Our father’s blood-drenched face and faltering words were a forewarning to us. It was a signal to us to make our future bright through formal education. His broken words were a real eye-opener. Education is essential for dignity, social respect and emancipation from lifelong exploitation. Penury has been his close companion. He blessed us to follow a safer path.
The Struggle of a Bonsai is a humble endeavour to fulfil his last wish, minutes before his death on the Janmashtami festival at Mathura in 1951. Look at the coincidence! The first draft of this story was completed on the Janmashtami Day in 2024, exactly 73 years after his final departure. Had he been formally educated, his life might have been qualitatively different. I can visualize his blood-mixed tears peeping lovingly at me. Inaudible, feeble and incoherent! Each letter of this narrative is a tribute to him. He suffered all his life, but he wanted us to live a respectable life.
I have tried to commune with his spirit that we are a faithful band. If he were to see us, his tears of regret would have been wiped by our sincere efforts. I have failed to procure his photograph, and I don’t know how to draw him. Alive he is in our innermost heart chambers! The story has drawn his superb vision. Dear father, be no more despondent. May you rest in peace!