“Don’t Worry Old Man”

Nowadays, senior citizens are discriminated during they want to play an important role due to their mentality except few seniors who were respected. We should respect our grandfather. We do wrong things towards them does not mean we don’t love them. We need to know that they have their own principles. We should understand why they lagged behind the generation we are into. This is the story of a senior citizen whose past can be explored in a different manner.

It was morning, empty streets but crowded in the footpath. An old man who wore a jacket, Arab loin-cloth and round framed sunglasses was strolling in the footpath. When he saw a beautiful girl he came closer to her.

The old man asked “what is your name?”

The beautiful girl replied “I am Halima”

The old man said “Halima, I love you”

The beautiful girl slapped him in such a manner that he never meant to forget.

“SHUT UP OLD MAN!” said Halima (the beautiful girl).

He thought that if he were young, he would have known how to mix with other people. After he went to the middle of the pass away bridge he flashed back into the years of his youth through his present.

‘Everyone in his circle called him ‘Haseeb Miyah’ who was a youngest son of a business man. He was a heartthrob in the college and everyone was impressed with his charm until his brother, Andalib who taunts him for no reason. He never wanted his younger brother-Haseeb to mix with anyone he loves. Andalib always bullied Haseeb for his charm and Haseeb never rose against his voice. After college, Haseeb fell in love with a girl named Anamika but engaged to Andalib that made Haseeb left heartbroken. He left the city and isolated from the society. Most young people made fun of his antics that was used to be his ‘charm’. As thirty years passed as he lived in an isolated hill and he always tried to be modern towards the young generation but taunted by them. After Haseeb left the hill side he came back to the city’.

The old man (Haseeb) said “if my brother wouldn’t have taunted me, I would have been married and mixed with the society of this post-modern generation”.

Suddenly, a street-smart man ran towards the streets. When he saw Haseeb, he came near him. He offered Haseeb to stay in his bungalow. As Haseeb entered the bungalow, he found some portraits of his brother and himself.

Haseeb asked “who are you?”

The street-smart man replied “you are my grandfather and you are supposed to be the real heir of the business but unfortunately you were not there so it came to me. By the way I am Karim”.

Haseeb smiled. He took some good food. Suddenly a servant came as he recognized Haseeb. They hugged each other. One day, he went to the morning walk in the field, he saw young people in the bike  were making fun of him and throwing bricks at him.

Then Karim stopped them and shouted “YOU ALL GO TO HELL. MAKING FUN OF OLD PEOPLE! AREN’T YOU ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES?”

The boys were terrified and ran away with the bike. Then, Karim mixed with Haseeb but he did not accept Karim as a grandson.  One day, Haseeb became ill. No one rescued him until Karim took him to the hospital. 

When Haseeb was in the hospital bed, Karim revealed that Andalib was selfish about things and forcefully married Anamika. As Anamika found out that the child was Haseeb’s, she was about to abort it but stopped by Andalib. As Karim’s father grew up, he blamed Andalib by taunting him as well. As Karim grew up, he had to see the same family drama with a pre-mature death of his mother. Andalib became old and Karim’s father treated Andalib as a servant and no one took care of him until he died.  Karim became saddened when he learnt about the past from Anamika. Anamika and Karim’s father died at the same time that left their wealth to Karim.  Anamika still missed Haseeb.

After he learnt about it, the reporters came to interview Haseeb. He said “respect your seniors, even after your death. It is wrong that I couldn’t accept Karim as a grandson but I accepted him. I am fine till death. I am dying…I am dying… I am dying”.

After few days, Karim went to the graveyard. He saw the graves of Haseeb beside the grave of Anamika.  Karim said “I respect you my old man. Don’t worry; even I lost my family but your final days made me much happier than I could be. I will always pray for you even you are in the corner of the parallel world”.