My eyes are scanning the headlines of the newspaper. One headline is read as “ Retired army personnel robbed”. A very insignificant and general type of news which does not deserve a second glance. But I am unable to shift my mind from it and continue to read the news. It goes like that. An retired army personnel was returning home from bank after withdrawing a some three lacs of rupees. On his way home, he was robbed of the entire amount. Police has lodged a case and investigation is on. Nobody has been arrested and no amount has been recovered till the time this report was made.
Matter should end there as generally we read such news almost daily and also forget on daily basis. I am having a bad habit to keep thinking about anything I come across. As usual I start thinking on it. This person might be working in army since last 20 yrs or more. He had given his entire life, his youth for his service. Each rupee he had saved through lot of sacrifice with a dream to realise. He might have young daughter to marry, or he may be planning to buy a small house to live peacefully in his retired life. Being in service myself, I can understand what goes into the savings of a salaried person. How much determination, sacrifice is needed to save for the retired life. A single incident has turned his world up side down. Now he is a broken man devastated. His entire family will suffer. They are pushed to eternal poverty for no fault of them. After a hard working life for years , when time has come to settle down , he has been pushed to a world uncertainty. Robbers have not robbed him of only money rather he has been robbed of the essence of life. Is there nothing our society can do? Why our government can’t provide security to its own people from such petty but heart breaking incidents ? Some device can be found if there is a will. Now I can only pray to almighty to give him strength.
