Kiss of Death - Alzheimer's

The person I used to know since my childhood, has forgotten my name ! My complexion and my yearnings for a winter morning walk. Gradually, he stopped telling me any fairy tale. The person who  discussed about Buddhism with me , the person who shared his vision with me, the person who  expressed his childhood stories with me and the person who narrated the definition of such a difficult question  “what is life ??’’  in front of me. Somehow, he set a true patriotic individuality for me . So , I have started gaining my interest in Indian History and culture, along with the rituals..!

All of a sudden I moved to a different city. The person has two children and he is of my grand father’s age. I usually talked with him about the matters related to  cold war, world war and about  his contribution towards movement of India. In fact  he used to tell me about his personal life that how he felt in love with the “Freedom and struggle of India’’  and how he met his soul mate, she is of my grand mother’s age. So , after coming to the new city, I have , started missing them already .

Their both children got placed in somewhere with lucrative packages. They had to leave their hometown . In fact the country too. The first three months were running smoothly. They were calling their parents on time. They were taking care of their parents over phone! Out of the blue, they had become busy. Might be Super busy, or the busiest  person ever  on earth. The old parents understood that , their children were working hard . That is the way , they generalized their children would ask for once in week how are they?! Every week the parents were waiting for them just to receive that call only. Then, they were happy. It was running like that continuously for one (1) year .

And then, their elder son came home to meet his parents . The mother had opened her best cuisine book for that day .  She cooked all his favorite items. But he didn’t eat much due to his strict dietary plan. His mother’s tears were rolling down, not because the reason he did not eat the food that his mother cooked for him , but because of thinking that at this young age, why he lost his appetite ? Is he suffering from any disease..?! Of course it was mother’s love. After spending two weeks of vacation , he left for his workplace . His father asked him about his marriage, he said he will think of it later, parents need not to worry about that matter.

The younger one got married to a local girl of that country but did not leave a message to his parents. The younger one had shifted to a different country and stopped calling his parents. And Elder one was enjoying his animal parties in the weekends. His once a week call had lessen towards once in a month. Parents were waiting every Sunday for their children to call. They wanted to call them too , to ask how were they, but they strictly told their parents not to call them. So, they could not do anything except waiting over phone !

Yes , few days later, they stopped calling them, and their parents were dying to talk with their sons. One day parents called , but it could not decipher a true message as the elder son had changed his old number. Then , they tried  the number of  the younger one, a lady picked up the phone and said he was not at home. Because, it was a birthday party of their a year old baby girl. The parents were choked. They could not even shed a tear drop .

One day, they wanted to end their life forever. They were causing the pain of not  talking with their sons, they were not even able to share their pain with anyone else. Then they asked themselves, “Are we alone or lonely ?”  These void hearts can not bear any more pain, we would die soon .

The milk man , was noticing all these things since last three (3) years. One day he asked them, “Why don’t you go to your sons’ place? They  might give you time over there. The old man said, Oh! My son? Where they stay ? Do you know their address ? Please let me know, then he started weeping like a kid. The milk man was numbed. He said them, that he would love to take care of them. Then , the old man asked his name, the milk man was surprised to utter his name, because he had known them for last Ten years, and he was known to them as Mohan. He was staring to the face of that old man and said, “Uncle, I am Mohan. How can you forget my name ?” Then the old lady said, oh, if you are Mohan then who gives us milk?”  This time the milk man had lost the threshold of his tears .

Becasuse, the old man’s memories  were fading away slowly. He tried to recall a few moments back thing, but he was not able to it . He was going through the old photo albums, his all diaries but he was not capable to recall their name, and those certain events. One day , Mohan told him, “Uncle, let’s go to a doctor’s place, you will be able to remember the things soon . Then , the old man said, “I would love to die first then to go to a doctor’s place , you know why ? Mohan replied , “No”. Then the old man replied, “I don’t want to go to such a place where, they will ask my name before prescribing me something,  but I won’t be able to answer it. I know, I have started forgetting everything gradually, I hope , one day I shall forget the pain that had given by my sons too. Then, I shall be happy forever”

In a road accident, the old lady died. The old man had rejected his tears with Mohan. He said, everything happens for a reason she is happy now. Let her be…!!

And yes, I have been in a conversation with Mohan, about this old person. But, he was not even able to recognize me. He asked me, “Who are you?” Mohan has told me about  everything in his regards. I was shattered after hearing this ; he is suffering from ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE .  It is a type of dementia, that causes the problems with memory. A person sometimes, recognized as “Short Term Memory Loss” patient .

Now, the way.. why I shared this story because, when I realized the fact that,  “if a person feels the absence of their family members, a person to talk with, a person to share his view and experience , or a person who can make him/her happy, then only one’s memory starts fading..” Because, they miss the way as they were, they can not find a person to talk ,and without that “Epilogue or Talk” how he or she will be able to recognize and memorize the things that happened to them . At least they need a person with whom they can share everything, so that they can recall something.

Now, that’s an alarming trend that, many children leave their parents to pursue their career, high degrees, but they forget their  root. They forget their  Mother’s lap and the Father’s arms. This should not be happened with anyone . It’s my humble request to all the children to take care of their parents at their old age. At least they should try to give them the best services during that period rather keeping them into the OLD AGE HOME .

A human being can not live without another human being. A Pet can be your company  but neither does it speak nor can it talk with you to share your past life events .

So , every family is like a pearl from the ocean , so  any child can be a shell over it. It’s traumatic, how! now a days children just don’t care about their parents ! They just set a limit towards their parents by applying the “My family” concept like a life insurance policy plan .

One of the biggest reason of the Alzheimer’s Disease in these days is , the worsening communication criteria,  lack of contact between the parents and their children. And this will happen with the children too in future . So, now is the time to save a person’s life from Alzheimer’s Disease is to communicate with that person . It may not be easier for you to manage sometime , but at least , try to conduct your busy schedule too someday.

This is life..!! Here , I would love to add a quote on life…

“Life is a tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.”

-William Shakespeare

Just try to spend sometime with your favorite people. You will be happy, They will be happier more indeed . We are human being, we create machines , so don’t let the machines jump over your head. After all we have to survive..!

Shibani