In the News Again

The day before (on Monday), the Hyderabad edition of ‘The New Indian Express’ carried an excerpt from this blog on the front page just like it had done a couple of months ago. I got to know about it after a friend, Kiran, called me to tell about it. Since I normally do not read that paper I went out to get a copy from the newsstands to see for myself. It was indeed true, that my blog was featured on the front page but my joy on finding my name in the paper was overshadowed by something else on the same page.

There was a picture of a man carrying the body of a boy who had drowned in the recent heavy rains, along side on the front page. I couldn’t look at that distressing picture for long as the eyes had already started to fill up. I have a ten year old son and I cannot bear to watch anything of that sort happen to any kid of his age. For a long time I was numb with shock and grief at the heartbraking image of that lifeless boy, and that picture still haunts me.

It was on my mind to write about the anguish parents of young children experience when they see other kids suffer. The anguish is more acute when the kids are of the same age as our own kids. It is as if our own children have suffered and images come to mind of our reactions. It is not possible to describe the agony parents undergo when confronted with such scenes. Last week the papers were full of pictures of tragic deaths of kids in the fire in a train in AP, of school kids drowning elsewhere, and such horrific news of cheildren dying. It makes me wonder why kids have to suffer such a fate. One cannot imagine the plight of parents who lose their kids. It is something very can few bear with fortitude.

My joy of seeing my blog in the paper seemed completely meaningless and totally insignificant compared to the anguish of the parents of that boy who drowned. Life can be sometimes very cruel.