MOTHER COURAGEOUS                                      

14th March

 It was three in the afternoon.  Reena Gupta was sitting at home watching T.V.  when   the door bell rang.  It was her husband Brijesh. His face was tense.

“’What happened? Is everything okay?”

“I just  received a phone call from   our Mumbai, Liaison Office.  Pramod     is serious.  We’ll have to  leave immediately for Mumbai.”

After that everything was a blur. Frenzied packing, rushing to the railway station, scrambling into the  train to Howrah; next morning  hurrying to the    airport and then boarding the flight to  Mumbai – Reena felt she was moving fast forward.

As Reena  sat in the plane his thoughts raced  to another phone call around two years ago.

“Ma,” Pramod here.

“Yes beta, bolo?”

“Vinod is in ICU.”

“Wh...what!”

“I am speaking from   Thane nursing home.  You and Papa  come as fast as possible. He needs you.”

   Reena and Brijesh had rushed, just   as they were  rushing  now. Reena  was swamped by an eerie feeling  of  deja vu.

Vinod and Pramod were identical twins.  However,  though they were physically  alike, in mental make up and emotional tuning they were completely different.  Vinod was shy and  extremely sensitive. Pramod on the other hand was an out and out extrovert. While Vinod was into  painting  and poetry, Pramod loved action movies and rock music. But they  shared one common trait and that was their love for each other.   Their bonding was really special. They were not only united by the ties of blood, they were  also bound by the bonds of friendship.  

 After completing their post graduation they had started working in Bombay. Pramod was  a Marketing Executive for a pharmaceutical company while Vinod was a Computer  Programmer for a publishing house.

Brijesh and Reena  reached Mumbai in the afternoon and  rushed to the nursing home. They  found Pramod sitting on a chair  in front of the ICU sobbing his heart out. Vinod was no more. He had died of  ‘deep vein thrombosis’.

                                                ***

15th March

When  Reena and Brijesh entered the Airport lounge at Bombay airport they found quite a few people waiting for them.  Officers from the Liaison office  and Pramod’s friends were all there.

As  Reena looked at their anxious and worried faces  a few lines from her favourite bhajan seemed to float in her mind:

Tera tujhko arpan,

 kya laage mera.....

(Whatever is yours is offered back to you -

 there is nothing that  belongs to me)

At that instant she realised that it was all over.  As she neared  her son’s friends she could see it  in their eyes.

They were rushed to Khandala and on the way they were told the tragic truth.

Pramod had gone for a meeting to Khandala. On the way back,  while getting into a taxi, he had suffered a stroke and collapsed on the spot. The post mortem  verdict was the same - ‘deep vein thrombosis’.                                                                                                                                                                                                          ***

 The next few months were hell. Reema couldn’t believe this could happen to them again. Two young, bright, and apparently healthy lives snuffed out just like that! What sins had the youngsters committed and what wrong had she and Brijesh    done? Everyone knew they were God fearing, kind, gentle and honest people who had never harmed anyone. Then why had fate dealt them such a cruel blow - not once but twice?

Reena  wanted to end her  life but she knew she couldn’t  leave  Brijesh  and go. What would happen to him without her?

Reena  was a teacher in Saint Paul’s. After  Pramod’s  death she had stopped going.  Three months  later Father Robert, the Principal of Saint Paul’s suggested that she  resume her duties.

“Mrs. Gupta, it will help  you  forget her sorrows,” he said.

After a lot of persuasion, Reena agreed.

On Monday morning she went to the temple, offered her prayers and went to the school. She was to teach Class III-A.

As she entered her class she saw a  sea of expectant faces gazing at her. She looked at them and froze. It  couldn’t be. She closed her eyes and looked again. Yes, what she was seeing was not a mirage but a reality. Sitting in front of her were Pramod and Vinod - not just the two of them but many, many more -  looking at her with the same love and adoration. How could she feel she was lonely, how could she curse God for snatching away her sons? He hadn’t taken them away, he had  merely multiplied them.......

                                                          ***

A few days later  Anju Grewal, Reena’s colleague in School,  had come home. She looked at a flower vase which was on the dining table and exclaimed, “Reena, such a beautiful vase. Where did you get it from?”

“My Pramod had bought it for me for my birthday, from Bombay.”

“Oh! So sad! But Reena you should not keep it with you. Every time you look at it, it will remind you of poor Pramod. And poor Pramod will remind you of poor Vinod. You  mustn’t keep it.”

Reena stared hard at Anju and then said very softly, “Anju in that case I should destroy every pore of my body. Because every pore of  my being reminds me of my sons.   But tell me  why  should I  be terrified of their memories?   They are all I have left now.  I  can’t shun them or  run away from them. Rather   I  shall preserve,   nurture and  treasure them for as long as I live.”

                                                ***

 Reena  and Brijesh had gone to visit their neighbours  Kalyani   and Mohan  Nayak. As they were leaving   Kalyani   told Reena, “Bhabhiji, you shouldn’t mind but can I ask you something?” And without waiting for her answer continued, “These ladies often ask me how you can continue to lead a normal life after what happened to you? I too am really surprised. Had this kind of tragedy befallen me either I would have gone mad or committed suicide.”

Tears sprang to Reena’s eyes but controlling herself she said, “Kalyani,   I am  thankful to you for your concern. But  I don’t want to pine away for what  might  have been. Rather I  feel grateful to God for giving me my sons’ company for at least twenty five years. And moreover,  I don’t feel Pramod and Vinod are dead. I see my sons in my students. And I am so lucky every year I get a new batch of Pramods and Vinods to love, care and adore.”

                                                          ***

Brijesh  saw  Vinod  sitting at  his study table. He was bending over writing in his diary. He could clearly see the words  of the first line : “You  shall always my presence feel.”

Suddenly the words started fading in a blur.......

He woke up. He was lying in his bed. It was still dark. He went to  Vinod’s room. The study table was just as he had left it, with the diary  on top. He sat down and opened the diary. He then picked  up a pen and  started  writing:

“You shall always my presence feel

I am an indomitable spirit no one can  still

My strength emerges from His mighty will

Your scars, your wounds He shall heal.”

An hour later when Reena entered the room she found  her husband Brijesh  sitting and staring at the pages of a diary lying in front. She read the words - the writing was his but the words weren’t.   The words were their  son  Vinod’s.

She placed a hand on Brijesh’s shoulder and whispered, “I have found my God in children. You find our children in God.”

He looked up and tears started rolling down his cheeks......

                                                          ***

(This story is based on  the actual life script of Mrs.  Renu Verma and her husband Mr.  G.P.Verma   who lived in Rourkela.