The Incomplete lesson

The clock was inching towards 8:20am.

“Ayesha, we are getting late!”

Rajesh was getting impatient to leave home for office, and he had to drop his son Abhijay at school. It was the morning routine, where every minutes’ delay only flared temperatures between him and his wife Ayesha.

The mornings on weekdays were not dissimilar. After dropping his son at school, Rajesh headed to office. The music from the car’s speakers energized the morning, and in the evening it drowned the anxieties of the day. The dinner was served in front of the TV to some prime time news, or a movie. With ten years of marriage between them, Rajesh and Ayesha shared responsibilities of the household, sometimes stated, and sometimes unspoken.

After dinner Abhijay would insist for at least a couple of stories to ensure he gets an early sleep. If Ayesha wasn’t reading stories from the books she rented weekly, it was Rajesh’s responsibility to create the tales.

“Today I will tell you a story about….”- his stories rolled out; Abhijay was just six years old and the stories had to excite his imagination and also absorb a simple message. Rajesh planted new themes and recurring messages. The message was the core that helped him to populate his stories with new characters. It was his silent prayer that these messages take seed in Abhijay’s mind and later grow into his character.

On Saturdays, Abhijay attended roller skating classes at a nearby school. Rajesh would take the cover off his motorcycle as his son watched in sheer excitement for his ride to the school.

“Would you be the fastest today?” – Rajesh asked smilingly as he looked at his son on the rear view mirror.

“Aahan and Rohit are in Standard four and faster. I will come third.” – Abhijay submitted.

After the initial running and stretching exercises, Rajesh helped his son get ready with the roller skates and protective gear. He retired to the newspaper that he had squeezed inside his son’s bag; when not looking admiringly at his son shuffling his legs to pick up speed at the corners he read the news.

“Ice-cream please, please….please” – Abhijay’s eyes twinkled below his skating helmet, as he announced the end of the day’s session.

“Not today, you have not recovered from cold” – Rajesh spoke endearingly as they walked down the stairs.

“Just one scoop, please”

“How about pizza in the evening?” – Rajesh bargained, as he inserted the key into the motorcycle.

As Rajesh looked at the road to clear, a blue hatchback Toyota stopped by; the driver a young man in his early twenties looked helplessly. The young man got out and asked for help from the security guards manning the nearby buildings.

Three street youths rushed to help; Rajesh noticed that one of the youths walked with a certain gait. Together they pushed the car with all their strength. The very next moment the car’s engine sprang into life and it sped away thanklessly; two of the youths could release themselves from the car, but the one Rajesh had noticed, could not. He fell forward on one of his knee, and Rajesh almost heard his bone hit the unkind tarmac.

The boy limped from the road to the pavement and fell down, clasping his left knee in utter pain.

Rajesh looked at the boy and requested the security guard of the skating school to get some first-aid. The sleepless eyes of the security guard spoke of his unpreparedness to this emergency.

“Abhijay, hold your bag and this newspaper. Let me get some first aid. Do not go anywhere. Security, please keep an eye on my son.”

Rushing to the reception, Rajesh asked for a first aid box and was fortunate to find one. He quickly got a handful of cotton balls dipped in an antiseptic solution, and an ointment cream and rushed across the street to the injured boy. Abhijay watched from the distance in a state of shock.

As Rajesh lifted the boy’s trousers above his knee, he saw a large wound that needed medical attention. He gently pressed the cotton balls with the antiseptic solution on the wound as the boy cried in ever growing pain. It took six large cotton balls to absorb the blood and clean the wound respectably to put the ointment.

“Can you try standing up?” Rajesh enquired.

The boy’s face was smeared in his tears. He wailed, but did not answer.

Rajesh bought a bottle of water and gave him.

“Have some water and clean your face. You will be fine. The pain will go away in sometime. Please visit a doctor in the nursing home down the road.”

As Rajesh walked towards his motorcycle, Abhijay stood looking at the boy.

“Abhijay, let’s go home. Mumma will be waiting, we are running late.”

Switching on the engine, Rajesh looked at the boy across the road.

“You will be fine, ensure you visit the nursing home.”

He did not get an answer. There were less tears and the pain looked temporarily abated.

“Please ensure he visits the nursing home down the road” – Rajesh requested the security guard who now looked remorseful.

The motorcycle thumped on the busy road. Abhijay was silent on the pillion.

“Do you remember the stories I tell you, Abhijay?”

“No…..yes”

“It is important that we serve people, whenever they are in need.” – Rajesh tried to spark a conversation, relevant to the recent experience.

“When we help others, God loves us. When God loves us, we get lots of cakes, chocolates and gifts.”

Abhijay interrupted – “Are you sure the boy would have gone to the nursing home? Or, he would be still be there on the pavement?”

Rajesh drove in silence.

He asked himself – Did he do enough for the injured boy, or it was an incomplete lesson…for young Abhijay.