Page 167 - Kolaj Sharodiya Review Edition

But destiny had other plans. He fell ill and had to drop a year. Meanwhile, Rajmohan’s dad had retired and they
settled in Ekdalia Park in Kolkata. It was a tough year for him but the only silver lining was he had his first girlfriend. Life
was good and he went back to the B-school and landed a job with one of the multi-nationals.

His second part of the corporate journey began in style and he became one of the top-performers in the company.
But life sometimes plays a zero-sum game. His girl-friend left him for somebody else and this battered his confidence
to a great extent. His performance started dipping but as they say, ‘time is the greatest healer’. Rajmohan fought all
that and then changed his job to one of the top notch consulting firms in the world.

Life in consulting was great as he operated out of a suitcase. Exotic countries, great hotels, great consulting work, it
was simply brilliant. He grew very fast and became the envy of his fellow colleagues. Meanwhile, his father fell ill and
he could not come for his surgery. A guilt overcame him and he decided to come back to India so that he can be
at a striking distance. He joined one of the prominent FMCG companies in India.

Rajmohan did not understand women well and got married to somebody whom he had met during one of his
consulting assignments. The marriage was a roller-coaster ride as both of them had very different personalities and it
was getting increasingly difficult to find a common ground. Difference of opinions led to everyday arguments and
one fine day, they decided to call it quits. His parents supported him and he started getting closer to his parents after
so many years. He always used to wonder whether it was too late. The sense of guilt used to encompass him that he
did not spend sufficient time with his parents in pursuing his career? Was it worth the sacrifice?

He started spending sufficient time with his parents till one day, when all hell broke loose. His dad lost his way during
one of his annual visits to the Golden Temple. But as luck had it, he was found but his memory seemed to be failing.
Rajmohan rushed home and took him to a doctor. After a series of tests, the doctor told him that it is a case of
Alzheimer’s disease for which there is no cure. It took a while for him to absorb this and as always he came back
stronger. But destiny had other plans. The disease took a different turn and his dad stopped recognizing him. And the :
worst was that there were cases of physical abuse which was getting too much for him and his mother to handle.

Finally, he decided to admit him to an Alzheimer care centre and used to visit him every month. Slowly, the visits
became irregular. And after two years, he lost his mother to a massive heart-attack. Again a sense of guilt
encompassed him that may be he should have stayed with his mother. This was a bigger blow and it took a while for
him to recover. And then he started visiting his dad but the situation was very bleak. His dad had lost even the basic
physiological abilities. He was crestfallen and he knew that the end was near. He thought of shifting him home but
the fact that he had a travelling job, made it difficult to make this decision. One fine day, he received a call from the
centre that his dad had died. He rushed to the centre and was in tears. A strange sense of guilt overshadowed him.
He felt that he did not do justice to anything in life. Was it worth sacrificing all this? He had no answer. He looked
again at the window. The night was still dark and gloomy!