Redemption's Road: A Tale of Tragedy, Love, and Transformation - Impact of alcohol consumption on mental health

This story tells the story of a John – a chronic alcoholic, and a parallel story of a family of three from a lower socioeconomic status. Both the stories are told in separate sequences and how they meet and the outcome of it in the final sequence. It tells about the outcome of road traffic accidents and head injuries. It tells about how money, power and greed could destroy not only your life, but also others. It also tells about the impact of alcohol consumption on mental health

SEQUENCE 1

John, 21 years old was studying his college when he had feelings for a girl Emily in his college. She was his junior in the college and they met during the college function days. On Valentine’s Day, he proposed to her. She was initially skeptical whether to accept, but deep inside, she too was having feelings for him. John was tall and was the macho man in the class. He was born into a rich family. His parents were abroad and he was being taken care by his aunt since 4 years old. They would come over to meet him thrice in a year. 

Emily was like a girl next door. She was the only child to her parents, who were doctors. Her father – Dr. Raghav, was a former boxing champion and a psychiatrist by profession. Her mother, Sandhya was a general physician. 

Any guy would fall for Emily, the moment they set their eyes along her. But she was a reserved type who doesn’t speak much with the boys. As said above, John and Emily met during the party days in their school. Practically, they knew nothing about each other. The only thing they knew about each other were that John was a macho man in the school and Emily was a girl next door.

As John was under the care of his aunt, he didn’t receive a mother’s warmth or his dad’s love. His aunt barely spent time with him. He always spent time with his friends, going to parties and hanging out with the girls.

He started consuming alcohol from the age of 19. He also smokes cigarettes frequently. On the other hand, Emily had been just the opposite. She liked her parents a lot and was spending most of the time with them . She occasionally went to parties.

So on Valentine ’day, Emily was called by a mutual friend, who was friends to both John and Emily, for her birthday party. After the party on a rainy night, John thought it would be the perfect time to propose to her. He proposed to her. She was shocked. She never expected a proposal from one of the most handsome and macho men in the class. She accepted it.

So days passed by. They grew close to each other.  John was the dominating type. He wanted Emily to listen to what he says and he never asked her what she wanted. Emily was the adjusting type. She went where and all John wanted her to come with, to movies, to parties and all. He never asked Emily where she would like to go.

John wanted to go with Emily for a long drive on the highway. Emily didn’t like the idea as she was afraid of travelling by bike on highway and knowing that John had a racing bike, it feared her more. And that’s what thrilled John more and more, to see her screaming when he travelled at high speed. It was going to be an adventure for him. So they planned to go by the weekend. Emily had to tell lies in her home, to go out. John had consumed alcohol on the night before at a party. 

The day arrived and John woke up in the morning and he was feeling a little dizzy. But he ignored it and started from his home to pick up Emily. Emily was waiting near her college gate. When she came to know that he was a little sleepy, she refused to go with him. She told him to take some rest and that they can reschedule for a later date. He didn’t even have helmets on him. John said that he had been waiting this day for so long. He acted as if he was crying. Emily couldn’t stand to see him in tears. So she accepted and they started on his long awaited journey. John was initially driving at slow speeds at 70kmph and was starting to feel a little dizzy.  

Emily was talking to him about her family, her dream post marriage and all. John asked Emily that if she would want an unforgettable thrilling experience. Emily understood what he meant and begged him not to go at high speeds. But John, in spite of her warnings started to speed his bike. Since it was a racing bike he was going at 100,110,140,170 and finally he was travelling at 180kmph. Emily was shouting in fear, to slow down the bike. John saw someone in scooter driving at a slow speed. He purposefully increased his speed to show off and reached 200kmph and passed by a motor scooter.

SEQUENCE 2

There was a family of three, a married couple - Ram, Nithya, and their son Suresh. Suresh was 7 years old. Ram and Nithya were 40 and 39 years respectively. Nithya didn’t conceive till 8 years after marriage. She conceived through intrauterine fertilization (IUI) after 8 years of marriage. They were both very much caring for their son. Suresh was studying in his school. They wanted their son to study in the best of the best schools. So they got a loan and spent all their savings to put him in one of the top rated schools in the city. Ram worked day and night to earn money. Nithya was a caring housewife who took care of Suresh and Ram. Everyone envied for the happiness and positive energy in their family. 

