The spastic child written by Ritendra Bhattacharya

The husband was asking a question, “tell me”, he said, “who is responsible for this spastic child”?

- “you mean Pinu, my child”? ,
- “hardly a spastic”, the mother and Amit’s wife demurred.
           

            Amit’s mind raced back over the details of his first encounter with Hema.
-“Had all that really happened”, he thought, but now it seemed what a waste, “oh God, how did I got on with this girl” – “Got on! Got on! It isn’t a question of getting on” thundered back Hema, “what a fool I was”, she added.

            Hema glanced at the baby, who was firmly placed on the perambulator tucked in the comfortable leather back seat of Amit’s newly achieved company issue car. These couples have decided to consciously use the privacy of their fast moving car to solve dispute at the top of their voice to keep that cool image in their upscale modern apartment.

            The violent speed of the wheels and the calm interiors of the car seemed in sharp contrast, until one peeped inside the couples mind. The tension between the couple was not because of their child, but as a result of negative feelings. The child was three years past his admission age, but still unable to go to school. The reason being the parents, who believed, sending the child to a special school for the disabled would obstruct their social standing. Three futile attempts had been made to a high and reputed international school, but in disguise. The child isn’t allowed to be seen outdoors and playing in the neighborhood lawn, only to disguise his physical disability from the outside world. Amit very often uses torture on the child to lash out his frustration in the justification of correcting the child.

            The violent moving wheels of the car was still moving, but gradually slowing down. The car itself had stopped and lying upside down, when it collided head on with a tree while taking a sharp u turn on the highway. Whether it was driving error or divine fate, cannot be said. It must have been divine intervention that freed the angry beasts from the steel cage of the car. The baby boy was also freed from his high family identity and expectations of the society.

            They named the baby Vijay. He could now play for the first time in his life on green grass and enjoyed all the love and attention they showered upon him. He was now adopted by ‘them’. They are societies outcast, and are called eunuchs by the civilized society.

 Wrote on Jun 11, 2010 8:17