My Children

I first met her several years ago, she was few years older to me but very beautiful; She had a healthy good looking boy from her first marriage. They told me that she was not interested to marry me and neither did I. I was very apprehensive about marriage since I was thrown out by my first wife with whom I was married for many years. I had few children of my own from my previous marriage too.Elders from both sides thought itd be a marriage made in heaven. We came from different cultural background, the language we spoke had different dialect and our background was completely different; but I guess thatd be the same in any arranged marriage. Things are different when you marry at a young age; but as you get older, youre matured enough to understand whats right and whats wrong. Most of the times your expectations are different too; and especially when your so-called arranged marriage is right after the previous one is broken, it wont take too long for something to go wrong.Youve pre-existing notions for every issue/problem based on your past experiences; expectations are built and comparisons are drawn. When you start thinking about how your life was or would have been with your previous partner, the word disappointment slowly starts finding its place into your life.Same thing happened in our life too; she was not happy and threatened to leave several times and I did once too. I dont know how but we managed to stay together; we stayed, maybe because of our son. Oh I forgot to tell you; soon after our marriage weve decided not to go for a child our own and instead decided to put our full efforts on raising this young boy. Id say I did it to impress her and win her confidence and in the process I neglected my own children. I must tell you, were very proud for what our son could achieve at a very young age. Hes now rated amongst the top in the whole country and made his mark all around the world. I was so obsessed with this boy that by knowingly or unknowingly I slowly started neglecting my wife. I never believed that, but people around her reminded that fact. Maybe at times my over obsession with this kid made me to slightly tilt my attention towards him and that may gave her an impression that what others told her is correct.Days went past and like any other neglected wife, a sense of uneasiness slowly started growing in her. After several years into our marriage one day she told me that she can no longer be with me and told me that shell leave me soon. She also told me that shell take her son along since it was from her previous marriage and I dont have any right. I dont know what to say, so many years of my life I put into raising this boy whos now a grown up and now a well-established man. In hindsight I must admit, I made a mistake by not taking care of any of my other children; and maybe I shouldnt have ignored her (I still dont believe I did that though (or) is that my alter ego which is talking?). When the day arrived, the judges decided in favour of her; they thought I am still young enough to raise my other children and they even felt I dont deserve any support my well established son. The irony is, they didnt bother to understand what my son wanted (I was hoping hell side with me or at least support me in one way or the other).But one thing they dont understand, I am no longer young and moreover I am so hurt from the hatred shown by my wife side towards me; it may take several years for me to be normal. What hurt me more is when someone tells me that I didnt do anything in making our son where he was now. They say he was born intelligent and destined to be where hes now; if not me someone else wouldve done it for him. I know ifs and buts wont have a place in real life scenario and I very well know what was my contribution in making him where he is now; whether someone agree or not. Today after all these years I stand at a crossroads, thinking about my next steps. I am old, wounded, and badly hurt but I know its not the time for me to grieve and take rest. All I know is, I am capable of raising few more children on my own, but first let me find out where they are and what sate theyre in. I know they may not want to see me; after all I deserted them when theyre very young but I am hopeful that one day theyll understand and walk along with me in this journey. I dont know how long it takes, but I promise you, Ill give every drop of my blood in raising them as competitive as they can be. I take leave from you now as I have a lot to do in the next several years; hopefully when we meet next time youll meet my other kids.Sorry, I forgot to tell you; my son whos forced to live with his mother now is called Hyderabad and I guess you dont need any introduction about who I am and who my wife was.This is a simple fiction as if Seemandhra region is a human being then what would be going through his mind right now.