The Last Letter - I

(The Last Letter- Part I)

The boy is cursed. He can’t be ever happy. The doctors had diagnosed a very rare disease. Perhaps he was the only one suffering from it in the history of mankind. He was born normal at birth, without any signs or symptoms that he was different from the rest. His parents named him Aron saying he would stand tall like a mountain.

But Aron was not a normal child. His parents noticed the developmental delay as he grew up. It took him one and half years to stand on his feet, and two years to learn to take his first baby steps. His parents were worried initially, when he couldn’t talk, and took him to the doctor. The doctors checked for his hearing and neural functions. Nothing was abnormal. But still something was abnormal. At five years of age, Aron learnt to speak. He was however shorter than his age, but his brain age was normal as compared to his peers. The doctors thought it to be an extreme case of constitutional delay of growth. His parents and the doctors soon noticed that for every two years of chronological age, his physiological age increased by one year, though his mental growth was equivalent to his chronological age. So when his peers were hitting puberty at 14 and 15 he looked no more than a 7 year old child. They called him a kid, and so instead of going out and playing with his school classmates, he chose to bury himself in books. Books were his only friends and they understood him well- and like him they too didn’t change rapidly. He was a bookworm and acquired great knowledge. So when his classmates went for studying Business and Engineering, he chose to study Medicine and know more about himself.

At 18 he qualified the Medical Entrance Examination. The College had to do a verification of his age, for they had rules for not allowing undergraduates into the course below 17, and he looked like a 9 year old child. However, after the required inquires he was found to be mentally fit and eligible for the course.

The Medical career brought more frustrations than happiness in him. He felt all the more isolated. While his batch-mates were tall and handsome, he looked more like a thin, weak and frail creature. The girls found him to be a cute baby. And that pained him. It was not unusual for him to remain alone. While his batch-mates reached adulthood and had relationships, he was looked down upon as a kid. Unfit to be in a relationship! Which adult girl/woman over 18 would date a 9 year old kid? It felt horrible to grow mentally and emotionally but not physiologically.

On his twentieth birthday, he prayed to God for a miracle. That night, he grieved and cried himself to sleep. He was a 10 year old kid, and he could cuddle his pillow and cry if he wanted to! He had a weird dream, like someone with a mask had come into his room and put some anaesthetic and muscle relaxant on his nose using a handkerchief. He felt he was conscious and could hear and see everything, but couldn’t move. Then the unknown person in mask, took out an injection containing some blue liquid. It pained when he got the injection, but he still couldn’t even shout. The next morning he woke up with some pain and fever. He remembered the dream vividly, and looked at the door. It was latched, so possibly no one could enter. It was after all a dream!

But soon, however he noticed the changes in his body. It was like all of a sudden he had started growing rapidly. Less than a year, he was hitting puberty (supposed to be physiologically of 14 years), and the changes in him were tremendous. He was initially frightened of the rapid changes, but as he was mentally aware of everything, so he welcomed the changes. He grew taller, and his body hair became coarse and thick and grew at places only had imagined till then. His voice changed its pitch from shrill to base. By the end of the year he had grown into a tall handsome teenager of 16 years, transformed from an Ugly Duckling to a Magnificent Swan.

The next one year (his chronological age from 21 years to 22 years) was the golden period in his life. He was growing rapidly, and he had accustomed himself to the rapid growth. He met a beautiful girl Miss Irene Champ on the Facebook. She was 16 and in high school. They chatted and soon realized they had a lot of things in common. They were from the same city and decided to meet and hang out together. It would be his first date, and his physiological age was that of a typical 18 year old who had just become an adult.

They met in a park for the first time and love sparkled at first sight. She was tall like him, and she preferred being quiet. He was also quiet and they sat close to each other on a bench. And for the first time he placed his hand on the hand of a girl. It was his first touch, and it was her first touch with feelings. They could feel the warmth and sincerity in each other’s touch. Her hand felt soft, and for the first time he relished the beauty of feminine touch. He longed to kiss her on the lips and expressed his wish to do so. She looked longingly into his eyes, and he could read the passion for him in them. Their lips met and it was a light touch of the warm sensation of breath of the two souls being one. Their first kiss sparked in them a sense of soul union, and they exchanged the vows of eternal love and everlasting fidelity.

