Lady With The Golden Heart

We do not see Gods or Goddesses but assume that they are there somewhere above in the sky watching what we do. We do not know whether this is true or not but we still keep on looking for the same.

It was a misty morning and Mr Ganguli could hardly see anybody around while sipping tea in the lawn all alone. His wife suddenly appeared from nowhere and said, “I am going to Mr Ramachandran’s house to see his wife. She would not probably survive.”

“What happened?” He asked.

“She had an operation for cancer in the stomach, but the Doctor could not give any assurance. Anytime she may collapse.” She replied.

“But she was the woman who always used to talk about her wealth, car, foreign trips, etc. and what not. She never considered you or her neighbours as human beings worth talking to. She never had spoken to you once, as far as my memory goes, even if you had crossed her path during evening walks excepting exchange of bare minimum smile. How can you have sympathy for this type of a Lady?” 

“You would not understand. She has asked specifically for me and I cannot refuse it since she is on death bed. I do not know for what reason.”

“For what? They are so selfish. They would take everything from you but won’t give back anything. They are so mean, so arrogant and so selfish!”

“Why do you try to judge a person when God is there? They have forgotten probably their roots or they had been guided by anybody in life!”

“I do no think that you could change their attitude at this stage of life. They deserve to be ignored.” Mr Ganguli uttered.

“Problem with you is that you try to form an opinion without interacting with that person even once only.”

Mrs Ganguli was annoyed, Mr Ganguli had no answer. He just watched her vanish in a jiffy towards the palatial haunted building of Mr Ramachandran. The lady, who was on death bed married Mr Ramachandran who was the son of an industrialist and hence inherited the enormous wealth left by his father-in-law. Mr Ramachandran was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and hence did not go through the organizational hierarchy structure. He was elevated to the post of Managing director on his return from the USA with an MBA degree and ultimately became the Chairman of the organization when his father breathed his last a decade back. His feet were never on the ground and he was always floating in a glider in the sky. He was very proud of his achievement and used to treat his company executives with disdain. His wife had imbibed his all not so good qualities and had never tried to cultivate the finer aspects of life. I was wondering how my wife could handle the wife of such a person when she was counting her days.

His wife was gone and Mr Ganguli was all alone again. He looked at the palatial building for some time. It has been reported that Ghosts came and haunted that house from time to time and especially attacked the guests in the night when they were sleeping. There were ten rooms and the number of occupants was only two. Husband and wife occupied two rooms and kept eight rooms always locked for guests. Guests found the house very comfortable with its wonderful setting and sumptuous food abundantly supplied by the servants. However, the guest listened to all sorts of inexplicable sound you could imagine in the night and as a result, they got scared easily and never spent the second night there. One lady who came from a foreign land reported that she listened to the desperate voice of a lady who appeared to be strangulated by a man in one of the locked rooms. She could also listen to some heavy footsteps outside her room but did not get any response on being asked repeatedly from inside the room! Mr Ramachandran wanted to sell the haunted house but there were no takers. His wife had gone inside this haunted house in spite of his warning and naturally, Mr Ganguli was worried about the safety of his wife and proceeded immediately to check what was happening inside.

He out of curiosity just entered the room of Ramachandran’s wife and could find the still body of Mrs Ramachandran sleeping peacefully with a smiling face on the bed with his wife talking to her with her face brought down close to Mrs Ramachandran’s face.

“What are you doing? She is dead already!” Mr Ganguli shouted as he entered the room.

“Impossible! She was just talking to me!” His wife uttered with a surprise.

“She had breathed her last,” I said emphatically after feeling her pulse.

She could not believe her own eyes. She tried to talk to her but in vain. She carefully lowered her body and put the head on the pillow and Mr Ganguli now could see clearly the tears rolling down his wife’s eyes.

“Let’s go. I am unable to bear it.” His wife was inconsolable.

While coming back Mr Ganguli asked his wife “What had happened in between my visit and your visit?”

“Listen to my story carefully after I knocked open the door of the room where the Great lady was laid.” His wife answered.  

Mrs Ramachandran 

“Please come inside Mrs Ganguli. I have heard about you from many people in society but never believed it. Today I am very happy to talk to you. I am experiencing the excruciating pain inside my stomach and it is not coming down in spite of medicines. I have been suffering for a long time and it seemed to be cancer and I am going to die.

Mrs Ganguli

“I do not know what I can do for you. You have everything in life still you want my help! Let me feel the temperature on your forehead and if necessary I would place a cold cloth on it. You would feel better”.

Mrs Ramachandran

“But I am going to die shortly and I do not think it is necessary. In fact, I am yet to come across anybody in my life who thinks for others only without any interest. Your love for others is selfless. I have heard about you from others so many times. Hence, I wanted to have a last glimpse of your face which always smiles. I would die peacefully now.”

Mrs Ganguli

“You would not die so soon. The doctor had given medicines and you would be alright.”

Mrs Ramachandran

“No chance! I know the full history. My husband has no time for me and my son is in the USA enjoying life. I won’t survive.”

Mrs Ganguli

Definitely, you would survive. Please tell me what you want. Shall I get you some fruit juice?

Mrs Ramachandran

“If you feed me with your own hands, I would take it."

The servant immediately brought her the apple juice. Mrs Ganguli put the lady up on the bed carefully and started feeding the juice from the cup with her right hand from a bowel carefully like a small child of her own. The lady took the juice slowly from the spoon brought to her lips till she finished the total quantity brought by the servant in the pot. Thoughts of loneliness and despair seemed to have vanished and Mrs Ramachandran’s face now bore a sign of complete peace and tranquillity. 

Mrs Ramachandran

Nobody had taken care of me so much in my life as you have done today to me. I had thought earlier I could get anything by money. I was wrong. There are so many things in life which cannot be bought with money like your love and affection. My husband had minted money by unfair means throughout his life to satisfy me and the children. But we were not satisfied. We wanted more and more. It is just like chasing a mirage in the desert for water. He ran after money but he did not find time to spare for us. We always wanted time from him, not money. But he did not listen to me. My son would also be like him, I know, in future. But you had taught me today the finer aspects of life. I do not know how to thank you. I would rest in peace now!” The lady said with a hushed tone.

“That was the time when you entered the room,” Mrs Ganguli finished her story and was in tears till then.

 “You are so different from us. How can you be so caring for everybody you meet?” Mr Ganguli was inquisitive.

“I cannot keep myself quiet when I see anybody in distress whether the person is an enemy or not.” Mrs Ganguli tried to explain.

Mr Ganguli did not understand the logic but suddenly she appeared as a Goddess to him.