Watching torture scenes of the prisoners, thinking of the hunger deaths at many places of the world, looking at some merciless act around one’s own neighborhood and sometimes recollecting the pain we ourselves get from our friends and our enemies -the thought that life can be very cruel comes to mind.
Recently a story appeared in Indian newspapers about an old man who came back from jail after 44 years. He was arrested in 1961 for a petty fight with a neighbor and was sent for trial. Before the trial could begin, he was found mentally imbalanced and sent to asylum. He stayed in the asylum till if I remember correctly, 1998 after which he was sent back to jail for trial. But all papers relating to his case were lost/misplaced by then. Somehow the news filtered out and judiciary was approached about this man’s plight. This man was released recently.
I saw the photograph in the newspapers. It looked as if he was staring at nothing, or was lost in his own pain or something else. But nothing looked natural or happy. It was a photograph of a life lost. His family had taken him for dead since long, his wife had remarried his brother and life had carried on...