Sunday, April 12, 2009

Why does God Prefers Younger Ones?

I write this with a very sad state of mind. It is about two losses of my life. The first one was six years back and the second was just four days back. I lost my brothers. Both were younger to me. First brother whom I lost six years back, was a very loving brother for all the siblings. My father passed away 54 years back. I was living with my husband's family. My mother, three brothers and a sister became almost helpless. My first brother took it as a challenge to lift the family from a very difficult condition. He was just 18. Working in a private company in Calcutta. Along with work, he did his M.Com and got a job in LIC at Calcutta. The second brother after completing his SSLC started an ayurvedic medical shop. He was very brilliant in studies, but the circumstances forced him to discontinue studies. After some time, a primary school started in our village. He managed to do teachers training and got a job as a teacher in that school. Then the ayurvedic shop became part-time. He looked after the family, with the help of my first brother's financial support. They managed to conduct marriage of my younger sister. Then my first brother moved to kerala from calcutta, and he got married. He couldn't take his wife to place where he worked, as he wanted to save as much money for the education of the youngest brother. The youngest one completed his B.Ed course and got a job as a teacher. He had to wait for 2 years to take his wife to the place where he worked. His sudden demise six years back was a real shock for me. I can not forget the help that he has done to me. Realizing that my son could not get good education in our native village, he took him with him to Trivandrum, put him in a good school, then college and ensured that he became an engineer. With that help, my son went on to do a Ph.D. from IIT. He helped everyone who needed help. Be it relatives or not. His life was full of selfless service, that too without making any noise. When he left us, I prayed to god "Why are you taking younger ones keeping me here, who is elder?"

Last week my youngest brother passed away in a sudden heart attack. He too was very loving brother and we all siblings had a special consideration for the youngest one. His children are settled and in the last two months he spent time with his one year old grandson. I can imagine how happy he would have been playing with his grand child. My great grand children are older than his grandson. Memories are fresh in my mind, when he grew in my lap, when he was infant and young boy. Because of circumstances at home, I had to take care of him and his all needs during his childhood. My mother was going through a bit of depression at that time. During his first job as a teacher in my village (where i was staying with my husband's family) he stayed with us for two years. At that time I didn't have to do anything for him. It was my mother-in-law who took care of him just as her own son. I believe that, my mother-in-law's love towards him was a reflection of her love towards me. He use to call us once in a while to talk over phone. Just two weeks back, he was expressing his happiness of spending time with his grand son. I couldn't bear the news of his passing away. I am still in shock. Again the same question pops up in my mind when I pray "Why are you taking the younger ones keeping me here, who is elder?".