Rohit was highly disturbed, his mind was churning with many emotions; anger, guilt, and helplessness which wreaked havoc. He sat with his shoulders slumped looking totally distraught.

His wife Vibha had served him an ultimatum yesterday. She was no longer ready to take care of his 78 year old father. Five years ago after his mother's demise, Rohit had brought his father to stay with them. Initially everything seemed to be fine. But then slowly things began to go downslide when his father was diagnosed with dementia.

Rohit's father would wander away and couldn't find his way back. They would struggle to trace him. There were days when  Vibha would serve him food and he would sit before the plate for hours without eating. He rarely recalled their names. On some days he would sulk like a child and refuse to come out of his room.

Vibha had her hands full with running the house, handling two teenagers with their tantrums and taking care of her father-in-law. The fact that Rohit traveled 10 days in a month on work added to the pressure. Unable to handle it any longer she had insisted that he should be admitted to an old age home.

With a heavy heart, Rohit
decided to get him admitted to Shree Sai Institution which ran an old age home and an orphanage. He decided to pack some clothes and other necessities in a suitcase for his father. He. went into his father's room and climbed on the step ladder to take out the suitcase from the attic. As he opened the unused suitcase he noticed a folder inside it and opened it. They were some certificates and some old photos. Hidden in the bottom was an old black and white photo in which he could see a man handing over an infant to his parents. He was puzzled and turned it over. There was a seal of Shree Sai Institution and a date of which only the year 1970 was visible. Rohit felt shocked as it was his birth year and he looked at it in disbelief.

He immediately set to Shree Sai Institution with the photo. He went to the office and after a great deal of pleading, the clerk agreed to check the old records. It was a practice to take a photo whenever any kid from the orphanage was being adopted. The clerk took the 1970 file and checked  the entries. Rohit pored over the clerk's shoulder and noticed that a baby boy was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Trivedi(his parents) on 1 September 1970( his birthday). For a moment he felt the whole world was crashing down. It took him a few minutes to understand that he was adopted. His parents had never revealed it to him.  His entire life was a lie.

Rohit felt deeply ashamed and guilty about having thought of abandoning the father who had adopted him.......an abandoned child. He walked home with purposeful steps.