I had shared this status once earlier as a quote on my Facebook Wall and lots of people had commented that people say a lot of crap to make money. I did not react that day. Today, I have a story to tell.
"Today she's gone. The old woman who used to sit in on the cold staircase outside my mom's home, just to speak with anyone who'd walk in home. She died two days back in her sleep. She was bent and wizened and did not speak in an easy-to-understand language.
But, she wanted to speak. She liked to laugh and she was perhaps lonely in a small flat that she shared with her son's family.
We all hurried past her. She was utterly embarrassing at times. Especially with me. She'd grin a toothless smile and make a silly gesture with her arms asking me when I'd bring children into the world. For her it did not matter that I had other achievements. Nothing mattered but the fact that I was a woman with no kids.
At first, I'd smile a painful smile through gritted teeth and walk away pretending not to understand what she meant.
After a while, I got used to her. I'd laugh with her and point at the sky. She'd laugh at me and we'd both smile at each other as if me not having kids was a universal joke hand-written by God for me.
For the first two days of her passing away I did not feel bad. She was very old. She was also cranky. I had often brought her home after catching her sitting on the footpath and chatting up with strangers who also did not understand her language. I'd see people laughing at her. She did not understand that they were laughing at her, so, she'd laugh along with them. I'd glare at them and ask if they had any work with her and then, bend down and pull the lady up and despite her protests bring her home.
Today suddenly when I met her grandson standing at the exact same place outside the gate and looking at nothing, I missed her. We looked at each other for a second and none of us smiled at each other because we both missed her in her death.
Suddenly I realized, no one will bother me any more about not having kids of my own and that made me feel a myriad different emotions that I could neither touch nor name. Death has only made our mutual joke into a relationship we never bothered to forge in life."
"Today she's gone. The old woman who used to sit in on the cold staircase outside my mom's home, just to speak with anyone who'd walk in home. She died two days back in her sleep. She was bent and wizened and did not speak in an easy-to-understand language.
But, she wanted to speak. She liked to laugh and she was perhaps lonely in a small flat that she shared with her son's family.
We all hurried past her. She was utterly embarrassing at times. Especially with me. She'd grin a toothless smile and make a silly gesture with her arms asking me when I'd bring children into the world. For her it did not matter that I had other achievements. Nothing mattered but the fact that I was a woman with no kids.
At first, I'd smile a painful smile through gritted teeth and walk away pretending not to understand what she meant.
After a while, I got used to her. I'd laugh with her and point at the sky. She'd laugh at me and we'd both smile at each other as if me not having kids was a universal joke hand-written by God for me.
For the first two days of her passing away I did not feel bad. She was very old. She was also cranky. I had often brought her home after catching her sitting on the footpath and chatting up with strangers who also did not understand her language. I'd see people laughing at her. She did not understand that they were laughing at her, so, she'd laugh along with them. I'd glare at them and ask if they had any work with her and then, bend down and pull the lady up and despite her protests bring her home.
Today suddenly when I met her grandson standing at the exact same place outside the gate and looking at nothing, I missed her. We looked at each other for a second and none of us smiled at each other because we both missed her in her death.
Suddenly I realized, no one will bother me any more about not having kids of my own and that made me feel a myriad different emotions that I could neither touch nor name. Death has only made our mutual joke into a relationship we never bothered to forge in life."
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