They met often and loved each other’s company. Even their silence was precious. During their one year of relationship, they loved every moment they spent with each other. Miss Irene Champ turned 17, and he looked like a sturd of 22. Finally he had attained normalcy. His chronological age matched with his physiological age. They talked of marriage, their future goals and about their future children. Miss Irene was ambitious and she said, she wouldn’t marry before she would complete her masters. She wanted to be financially independent before she got married. That would take five years. She would be 22 by then. And he would be 27, the right age for any Doctor to get married!

The next year, they spent in perfect harmony. Miss Irene got admission in a Graduation College, studying her favourite subject computer science. She went to stay in the college hostel. They would meet often, and their love was restricted to the most passionate kisses. And the best part of their day was to write to each other a letter. In the day of Internet, Cell Phones, and Social Media, they still wrote and sent letters to each other. It was an unusual form of love, a romance of the old age.

Life was beautiful for them, and they were faithful to each other. A happy union was all that was desired. However Aron noticed he was still aging faster. He suddenly realised he looked older than his peers. He had grown muscular, and his hair-line was receding. He was worried a bit but however he rubbished the weird thoughts that crept in his mind. He wrote more often to Irene, but she was busy, and would reply and write to him as often as she could. That was the only way he could relieve his stress. Her letters were the sweetest antidote to his anxiety. He kept all her letters neatly stacked in a file. And he never told her that he used to write two letters every time he wrote her a letter. One he sent to her, and a copy he kept with himself. That way he could understand the sequence of events, and feel the communication. Those were the blissful moments God had bestowed him with. The love of a beautiful girl was a cherished possession in his heart, and he had obtained it after a long time with a lot of effort and knew the worth of the beautiful four letter word- LOVE!

It was the third year of their relationship. He had grown fat. Some of his hair had turned grey, and he felt his scalp hair thinning. He lost lot of hair when he took bath. He realised his eyes had grown weak, and he needed spectacles to see distant objects. It was however okay to be myopic at this age. But the rapid change in his body growth, stressed him, and he feared going into depression. Miss Irene was her usual self. She didn’t complain, but she noticed the changes in him and asked him about it one day.

“I don’t know”, he said! “Why are you asking me such nonsense questions? Haven’t you seen a white haired kid? It is just my hairs have turned grey prematurely. That’s all. I am fine.”

Miss Irene wanted to talk about it, but sensing he was in a foul mood, didn’t press the matter. She however said, “Aron, I love you. No matter what you are going through, I will always be with you.”

Aron, felt the warmth in her voice, and pressed his face on her bosom. “It is your words that keeps me alive. It is just that I am overstressed with this medical work. That is all; I promise you if there is anything I will let you know.”

That year he became a medical graduate. The Old Principal delivered a lecture in the hall before the convocation ceremony.

“Dear Students, now as we cut your umbilical cords and set you free in this wide world, I want you to remember that we have a duty towards humanity. Let compassion for our fellow beings guides us in the dark world, and each step we strive to better ourselves and our excellence. In the time of ever-changing knowledge, let us be cooperative and help our colleagues to the best of our knowledge.

You all have a long time to learn, and experience life. And being a doctor, we know how sacred and precious life is! So I would suggest, if you get the time after you have saved someone’s life, spend it on yourself. Those of you who haven’t fallen in love and are yet bachelors, I would suggest you to experience this phase of life! Now as an old friend sharing his life-long knowledge, I would suggest, give quality time to your family. They need you more than what you earn. And in the end, it is peace and all that you have lived for yourself that matters! Good day young fellas, and a bright future lies ahead of you.”

Aron, was sitting in the last bench and listening intently to the speech. He scribbled on the desk with his pen,

10 + 7 * 6 = 52

as tears silently flowed down his cheeks.

(To be continued tomorrow...)