Adulteration-The most destructive weapon of Mankind. The story of an ill-fated Father to save his dying 4 years son

"Adulteration- The most destructive weapon of Mankind. The story of an ill-fated Father to save his dying 4 years son."

Introduction: Janardan Mistry- A 41 years old father lives with his wife Lakshmi( 29 years old) and his 4 years son Billu. They live in a small village named Maynaguri, under the Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal, India.

“Sir, please, please Sir, kindly admit my son, he is seriously ill”, begged Janardan in folded hands. “He has been vomiting since morning and has serious abdominal pain”. “He might have vomited more than 40 times”. It was around 9 p.m then.

“Please save him, Sir, otherwise he might die in front of my eyes”. An ill-fated Father crying to his knees to save his dying son in folded hands.

District Hospital Doctor: Doctor Chandrayoti Chattaraj said,” kindly calm down Sir. Just calm down. We will try our best and the rest is in the hands of God.”

Janardan, was taken aback. In his childhood, his mother would always teach him that only Doctors are the Gods living on this planet and none else. “I have come to this living God, and now this God is referring me to another God”, whispering Janardan.

“I can see his face has become quite pale. Hmmm, says the doctor Chattaraj. It seems that he has been suffering from serious food poison”.

“It might have been very late for the innocent little fellow“, the doctor murmured.

Now, the doctor is shouting fervently for the Sisters(Medical Staffs to assist a doctor), to get the 4 years little boy admitted immediately in no time.

The father sits down on the floor of the hospital in extreme fatigue. He reached this Government hospital from his village after cycling for almost 1 hour by tying his dying son on his back with a strong rope.

It seemed very much impossible for Janardan, considering his worn-out physique. Perhaps the power of fatherhood within Janardan made this possible.

Both gloominess and fatigue are coruscating from his face. He could not even get time to drink a glass of water after returning from his duty.

Janardan works as a daily wage labourer in a brick factory in his village. Not too long ago, his daily income has just increased from Rs. 230 to Rs. 280. It's a huge increase for Janardan and he was quite happy with this.

Thousands of questions are roaming around in his mind. What I would say to Lakshmi if I can not save our child. “Billu is the only one for whom we are bearing so much pain in this cruel world”.

Janardan slowly tried to get up from his haunch. His tongue, lips, got dried up completely in thirst. Just when he was ready to go for drinking water, suddenly he heard someone shouting as "Janardan", "Janardan", “where are you?”.

Janardan got a little bit scared. “How did they come to know my name? Has anything wrong happened to my Billu”? Many wrong thoughts are coming to his mind.

Janardan was very happy with his daily wages increased by Rs.50 a day. This meant a lot to him. But this happiness of increased earning did not last very long.

Due to some complex problem, his wife Lakshmi was not able to feed breast milk to Billu.

"Did I neglect Lakshmi, when she was pregnant, maybe I did not give her sufficient nutritional food that would make the deficiency in her breast milk?" Janardan asked himself a couple of times when Billu was around 7 days old.

This deficiency in the amount of Breast milk in Lakshmi has hit Janardan very hard. His earnings were not stable at that time and sometimes he would borrow money to buy milk and other nutritional food supplements for little Billu.

“I can still remember those painful days”, sighed Janardan. “Who should I blame for this?” Asked Janardan himself. “I insisted my dying mother not force me for marriage. I was quite happy to be single as I could not afford a family at that time and neither now properly”.

“Meagre earning with many dreams would land everyone like me. I wish no one succumbs to such a pathetic condition”. “But my mother insisted upon me and compelled me to take an oath keeping my hands on her head that I would get married very soon when she was fighting with death in her bed”.

“I could not see any more tears in her eyes and finally agreed upon her proposal. Who would not do that for her dying mother?”.Then, after a few months, "I found my soulmate Lakshmi Sitaraman. She was the most beautiful woman in the world I have ever seen. Probably God had sent her in this world just for me".

Janardan, Janardan…Hearing the screaming of his name, Janardan came limping near the operation theatre.

It seemed Janardan that as if he is carrying his legs, but not his legs are carrying the entire body. He could feel the shivering agony in his legs. His legs swelled in extreme pain. But he could not find anyone there. He thought he came to the wrong place.

But suddenly Dr Chattaraj came out from the ICU room where Billu was fighting to the death. Janardan's heart was pounding in fear watching Dr Chattaraj. “Is Billu still alive?” Janardan started thinking.

“What did your son have for the last few days”, asked Dr Chattaraj. “He must have eaten some kind of poisonous things not suitable for human consumption. I strongly believe that”.

