AND JOTI IS NO MORE

I didn’t know Joti, I hadn’t talked to her ever. I don’t even remember her face anymore after I saw her four days back lying on the bed with those pipes and tubes protruding out of her body. Her dead twins were inside her womb. And she had no idea where she was. Lying on that hospital bed, she was so vulnerable, so expectedly swollen. Only she had no will, no power, and no inspiration to push those bodies out of herself. The undue delay in operating her to flush them out finally took her life.

Only of 27 years, she left behind a five and a half year old daughter, almost like my own Rasan. The child would never know what all happened. Her life would be one great tragedy till most likely Gagan, her dear dear Mamu, rescues her out of it. I wish Gagan takes her with him. The kid is an orphan as of today. Her dad will remarry, I m sure-I saw it in his eyes. God knows what fate will bring in for her of whom I know nothing but who comes to my mind as a little Rasanmeet. What if something should happen to me! No, Mahesh would never behave in such an apathetic way – the way that man was behaving in those circumstances.

Kuldip Manak sings at the back of my mind –

maa hundi aye maa o duniya waaleyo,
…………………
rabba dev karey arjoyee,
bacheyan di maa marey na koi

I wish Joti had been spared-if only another 20 odd years, sans her twins-one of whom was a boy. Perhaps it was for the sake of a male child that she had to sacrifice her dear life and that of her dear alive daughter. Who knows? Who will ever know??