The Prison...

"Raju, don't pull that cat's tail...Rakhee go and fetch your dad for lunch...Can you please ask him to put that Newspaper down and do something else...This man never knows that his wife and children needs him more than his newspaper...Ohooo...Rakhee, U r still sitting here???Oh, Rakhee, can you please switch off that radio...and also ask you dad to lower the volume of the TV...How can a man read newspaper and at the same time watch the News on TV...Can't he do one thing at a time...Oh god, Raju, u r still behind that poor cat....Why can't you all give me a little peace of mind. Let me sit down atleast for a while..."....Suddenly, there came a voice...Cuckoo...Cuckoo... Ha...what was that???uh!!! That was the clock???What is this?? Where is Rakhee and Raju...Where is Ram??? Was that all a dream???I was dreaming my family???How cruel is the reality...

I am all alone in this big house...Ram's greatest dream...He build this house with his hardwork and love...More than the cement and the bricks, it were our love and happiness that kept this house strong always...But this house was not empty like it is now...Not long back, it was filled with the happy voices of my children and my husband...This was our heaven...But a bitter truth dawned over my heavenly family...and before I could even imagine, I was all alone...How could all that happen to me...The memory lies so clear as a crystal in my heart...

It all started when Raju when he was back from school was erupting us with a Live telecast of the Samudra Beach Resort in Goa...He was just repeating what his friend, Partha has described to him...Both me and Ram knew what was coming..."Pappa, Mamma, can we too go there this Xmas Holidays...I want to tell Partha, that even I went to that place. Pleeeeeeeeeeeassssssseeeeeeee, Pappa...". I was waiting for Ram's usual answer, "Not this time...". But then to my surprise he said, "Oh yes dear, We shall go there this time...and we can have lots of fun there.."

Soon, came the Xmas holidays and we were off in our car for the long journey...I was completely against the Car idea...but Ram wouldn't agree to that, as he felt, if we were in car we could get down at some of the temples on the way too...Uhm...I couldn't go against temples for sure...The journey was long but the mood was great...The kids were singing and jumping at the back seat...Ram for a change was singing...God, how bad a singer he is...uhmm...

We were moving down a slope... Kids were enjoying the jumpy feeling that gave them while the car was going down so fast...But, suddenly I heard Ram shouting..."The brakes...they r not working.."...I couldn't say anything more...Before anything else, I heard a sudden crash and found myself hitting against the door...Soon I fell off the car and hit the road side...The last thing I could see was my daughter's head banging against the window and then it was a complete blackout...

Soon, I opened my eyes and found myself in an unknown place...I couldn't recognise a single person around me...Without much time, I learnt the bitter truth...I was in that hospital bed for almost 8 months in a coma and that the accident has not only took off my left leg from me also my dear family away from me...my Ram, Raju and Rakhee...all that I had in this life..was gone...leaving me all alone...I couldn't believe my ears...I just shut off my eyes not knowing what to do...Did I cry??? No..I dint..Not a tear helped me..I dint know why...but I just stay still for hours...

Now, its been more than 4 months that I have come back to my once heaven...An year back, this day...I this house was really a heaven...but all that I have today is this house and the wheel chair that could take me around...Uhmm...Oh forgot those crutches near my bed also...God, why did u do this to me...Before, I used to plead for a little solitude and peace of mind...But today, when I sit here with just loneliness and lots of PEACE of MIND...I feel like screaming out...The silence in this house was killing me...How, I wish I could cry aloud...How I wish I could hear my kid's voice...How I wish I could see my Ram in that TV room with that remote control...This Loneliness was like a prison and how I wish I could escape this prison...this solitude...

Ahaaa...Who is there at the door???... "Haaa...Rajuuu, Rakheee...Ram....!!!Is that YOUUU???You are ALIVE!!!Oh, god...what am I seeing???Am I dreaming??? No...I am not...I am awake..wide awake...Rakhee, Raju...come here...give your mother a big hug...Ram, where were you all...Why did you leave me alone???Do you know what that people at the hospital told me???I doesn't even wanna talk abt that now...But wait till tomorrow...I am surely going to complaint to the police...Have you had your dinner...Wait, I will prepare something for you all...I am sorry Ram, I might be slow...as u can see what has happened to me... but atleast, you all r safe..."...

Next day, the neighbours were all around the big house peeping through the windows...They were all curiously looking at the Lady roaming around in her house in a wheel chair...They could hear her shouting most of the time... "Raju, come here...Have your dinner...Rakhee, what are you doing...Leave the toys there...Kumar...Come and take your dinner...Oh, Rakheee, Don't nag me...Don't irritate me...JUST LEAVE ME ALONE...Give me some Peace of mind...."...

The neighbours mumbled btw themselves... "The lady got crazy after knowing about the death of her family...Poor lady...she couldnt accept the truth maybe...Such a nice family she had...and she lost everybdy in tht accident...Poor she..think shes gone mad...she has completely lost her MIND, but look at her...she has none with her and still she's pleading to Leave her alone...and all she wants is some PEACE of MIND"

NB: For a competition in college, we were asked to write a story on LONELINESS...The above is a recreation of the story that I had written years back and which won me a 2nd prize...In the above story, the Lady could be described as Mad or Mentally Sick by any of you...But as for me...She has found an escape from the Prison of Solitude...She has found her lost family and love in that state of mind...and that is her LIFE...