4
ATTACHMENT
(A True Story of Love and Passion)
Krisn was born in a small village of Botini in the western districts of Fiji in December of 1939 during the time when the world was at war and the people were living in fear as well as uncertain future. Krisn was born to remove fear and construct his future.
The parents of Krisn were Bhagat and Kunti who were fairly famous farmers of the district and were living on a large farm of Sarju Residence in an extended family structure. They had worked hard to establish themselves as a respectable and well-known family with the main objective of becoming worthy and responsible citizens of the nation. They all wanted to contribute well to live and let others live in harmony in a multinational community.
The own parents of Bhagat were Sarju and Ganga who had been brought from India as indentured workers by the Australian Company that owned various sugar mills and sugarcane estates all over the western districts of Fiji. They became free farmers after their indenture contract expired. This seemed a blessing in disguise in many respects.
Birth of the first child of the family was not that easy for the family. While the grandmother of Krisn, Ganga acted as an active midwife, his mother Kunti passed away after Krisn was born because of complications and absence of medical assistance. Grandmother Ganga and aunt Ramila had no choice but to become alternative mothers to Krisn.
Bhagat, father of Krisn was distraught at the lost of his wife but he was fortunate to have Krisn as the only relict. Although Bhagat was a busy farmer he made certain that Krisn grew up in perfect harmony and in good care with excellent upbringing atmosphere. Consequently Bhagat secured the services of an additional child care assistant Radhika from the village. Krisn had lost his mother but he was blessed to have the care, attention, love and affection of three dedicated people. So he was three times blessed in many respects of growing up and upbringing.
Radhika whose parents agreed for her to be the third caretaker of Krisn was the eldest of the four daughter of the village priest Rajbali Maharaj and his wife Yashoda. They lived with their family across the creek from Sarju Residence.
Radhika was a healthy being, a well-groomed child and a positive thinker with precise and in-depth knowledge of the Hindu scriptures because her father and mother regularly conducted prayers and recited ideas from the Vedas, Upnishads and other holy books such as the Bhagvat Geeta, Mahabharat and Ramayan.
So all the family members at Sarju Residence were greatly indebted to the priest Rajbali Maharaj and his wife Yashoda for the sacrifice they had made to let their daughter Radhika join them to care for Krisn. Radhika was an excellent eight year old student of the nearby primary school when she joined her new family to care for Krisn. In the day time she would be at school but loved to be with Krisn after school. She slept with the boy and continued caring for Krisn at night.
In fact, Radhika herself was overwhelmed with the thought of having a living doll such as Krisn to play and interact with. Krisn was a chubby baby with the fortune of having three mothers and each of these mothers was so dedicated, loving and compassionate that Krisn never missed his natural mother.
As time moved on and Krisn was growing up, Radhika would read to him from various scriptures and sing devotional songs as lullaby for him. She set up a corner in the house for regular prayers. She firmly believed that Krisn was a gift from God and a product of the previous karma of Bhagat and Kunti. Radhika treated Krisn in such a diligent and delicate way that he had the best brain and consequently she was not surprised that Krisn developed that type of special brain.
Time flew and by age six Krisn was ready to go to school as well. Radhika was a senior student at the school by now and was so pleased to get Krisn enrolled there as well because she had the opportunity to boasting about Krisn being her baby.
This assertion and revelation did not make much sense to the teachers and the students initially but soon they understood her deep feeling for the child she had cared for, for the last six years as a substitute mother.
Even at school during recess and lunch times Radhika was seen playing, reading, talking and caring for Krisn. Of course, she walked to and from home daily on the dirt road and made sure that Krisn wore his hat, shoes and clothes in the right way to avoid sunburn, dust inhalation and tiredness.
One of the greatest rules of life for Radhika was freedom and she provided that freedom of thought and action to Krisn but practised a form of discipline that was conducive to Hindu way of life where love was foremost in all day to day dealings. She wanted her Krisn to be the epitome` of truth, beauty and goodness. So she performed all her responsibilities for Krisn with these ideas in her mind.
Such were the deep and genuine concerns of Radhika who had become a true friend, a mentor and an additional guru for Krisn. Krisn on the other hand had developed a special relationship with Radhika and this became a discussion point, a role model of social co-existence and a regular talk of the community. Radhika for Krisn in many respects was like Radha of the Hindu scriptures for Lord Krishna but more revered in nurturing the natural life of her disciple or her fosterling.
Radhika conducted herself as Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of enlightenment and knowledge for Krisn and began providing him with all the necessary tools of tackling the problems and challenges of adolescence and adulthood. The entire intervention of Radhika for Krisn was as astute and pious as that of Radha and Lord Krishna of Vrindavan of the Hindu scriptures. So Krisn was not only growing up in a small village but he was being groomed to be a being with a different makeup and composition.
