The Re-Payment

Sukriti was feeling depressed. Three months of Lockdown was too much for her. She realized that the Virus was very contagious, and whoever contracted Covid-19, could get serious complications, and may even die. But she asked herself, why people were considering physical well-being to be more important, than mental health. She felt so down and under, that she had the inclination to end her life. How could anybody survive without social interaction!

Sukriti had been widowed five years back, but she had not been able to adjust to the loss of her husband. She did not have children to fall back on. So her only break in the dull monotony of her life, was when she went out to do the shopping and exchanged some pleasantries with the shopkeepers. But now that was also stopped, so her life had become absolutely bland, without any flavor. She was very disgruntled with life, and felt it was very cruel of God to inflict the curse of the pandemic on her, and making her loneliness excruciating.

It was then that there was a knock at the door. As she opened the door, she got a start. In front of her were perhaps creatures from the world- underground. They did not seem to be human beings. Their faces were covered with soot, or perhaps dirt, which had not been washed for perhaps a month. They were wrapped in soiled rags, which threatened to drop off from their bodies. It would be more correct to say,' from their skeletons', as stretched, taut skin appeared to be covering the bony structures, devoid of flesh.

Sukriti asked the apparition why they were knocking at the door. The lady was holding the hand of a small child. Her story was that they were migrants from Bihar. Her husband had brought the family to Kolkata, in the hope of earning a livelihood, as they were starving in their own state. But when the Lock-Down was announced, they were given only four hours of notice. All the eating- joints were closed. They lost the means of earning, as all industries were shut down. They had no place to sleep, or to freshen up. There was no transport, so they could not go back to the villages. In such a situation, the male migrants decided to walk home, but left the women and children behind, as they could not cover such a strenuous journey.

The Mother was left with a three-year-old girl and a year old son. She did not know where she could put up for the night, with two children, and to make matters worse, the policemen chased them out where ever they took refuge. She had no means to feed her children. Whatever she could scrounge from garbage heaps, she gave her off-springs. The net result of eating from the bin was that her one-year-old son started vomiting, and had virulent diarrhea. The baby died in her arms. Her daughter too had become critically sick, with a high fever, but she could not take her to a hospital, because there was no transport. By God’s grace, the child recovered, having a brick as her pillow and the pavement as her bed.

The migrant woman had come to Sukriti’s doorstep, hoping to get some food, as she and her daughter had not eaten for days and were famished.

Sukriti’s heart welled up with pity. She felt ashamed of herself that just because of boredom, she felt that life was not worth living when she had everything in the world that one would need. Here was another human being, whose husband had left her with two small children to look after because of dire necessity. She did not have a shelter, no food, and had lost her baby. She made up her mind to stretch out her hand to help another human being, instead of feeling sorry for her own sorry state.

Immediately she took steps to solve the lady’s problems. She gave her a fresh set of clothes and told her she and her child could freshen up in the toilet downstairs. She then rushed to the kitchen and quickly cooked a wholesome lunch with two eggs each, to give them nutrition. That done, she provided them with fresh linen for their bed and told them they could use the storeroom for resting. All these arrangements have done to perfection, she realized that life was only worth living, if one could give, even a wee bit of solace and comfort to another living creature.

In the next four months, she was very busy, cooking, shopping, and looking after the visitors. Now they looked well fed. The bony skeleton-like appearances were gone. Dressed in clean new clothes, with faces shining, and well-washed, no one would have known them for the same unfortunate street dwellers. After four months, when the woman went back to the wholesale market, where her husband used to work, in helping the shopkeeper to load and unload his potatoes and onions, she discovered that he had come two weeks back and had re-joined his previous employer. She told him all the details of her whereabouts. Then he also came also started staying with them.

Sukriti did not approve of their staying in her premises permanently, and told them that they should vacate, as the man in the family was back. The migrant protested and told her that he had no intention of vacating. Besides, he argued that since there was so much space in the building, there was no harm if they kept on occupying part of it.

Sukriti was very firm and threatened to call the police. The Migrant then started shouting in obscene language, and told her, that if she did, she would be sorry for her action. Sukriti was not the one to be intimidated,. She started dialing 100. Immediately the man pounced on her, and grabbed the mobile phone, and threw it viciously with all the strength he had. The mobile phone broke into a thousand pieces.

The migrant’s eyes looked like that of the demon. They became two bloodshot orbs, evil and menacing. With one hard stroke, she was thrown prostrate on the ground, and she hit her head against the iron railing. Blood gushed out. He then gripped her neck with both his grimy hands and started to throttle her.

Sukriti knew her end had come. She called on God silently, as she felt the hands tighten, and tried to gasp for breath. The grip was like a vice suffocating her, and her strength to fight back was waning. But surprisingly all of a sudden he released her, and with lightning speed, bolted from the house. He had noticed someone had entered the gate, and so could be a witness to the gruesome act.

The man who distributed newspapers from door to door had arrived on the scene, to collect his dues. He lifted her up and tried to put her in a more comfortable position. Immediately he called the police, as well as an ambulance. Everything ended on a happy note. Though Sukriti was re-paid in an unexpected way, she knew it was an exception. She was never dissatisfied and disgruntled, and knew how one could make one’s life meaningful., After that episode, she was grateful for the gift of Life.