The sound of silence

Responsibility often arrives shrouded in uncertainty.

He was the oldest in the family of 9 members.
Just 18, having lit his fathers funeral pyre, he walked back home with a heavy heart.
Unable to cry or even feel anymore, he sat along the grassy shores of the flowing stream, gazing into the gentle waters.
Throwing a pebble into it, he watched as the ripples caused by the impact send ever expanding circle of waves patterned across the blue sky and green coconut trees reflected in the clear waters.

Reflecting, his mind flashed back.
   
The family bathed and played here, his parents always led the children to the water everyday to wash and clean themselves. Mother with a lot of sweet smelling jasmine flowers in her black, wavy, oiled, long lustrous hair, her serene face with a hint of smile, a song hovering on her lips.
She chanted vedic mantras or hummed to the classical music that played at the temple festivals. He wondered how she managed the family of 7 children. As an army man, father was home just for three weeks in a year but she always had them all clean, fed, clothed and happy.

The telegram shattered their happy household, his mother's pleading looks prompted the postman to read it as she feared the news even as she saw him alighting from his black bicycle. His troubled face and sad eyes gave away the news as she crumbled. The children screamed as the ladies surrounded her.
He heard the wailing, shrill cries and the hush as they whispered and looked at him.
Wiping away tears, he could hear his father telling him he was now the Man of the house.
The youngest twin boys were barely six months old.

Going from boyhood to adulthood in that moment he recalled his father whisper the Gayatri Mantra  (holy chant) in his ears during his thread ceremony two years ago.
 "You are the oldest male member of the house when I am away, you have to protect everyone''.
Heart throbbing, he decided a career in Medicine as planned was out of question, he had to join the Army to keep the family together. Mother could  not accept the job entitled to the family on sympathetic grounds, the younger children needed her presence in everyday life.
His sister, a year younger, slipped quietly by his side and held his trembling hand that had lit the pyre. "Our father was proud and honest, true and just, we have to cherish his memory and hold our heads high as he died a hero, defending our Nation" she whispered.
They made a pact, she would take charge of their mother and all the little ones, he would accept the  position of entitlement from the Army so he would get paid, they could all go to school and keep the house allotted. The family pension and her income as teacher, with his salary and entitlement of housing would keep them together.
Gently they guided the younger ones home.

Time flew.
He was a commissioned Army Doctor, she a Professor in Mathematics.
The younger children flourished under the stern discipline of their indomitable mother who shouldered the new role of both parents smoothly. The family was close knit, the tiny twins kept them smiling and focused. Everyone did their bit - milking cows, delivering newspapers, threading flowers to be sold at the temple arena, stitching clothes and household garments, taking care of children when parents needed time off...all honest yet paying work. The community helped, always calling on the family for any work that was needed and did not grudge paying as each member did sincere work.

 Twenty five years later, the Major retired from the Army to start practice in his hometown. Together with his friend and fellow serviceman, a veterinarian, the town now had an exclusive care center for patients and animals.
Their loving mother surprised her two oldest by bringing together her son and a recently widowed young lady and also talking her daughter into agreeing to wed the bachelor veterinarian who had waited all along for this day.
The younger siblings were all settled by then, the next generation of children were nurtured by the Major and the Professor.
The still smiling, loving Grandma was always there for them all, every evening the family gathered to pay their obeisance to the Grand Hero (grandfather) who even in death had provided the means for his family to live on..

Respect, responsibility and family bonds weathered many sacrifices to create progress and harmony.