ladders where he gives you space to walk at normal pace, then gives you a ladder to speed up your progress which makes you happy. But just then He puts a snake around to bring you back, throw all your advances to tell you how small you are in this whole big Universe and in his play of things. You could also compare it with the game of Chess which has Black and White blocks everywhere signifying if there is good, there is bad as well, if there is happiness, there is pain around. Every person on the board moves differently and for moving ahead you either find open spaces or defeat someone. He lets you win sometimes but not always.

Get reminded of a couplet from an old hindi song which says:

Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta,

Kisi ko zameen, kisi ko aasmaan nahin milta.

So be happy with what you have. Praise him for what he has given. Find the reasons to be happy till you can. Leave the rest to The Grandmaster.

SS