“Can’t you leave me alone!!! Your presence suffocates me. I am sick of you poking around in all my affairs. Your time is over, now let me live my life”. The words exploded in his ears like a bomb. All his senses went numb for a few seconds after hearing them. He thought that maybe he was mistaken, those words were not meant for him, or may be, they were not said by the person who he thought said it. But, an insulting finger pointing directly pointing towards his chest, a pair of eyes beaming at him with anger and disdain and the words yelled at him with such clarity that it seemed that the speaker was enjoying uttering them, left no ambiguity that HIS SON was talking to HIM. Since, the day his son started speaking, he paid full attention to whatever he said, even if it did not make any sense to him. But today, he had wished that he had lost all his senses, or even better, if he was dead already.

He did not understand what went wrong? He just asked him where has he been? It was late at night, and he was worried about him. He did not even take his own dinner yet so that his son does not have to eat alone, whenever he comes back. This was not the first time that he remained hungry because of his son. In fact, he always made sure that his son was full before he took his first bite. Even when he came from work after 8 to 10 hours. But he was astonished today that more than 20 years of hard work and care did not even earn him a right to a simple inquiry.

But perhaps, it was not about today. Perhaps, it was not about what he just said. It was something which built up over the years as his son grew older. He remembered those days when his son would come to the door to greet him as soon as he entered the house. He would be so eager to meet him and tell him all what has happened throughout the day. That too, without any questions. But, with the passage of time, he found many other friends to talk to and he would spent more time with them than he would do with his own father. In fact, he would get irritated even if his father tried to strike a conversation with him. His opinions and advices were no longer important, or even acceptable, for his son. There was a time when his wife had to tell him to leave him so he could eat or take some rest. But now, he longed to speak to his son and had to wait for hours before he had a chance to do that. Even then, he was not greeted by any pleasantries, instead a fiery shower of disdainful statements was thrown towards him.

What should he do now? What can he do? He was thinking about it as he tried to recover from the shock. Perhaps a slap on the face would serve him well. Yes, this is what he deserved. But what after that? Will he get his son back? Definitely not, his anger would turn in to hatred and he may never speak to him again, and he would be deprived of hearing even these harsh words from his son. The only thing he could think off is to be silent and just be content with the fact at least he would get to see his son every day, healthy and fit and growing ever so strong. That should be enough for leading a peaceful life even if it comes at the price of being treated like an item of furniture which has its own place in the house but cannot interfere in affairs of the household.

As he turned silently to retire to his room, he got the feeling of Deja vu. He felt that this has all happened before. He has heard those words with his own ears. But how is it possible? This is most definitely the first time that his son has gone to such an extent in expressing in anger. Then, why does it seem so familiar? But then it dawned on him. Yes, it has happened before. He has heard exactly the same words but not because someone said them to him. It was because he said it to someone. And that someone WAS HIS OWN FATHER. Yes, how can he forget it? That was the last conversation he had with his father. But no, that was not a conversation. That was a judgment after which the judge leaves the room. With those words, he gave lifetime punishment of silence and solitude to his father. And today, that punishment was passed on to him. So now he understood that those words which were said by his son were not his. They were an echo of his own words.