The Day When She Died - Part 1

I vastly remember the autumn of 2003, where I lived in a small house with a huge family and with very low income. I stayed in a middle class society and my family, the Lal's survived in 400sq mts. Yeah, for few people 400 sq.mt is pretty much a decent house but for a family of 13, it really isn't.

I stayed at Burabhai Chawl on floor 3 with my parents, my elder brother, his wife and 3 kids, my paternal uncle who was a handicap and apart from them I stayed there too, with my wife and my 3 sons and to add to the chaos, my wife was pregnant.

Back in the day in 2003, I used to earn Rs.16,000 a month and my elder brother earned around Rs.15,000 per month. We contributed Rs.20,000 towards the house expense which ranged from Medicines for appa, as he was on dialysis, Medicine and therapy charges for Mohan uncle who was bed ridden, ration, and EMI of the home as it was taken on loan.

Though, we had less money and lesser space to stay, we all had a very good relationship. My kids happily jelled up with Jeetu bhai's kid and vice versa. It was around the festival of Diwali when my wife announced that she is pregnant with a girl. It was a true blessing, because a few months before the announcement, a Pandit told me that very soon Goddess Lakshmi will be visiting my house and she will make me rich.

I thought that my daughter might be the Goddess Lakshmi.

To be continued...