idiot, rascal and fool!

BY RANI JhALA

manage things, but she needed their support as she faced the new tomorrow. Later that evening it was confirmed that her husband had suffered myocardial infarction. Her parents arrived that night, and it felt good to be encircled in their arms and to know that the two people who loved her the most were there for her. Her father took over the financial matters, locating the will, meeting with the lawyers and arranging the final rites. Her mother took over the social side of things - looking after the mourners and well-wishers, and speaking to them on behalf of her daughter.

She sat and heard the praises being sung of her husband, and for hours she wiped the tears that fell. Her mother held her when the weeping was the worst. Her sons grabbed her when she fainted. On the day of the funeral she was unable to stand, and a wheelchair was brought so that she could be transported to the prayer hall.

go out with them and return to a normal life.

Just months later, her life began moving into an established routine. Her children were finally at peace and they confidently took on their new role as independent beings, just as she took on hers as an independent person. She established her friendships again. And even went on a shopping splurge. Her husband’s estate left her a wealthy woman. She had known they were rich, but never realised what her husband was truly worth in monetary terms.

Now she owned all, for he had left everything to her and the kids.

It took a while before she was truly able to stand on her own feet. But she achieved that. She took over the financial dealings from her father and she gained independence from her mother. Never were parents more proud than the moment when they saw their daughter break away from them with confidence.

opened a charity in his name. She bowed in front of her husband’s statue in reverence as the crowd cheered at the inauguration. Her sons lit the lamp in front of his photo. She promised the crowd that the light would remain lit forever.

As with the funeral, mass feeding was undertaken and clothes were given to the needy. There was not a soul in doubt that they were witnessing true devotion and felt sorry for the woman who was not yet forty, but was facing a long, lonely journey ahead of her. At the same time they also marvelled at her peace and held her up as an example.

Despite her solitary life, her parents saw that she was content. She once again laughed, but more importantly, she once again smiled. She had become human!

Soon after, her parents moved back to their own home. Their work was done. Their daughter apart from her parents, of the abusive marriage she had endured. Of her relationship with a man who bashed her at whim, who dictated her behaviour, and who terrorised the children with his violent outbursts and insults. Nor did they know of his attack on the family maid and of the assault on his late father.

They had watched helplessly as she continued in that marriage for the sake of the children. She had said that she would not leave without them, and he would never have let them go.

But the Gods had been kind and they were now free of him. He was now where he should be and his children were in a far better place.

On leaving, her mother said, “You are better off without him. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know. I am better off and so are the kids. He will never again call me an ‘idiot’, nor will he call his kids, ‘rascal and fool’.”