Men do not cry
But he was crying, sobbing inconsolably. I had never seen
him crying and shedding tears in the past. It was unbecoming of him. He was the
one who used to tell us men do not cry. It was not that he had no reasons to
cry –like untimely of death of his father- but he could hold himself and we
thought he was trying to hold himself for the huge responsibilities he had as
the eldest in the family of four teenaged brothers and sisters.
He also did not cry when his first born died within days of
his birth. We thought he was trying to hold himself so that his wife may gather
herself.
He did not cry when his mother died recently of a dreaded
disease. We thought he was in a way relieved.
From our very childhood we were told ‘boys do not cry’ and
we never cried, not in the presence of girl/girls. Many a times, we felt like
crying or at least shedding a few tears but this conditioning stopped us from
doing so. He was one such type.
Then what had happened now. To the best of our knowledge he
was well settled, so were his children and his wife was very wifely so to say.
“I miss him so much’-at last he spoke. “He was everything to
me, my father, my mother, my friend, philosopher and guide. Every time, I was
down, he was there to hold me.’
He was talking about his friend Sudhir who had died a few
days back in a tragic accident.
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