The Plight of a Valiant

'Robert Frost:Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me'

Ever since I have been scribbling these notes, I have been wanting to write some thing about the 'family'. Some facts, fun and hurting. This post is purely about a person who I have tried to understand but failed to do so. A person who come into the daily life routine, disrupt the normal way but leave his mark by a smile or a glance that talks louder that any words he spoke. My late uncle, Ajith, whom I lost for more than a year now.

My family is not particularly a small one. Dad has six brothers, all of them are married and most of them have kids of their own. Some of them even live near by and some far. Grandma (mom's mom) has 4 children of which my Mom was the eldest. Uncle Ajith the second child followed by aunt Sujatha and Pradeep Uncle.

Every time I used to come to Kerala from Dubai for those summer vacations, I used to see Uncle Ajith in the house. I did not think much of him and to be perfectly frank was scared of the guy. He was some what an arrogant fella who used to show his command over me. But over the years, even though we had less number of visits from him, I came to know what kind of a personality he was. The sufferings he had undergone.

Having had a primary education from a navy school ( grandma and grandpa were working there ) he had great command over the English language. He used to study very well according to Mom and came up first in the class. The ill fortunes started when grandpa, as I hear, hit Uncle every time he came home. The tortures along with the transfer to a bad government school changed his life forever. I still do not know to term courage he showed at the age of 8 -10 when he took grandpa's scooter and drove off to see the festival called Thrissur Pooram from Cochin as praise worthy or genuinely stupid.

His friends did not help him either. Having friends is a great thing. It's sort of a soother and a morale booster. But having friends how stick with you because of your money is a misfortune. He trusted who so ever came to him and nothing stopped in helping them in what ever ways possible. Even if that meant he get into a fight, he would do it. The boozing also did not help.

Mom helped him in getting to Dubai and procuring a job there. With his excellent communication skills he had no issues with the job. But his ill fate followed him there too in the form of friends. After leaving Dubai, he even went to Bahrain but it did not help him either. After settling where my Aunt lived he had a quiet life. The roaming was reduced to the minimum, no boozing of any sort. He was trying to get his life together. He was over 50 and did not marry (no one could predict he was that aged just looking at his face). A self made man, even used to cut his own hair with such patience and accuracy.

My locality was the place where he would lose himself. There are guys who actually would do anything to get a pint and my Uncle knew many. Seeing him come home all drunk would be scary for me as I did not know how to react. He used to play Bookworm in my PC for hours only to come for the meals. I thought he liked isolation, being all by himself. Made him speak less, act more. Only if he could convert those skills into something that his loved ones could look upon. He could have got grandpa's job in the navy (after his death) but could not do so because of the family problems he had.

When I was older we shared a healthier relationship. Talked about stuff. I tried to be close, understand his point of view. Uncle was intent in being fit all the time and those gym talks would be fruitful as well as informative.

It was a dark day when we realized that he was no more. Ending his life by his will, like a message to everyone who hurt him in one form or the other. Rest In Peace ...