Janardan was not sure enough what Lakshmi gave Billu today. But he replied, “Sir, I don't know what exactly Billu has eaten today, but for the last few days due to his deteriorated health condition, we gave him only hot milk to drink with some biscuits”.

Janardan didn't dare to tell that he could not afford anything else apart from milk for his little son. “But Sir, I think today my Son drank a few glasses of milk”.

“What! Only milk? Are you quite sure, Janardan?” Asked Dr Chattaraj in a very suspicious manner.

Janardan nodded his head a couple of times because he knew that he could only afford a few glasses of milk for his ill-fated son as milk was selling very cheap in his village for the last couple of months.

But the equation is not matching, how only milk can cause a severe infection in his stomach murmured Dr Chattaraj. It created a few doubts in his mind.

Look, Janardan,” In my career of 23 years, I have never seen anyone getting seriously ill just because of drinking a few glasses of milk for illness”, said Dr Chattaraj emphatically. There might be something fishy, that an experienced Doctor like Dr Chattaraj can smell of.

Just don't worry, “I am sending Billu's vomit sample to the laboratory to find out what exactly it was in his stomach”.

Anyway, “your son is a little bit better now, we have pumped out all unwanted things from his stomach. He is sleeping deep now due to extreme fatigue”.

“Sir, may I see my child now for once, I am very much worried for him”. No, no, it's 1 a.m now, so you must go home right now. “I can not allow you to see your child now as he is in deep sleep and your presence might get him frightened”.

Janardan could not understand how a father's presence can make his child frightened. Anyway, the living God has advised him to do that, so he must do it without asking any questions.

Janardan took a great sigh of relief. He was as happy as if he passed the Class X exam, with distinction. “My little Billu is alive and out of danger. I wish I could buy all the sweets from the nearest sweet shop and place before the living God”.

Janardan is missing his mother very much. He was very much fond of her. My mother was always right. He could remember all that his mother taught him during his childhood about this living God.

"Lakshmi would have surely touched the Doctor's feet if she would have been here out of both grief and happiness", thought Janardan. “Alas! I don't have a phone, nor I could afford it so that I could inform Lakshmi about Billu's condition”.

He could recall how the owner's son of the Brick factory uses new Big Big phones very often without waiting for any new occasion.

“But I could not afford even a single small phone. How unfortunate I am? Even last year Lakshmi gave me her favourite silver bangle to sell so that I can buy a small phone with that money.

"But at that time I didn't agree with Lakshmi and made her convinced that this was nothing but a luxury. How stupid I was", Janardan smiled a bit at him. At the same time, he thought about how discriminative God is while sending us to this planet.

His pain has now climbed to his stomach. He did not have any food after lunch at the factory.

"How selfish I am? I am only thinking about my hunger. Did Lakshmi have anything? No, not at all. Being a mother she is only thinking about her son's agony, she might be least bothered about her pain".

Maybe God has given an extra heart to all the mothers in this world to bear the agonies of their children with a smiling face.

Janardan started limping back towards the main gate. There he found a place where drinking water is available. He drank water so frantically as if he was pouring water in an empty bottle.

Janardan took his cycle from the entrance gate and started towards his home. It was around 1.30 am in morning, he could see no one on the streets as if he was the only person to exist in this world.

He seemed a bit relaxed now. He took one Bidi( local version of cigarette) from his pocket and started smoking. It made him even calmer.

He was cycling very slowly as his body is not permitting any more pain. But his fatherly strength helped him to overcome all his pain and slowly reach his village.

Lakshmi might be in extreme grief still now, thought Janardan. Billu's current state might relieve her a little bit. So, I must reach home at once.

After entering his village from the endpoint of the main road, a few minutes later Janardan got fully awestruck.

He heard a huge hue and cry of the naive villagers and saw so many people were carrying their children in their arms, shoulders and even in laps, looking fervently for something or someone.

After asking someone, Janardan came to know that the naive villagers were looking for the drivers of the local passenger vehicles like Toto(Battery operated car), Van- rickshaw or any other options that may carry their ailed children to the nearest Jalpaiguri Government hospital.

Janardan found some of the children were still vomiting here and there and all of them were shrieking in pain and he got scared again. Few children seemed to be dying at once, their faces got pale.

It reminded Janardan of the pain that Billu had gone through just a few hours ago. His eyes were drenched in tears. But he recovered quickly. I should not waste time here. I must go to my Lakshmi at once. She has been alone for a very long time.

“But what's the matter? Why do so many children fall ill at a time?” Janardan asked himself and started cycling towards his home. Janardan recalled what exactly Dr Chattaraj told him about what Billu had eaten. Was the Doctor referring to some poisonous substance?

