What's her mistake? - 1

Whenever I see her I wonder. What does she has to live in this world? Please don’t get me wrong. I am not here to advocate about suicide of single persons! Then at least world’s  33% population would be reduced.

I was only referring to the loneliness that woman is facing. I call her Nammu Aunty.  Being alone is different and loneliness is an entirely different animal. Many people love to have solitude.  They would rather stay alone than being among people. But Nammu Aunty is different. She was in a family full of people. She, her husband, 3 sons and a daughter. That was once upon a time.

First shock she got was when her husband passed away. All her children were married before the death of her husband.

She stays near my home. Her first son is in Rourkela Steel Plant. The second is in Jaisalmer. The third is in Chennai. The daughter is in the USA.

As long as her husband was alive she was fine. He took good care of her. The daughters-in-law, somehow, avoided inviting their father in law and mother in law to their homes. The husbands were so henpecked that they did not bother to overrule  their wives’ wishes! (They were afraid of their respective wives could be a better way of saying this!)

The daughter is affectionate. But the husband is not keen on having his in laws at his home in the US of A. The reason was simple. They did not have a great life.  Being in America does not mean that the life would be great. (I came to know this through a common friend and I did not have the heart to tell it to Nammu Aunty)

If life is so simple and happy, it is not called life! Right? Out of the blue, Nammu Aunty faced a mammoth problem.

Nammu Aunty’s husband was not sick. He was fit as a fiddle for his 65 years. He was getting pension from the Government.  He was fond of a tree planted outside his house but inside his compound wall. 

He had told me one day, “Look, the owner of the house has planted a neem tree in front of the house and has even built a small ledge around it. The air is very healthy. So, l sit here and read newspaper from the Masthead to the last word on the last page”

“But uncle, when you have your own house, you could have a tree like this” was my reply.

He laughed and said “I have 4 children. I have given them the education. I got them good spouses. Can’t they take care of us during our old age? After all it is their duty”

Nammu Aunty added her words “See, he thinks as if he has given loan to them and they have to repay is what he thinks”

But the same neem tree became the death trap for Nammu Aunty’s husband. As usual he was reading the newspaper sitting on the ledge in front of the neem tree. The next door neighbour was rebuilding his house.  Uncle was so engrossed in the newspaper that he did not see a lorry full of bricks. The lorry driver could not control the lorry while reversing it. The lorry came very fast inside the compound of Nammu Aunty’s house breaking the compound. He could not stop it even then. The backdoor of the lorry suddenly opened and the bricks started falling. Uncle had got up in a hurry.  But being panicky  he was too shocked to move. He was smashed between the neem tree and the lorry ; the bricks fell in him with such a force that he died instantly there itself.