Tony's Family

Every day, Tony sat in the corridor, staring at the playground. Silence and despair were all that surrounded him. Every evening, same time, he used to play with Rinki, Guddu and Sonu. But he missed all of them today. “They are your Family”; he had been told this always, but now, he sat alone and wondered, ‘where did my Family go?’.

Childless couples came to adopt children in the orphanage in which Tony had been staying ever since he recalls. Even before the proceedings, Tony had seen these couples shower his friends with immense love. They bought chocolates and toys for the child that they were going to adopt. They hugged them, kissed and caressed them. And, on the day of the adoption, they were even renamed. They got new, better names and Surnames too. Then, these Parents took their child away from the orphanage into a far better world. All this seemed like a dream for Tony. His friends had promised him that they will come and meet him sometime. They did; but only for a few weeks that followed. Now, nobody looked back at the sad and miserable life of the orphanage, which was full of poverty and hunger.

Tony cried and cried. “Will I ever get my family, as the others got?”, he asked God often but got no reply.

Tony had been crippled by Polio and knowing about his disability, none of the couples wished to adopt him. Initially, Tony did not seem to understand this. But now he was 10 and he was slowly grasping the fact that he was an unwanted child. He had learned to gauge the expressions of the people. He had learned to hear the unspoken!

The Matron of the orphanage often comforted Tony. She loved him dearly and unconditionally. But Tony’s desire to have his own family and the deprivation just killed him inside.

Tony spent the next 9 to 10 years in the same orphanage. He completed his studies and got a small but decent desk job in a nearby factory. Tony had grown up now. He was a mature and sensible person. But he always had the longing for a ‘Home’; a ‘Family’.

Nevertheless, God delays but doesn’t deny. Tony got married to a simple girl working in the same factory. They started their own family a few months later by renting a small house in a modest neighborhood. A year later, Tony’s wife delivered a Baby Boy. He hugged her and the child and thanked God with a big smile of satisfaction, “Today you gave me the Family I always craved for. THIS is MY FAMILY !”.