On June 12, it was sizzling afternoon around 2 pm. A large congregation had got together in the Gurdwara of a village near Doraha, a small, sleepy town on Ludhiana-Delhi National Highway. And the occasion was a solemn one of Bhog and Antim Ardas. In the presence of Guru Granth Sahib, some prominent speakers spoke in turns with a deep sense of grief caused by the untimely death of the youth they had come to condole. Heart-felt sympathies flowed to share the grief of the bereaved young widow, parents and a minor girl who is yet to grow up to realize the intensity of the loss she would have to bear forever.
Everybody sounded rightly aggrieved and shared the acute sense of loss which they even termed as beyond expression but none uttered a single word about how it all happened, the circumstances leading to the tragic death of a young husband, father and son. And then came the turn of a senior most member of the family to speak. As is customary, the presence of all gathered there to share the grief had to be acknowledged, so, the head of the bereaved family took the mike.
“…thank you all for coming, for sharing our grief but I would not like to conceal the truth. The fact is that we lost our boy to drugs…I want to tell you all that money, wealth is not everything…what’s its use for us as we failed to get him on to the right path…I spent crores to get him away from the clutches of drugs, sent him to Australia, brought him back, started business for him. I had keenly desired him to work hard like my father who increased our land holding to 150 bigha from 40 bigha by dint of hard work. Following in his footsteps, I and my brothers worked even harder. I too wanted my nephew to be like all of us…but ..,”
And his poignant tale continued, “All me entreaties to my nephew to give up drugs fell on deaf ears. I asked him to do whatever he liked but refrain from anything that dents mine and family’s image…put two personal drivers at his disposal but all in vain!...I did business all over the world, succeeded in whatever I laid my hand upon but here I failed. I failed to save him from jaws of death. Money cannot bring back husband of my daughter-in-law, our tender granddaughter her father. I request all of you to spare time and attention to your kids, think so that they are saved from polluting and deadly company of drugs,”.
As he paused, a weird silence enveloped the atmosphere inside the Gurdwara hall. The congregation listened breathlessly to this tale of woes of a helpless father. Probably none would have imagined such frank confession and bitter truth from him. Moments later, glancing at his mobile phone, this gentleman resumed in a choked voice, “The most unfortunate fact is that the supply of this drug has found its way right into our households. I was told by police officers that this drug, notoriously called –Chitta-deadens brain. Its consumer doesn’t know what he is doing. It’s not confined locally; increasing consumption of drugs is a problem in Canada too. Even the families of the White people there are suffering from it. If at all, this menace can be curbed only by the parents. My only appeal to you all is that don’t run after money. Save your kids, get them educated,”.
And he continued to vent his bitterness against vulgar Punjabi songs, shameless promotion of liquor, other forms of intoxicants and treating women as objects. He touched several other aspects of all this casting debilitating impact on the young generation. “my relatives had advised against speaking about drugs but I am saying all this so that what has happened with us should not become fate of other parents like me. We will everything for our daughter-in-law and little granddaughter but I have only this to say to the departed soul, forgive me my son I couldn’t save you, I failed here,” he said wrapping up his tale in a choked tone and with moist eyes.
This is the woeful tale of that rich businessman based in Canada who had lost his elder brother several years ago. He brought up his bereaved nephew like his own son, got him married, built a palatial house for him and provided for all the worldly comforts. Twice he got him into de-addiction centres, flew him to Australia to rid him off the drugs. A shocking revelation is that his deceased nephew was known only to the drugs’ suppliers operating in his area before being admitted to de-addiction centres but post-return from these centres, he came into contact of suppliers operating in other districts as well.
This highly successful businessman spent money like anything to wean his nephew away from the drugs but failed miserably. The young, married addict of 36 year died of brain hemorrhage in the first week of June, 2016. A packet of deadly drug was found in his hand when he was found dead in his village home. After hearing the hair-raising tale of this humble businessman known to me for past many years, I am quite upset. What he shared with me after the Antim Ardas was even more “horrible” to hear.
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Baljit Balli, Editor, Babushahi.com
tirshinazar@gmail.com
Phone No. : +91 9915177722
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