Who of the two is our adopted child?
Way back in the times when myth and legends that we know of
is said to have happened, boons and manna were often dispensed by the Gods. Couples
yearning to have a child of their own blood used to engage the preist-dom in
sacrificial sorcery and offerings to the heavens, thereupon from the
sacrificial fire appeared a god or goddess with the boon that would fecundate
and soon a child is born. The mythical treatise of Ramayana mentions
King Dasharadh appeasing the gods and his wives bearing children. The
legend of Karna was born when the Sun god showered his pleasure on the
mother of Pandavas, then still a maiden. The story of Christ is born out
of virgin conception- again a decision by the God.
It seems to have been a pretty easy exercise when the Gods
had the sole dispensing right for the baby boom, compared to the trial and
error matters with the intervention of man and medical sciences.
I was at the wedding of this gentleman “Y” ,in 1996. He was
a friend and business acquaintance. The bride was an Andhraite Brahmin and a
very exuberant person. We knew her from earlier times when they were courting. The marriage
was conducted in typical Brahmin fashion. It was an elaborate wedding in
Bangalore followed by a elaborate dinner later in the evening.
Though I used to meet him occasionally and was communicating
often on business matters we also used to preface our conversations with mutual
enquiries after both our families. However, I did not meet his children, though I
was aware that his family has expanded. And a couple of years back while I was
in Bangalore for a business meeting in his office, he invited me home for
lunch. And I saw his children, a boy and
two girls. He introduced me to the boy who was about eighteen. “A, meet my
son.” And the girls were one in her adolescence and the other a few years
younger.
It just did not fit
for me. First, his wedding year and the age of the eldest son were at odds. A
guy married in1996 cannot have a son who is about eighteen in 2009. And bizarre
it may be the boy seemed to have a Nepali appearance. It would be grossly rude
and discourteous to refer these things in the conversation. And I smothered with
the oddity until the next day when I could tell another friend about the
confounding matter.
The fact was that the boy was adopted and of Nepali descent.
I was surprised, peeved at my silliness and felt admiration for the man.
Look around and we see many childless couples anxiously running about
from temples to churches, and mausoleums before eventually ending up in
infertility clinics that have mushroomed around every bend on the road. Gods
seldom handout babies and bless with conceptions these days, though the lure
and wizardry of faith and beliefs lead people to religious abodes. However, the
medical practioner amused and patient waits as he knows that eventually his
cash box will tinkle as couples will seek his assistance – cul-de sac.
The cruel irony is that as in any facet of life there are
reprobates at large among physicians as well. These men of medicine often
exploit the desperation of these gullible men and women who yearn for a child.
One may not wonder if the lid is blown on these infertility clinics and their
reprehensible and libertine ways are exposed.
I wonder what precludes people who are physiologically
unable to fecundate or conceive from taking recourse to adoption. Even the
learned and educated of the gentry make beeline to places that offer supernatural
remedies for infertility. Astonishingly they do not reason the course of adoption,
which is nobler and practical than conceiving through a donor sperm, having a
child through a surrogate or seek upward for the impossible to happen!
The handsome Nepali boy must have been adopted from a shelter for destitute. He must be immensely fortunate to get a home, loving parents
and foster sisters. It was pleasure watching the family stay together, play,
joke, and live together. Perhaps a rare glimpse of what heaven could be on this
earth. And, for Y to proudly introduce him as his son is a prise that is nobler
than nobility can ever be!