Home to Homeless

A 75 yr old lady named Shanti lived in Mumbai in a crawl along with her son Raju, Raju's wife & their 2 kids. Shanti's husband was a postman who passed away in 2004 due to a heart attack. Shanti was a diabetes patient along with severe arthritis, due to which she couldn't get up on her own, she either required someone's support or her stick. Diabetes nowadays requires many medicines to be consumed & these medicines are too costly for lower middle classes to afford. But Raju still somehow managed to afford those medicines for his old mom. Raju worked as a watchman in a bank during the day shift. Raju didn't earn much.

Raju's wife used to taunt Raju that his mom was becoming a burden for them. Raju's wife wanted to buy gold necklace, sarees from long back but Raju's earnings went in his mom's treatment & medicines. Tired of all this, Raju's wife used to torture Shanti with her rude taunts, sometimes she even hit Shanti with a broom, she didn't cook meals for Shanti sometimes, she used to degrade her, she wouldn't let the grandkids meet their granny. sOmedays later, Raju lost his job & became jobless. he also started treating his mom like this, he taunted her day & night "you must better die now, mom. Your expenses aren't letting us live peacefully, oh God please take her with You."

Shanti got tired of all this, she'd nobody to confide in her sufferings. she was dying inside, she prayed to God several times to take her away from this world, she wanted to go to her dead husband. Her health became weaker. 1 night, she left her house when everyone was sleeping. It was dark night for an old lady like her to walk away. But she'd a photo of her husband & her favorite God, she was strong inside. That night she spent near a temple. The next morning, Raju & his wife were shocked to not find Shanti at home. They searched everywhere for her. But they couldn't find her.

Shanti became homeless, poor, her health became weaker due to lack of food & medicines. An old widow, she felt terrible to live on streets in a grave condition like this. But she also felt peace in her mind from that daily torture. in our society, homeless people are treated as a bad omen, they're helpless. Shanti is one of them. they suffer from so much crime yet they don't say to anyone because they have hearts of gold, they still consider their children to be good. But their own kids treat them as strangers & even kick out of their home sometimes. Homeless people have their own troubles, outside, people sometimes unnecessarily torture them, drug, sexually abuse, snatch their things, rape, assault or even murder them just for their own pleasure- today, even old homeless people aren't spared.

This homelessness hurts not because they're hungry, look bad, or roam half-naked but it hurts more due to feeling of being unloved, uncared for & nothing's more devastating for a human-like that. & now in this pandemic, we're very well & safe at home. As you complain about your life or about being bored at your homes, someone out there doesn't even have a roof over their head. Stop complaining & be thankful for all that you have. You don't even know what others' lives are like. People like Shanti make their homes with their own hard work & toil, but people like their own kids end up making them homeless.

Home is where the heart is but what about such people who don't have one. We yes we privileged enough can be their heart. we can give 'em food, our old clothes, be their support, be their listeners, we can appeal to govt. to provide them houses, we can admit them to hospitals if they're ill. I know it doesn't look as easy. but little things matter. our 1 random act of kindness can save a human life.

During this lockdown also, we can contribute to homeless people near our areas. we can make food for them, serve them. we can give them our old bedsheet to sleep at night. in an era of crimes going on even today against old homeless people, who've lost everything, you're still safe in your homes. be thankful & pray to god for their betterment every day, you can also end up being homeless 1 day. help them, let's recreate humanity.