The Legacy

"You know, this was a good idea. I had my doubts at first. But now I see that I took the correct decision. You are really easy to talk to. I already feel better." She said as she stood near the door.

"I am glad that I could help you." Abhinav smiled and waved at her as she left the room. He checked his appointment book. There was a break for an hour. He leaned back on his chair and sighed in contentment. 

His gaze fell on the calendar kept on his table and he realized with a start that exactly two months had passed since he had opened his psychiatric clinic. The first month was understandably slow, with the occasional person dropping in to confide to him about his/her troubles and seeking some medicine to relax and slow down. It was only in the current month that his profession had picked up pace and he had found a good surge in the number of people visiting him. 

He turned his chair around and saw the two photographs mounted on the wall behind him. He looked at his father's photo with deep longing. It was six months since his dad passed away, and yet he still found it impossible to believe that this person, this awesome person was no longer there beside him. 

As long as he could remember, his dad had always been gentle, calm and kind. There was something very calming and soothing about his presence. A well known psychiatrist of his time, he spent equal hours at home too as in his clinic. Abhinav's childhood was a blur of happy moments with his family, with his dad taking the lion's share of memories. There was always laughter whenever he was around, and his solid presence was a constant source of strength for the family.

Abhinav remembered the day when his dad had sat down beside him with a serious air. This was the most important conversation of his life, he believed.

"Son, you are in the ninth standard now. And while some may argue that it is too soon for me to have this talk, I believe that now is always the time to prepare for the future. I want to know whether you have decided what you wish to do in your life. What kind of a career have you envisaged for yourself?" His dad had asked kindly yet firmly.

"I want to be psychiatrist like you." Abhinav didn't have to think twice before saying this. It was something that came naturally to him. He thought he detected a glare of fierce pride in his dad's eyes but just as quickly the feeling passed away.

"That's great to know. Any particular reason why you wish to become a psychiatrist?" 

Abhinav thought for a while. Then he said. "I can see what a calming influence you have on all of us. If this is how your family members feel, then how good the people whom you treat in your clinic must feel after talking to you! I can't solve the problems of the world. I can at least provide respite to people by listening to them and helping them unload their minds of the things that worry them." 

There was no imagining this time. His father hugged him with a beaming smile and held his shoulders affectionately. "I would be lying if I said that I didn't have aspirations for my son to become a psychiatrist. But I didn't want to pressurise you to take up some profession without your interest in it. Now that you have decided what you wish to be, there is something I need to show to you."

His father eagerly opened the diary that he had been holding and took out a paper. It was a pencil shading of an owl beside a tree. On one side of the paper, there was a lyric written in a clear handwriting. A wise old owl sat on an oak, The more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard, Why aren't we like that wise old bird? 

"What is this dad?" Abhinav had asked.

"This, my son, is a part of our heritage. You see, your grandfather, i.e. my father, had the same kind of talk with me too. And once I had told him my decision to become a psychiatrist like him, he gave this paper to me. Read the lines." His dad had almost reverentially handed over the paper to him and Abhinav had read the lines. 

When his father had seen him pondering over the lines, he had explained to him. "I want to teach you the most important part about being a psychiatrist." This had captured Abhinav's attention and he totally focused on his dad. "Remember, the first and foremost lesson is to be a listener and not a talker in your profession. And do you know what I mean by 'listening'?"

"Hmm.. same as hearing, dad?" Abhinav had replied. His dad smiled and shook his head.

"No son. It is not the same as hearing. To listen, means to hear what is not being said. Some person comes and starts talking to you. You hear what he or she is saying, but you listen to what is not being said! Outwardly the person might be complaining about others, but many a times, it is just a reflection of what that person finds wrong with himself or herself. Are you getting my point?"

"I think so." Abhinav said with hesitation.

"Let me clarify this. The basic rule that you should follow is - Do not judge anyone! Every culprit is a victim. Every rude person you encounter is someone with a bruised heart. Silence does not necessarily mean the presence of calm, it may also mean the presence of deep-rooted grief."

At this Abhinav's eyes had widened. "How will I learn to listen to what is not being said?"

His father had affectionately ruffled his hair. "By being like the wise owl. Be an observer, Abhi. Lend your voice, but more frequently, lend your ears. Be a listener. You learn a lot when you see people with an air of dispassion. Do not just focus on what a person did, but learn to focus on why he or she did it. This is the stuff that good psychiatrists are made of."

Abhinav had taken this conversation to his heart. The day he had successfully cleared his degree of psychiatry, his father had hugged him hard and handed over the drawing of the owl to him. "Keep this with you always. May it remind you of the power of observing and listening." It was the best gift that Abhinav could have got, a part of his dad's and thereby, his legacy.

He shook his head sadly as he returned back to the present moment. He remembered the grief he had felt when the paper was lost while his family was shifting to a new home. His dad had made light of the matter but he had been affected by it, Abhinav could say for sure. 

His phone rang. He answered it and found that it was a call from the receptionist informing him that his next patient had arrived. He told her to send him in. He took a deep breath to bring himself in the present moment. By the time, his door opened and the young man walked in, Abhinav was a picture of calm and peace. 

The young man waved to him and sat on a chair opposite to him. He was a new patient and Abhinav waited for him to settle down. The young man looked around the room and his gaze fell on the photographs mounted behind him. 

"That's your dad. You look like him." The young man mentioned and Abhinav smiled and nodded his head.

"And the photograph next to your dad's? The writing's too light, I can't make out the words. All I can see is an owl sitting beside a tree. Looks like a drawing." 

Abhinav smiled as he looked back at the photograph, the framed photograph of the paper passed on to him by his grandfather and father, a part of his family legacy that he had thought to be lost forever, only to find it miraculously stowed in a book that he fortunately hadn't given away. 

"That, my friend, is a family legacy. Now, why don't we talk about you?" Gently he led the conversation away from him and began the process of Listening and Observing. Like the Wise Owl.