“But how did so many children consume poison? There must be some wrong activities going around in our village, Maynaguri”. Janardan kept on thinking in all possible ways and finally reached home.

He entered his house slowly as if he was himself a thief in his own house. His house seemed very much worn-out like his physique.

Janardan saw Lakshmi had not still fallen asleep, she was still awake and sobbing in a very low voice on her bed. How could a mother fall asleep now?

Janardan called Lakshmi in a very low tone. Suddenly she turned around and saw Janardan was alone there.

“Where is my Billu? Why haven't you brought him with you?” Lakshmi started shouting at Janardan.

As if Lakshmi's motherly heart was expecting something worst to happen. She completely broke down in tears by hugging Janardan tight.

Janardan hugged her tightly too. And slowly whispered to Lakshmi’s ears that Billu is still alive and right now is in a better position. There is nothing to worry about as such.

This made Lakshmi a little relaxed. As if a big stone got down from her chest. She smiled while wiping out her tears.

It was around 2.45 a.m in morning. Lakshmi wanted Janardan to eat some food as he did not have anything after lunch. Neither Lakshmi did have anything. But he asked her to make tea for both of them.

Lakshmi, “what have you given to Billu in the morning?” did he have some unusual outside food?” Janardan enquired.

"What! Outside food? not at all, I just gave him milk and sooji (a refined bi-product of Flour)", emphasized Lakshmi. "Also, you didn't leave any money to buy anything. You know that".

"But Dr Chattaraj, who has saved Billu's life was referring to something poisonous that he found from Billu's stomach, you know Lakshmi," said Janardan. "Further, while I was returning home from the District Hospital, I saw near the main road that many children fell sick, vomiting and even some of them seemed dying at once".

"How is it possible? how so many children can fall ill at the same time?" asked Lakshmi.

Janardan nodded his head in such a way as if he understood the reason behind such an unprecedented incident.

At once, Lakshmi affirmatively said, "this is possible only when all the children did eat something common. That might have caused this irreparable loss to those innocent children", confirmed Lakshmi.

By now tea is ready and Lakshmi served it to Janardan. Janardan started sipping tea in such a way as if a Royal Enfield motorbike, built with a 500 CC engine sucking petrol for the first time.

Drinking hot tea this early in the morning has reduced his tiredness a little bit. Janardan can now think in a relaxed mind.

"What are the things that many children can have individually at a time?"Janardan asked Lakshmi.

"Milk, yes milk, is the only one thing in common that possibly many children could drink including my ill-fated little Billu, " Lakshmi replied angrily in a loud voice.

“But we have been buying milk from the nearest milk shop for last few months and the shop is owned by renowned Sanatan Chaturvedi, the owner of the Brick factory, where I work, Janardan murmured. After my wages increased a few months ago, I started buying more milk at a lower cost from that shop considering savings of a few bucks. Milk from that shop cost me Rs.20/- a litre, whereas other milk-men sell milk Rs.30/- a litre.”

“Saving a little penny could have taken away my Billu’s life, how could I do this to my son?”, Janardan asked himself while tears of anger were coming out.

“But many villagers had praised the quality and thickness of milk supplied by that shop. Almost every villager buy milk from that shop, so you don’t curse yourself”, consoled Lakshmi.

Meanwhile, the report from the lab reached Dr Chattaraj. He was quite surprised to check that the report was indicating the presence of so many illegitimate and killing substances such as caustic soda, detergents, melamine, urea, formalin, hydrogen peroxide and ammonium sulphate and water paints.

Now, it became crystal clear to Dr Chattaraj. He was very much sanguine that the little boy had been drinking adulterated milk for a sometimes. The culprits have been using those killing substances to make adulterated milk very thick and palatable.

This has been a new practice in India to earn more and more profits even at the cost of human lives. Adulteration is so so dangerous that its severe effects can cause or lead to failure of many vital organs of the human body and lastly untimely death.

“How could one do such type of heinous act for some extra profits. Profits, wealth gets priority to them over human life?. Even are not they scared to play with the lives of lakhs of innocent children? who are the gifts of God”, said Dr Chattaraj to the medical staff present there.

“But how could they forget that adulteration is the most silent weapon present in the world right now that can even destroy the whole mankind slowly and push them towards the lap of untimely death”, emphasized the Doctor.

It was around 11.30 a.m in morning. Both Janardan and Lakshmi reached the District Hospital. But reaching there, both almost got faint. There they came to know that 24 children who Janardan saw last night succumbed to death just a few hours ago. Doctors and Nurses put their best efforts but all went in vain and could not save those ill-fated children.

The Jalpaiguri District Hospital authority has already informed this matter to the local Jalpaiguri Police Station and waiting for them to come and take the bodies for post mortem.

