Most of my friends have by now got married, started a family and doing relatively well. A few are still unmarried…initially out of choice due to pursuits of studies, career etc, but later on simply because it has become harder to find a suitable partner!! However, the sad and worrying part is that an increasing number of young couple are having difficulties bearing a child. Even among my close friends, there are at least three of them who are facing these problems. Initially as it is not a nice thing to be discussed and also because of work and other related commitments, the issue was not discussed..but after some of them have tried their best, consulted doctors and experts, taken medicines/treatments and have not been successful..it has come out of the closet now and it is really sad to see the pain and desperation in their eyes…
One of them had been undergoing several treatments, most of them exorbitantly expensive ones, for a long time now, mostly at facilities in the northeast-both in our native Manipur as well as in other areas like Guwahati, Shillong etc. However, without any success. On the other hand, another friend of mine is a brilliant doctor working in doctor and he did his post graduation in the All India Institute of Health and Family Welfare, the premier institute relating to health and fertility. Having seen the relatively high rate of success which have emerged from the institute and also having seen the working of my doctor friend myself, I recommended the friends having problems to come over to Delhi and give it a shot here. Well, man proposes and god disposes as they say..most of them, with best of intentions have not been able to avail the facilities here mainly because of work compulsions in their places of posting/work.
However, earlier this year, a close friend of mind did come over, stayed with us also briefly and proceeded to Delhi for the treatment. He is a well-read guy manning an important position in the government and when he said that he has come with some homework regarding the issue, I thought he has already consulted some experts and that things are going in the right direction. They were in Delhi for a painstaking one and half months for the treatment, after which they were discharged and advised to observe and take care, wait for the results and hope for the best…Time goes buy and again we lost touch for some time,being caught up with the daily grind of duties-both at work and at home…but when I finally rang them up after about a month, I got the sad news that all efforts have proved futile….
Having reached middle age, with the biological clock ticking away and having seen the family system changing before our eyes,,,one can’t help getting retrospective and ponder about one’s own future…about old age, about carrying on the legacy and of the family name..about personal security and comfort…