Both of them (Ram and Nithya) had a good understanding of each other. Suresh was the topper in his class, and also the teachers used to like him very much due to his obedience, punctuality, and regularity. Suresh loves his parents a lot. Whatever the day is whatever the situation is how much ever tired he is, he needs his mother beside him to get a good day’s sleep. They didn’t have any vehicle. How much ever the travelling distance is, they used to walk or travel by buses. Ram gathered money, day by day to buy at least a motor scooter, so that he could drop his son in his school. So one day when Suresh was 12 years old, Ram came home with a newly bought scooter. Everyone was so happy.  Ram used to take Suresh in his scooter every day, to drop him in school. 

One day they plan to go to a theme park on a weekend. They went to a bus terminus and saw that all the buses were full. Suresh was disappointed. But he didn’t tell anything to his parents. They reached home. Suresh took a book from his bag and started to study. His mother could understand Suresh’s disappointment. When he was reading his book, a tear from his eye fell on the book. He immediately wiped them and said to his parents that something had fell in his eye and he started to wipe them away.

Her mother couldn’t see his son in tears. She immediately went to Ram and asked him whether he could do anything. Ram, even called all the taxis to check their availability and none of them were available. Then Ram stood up. He told Suresh to get ready as they are leaving by scooter. Nithya asked whether it would be safe to travel with three in a scooter, but Ram replied that he would be travelling only at low speed only and asked her not to worry. Suresh was very happy. Everyone got ready and they were ready to leave. Ram started the scooter and with Suresh in the middle, with Ram and Nithya on the front and back respectively, they started their journey. They reached the highways. Ram was driving in the sides, and he was merely driving at the rate of 50kmph for his family’s safety. Behind him, he heard a roaring side of a bike with a girl shouting.

FINAL SEQUENCE

As John wanted to scare the scooter guy, he drove up in high speed. But John lost control of his bike. He immediately tried to lower his speed and lowered up to 100kmph, which caused his bike to skid. John’s elbow hit on the ground with a crackling sound. Emily’s arm and head rubbed against the road. After the bike hit the scooter drove by Ram, Emily fell on the ground and rotating hand bar and the tires of the bike hit her in the face and threw her away. The impact threw the scooter away; the impact threw Ram over a roadblock with his back against it. He immediately fell unconscious. Nithya knows that the accident was inevitable, she hugged her son and the impact threw her to the ground and she was going a few meters on the road before her head hit the roadblock. As she was hugging her son, he was shielded from the impact except his head which hit on the ground.  Emily’s face was covered in blood with some of her hair torn from the scalp. Nithya had abrasions all over the side of the body against which she fell on the road. She was dizzy. She called her son and asked whether he was okay and asked him to check on Ram. Ram was unconscious and after repeated shouting by Suresh, Ram opened his eyes partially, but was unable to move. Suresh started to cry and he ran to his mother who was struggling to even move. He held her hands and begged her to wake up. She immediately held her hand over her head and shouted in pain after which she became unconscious holding his hand. And finally John had his hand and legs trapped under the bike and was shouting for help and was shouting Emily’s name and crying. There was no reply from Emily, other than a faint movement in her hands and foot.

Persons nearby called the ambulance as soon as they saw the incident and emergency vehicles came and picked everyone up and transported them to a nearby multi-specialty hospital.

Suresh couldn’t stop his tears. Just before a few minutes, everyone was happily chatting, in just half an hour, his world turned upside down. All the five of them, including Suresh were sent to take an MRI scan of the brain. But Suresh refused as he had only a minor abrasion in the hands and legs. He begged the doctors to do the scan, first for his parents and let him know the results. Preliminary tests began and the scan was done for them. They were all sent to an intensive care unit in a semiconscious state and the doctors continued with the procedure for them.

Emily’s parents were working there, so as soon as they heard the condition of Emily they rushed to the ICU to check the progress of their child. The doctors came out of the ICU. They apologized to Suresh that they could not save his parents. They told Suresh that his parents have suffered head injuries and as a result, they passed away a few minutes ago. Suresh was in absolute silence. He was sitting near Emily’s mother- Dr.Radha. She thought that he was going to break in tears. But he stood up and started walking. Emily’s father – Dr. Raghav told his wife to check on him and he said that he will take care of Emily. Radha immediately stood up and was running towards Suresh.  Suresh was feeling dizzy and he stood near a staircase and was calling his Mom and Dad to take him with them and was about to fall down. Radha rushed to him and caught him. She asked the doctors whether the MRI scan was performed and they replied that he did not have any symptoms pertaining to head injury. Radha shouted at the doctors to perform MRI scan immediately. Then, she came back to check on Emily. Chief Doctor came and narrated the incidents which would have happened leading to this accident. They asked how Emily was progressing. The doctors told that Emily developed an intracranial hemorrhage and she has only a few minutes before she could pass out. Radha couldn’t control her tears. The radiologist came and told Radha that Suresh passed away during the scan procedure as he was bleeding inside his brain due to the impact. Though Nithya tried her best to protect him, a single impact to the head at such a high speed is enough to cause bleeding inside the brain.

