New Wine In An Old Bottle?

Janaki was very religious. She followed all the Hindu rituals to the T. She fasted on Ekadasi, Mondays and Saturdays, and any other auspicious day that required her to do so as per her faith. Every day she would get up early and take bath in cold water, irrespective of the season. By the time the sun came out, she would have even finished her visit to the nearby temple.

God was her ‘go-to’ person for everything good, bad, and ugly in life and God definitely knew that “bad and ugly” outweighed the "good" in her life. But that did nothing to shake her belief in God, or in the general goodness of life, and as surprising as it may sound, she was one of the least bitter persons Sumedha knew in her neighborhood.

For whatever reason, Janaki had taken a liking for Sumedha and her family in spite of their not being related to each other by blood. She would frequent Sumedha’s house on every festival day without fail with some homemade dish she had prepared that day. She would also happily babysit Sumedha’s three-year-old daughter Vinita whenever the need arose, as Sumedha worked for a local college as a lecturer. 

For all the goodness that we are talking about, if one assumes Janaki to be an easygoing person, it would be a mistake. She was as stubborn as a mule, and once she made up my mind, even the God in whom she stood invested so much in life, would hardly be able to change it. So it’s no surprise that nobody could convince her to avoid taking bath in cold water despite her being severely asthmatic.

People heard her labored wheezing before they saw her. But unless she wished to go, no one could force her to visit a doctor. She had her own home-brewed concoctions for almost every ailment. Or she would happily douse the medication prescribed by her self-proclaimed Ayurveda medicine practitioner daughter-in-law, with whom she hardly saw eye to eye on many a matter. Fortunately,y she lived separately with her unmarried younger son, who was perpetually sick both physically and mentally.

It was really a wonder how Janaki carried out her day-to-day work, which was quite a lot when she could barely walk without gasping for breath. She used to run a small tiffin center in the town, as long as her health and spirit permitted her to do so. But finally, she had to shut shop due to the losses they incurred on account of better hotels in the vicinity. That’s when she moved into a small rented house near Sumedha’s house along with her younger son.

When Janaki walked in with homemade payasam that day, Sumedha asked her “what is the special occasion Amma?”

“It is special. Today is my son’s marriage anniversary day.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Did it come from their house or did you prepare it?” Sumedha asked trying to sound casual.

“I made it. I came to your house after giving it to my son’s family.”

Trying to hide her disappointment, Sumedha asked “Their marriage day must have been a very big day for you all. I guess your husband too was alive for the event.”

“Yes. He was. Though he passed away the very next day.”

“What? I didn’t know that. But how?”

“Oh, he had a massive heart attack, the Doctors said.” After a pause, Janaki continued with a voice that was somewhat choking with emotion “We had planned a feast for the close family members the next day. But due to this, we gave away everything - all the vegetables, milk and other stuff. We also ended up throwing out a lot of stuff.”

Sumedha was speechless.

“Marriage and death separated by just one day. Even in my worst nightmare, I had never imagined such a thing. Before we could properly welcome the new person into our house, we lost the head of the family of our household.” Janaki said avoiding eye contact with Sumedha as she was trying to hold back her tears.

“That’s when it started. The blaming and bickering. Every relative known to me started blaming my daughter-in-law. They said she was bad luck and brought this death onto our family. I still remember the look on my daughter-in-law’s face, when my husband’s sister said this in her presence. She had tried to push herself into one corner as though she wanted to become invisible.”

Sumedha didn’t know what to say. Janaki continued staring into nothing “But what is her fault in this? My husband had been getting chest pains for a while. He brushed aside all my imploring to get himself tested. He would shout at me into silence. It must have been brewing inside him for long and it’s just a coincidence that it happened that day. I told my husband’s sister the same thing there and then, in front of my daughter-in-law.” 

Sumedha’s heart filled with a warm feeling towards Janaki.

Looking at the clock Janaki snapped herself out of her monologue and exclaimed “Oh, it’s time for my grandson to come home from school. I have to rush back. I will collect the utensil later.”

As she headed towards the exit door, she turned back and said “with all my rambling, I almost forgot. I brought this Prasadam from my visit to the temple today. Please make sure to give it to Vinita too, even if you think I am an old-fashioned religious lady.”

As she held out her right hand for the Prasadam, Sumedha embraced Janaki in a warm hug with her left hand and said “You are more modern than many of the youngsters I know Amma.”

The story is based on true inputs.