Unbalanced Life..

Life is strange ... when and how the bad time will come.... nobody can guess..... A woman came in Bersarai about 2 months ago ... her looks and attire gives an impression that she is a mentally disturbed woman.... and everyone recognize her as mad woman.... even I thought the same... but she never does anything so strange that she can be labelled as insane..... She quietly roams here and there in the market and always looks lost in her thoughts....

One night when I was returning from JNU.... she stopped me and asked something.... She was speaking Bangla ... I told her that I do not understand Bangla….but I guess she does not understand Hindi....But through her action I understood what she was trying to ask ... from where I'm coming so late at night ?... and I had dinner or not? ... I did not understand how I should respond.... Through gesture I told her that I have had dinner ... when I asked her whether she had dinner or not..she showed me her packed food she kept in her bag and told me that she will eat later... after that we walked together for sometime without saying anything ... then I went ahead and came back to my room ... Since then I sometimes buy her something to eat ...And she quietly takes without looking at me…...

As the time passed people started recognizing her... and she started recognizing other people of Bersarai.... she even started talking to people ... I don’t know whether anyone understands what she says as she speaks Bangla only...But without any concern she keeps on speaking whatever comes to her mind….and most of the time she keeps smiling....

One morning when I was going to office ... I saw that she has cut her hair and they were cut in a weird manner…I think she cut them herself…. On that day…first time I saw her face clearly...

Every time when I return from JNU at night ... I find her sleeping under a shop in Bersarai.... along with 2 stray dogs that sleeps on her blanket….. But it always looks like…. a whole family is sleeping together...

Yesterday I was coming back fron JNU a bit early... as it was so cold and I wanted to reach my room as soon as possible... As I was walking through the Bersarai market somebody called from back….I stopped and turned around to see…that was the same woman... today she has not slept yet…as I reached close to her….I don’t know from where….2 dogs came running towards me ... I got scared...as I was about to run that woman told them something in Bangla and they immediately stopped barking.....they were the same dogs who sleeps on blanket every night.... Then this woman asked me to help unfold her bed spread….She had a new Rjzai(quilt)... as I started spreading it ... she told me somebody gave her this Razai today... she was looking very excited to sleep on her new Razai in this bone chilling cold… after spread the Razai as I was about to go…she grabbed my hand and said .... ‘Please sit with me for a while’ ... It was like when somebody gets a new house and invites his friends to see the new place.... That was the joy and feeling on her face ... I sat down there .. she asked me my name and said something else also…which I did not understand... I don’t understand Bangla completely…. but I wanted to understand every word she was uttering...... she asked my name and age ... I understood that she was asking my name but the word she used for age…I did not understand…and after giving so much pressure on her head she said “age” in English.

This is how the conversation went….

Lady: What's your name?
Yogesh: Yogesh
Lady: Jogesh ... full name?
Yogesh: Yogesh Kumar
Lady: Jogesh Kumar ....then?
Yogesh: nothing else ... just Yogesh Kumar
Lady: arre ......there must be some Mukherjee, Sharma, Chatterjee after Kumar ...
Yogesh: No ... nothing…just Yogesh Kumar
Lady: Well..ok ... and age (in bangla)?
Yogesh :????
Lady: arre ... age (in english)?
Yogesh: oh ... 26 years
Lady: Well ... you are very young….you do some job?
Yogesh: yes ... what's your name?
Lady: I do not remember.... I forgot everything.... I'm a mad woman ...
Yogesh: no…who said you’re mad... You're not mad ... but how you forgot everything?
Lady: I had an accident ...near india gate …..a year ago...
Yogesh: Oh ... What kind of accident?
Lady: I came under a car ... my head smashed and teeth broken ... and after that I forgot everything ...
Yogesh: Now you don’t remember anything from past?
Lady: yes... a little bit I remembered ...
Yogesh: What?
Lady: I had 2 kids ... very small ...

(She told me other things about her kids and family but I did not understand)

Yogesh: What is your age?
Lady: 43 .... In February I have my b’day .... I 'll be 44 .... Now you go ...
Yogesh: Why?
Lady: Go ... otherwise they will beat you ...police.
Yogesh: Oh no ... nobody will beat me ...
Lady: No ..... They have big sticks..they will beat you
Yogesh: they ever beaten you??

Lady: No no ... you go now ...
Yogesh: Well ... you go to sleep now....
Lady: ok ... go…


After that I came back to my room….and now that small conversation is repeatedly playing like a struck tape in my head…...how a person's life change suddenly….. nobody cares .... Now the world looks so superfluous to me....there are some people who have all the comforts of the world….and some doesn’t even have a blanket to cover his/her body

We are really lucky that we have a home ...