THE HOPEWAY

Dipak's uncle had spina bifida since childhood. He had applied for euthanasia to the government, but it was rejected every time. Dipak's grandparents wanted to perform an amniocentesis. But  doctor uncle spoke against it and pronounced firmly that prenatal diagnosis was not good for the moral and ethical reasons. Then they couldn't understand him; neither were they expected so. But when they listened to the trombone played by their disabled son, they felt proud of him and ashamed of themselves. Since then they hated the word disabled; Dipak's uncle was more gifted, more able than many people. They understood then everybody in this world was worthy to be born. At first Dipak's family was fretful if Sam, his uncle could be viable. His neonatal conditions were worse. He could not even properly crawl due to an infirm spine. But the doctor uncle kept them abreast of new medical developments going on all around the world and in due time with proper care and instruments, h...

Dipak kept himself abreast of the recent occurrences around the world. He was more curious rather about the space and this esoteric universe in which this planet called earth is floating. Once his father, Mr Choudhary, took their family to a goyle. It was a narrow ravine. But it seemed so wonderful to Dipak that he used to draw pictures of it coming home. He had read in a stroy that the Greek gods had ichor in their bodies instead of blood. Dipak wondered how gods could have bodies and where they did stay. Standing upon the plinth in their worship room, he clandestinely one day peered at the calendars and photos of their gods and goddesses. He was checking whether they had veins on their limbs and if he could trace any sign of ichor from outside. But then it struck to him that their gods were not Greek. Later, Dipak's mother, Mrs Sarala, came to know about his small adventure and he got a great deal of rebuke for standing on the sacrosanct plinth.  Dipak had a frieze scarf woven by...

There was mildew upon the flower plants in his garden. He was a small child and loved to read about morays and walruses in his science books. Sometimes, he thought what if the universe be atomized some day. He wondered about the provenance of all of us - the nature, the human, all the animals, everything. This house seemed often a cloister to him, where he remained confined due to the lockdown. His uncle was a trombonist, who went under depression as he could not hold any public show for months. Doctor diagnosed him and informed parents that he had catarrh in his nose and throat. Dipak could not get what the doctor meant as he was small. He had seen grandpa using denture on lunch and dinner table. The set of white teeth was a piece of mystery and attraction to Dipak. He didn't know what catarrh was, but he at least knew one thing for certain - it was severely painful, because uncle Kush used to roar and flinch at night when catarrh did not let him sleep. Dipak's grandma cooked ...