This is a story
of father and son
who lived happily
before the conflicts begun...
Every Sunday morning they went for a walk
spent time having their man-to-man talk
Sitting on the bench at the sea-side
like friends meant to be together forever,
Father and son
spent their time enjoying every moment
They returned home late in the afternoon
Arm in arm, before the conflicts begun.
They sat on the couch, reading –
Giving each other silent company
till lunch was served on the table
The family had lunch together,
Eat laugh and talk
And then – watch movies on TV
The lady of the house was proud
to see them as one
This was when the conflicts had not begun.
One unfortunate day, the father lost his job
and he decided to talk to his son about it
That evening the son returned home,
Exhausted and in a bad mood
Father never realised that
He would take it out on him,
Because he never did.
As usual the father put his arm around his son
And the son put his arm around his father too,
But this was before the conflict begun.
When the son came to know
that his father had lost his job
He understood that the entire responsibility
would be on his shoulders now
Slowly his arm slipped down from his father’s shoulder
He walked a few steps away to avoid his father
The father did not know the things had changed
He walked to his son,
to finish the discussion he had started.
‘Oh father, you are an old man now,
Why don’t you just
stop following me around the house…
Why don’t you do something worth,
rather than just sit back jobless in the house!"
The father realised what had happened
and knew it was time for him to retreat to his room.
As he turned around to go
he saw his wife staring teary eyed at him.
Every alternate day,
the discussion turned to the fathers’ contribution to the house
One fine day,
the father was seen
dusting the furniture of the house
His wife came running to him
and pulled the duster from his hand
She looked in his eyes and gently held his hand
She said, ‘He would understand soon,
what being a father means
wait till he gets married and has a son of his own
let him wait till he grows old
and is said to be worthless by his own son’
The father, now tears in his eyes
looked at his wife and said
‘Sweetheart, let that never happen’
This is the story of
father and son
before and after
the conflicts begun.
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