The Wheel of Time

Once upon a time, a widow with her two sons lived in a village. The widow’s name was Sangeeta. She took care of her sons and nourished them with a lot of difficulties. The elder son was Suresh and the younger son was Ramesh. The younger son Ramesh was a brilliant student and was a topper in his class. On the other hand, the elder brother Suresh always ignored his studies but passed the exam by cheating, although none of the teachers liked him. Suresh, however, loved his mother and felt sorrow seeing his mother working so hard. But sometimes he used to forget everything and thought of ways how to bunk the school or how to get rid of going to school. Every morning Sangeeta went to the market and sold vegetables. And Suresh saw this as an opportunity to miss school and he used to go to the playground and play. When Suresh was fourteen he used to think about doing some job. On the other hand, Ramesh passed his matriculation exam. So, one day Suresh told his mother, “Mother, as I have failed the matriculation exam I don’t want to continue my studies. I want to help you by selling fish. Every morning I will go fishing and sell them in the market.” Sangeeta said, “Do as you wish, but don’t force your brother to do it.” “Okay,” said Suresh.

From the following day every morning, Suresh started fishing and sold them in the market, whereas, Ramesh pursued his studies in the field of Science. Suresh got famous in the market for his honesty. His business flourished, in a year his customers grew so much that his mother stopped going to the market to sell vegetables anymore. In the next few years, Ramesh completed his education and went abroad for higher studies with the money he received from scholarships for his academic excellence.

Many years passed, and Suresh kept on taking good care of his mother. But one day the fishes in Suresh’s pond died due to acid rain. His business had a downfall, one night Suresh’s mother told him, “Son, your business is not in the right shape, you must call your younger brother for help.” Suresh said, "No maa, let him and his family get some peace, he had grown up with a lot of difficulties." Tears rolled down from the eyes of Sangeeta, she said, "I have no regrets that my younger son is educated and my elder son is illiterate, as they both are well-mannered." Then she hugged her elder son, her heart was fulfilled with happiness. Suddenly she fell on the floor with a distorted face, she kept her hand on her chest and cried, "Aah! The pain is back! AAAAA!" Suresh cried, "Maa! What happened? Maa!". He went outside and shouted, "Help! Anybody please help! My mother has fallen sick! Please help!" He came back with some men and they carried Sangeeta to the only hospital in the village. Suresh admitted his mother to the Emergency ward and waited till the doctor come. The doctor checked Sangeeta for a long time and came back to Suresh and said, "Listen Suresh babu, I am giving you some tests, you have to get it out as fast as you could, as I think your mother has a big heart blockage." Listening to this a thunder falls on Suresh's head. The doctor continued, "As we don't have the facilities for the tests, you have to get it out from the hospitals in the city, it can't be done here. We are sorry. And if the heart blockage is detected, then you should undergo surgery at any hospital in the city. We don't have that facility as well. So, you should not waste any time, I have given her an injection, she will be asleep for a few hours and we are giving you the discharge certificate, take care of your mother." saying this the doctor went by. Suresh broke down in tears, he couldn't believe all this. After the discharge, Suresh brought his mother home by ambulance. She fell asleep on the bed and Suresh sat at one corner of the room. After a while, he fell asleep as well.

The very next morning, Suresh woke up early and went to a shop. He asked for a telephone from the shopkeeper and made a call to his younger brother. Ramesh received the call and asked, "Hello? Who's this?" Suresh replied, "Ramesh! I am your elder brother, Suresh." Ramesh said, "Oh! Dada! Yes, tell me what happened?" Suresh didn't like to say everything at the first, he asked, "How are you, Ramesh?" Ramesh replied, "I am fine dada, you know, I got a job as a Space scientist at NASA. How are you all, how is maa?" Suresh didn't dare to say anything. Ramesh asked, "Hello Dada? Hello?" Suresh replied, "Yes, yes Ramesh!" listening to the voice of Suresh, Ramesh asked him, "What happened to maa?" Suresh replied, "Brother, our mother has a big...(weep)...Heart blockage! The doctor gave some tests, he said that if the heart blockage is detected immediately she has to undergo surgery at a hospital in the city not from the village as they don't have the facilities. If we don't do something fast, she will not survive(cry)!" Ramesh kept silent for some time and asked, "How old is she?" Suresh answered, "(weep) 78," Ramesh said, "Let her die!" another thunder falls on Suresh's head, he said to Ramesh, "But she is our mother, we can't let her die." Ramesh said, "I have no time for you all, I am very busy, bye" saying this Ramesh declined the call. Suresh was surprised to hear this. That very moment, Kalash babu came to Suresh shouting, "SURESH! Your mother has woken up! Go to her!" Suresh ran to his home. Sangeeta was groaning at that time, Suresh came and sat beside her. He held her hand and asked, "What happened Maa? What happened?" Sangeeta said, "Suresh beta! Call Ramesh, I know he will come." Suresh could not say to her that the boy for whom she worked so hard to make him an established person in the society, have no time for her. With a feeling of great sorrow, he said, "Maa, he is very busy, let us not disturb him, he has no time for us." Sangeeta said, "That means you called him and he said he could not come." Suresh said, "No maa..." Sangeeta interrupted, "Beta, you are my child, I am not yours. I can understand everything. It is my last wish beta, don't call Ramesh at the time of my burial, Aah!" saying this she fainted. Suresh couldn't understand what to do and what not to do. That evening with his mother Suresh took a bus to the city and went.

The next morning Suresh woke up and found himself in a metropolitan city, for the first time he was seeing so many cars together. Sangeeta was still sleeping keeping her head on Suresh's shoulder. Suresh when touched his mother to wake her up, he found her body cold. He shook her but she didn't open her eyes. Suresh shouted, "Maa! What happened to you? Maa!" Everyone on the bus looked at them, when they came into their sense they all helped Suresh to go to a nearby hospital. Sangeeta was in the emergency ward, after a few minutes the doctor entered the ward and checked her for a long time. And after waiting for three hours the doctor came to Suresh and asked, "Are you, Suresh Basak?" Suresh replied, "Yes, I am Suresh Basak, what happened to my mother?" the doctor replied, "Suresh babu, with great sorrow I have to tell you that your mother is no more. She has perished. Go to reception and sign where the sister tells you." Saying this the doctor went by.

After all the rituals got over, Suresh came back to the village, every villager asked him what happened to Sangeeta and Suresh had to tell everyone the bitter truth. He came to his home and kept the bag on the bed. He took out a photo frame of Sangeeta and hung it on the wall. He kept standing in front of the picture for a few minutes and then after he lost control over his emotion, he broke down in tears.

The moral of this story is that Moral education is not the absolute education, but the education of humanity is the absolute education.