I remember Little Divya waiting for her school bus escorted by her mother giving her a piece of good advice and sometimes wiping her face with a handkerchief. This used to be a regular ritual which I used to watch almost every day as this was the time when I would be tying up my shoe laces to rush to office. Invariably Divya would smile or say “Hallo Uncle” as I would wave at her while getting into my car.

Frail as she was, Divya was a student of sixth class; however anyone looking at her would pass her off as a fourth standard student. I would ask my wife why she was so frail and weak and pat would come the reply, she doesn’t eat proper food and all she likes is chips and noodles.

Driving down the endless traffic, my mind would start wandering into my school going days, where I was given a Tiffin box with some curd rice not out of choice but compulsion and although the seasons would change from summer to rainy to winter the menu for the school would rarely change unless some considerate relative dropped in and bought something for us from the sweetmeats shop. I had to take care of the pens and pencils lest if I lose them they would not be replaced and the instrument box used to be like the baton used in a relay race which had to be carried by all siblings till the figures in the protractor and the set square would fade. I remember having used my sister’s kajal pencil to mark the degrees in them before my exams, but now the scene was different, the school bag had to be changed every year, the pens and pencils used to be bought by the dozens and so on. There was nothing which was not catered for.

The difference was that we used to play to our hearts content up until 6-00 pm in the evening when all of us knew that time was up when we would trudge down to our homes and chant our prayers to the Almighty and then start looking at the books and homework. Studies were never a strenuous affair, except when my Dad used to teach us Mathematics brandishing a twig plucked from the nearby guava tree.

Today’s situation was a bit different, with the years passing by, little Divya had grown into a beautiful and slim lady of twenty and was doing her engineering in a premier college in the city. Education had given her the wisdom to look at things differently and also make choices as we all have done. The proud parents would always keep recounting the exploits of their daughter and how mature she was getting to be by staying in a hostel and adjusting with other colleagues with varying cultures and habits from various parts of the country.

As we entered our neighbors’ residence the scene there was unmistakably calm with an eerie silence and Divya was sitting in one corner and the parents face written with anguish. The reason? Well, Divya had made a choice- a fourth year engineering student from the same college but from a different community and the family was shattered.

The father was asking me “Bhaisaab tell me , If we can do all this for her , cant we look for a suitable person for her?” I did not have an answer. Divya burst out crying came over to be and hugged me visibly in pain at what her father had said, sobbing uncontrollably she said “Uncle I never knew when it happened ! It just happened uncle". I could understand what she was saying, maybe more so because it was not my daughter who was involved. I have always believed that I would never advice someone else on an issue which I have not experienced in life and as I had not faced such a situation I preferred to kept quiet.

I was just wondering, how fast children grow or rather outgrow their parents and feel that they can take their own decisions without consulting their parents, without realizing the pain which they inflict on them in the process and how difficult it is for a parent to swallow the insult and how their parents try to rewind back and find out whether there was any shortage in the love and affection which they gave their child that the child  had to look for love elsewhere.

I remember having told Divya that she should be pursuing her studies now and then take an informed decision after completing her engineering and getting into a good job, meanwhile she should ask this guy to wait till they both are mature to decide on the issue.

Divya was wise enough to do as advised and eventually found out that the person she was crazy for had other ideas. She is now happily married with two children and still blushes when I remind her about that eventful day which could have taken her life in a different direction. Her husband also teases her sometimes as I have shared this episode with him also.

But then the fact remains that Parenting is not an easy affair.