Anger, agony and pain everything was running through the spine of Janardan. But he controlled himself to meet Billu. For the first time in his life, Billu has spent a night without his parents. Both were waiting at the waiting hall eagerly for the visiting hours to start.

When the bell rang just 12, both ran to the ICU where Billu was lying and was fighting with death. There, they met with Dr Chattaraj.

“Look Mr Janardan, this is very unfortunate but I must tell you the truth that your son’s one kidney has stopped functioning completely”, said the Doctor. "For the time being, he is out of danger. But we must find one kidney donor within a month or two to save Billu’s life. Because he is just a kid and has to live many years".

Hearing the news from the Doctor, Janardan sat on the floor of the hospital in extreme sorrow and pain. Lakshmi bowed down a little bit and keeping both the legs of Dr Chattaraj wrapped in her arms, started crying her eye’s out and shouted ‘please save my son, save my innocent son’.

Dr Chattaraj then briefed everything about what he found in Billu’s stomach. He explained what are the harmful substances that the dishonest men mixed with adulterated milk to make it thick and palatable that cost Billu’s kidney dysfunction. Also, this adulterated milk has taken away the lives of 24 innocent children’s precious lives.

“After 3 days I will discharge your son if his condition so permits, said Dr Chattaraj. But you must find a kidney donor that matches your son’s blood group so that we can transplant his one kidney without much further delay”, that’s the best thing I can do for your son, said Dr Chattaraj in a grief voice.

"I did never imagine that one day I would get free from this jail, would Billu accept a murderer as his father?, I have been living here for last 29 years, it is a hell long years, Janardan murmured".

Janardan got a little bit scared today, his heart was pounding like a pendulum. As Billu never told him that Janardan gave justice to society on his own. “ I wish Billu would hug me one day and say Baba!, what you did was required for the sake of the many more innocent lives”, sighed Janardan.

Janardan is now a 70 years old father who lives in Presidency correctional centre at Kolkata. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment until death. He had been charged with two ruthless murders 29 years back.

He can not remember all the incidents that happened on that evening when Billu got discharged from the Jalpaiguri District Hospital. But he can still remember that he killed two people named Sanatan Chaturvedi and his son Romeo Chaturvedi mercilessly a long way back.

These were the two culprits of his village involved in adulterated milk incidents that took the lives of many children and these two brutal murders justified those heinous crimes.

But Janardan is very happy today. The Jail Authority has informed him yesterday that he would be released today from this jail permanently as a gesture of his rigorous hard work and good behaviour with the Authority.

Today his son Billu aka IAS Bilas Mistry would come in no time to take his father Janardan back home.

Bilas Mistry is now the Joint Secretary of the Food and Food Safety Department of the Government of India from the Indian Administrative Service(IAS) cadre. The topmost Indian Governmrnt job one can boast of.

All of you must be eagerly waiting to hear about Billu’s transformation. Yes, that was Dr Chattaraj who found spark within that little Billu. He helped Billu to reach this feat being his friend, philosopher and guide. Dr Chattaraj took the whole responsibility for Billu’s education and also helped Lakshmi to find a job at the Hospital. So, little Billu did never let down neither his mother, his father or Dr Chattaraj.

Dr Chattaraj is no more with us as he has gone for heavenly abode 3 years ago. But IAS Bilas Mistry is now married to Dr Chattaraj’s one and only daughter Priyangbada Chattaraj. Bilas has a 4 years son Janmenjoy Mistry.

All of a sudden, Janardan heard the words, “ Baba, Baba, I am your Billu, I have come here to take you home today, where are you”?

But what’s wrong has happened with Janardan? He woke up from the floor at once but his body was still lying on the floor like a dead man. He has been living with one kidney for the last 29 years as he donated his one kidney to his sweet little Billu. Janardan realised he is a dead man now.

Bilas got down to his knees and took Janardan in his lap and whispered into the ears of Janardan, “ What you did was right Baba, I would have also done the same had I been at your place, please Baba, please, wake up, I have come to take you home.”

“I have taken an oath to eradicate adulteration from this country completely, I am on your same way Baba, please you wake up, please you wake up Baba”.

“I promise you, Baba, I would never allow adulteration to keep any other father-son departed from each other like you and me”.

“You saved your dying son one day by donating your kidney, but I could not save my dying father, indeed what an unfortunate son I am,” Bilas started crying his heart out. "But you will always be within me Baba", murmured Bilas.

Janardan’s soul tried to touch Billu’s head but could not. Janardan’s eyes got drenched in tears and blessed him hanging in the air. Thus Janardan disappeared forever for good.