The Unmourned Loss

Whether it is a problem of the mind or the heart, I am not sure. There is a young woman who is always going around the neighborhood with her five young children following her around.

She seems to be doing nothing except literally roaming around the neighborhood from sunrise to sunset. Her two older children go to school off and on but the younger three are too young for school.

In the beginning, I used to wonder whether her mind was deranged or not. But, she talks with everyone quite normally. So I believe that she is just another child among her five children! 

Whenever I see her, my heart feels very heavy. What will become of all her children? But I always end up thinking that everything is in God's hands. Even the children brought up with all the facilities turn out bad and those raised from the soil turn out good. There is always something called fate.

Then, one day my neighbour informed me that her youngest son who was not even one year old was dead. I was shocked. She always used to carry her youngest one on her back all the time.

The child was missing the day before and she was looking everywhere for him but could not find him. The child who was always with her ...how he had managed to get out of her sight!

But, the next day, the dead body of the little boy was found floating in their pond!

The whole neighborhood was shocked but as an afterthought, everyone said it was for the better because what kind of life could the child expect with her? 

I had no comments. But, the sadness is not going away till today. Some people who can afford to bring up ten children do not get any child and some who can hardly afford two square meals a day get so many. What an irony!

There is a practice in my custom when a person dies. Rites and rituals are performed so that the spirit lives in eternal peace. The neighbours and relatives contribute in kind or cash to help the bereaved family. But in this case, since, the child was an infant, none of these practices was done because for an infant just a simple burial and not cremation, is done and no ceremony is required. So no visits from neighbours and no help of any kind. Another irony!

But, the ugliest side of human nature surfaced that day. The locals were saying the child should be buried in his paternal home but he had been living in his mother's house all his short life. So, the poor mother had to carry him in her arms and take him to his father's place. There, the people were so heartless and refused her outright. No friends for poor people! 

So, she carried him back again to her home and after much deliberation regarding the correct practice and practicality, he was finally laid to rest.

The hypocrisy of people could not have been more defined than in this case. Where help was most needed, it was denied. Had it been a rich man's child people would have come in hordes.

The next day, the mother was not seen. Then, on the second day, she started her routine again, only this time with only four children in tow. Whether her ailment is with her mind or her heart, I still do not know.

An unmourned loss. Baby...may you sleep on the softest clouds up in the sky, may you fly with the happiest birds, may you chase the brightest stars...what this earth could not give you, may heaven give you all!