Fly high but not away

Five years ago, I sent away my dear son for his higher studies to one of the prestigious institutions of the country. I still remember how I could not control my emotions and cried profusely at the railway station, as I waited to board the train to return home. I felt I had dumped my teenage son at some God forsaken place all alone, to face the evil world. The management of the institution assured us that our children had reached the right hands and they will definitely be well taken care of.  We, as parents, were bringing up tiny little issues like water scarcity in the hostel premises, quality of food served and such other things.  The only major concern of all parents then was ‘ragging’, though there were boards all over that ‘Ragging was strictly prohibited’, because we knew how these boards meant nothing to those for whom ragging was a passion. Little did we know then that these were very trivial as compared to the problems that our children were going to face in the next five years!

 As the days passed, we were getting used to our empty homes and our children’s occasional visits. However, we slowly realized that our children were growing up in the real sense of the word and being toughened, because they had to face so many problems single handed. 

All we could do was listen to their woes and advise with love. Administration, politics and governance suffer the same diseases all over the country, irrespective of the calibre of the institution. We learnt the bitter lesson by admitting our two children into the best institutions of the country. Every time our tongues were tied, because our ‘interference’ could only cause more problems for our children and ruin their future. 

We also kept advising our children to control their rightful anger and accept the system. But the most recent incident in which, due to the apathy of the medical assistance department a student of a prestigious institution lost his life, has shaken me a lot.  Have I done the right thing in sending my son that far away?  Is life so cheap, that merely because the poor boy did not receive the right medical attention on time, he died, breaking the trust that the unfortunate parents had in the institution and the management.  Will the dear friends of the boy and the boy’s parents ever forgive themselves for letting an innocent life die at the hands of a careless system?