At the end of the year however, Radhika had to leave school because she had completed her primary education and now that Krisn was settled well in school her responsibilities as an alternative mother had to come to an end. The duties that she was recruited for had been accomplished admirably and the baby was now an adolescent doing exceptionally well at school.
Sadly for everybody, Radhika was recalled by her parents to live with them but after school and during weekends Radhika and Krisn continued their pure, pious and sanctified relationship in and around the Sarju Residence and the village parks, orchards, farms and other natural locations. It was during these times when Radhika would joyfully enrich the developing life of Krisn with wisdom, knowledge, talents, skills and spiritual specialities.
Time and tide do not tarry for anyone and the clocks of life keep ticking away as usual. Krisn kept doing well at school and brought home excellent school reports for the delight of the family and especially for Radhika. Krisn was the first student of the village to be successful in the examination of primary school leaving certificate to be gain admission to a prestigious government high school as a boarder.
Radhika was given the responsibility by Bhagat and his family of taking Krisn to his new school and settling him there. This was a special privilege for her and while returning from completing her task Radhika shed tears after tears for the separation of two very special people that had uncontaminated and divine link in life.
Many proposals came to the parents of Radhika to get married but she turned all of them down to say that her duties of building the life of her baby had not been completed yet and she would wait until she was totally satisfied that she had given her Krisn the needed wings to fly and reach for the sky. Krisn on the other hand would rejuvenate and rekindle his virtuous relationship with Radhika during all his school term holidays.
During these occasions they would visit temples, theatres, markets, shops, libraries and various other places of importance and deepened their sacral and devout interactions and relationships.
At one of these pilgrimages to a Hindu temples where they prayed together constantly Radhika presented Krisn with a plaque with her blessings. Krisn always kept this plaque with him for his personal motivation for ages until it was washed away in one of the furious floods of Fiji but by then Krisn had engraved the message in his mind.
Such were the powers and wisdom of his confidante that Krisn had developed a sincere dedication and deep devotion to his guru mother, Radhika. In another of their sacred meetings Radhika demanded an assurance from Krisn by saying that she did not want him to be the same every time she met him. She wanted him to be better and bolder.
These were some of the wise words of Radhika hat made Krisn excel in every possible field of study, in sports, in drama, in discourse and his other high school life.
The four long years of perseverance at high school paid good dividends and Krisn was destined to become a teacher when he was selected to undergo teacher training programme for three years far away from his home and further away from his faithful friend Radhika.
They kept communicating with each other through various means but the methods of interaction were very slow in those days. The first letter that Krisn received from Radhika had these special words among other essential things that ‘a life without love was like a year without seasons’ and ‘all good relationships do not just happen but they take time, patience and two special people who are determined to be together’.
When after a year of hard educational psychology studies Krisn wrote back that he wanted to put his ear on her chest and listen to all the heart beat that dished out wisdom, Radhika wrote back, ‘Dearest Friend Krisn, The time has come for you to close the window of your past and open the door of your future and take a deep breath to pray. Then step on the first step of the ladder of your new life to walk up with faith, trust and commitment to do it yourself to your plans. Start n new chapter in your life right now.’
That was the last written communication that Radhika and Krisn had between them and Krisn could not fathom the rationale for that deviation but years later when he had got married and had a few years of teaching experience to return to his village, he took his wife Rukmani to meet Radhika who still lived in the old shack after her parents had passed away and the other sisters were happily married. Krisn collected enough courage to ask Radhika for the reason to abandon him as her friend and a student.
Radhika gave a very short and sweet answer for her detachment by saying that she wanted her Krisn to grow strong wings and fly out to find his rightful place in the world. Krisn then looked at his wife Rukmani for any possible response but she nodded and acknowledged the words of Radhika. After spending some time together the beloved wife of Krisn asked Radhika the reason for her not to take on a family life.
Radhika looked at the image of the huge mountain range called the Sleeping Giant for a while and then gently held the hand of Rukmani to say, “One day someone will walk into my life and make me feel and see why it never worked out with anyone else.” This statement was not only loaded, emotive and comprehensive but came out from the depth of her heart. There were many questions that Rukmani wanted to ask Radhika but could not because it became clear to her that all the answers were known to her husband Krisn.
As time moved on, the Sarju Residence was sold and Krisn and Rukmani migrated to Australia with their family only to regularly return to their village to be in the wise and sweet company of Radhika for a few moments. However, these short spells were like a thousand years in their life because of the wisdom that Radhika so lovingly presented to them and the family.
Like any other good adventure the spiritual life of Radhika had to end. She passed away at the age of eighty four in the retirement home and her sisters gave her the final farewell befitting an Angel like Radhika. Krisn was given the sad news after a week of her passing away by one of the cousins of Radhika.
Foot Note
The above story seems a fiction but when the reader substitutes the name of the author for Krisn, the entire episode becomes a true story worth re-reading and taking some aspects of the life and living of Radhika and Krisn as worthy epitome of love, devotion, friendship and divine human interaction.