Page 60 - Seniorstoday January 2024 Issue

As Shiv turned 75, Makarand organised any point in filing a police case given the
for an intimate party in the villa lawns and
all of Shiv’s close friends and relatives had
come over and had a whale of a time with
Shiv at his elemental best and Makarand
playing a gracious host. Shiv was all
smiles, Makarand’s entry into his life had
remarkably made it fulfilling and satisfying.
After the guests had departed and Malati
and the child had retired to bed, Shiv
and Makarand were having a quite time
together, imbibing a celebratory liqueur and
pouring their hearts out to each other and
recounting their past and the present. Shiv
narrated to Makarand how his wife and
son had passed at the turn of the century.
Shiv, his wife and son were waiting at the
busy Bandra HP petrol pump junction for
the signal to turn green so that they could
cross. As they were waiting, a car suddenly
swerved at the signal to avoid hitting a
teenager who was darting across the road
and came hurtling at them. In a flash, it hit
his wife and son directly and what remained
was their badly crushed bodies. The driver
of the car was also badly injured while his
co-passenger was safe. Shiv, with the help of
the cops and a couple of helpful people, had
taken them to the close by Lilavati hospital.
Unfortunately, nothing much could be
done. Shiv’s wife and son were pronounced
DoA. The driver of the car had been badly
injured and was being treated and under
intensive care. Shiv subsequently learnt
about the sequence of events that lead to the
unfortunate deaths, from the driver’s co-
passenger, who happened to be his wife. In
a bid to save a teenager’s life, her husband
had to swerve suddenly and lost control of
the car. One life was saved, but two lives
had been spent. The names of the driver and
his wife were Shankar and Meera Gaitonde.
Shiv said to Makarand that he did not seen
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nature of the accident and had departed to
Pune the next day to do the final rituals of his
wife and son, while wishing Meera well and
Shankar a speedy recovery.
When Makarand heard the names, he
was stunned. For Shankar and Meera
were his parents. Makarand had been
away at the campus when the accident
had occurred in 2000 and his parents had
told him about it though not the complete
details about the victims. His parents
had been wracked with guilt and grief
and were remorseful. They did not like
to talk about the unfortunate event and
neither did they want Makarand to be
disturbed and lose his focus on studies.
In a bid to atone, they had been doing the
rounds of the Siddhivinayak, Babulnath
and Phanaswadi temples in Mumbai and
donated large sums to NGOs providing
succour to accident victims. They soon
expressed a desire to visit the Kedarnath
temple in Uttarakhand in 2002 to offer
their prayers and seek forgiveness.
Perhaps it was divined that Makarand
would never see them again. An avalanche
had sent the car that they were travelling
in careening down the slopes of the
mountainous roads and erupting in a ball
of flame. A mourning Makarand could
do nothing, but pull himself together and
move on in life.
Makarand quietly put his glass on the
table and walked across to Shiv and sat
down at his feet, not saying a word for
a long time. Shiv was perplexed and
looked at Makarand fondly and asked him
what is troubling him. In a hushed tone,
Makarand told Shiv that he is the son of
Shankar and Meera Gaitonde.
Life had embraced Shiv and Makarand in
a cosmic circle.