Raghav went inside the ICU and sat down near Emily and held her hands. He said to her, “Baby doll, I don’t know whether you could hear me. But remember, your mom and I had always loved you and we always will. You are going to a safe place. Don’t forget about us. You always wanted to save people and that’s why you took this profession. It’s not your mistake for this accident. Accidents happen. Due to your kind nature God has called you soon.” Suddenly Emily held his hands and tapped his palm with her fingers. She began moaning and suddenly she started spitting blood and her ECG turned Flat line. Raghav knew that her soul passed away. The only child, he had, his source of happiness, his dreams of seeing her married, hugging his grandchildren, all turned to ashes in just a 3 second time. He could hear his wife crying outside. He slowly left her hands and could see her soulless body lying on the bed. He didn’t drop a single tear. He didn’t speak anything. 

He went to his home with his wife after finishing all the formalities. He came and sat on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. Radha continued crying. She went to Emily’s room and hugged all her belongings. Raghav closed his eyes. All he could think of was Emily. The day, which she walked, the day she first called his dad, the days she cared for him during the boxing matches, the day they had good times. He opened his eyes. He burst out in tears and shouted EMILY! Radha on hearing that ran to him and hugged him. Two days passed. He went to the hospital. 

 He directly went to John’s room. He saw him lying in the bed and inquired the doctors about his condition. They replied that he had fractured one of his leg and hand and had multiple abrasions over his face. They said it would take at least 1 year for his full recovery including rehabilitation. Raghav asked whether he could have a few words with him and went to John. He was lying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. John was with his parents who came to visit him from abroad on hearing the incident. John’s father - Brad was one of the top businessmen.  Brad came and apologized to Raghav. He didn’t reply to anything. Raghav sat near John and asked him why he took Emily out that day, for which he replied, “Sir, I love Emily with all my heart. She is everything to me. I wanted to live with her till my last breath. I never expected this to happen. Please forgive me, Sir.” Raghav replied “That’s all I wanted to know” and he left.

So years passed by. Radha went into depression. One day Raghav wakes up in the morning and got ready to go to the hospital. Radha didn’t wake up yet. He went to check on her and found her body as cold as ice. He immediately called the emergency crew and checked for a pulse and found none. He went and took the stethoscope from his room, checked for her heartbeat and found none. The emergency crew arrived and she was rushed to the hospital. As a doctor Raghav knew the result. He lay down in his bed. After a few minutes, he received a call from the hospital that her wife passed away due to cardiac arrest. 

He took his car, went to the hospital. She was in the intensive care unit, just like his daughter was, three years ago. He could see the soulless body lying on the bed. The only person whom he cared about and the only person who cared about him passed away. He went to his quarters in the hospital and fainted.

He woke up in the hospital bed. The hospital staff immediately called the chief doctor about seeing his wake. The chief came and checked his condition and told “Your loss is unbearable. How many patients you would have treated for depression? How many families you would have saved doctor?  God has a purpose for each and every human being. You will find that soon. Stay in your hospital quarters till you feel well. If you have any problems, I am all ears. I am a surgeon. How many lives I would have saved? The person who are undergoing the surgery, with a maximum of ten persons per day. How many lives you are saving each and every day? You save at least ten families with your psychotherapy. Think of what are all the things you told to people who were victims of depression.”  And the chief left the room.

Years passed by. It was the day of Emily’s graduation, if she would have been alive. He waited for this day, since the day she joined her college. He waited for the day she would enter the house and hug him and tell that she became a doctor. Now he sat on the chair, staring at the entrance of his house. The next day morning, at around 7 AM he went for a walk. He received a call from the hospital that he had many appointments in the morning. He told that he would be coming by 10 AM. He was about to enter a hotel to have the breakfast, when he saw four bikes speeding behind him. All the four bike riders were wearing helmets with each of them having a girl behind.

John followed them into a hotel. He covered his face partially with his cap and sat near their table. All of them were talking about some trekking and all. 

