A mother’s tragic story who committed suicide to protect her chastity
By Dr. Jernail Singh Anand |India
Radha was reflecting on her childhood. A customer had just left. And there was no call. Sometimes, she would start recollecting her very early childhood.
A scene like a black and white movie appeared on the screen of her memory.
She was very small, and under the attack of typhoid. Her father, she does not remember anything of him. As her mother Rukmani was taking care of her, she never thought of her father.
It was evening, when the doctor came. He checked and handed her mother a slip of medicines. “Bring these medicines and your daughter to my clinic. She will be all right.” He said and left.
Her mother worked in a rich household. She had not gone there to work for two days because of her illness. Radha could remember everything. And then, her mother left her alone and went to the Shahukar (rich land lord). Ram Din was a rich landlord. On seeing her, he scolded her for absenting from work for two days. When, Rukmani told him about the fever of her daughter, he turned a bit stiff and scolded her. But then she asked him for money.
Ram Din looked at her. She was beautiful. And then he said in clean language.
“See, Rukmani, you need money which I have. And I need something which you have in abundance.”
He looked into her eyes for a reply. Mother was silent for some time. But then, her daughter’s life was more important than anything else. Ram Din was standing with money in his hands. She tried to catch the rupees, but he took it apart. “No, first promise, you will come at 8.00 p.m. in the evening.”
The mother took the money, and left him hurriedly. Fast, she went to the medical store, bought the medicines, and took her daughter to the doctor who gave her an injection. And within an hour, the girl was better. Typhoid was declining, but the girl was in stupor. Could not see or hear or understand anything clearly.
She was too small to know anything by looking at her mother. She was loving but her face had lost all glow. It was the face of a disturbed mind. The timepiece rang 8.00 p.m. And a driver appeared at the door. “Seth ji is waiting for you in the car.”
Rukmani started wearing her saree. She was getting ready. Ram Din was becoming restless. After sometime, he himself came to the room.
He was shocked to find the woman hanging from the ceiling. Dead.
“When I got into my senses, and found my mum hanging, I ran out of the house, and it is a long story how and where I grew up, how I stumbled from place to place, and how I finally reached this place,” the girl recalls.
This was the off the cuff story which the IAS aspirant was asked to cook in five minutes. The next question was: What you want to say? Was the mother’s action justified? Did it help the child? Was there any other course for her? Was it not better to remain alive somehow and let her child grow up? By dying herself, she saved herself from dishonor, but could she save her child from the lifelong dishonor and deprivation that the girl is facing now?
These questions are right. And they shake the conscience of any person. But, Miss Gita, you have said that you would not support the mother’s action. This is in true consonance with ‘Bhartiya Naari’ syndrome. Honor for a woman has to be at the highest pedestal. Was her death justified, particularly when her daughter she left behind had an uncertain and inglorious future?
Miss Gita gave a reply which shocked everyone. But she was selected by the IAS Jury.
The question was: What would you have done in such a case?
Gita’s reply was: I would have preferred to live on, face the ugly reality, and rear up my child, rather than throwing her to the mercy of elements.
Read: The Peasant’s Bread – A horror story
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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand is President of the International Academy of Ethics. He is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. The Academy of Arts and Philosophical Sciences, Bari (Italy) honored him with the prestigious position of Honorable Academic. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great International Award in Creativity by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade at the 60th Belgrade International Writers Meeting (Oct 2023), and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. His most phenomenal book is Lustus:The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Maha
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A story which seem to be a reality. And the suspense has been created to reach at once to the end and see what happened.
A beautiful story