ETERNAL COMPANIONS

Swar's Commitment

As Pratap grew up, I discovered that he was studious. He used to keep asking, “Where is my mother? Where are my grandparents?” He felt like a lonely child whenever he saw his friends embracing their mothers after coming from school and heard them say their grandparents told them stories. He was just seven when Maa and Baba died; he hardly knew anything about them.

I raised Pratap as a single parent. As he was excellent in studies, I thought of migrating from the village to the city for his higher education. With a heavy heart, I left that village. I had fulfilled all my parents' wishes, but I was not a loving husband to Indu all those years.

I decided to take Pratap to Jammu & Kashmir. He was seventeen at that time — the city where I grew up working, the city of my dreams, and the city where I met my beautiful Indu. For the past ten years, he had stayed in the Panchal's house, with Shamsher's family. They were lovely people and didn’t mind Pratap staying there as he and Shamsher were best buddies.

Pratap graduated with very good grades from the university. He told me about his dream of pursuing an MBA. “I want to become a businessman,” he said. I had never told Pratap much about Indu. He only knew that his mother had died after giving birth to him.

Now the time had come to tell him, as he was a grown-up boy. I showed Pratap the places where Indu and I met and then elaborated on my whole journey with her. I didn’t have enough money to send him abroad for his MBA, so I asked the required amount from Indu's father, who had become very old and could walk only with the help of a stick.

Pratap sometimes used to go to his maternal grandparents’ house and stay there, spending time with his cousins — the children of Indu's younger sister, Archana, who used to come every month with her family to take care of her father.

Soon after Pratap's graduation, he went to London for his MBA, and I decided to resign from the military. For all my contributions, I was awarded the title of Officer of the Decade.

During our time in Jammu and Kashmir, Pratap stayed with me in my campus area. I knew it was risky for him, but there was no choice. Whenever there was an attack, I used to send him to his grandparents’ house a few kilometres away from the campus.

Pratap was doing well in London. With all his efforts, he completed his MBA and even worked there for two years. I felt the same happiness my parents must have felt when Pratap started sending me his salary.

A few months later, he returned to Kashmir and bought me a small bungalow with all the money he had earned and saved — as it was in pounds, it turned out to be a good amount.

Within a few months, he opened a small company of his own, and years later, made it what it is today.

All these years, I told him, “Whenever people ask you about your success, don’t just take my name or your grandfather’s name. Take your mother’s name too, because she was the reason you are alive. She sacrificed herself to give you life.”

He never forgets to take Indu’s name, even till now. He even named the company The InduPratap Textiles.

“I am very proud of Pratap. He somehow lowered my regret a little, but still, the regret of not confessing my love will stay with me till eternity,” Vishambhar said, teary-eyed.

Swar was drenched in tears. He never knew that his Dadaji had such a lamenting and disheartening backstory. Tears began to fall off his cheeks as he sat there, remorseful. He was dumbstruck but managed to wipe the tears from his Dadaji’s face, which was already wet.

He never knew that Dadaji even knew how to cry.

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“Gattu,” Vishambhar said, lifting Swar’s chin, which he had lowered out of sadness after hearing the sorrowful past.

“Pratap is your father and will never push you into something dangerous. I just want to see your life happy. Don’t let what happened to me happen to you, so grab the time before it’s gone, dear. I don’t want to see you as a failure in love like I was. My ignorance toward Indu was the reason God never gave me a chance to confess my love and took her away when I finally realized how much I loved her.

You must make your parents proud. Do whatever you want — there’s full liberty for you — but understand your responsibility towards them too. You are lucky, Gattu. You were born rich. You have both parents, a sibling, a grandfather. You never faced poverty. You have everything — unlike me and your father, who lost his wife and parents; who lost his mother, struggled for a better life, came from ashes, and became gold.

All I’m saying is, you’re not bad, Gattu, but it’s necessary to change your attitude towards life a little.”

Swar kept on listening quietly to his grandpa.

“And about the girl and marriage — don’t think of it like you’re getting married. Just go visit her and her family casually, and thank them for what they’ve done for your father. We can’t repay them, son. Go to Purakhpur — it’ll be a new experience. Go with a happy heart, see what happens, see the world outside your modern one. Out there are so many fun things waiting for you. Go like you’re about to discover a whole new world — go like you’re about to have an adventure,” Vishambhar said, making Swar understand, letting his words sink deep into Swar’s mind.

Swar wiped his tears and stood up with newfound confidence — the kind his Dadaji’s words had just filled him with, seeing life from a whole new angle.

“I will go, Dadaji.

I want to see what life has in store for me.

If it’s in my destiny to marry Bela, it will happen. If not, it won’t.

I will take every opportunity life gives me and not waste it.

I will go to Purakhpur, not because Papa decided it, but by my own will.

I don’t want to live an ordinary life anymore. I’ll fight for what’s right — and if I ever fall in love, I’ll fight for it too.

I’ve seen what life is, after what you and Papa have gone through.

I promise — I’ll make Dad, Mom, and my beloved Dadaji and Dadiji proud.”

There was spunk and fierceness in his words. He had become bolder — but this time, in a caring and responsible way.

Dadaji was always his guardian angel, and his words about the past had left a strong mark on Swar. He considered his Dadaji his inspiration.

Swar took an oath that day — to face his life with courage and a good spirit.

He made a commitment to himself: he would never look back or give up, no matter how hard the hurdles of life became.