It is perhaps invariably, and mostly to our unawareness, that the word ‘alternative’, while signifying another choice, almost always injects the premonition that it wouldn’t be as good as the option we are having to forego. Yet, we take it as the best way out, assuring ourselves that the difference between the two would be nullified by avoiding the prospect of availing neither of them. It is this sense of cashing in on the emergent alternative which sparks the initial satisfaction of using it, almost equalling that derived from the original option. However, it doesn’t take long for the delusion to dissolve. You soon realize, with a conciliatory sigh, that, for all its merits and attempted simulations, it’s an alternative at the end of the day, with all its faults and failings. By then, often there’s no opportunity either of reverting back or seeking a better option, as you slog through the ordeal. ...
For years, his father has been an enigma to him. He can still recall, in the form of a few vague, obscure flashes, the day when out of nowhere their relatives and his father’s friends had helped him into the room. The person who had hitherto been the epitome of resilience, unfazed by any blow of any kind, even the one presently testing his emotional grit to the fullest, was now sitting on the sofa with his eyes looking down, as if enfeebled by some sudden shock. Indeed, it was sudden. A few minutes later, as two of his aunts took him to another room, evidently to steer his thoughts ways from the apparently baffling state his father was in, he tried to know the reason behind it. He knew all too well that his mother had been in the hospital for the last two weeks- but was it a cause for concern? He didn’t know back then the exact significance of the word ‘stable’ being uttered by his f...