Society

India Shining!

This is a true story and contains elements that may be disturbing to some of you.
It was very early morning of January 11, 2011. The fog had engulfed the village of Shiwpur in the eastern U.P. The cold wave was merciless - particularly to the poor. I received the news that another poor woman had died in Baramdeva a twin village to Shiwpur. I expressed my sorrow and asked that we should give some help to the family. After a while I noticed that the messenger was still standing near me. When asked what the problem was, he stated that the poor woman had died yesterday afternoon and her body was still lying in the house inhabited by her 70 year old mother-in-law and four young children. Nobody from the neighborhood had stepped forward to help and the family had no resources to give her the last rites.
I struggled to get ready as fast as I could to reach the family. What I saw there absolutely astonished me. There was this tiny one room mud house with thatched straw roof with a 5 foot overhang resting on bamboo sticks.  Sunita, the dead woman, was only 35. She was asthmatic and had developed (what I surmised to be) pneumonia. She was suffering with high fever and shivering most of the time. The cold wave apparently took pity on her and ended her misery.  Her husband Ratan had died last year of throat cancer. Her mother-in-law, Nanhaka, 70, appeared fragile and almost lifeless. Sunita had left behind two sons and two daughters, Balihari,15; Shivdhari,13: Jaan,10; and Poonam,8.
Meanwhile we had gathered the neighbors and started making arrangements to drape the body and prepare to take it away for cremation.
  
The children appeared emotionless. They were apparently still in shock some 20 hours after their mother had died. Every time I looked at them, I found them staring at me. Their stare made me very uneasy.  I felt as if our future was silently staring at us. I was struggling in vain to find some words to speak to them.  It was important that they comprehend and face what had just happened. I asked Jaan about how she spent the night yesterday? She did not respond – just stared at me. I asked Poonam the same thing. She started crying and sobbing loudly. 
“I was cold and very tired” - Jaan had finally started answering my question. “I sat besides my mother (mother’s body) for a long time and then I fell asleep against the wall. When I got up it was dark inside. My mother was still lying next to me. I tried to wake her up and then realized that she was already dead (she started sobbing). I took off my Chaadar (a worn out cotton shawl) and tried to cover her body but it was too small for her”. She became quiet again but at least her eyes blinked. I stared back at her not knowing what to say. 
What has our country come to?  At the current rate of economic growth and an efficiency factor of 70%, India could easily provide a dignified basic living to all its poor within a short time span of 15 years. The anger that had surged inside me about our despicably corrupt and inept government(s) had momentarily turned into self pity and despair. The lines from Nishtar Khankahi flashed through my mind:
"Kis abhaage ghar ki hum chaadar huye,
Tan dhakaa to haath muh baahar huye."

The images from the posters of “India Shining” a few years back started flashing in front of me. On this cold foggy day the Sun felt ashamed to watch this spectacle of India Shining and hid its face inconspicuously.
 
Meanwhile, Sunita’s body was draped securely for the final  journey. She could afford to cover her body decently at last. She was shivering no more! I watched her being carried away on a rented tractor. She was free at last – no longer imprisoned by the citizenship of India and the inept stewardship of its leaders and bureaucrats. I couldn’t help but wonder about the fate of Sunita’s young children.
 

16-Jan-2011

More by :  Dr. Gopal Singh

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Views: 3468      Comments: 1



Comment Yes Dr. Gopal, what you have stated is the stark reality. It is precisely this sentiment I had expressed in my poem on the 61st Independence day -

We are thrilled, that India has
A constellation of billionaires
We are thrilled our companies have
Their sights on global wares

We exult that despite
The West's economic meltdown,
Our middle class buys apartments
At prices their parents frown

And march on into the malls,
To buy exotic creams
And fly around with gay abandon
Beyond their parents' dreams

This is one India showcased
In glittering sheen and growth
But another lurks in its shadow
Where life's of little worth

Debt ridden farmers kill
Themselves in utter despair
And poverty forces thousands
To beg everywhere

The future where is pegged to
Maybe a good monsoon
But where the spiraling prices
Eat into their earnings soon

Hungry children drop out of school
And suffer everyday
Die of diseases that can be cured
Where misery holds its sway

Which is the real India?
My fellow men tell me now
61 years of Independence
Oh India celebrates how?

Ravinder Malhotra
27-Mar-2011 03:23 AM




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