To his surprise, he identifies one of them as John, the same person who ran into an accident with his daughter which led to the demise of his daughter and a family of 3. He closely watched his activities. The girl who sat behind him on his bike was standing near John. John stood up. He removed his cap, so that to check whether John identifies him. Everyone turned towards Raghav. 

John said “Oh, Doctor. How are you? You are that girl’s father right? What is her name? Something like Emi- Emilia right? Your girl was one of the best I ever dated, what a girl she was! Sadly, she had to die that day. She literally begged me not to go for the ride that day. But I didn’t listen, my bad. What is it? You are not angry at me? You are standing like a zombie! I heard about your wife Sorry for your loss. I can’t understand. Why is she so important to you people? She died in an accident. Get over it! Enjoy your life” Raghav had no words to speak. Raghav clenched his fists and knocked him out with a single punch.

John woke up. He was feeling dizzy and had a headache. He found himself sitting on a chair with his hands tied to the back. It was dark. He shouted Raghav’s name. He threatened Raghav, that he will tell his parents and he would be behind bars in no time.  The lights came back on, he found himself in a room familiar from his past. It was a girl’s room. It had John’s photos all over the place. Then he remembered that it was Emiliy’s room. He had heard her tell him how she decorated her room. He looked around and found Raghav standing in one corner. 

Raghav comes over and sits in a chair in front of John. Raghav tells, “How are you John? It's been nearly 5 years. How was your life all these years? Dating, hanging out with friends, drinking, smoking, and everything right.” John speaks “Hey doctor, that’s how a person of my age and my status should be! So you are going to kill me right? Like in movies! The father of the girl comes and tortures and kills the person responsible and gives a wicked laugh and he himself will commit suicide when the police arrive. Am I right?” 

“Now listen to me John. This will get over soon if you just shut up and sit for as long as I say. So what are the things you remember of the incident that day, which killed my child and a family of three?” 

John replied “See, doctor. I was drunk. I was feeling dizzy. I was driving at high speed and I lost my control which led to that accident. I never wanted Emily to die that day. I just wanted to show off. It was an accident. That family, I don’t know who they were. I don’t care. I asked my father to take care of them. And for Emily, I never ever loved her. That day when you came to visit me, I told like that because my parents were there beside me that day. In fact, I never loved any girl in my life, and none of the girls ever loved me for my character or anything. They all acted as if they loved me only for my physical looks and my money. There is nothing called true love. After some years pass, I will marry a girl as per my likes and live with her. I have power, I have money and I can buy anything in this world. So if you could please untie me, I will act as if this never happened and be on my way. Am I clear doctor?”

Raghav replied “So this is what you had to say. Okay. So I will tell a small background of your family. Your parents live abroad. You were brought up by your aunt. You don’t know about the values of friendship, family, and money. You try to show off and buy people with your money and that is why you don’t have any real friends. You think all are with you only for your money. Since you do favors for your friends, you expect them to obey you and do whatever you tell them to. They don’t care for you. I will now show a sample. So tell me any of your friends whom you think will do anything for you.” 

John replied “Whatever you told in the beginning may be correct. Who told you that I don’t have real friends? Take my mobile and call any of my friends and see. You don't know anything about friendship. You want to know about my friends? Call and see. I won’t interfere.” Raghav took John’s mobile and called one of his friends and put him on loudspeaker, “Is it Karthik? I found someone named John lying on the street unconscious. I knew his name by his ID card. Your number was on his mobile in his recent call history. Do you know him? He is not breathing. I think he may be dead. I was not able to reach the emergency helpline. Can you come over to my place and take him to the hospital?” The voice replied, “Hey old man I don’t know what you are talking about. Now get lost” and he disconnected

John was shocked. He had no words to express. Raghav spoke, “This is what you call friendship? You cannot buy friendship. You have to earn it. And your money and status Have you ever earned a single penny in your life? You have lived only on your parent’s money and the luxuries they gave you. I don’t want to break this to you, but if I would have called your parents and told the same, their reaction may be similar to what your friend said. So you don’t have a family and you don’t have friends. You lack the two most important part of each and every human life. And what if you marry a girl? You would be having kids. What if they die in the same way Emily died? What will you do then? Or else you want to raise them up in the same way as you were raised. This world is so huge. If I ask you to tell even one person in this world who cares about you, you can’t. So why do you need to live? With all this money you have, have you spent them on doing any good deeds? No! Entertainment and Enjoyment were your two important aspects of your life. If you die, there must be at least a single living soul, who could shed a tear for you. If not, the reason for your existence in this world is totally meaningless. So now we have agreed that you don’t have either a family who care for you or real friends. Each and every one you know is going to ditch you. And relationships! What do you know about them? 

