Page 19 - Seniors Today - August 21 Issue
P. 19
First Person
What if…
… a powerful hindsight which has the potential of redemption and
transformation of those who are lucky to outlive an event, writes Nagesh Alai
‘What if’ is a classic conundrum of the and not fallen prey to the machinations
human mind creating probable alternatives of the British in dividing (or rather
to events that have already happened trifurcating, as subsequent events will
in their lives. Without exception, every show) India. The vivisection of the glorious
person experiences this syndrome through Bharatvarsha was of tragic proportions
the life journey. and continues to haunt us to this day. The
I still rue that I could not fulfil my telling travesty is that the ‘fathers’ of the
childhood wish of getting into Dufferin, two nations passed away in 1948, within
the well- known Merchant Navy training months of the Partition (one to a bullet
ship of yore, due to a less than 20-20 and the other to a fatal disease) while
sight. If only my eyesight was perfect, I Mountbatten, the then Viceroy of India,
would have been sailing the seven oceans who oversaw the Partition of India, was
into infinite horizons of mind and space. assassinated in 1979. Perhaps, destiny’s
While destiny fortunately ensured that I way of having a say on the matter post the
had a reasonably successful alternate life event.
and living, the thought of missing out on Duryodhana, somewhere up there in the
Dufferin still pervades. The closest that I netherworld, would be thinking that if only
have ever got to is a holiday cruise or casual he had chosen Krishna over the Yadava
sailing, courtesy the membership of a club! army when given the choice, Mahabharat
I am sure every reader has similar resonant could have taken a different turn and
experiences. avoided the decimation of his family and
What if Mahatma Gandhi and friends. Ravana must be thinking that if
Muhammed Ali Jinnah had seen eye to eye only Sita had not crossed the Lakshman
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #26 | AUGUST 2021 19