So you didn’t love Emily right? Have a look around her room. She had photos of you. She loved you with all her heart. She always had the habit of writing her diary. I will read some pages from her diary. “I met him for the first time in my college. He seemed lost. Though he is happy and all, his eyes showed sadness.  I want to know more about him.” 

A few pages later “He proposed to me. I didn’t know what to say. I accepted. Not because of his money and looks. He is just the opposite of my character. He has a lot of bad habits. He is a chronic alcoholic and a smoker. The reason he is like, is because of his parents. Whatever important work they would have had, his mother should have been with him. He is a spoilt child. I have belief that I can change him with my care and affection. I will give him the love and care his parents never gave him. He is my first love. I don’t want his money or anything. Even if we live in a small home, I can make it happy.  Whatever fights we have, whatever misunderstandings we have, I will never leave him. I have to speak with my father about this. Tomorrow he has called me for a drive on the highway. I am afraid of it. But he is stubborn. I will not disappoint him.  Hope he understands my feelings soon.  Right now we have to concentrate on our studies. I want him to become a psychiatrist like my father. That’s when he will meet all kinds of people. That’s when he will understand what life is. Whatever fights we have in our family, he takes only 2 minutes to settle things down. My daddy is my hero. I have to sleep early. 

Tomorrow is a big day for me. I am going to tell all my feelings to him. I hope I am ready for it.”

He read the diary and kept it aside and saw John. He went and untied him. John didn’t try to escape. He was sitting in his chair, without speaking anything. Raghav continued, “You can’t be on your father’s shadow always. You have to create an identity for yourself. Life is full of opportunities. Make use of them. Earn respect by giving respect to others. You want to know about the family you hit that day? They had only one son and were from a lower middle class family. Their son was their life and soul. They lived to make him happy, they worked hard to make him happy. Their life ended in just 5 seconds. His mother suffered severe spinal cord injuries as she was trying to protect her son while falling. She also suffered a severe brain hematoma. His father’s spinal cord broke in half. And the son was conscious till he came to know that his parents were dead. After his parent’s died, he begged each and everyone in the hospital that he wants his parents back. He wants to hear their voice again and he can’t sleep without his mother. But the concussion he had suffered during the fall led to internal bleeding in his brain, which led to his demise. The last words he spoke were, “Mom, its paining a lot, please help me”.  Think of the things which would have been going through his mind in his last few minutes. Do you know how many people are like you in this city? Each and every week one death or the other happens like this. Families are getting destroyed. Dreams are getting destroyed. But all you people think are the thrills and adventures. The situation has to change. Don’t know when that will happen. You can leave, John. Kill as many as you wish. But each and every bad deed you do, you will get punished in this life in one way or the other. Learn to accept your mistakes. At least have some feelings. The only wrong judgment I made in my life is that I thought that you loved Emily. The only wrong thing that Emily did in her life was, to fall for you and thought that she could change you.”

John stood up. He asked Raghav whether he could borrow Emily’s diary for a day. Raghav handed it to John, who turned and left.  He went to his home and started reading her diary. Each and every line he read brought tears to his eyes. Next day morning at around 10 am, he departed from his home to hand over the diary to Raghav. There was heavy traffic near Raghav’s house. John got down from his vehicle, and inquired. They said that someone died in a house nearby. John rushed to Raghav’s house. When he reached there he found that Raghav has passed away due to cardiac arrest. He saw Raghav’s body being taken for funeral. He followed them.  He saw nearly thousands of people, gathered for his funeral. Each and every one was his patients. John remembered Raghav’s words, “You have to earn respect. If you die there must be at least one person to shed a tear for you.” There he saw hundreds of people shedding tears for him. After his funeral he went to his home and called his father and asked for a huge amount of money.

After nearly 20 years, a chronic alcoholic is being taken by his family in a car in a semiconscious state. His whole family is crying. They get down from the car to take him to a place. The sign read: 

“Dr. John’s de-addiction and rehabilitation center” Once entered there was a huge statue of Dr. Raghav with a note written,

This hospital is dedicated to Dr. Raghav, my inspiration and my role model and my hero.

Today whatever position I am in is because of you and Emily

– Dr. John, Psychiatrist and social activist.