A Star is Born

Ratna, take a look at the report card. What could I have said to convince them about Tara in the coming year? She is three years elder to Mukul and he is now in Class 2 while she is has not made it past Class 1 after so many years. The school has put up their hands. Let us accept the fact that her school days are over and she will be at home. We will try and help her with her education to the extent we can on our own. If you want, we can also try with some tutors but I doubt they will accept the work.

Ratna was looking at the report card in her hands which were shaking in anguish rather than disbelief.

How will we leave her at home alone with no one around for the entire day? How will I go to work now?  I cannot quit my work. How will we run the house just on your salary? Rohit, what do we do?

Just then a little girl with curly hair and bright round eyes walked into the house with her face, hands and feet completely dirty and full of scratches. The dress she wore was completely in tatters and full of dirt.

What happened, Tara?

I was watching Rohini and Maya play with the ball when it went into the Gupta Uncle’s garden. They asked me to get it for them by going under the hedge and the barbed wire as the gate was locked. It was difficult but I got the ball, threw it back at them and sneaked out the same way again. It was good fun and my friends said that they would let me play with them from tomorrow. I am so excited that I will play tomorrow and not just sit outside and watch others.

Come, let me give you a bath and clean you up.

After a while, the family sat on the dinner table. The food was simple…kichadi and omelette for Mukul needed eggs for almost all meals and the loving mother would oblige. Ratna sat next to Tara and fed her with her own hands. She would tear off a small portion of omelette and put it over the kichadi, make a small ball in her right hand and put it in Tara’s mouth while gently tilting the girl’s head with her left hand. After the girl’s meal was done, she put some food in the same plate and ate while others went to their rooms to sleep. Ratna finished off the cleaning of the utensils and kitchen before she retired to the bedroom where Rohit was smoking a cigarette and reading a magazine.

I will take a few days off and see what arrangement we can do. If required, you may also have to take some days off.

I just cannot take any leave now. We have our half yearly closing and you know how important it is for me to be at the bank. I think, Ratna, the time has come for us to take a decision. I know it is a difficult one but how long can we continue this way. She will never be normal and as she grows, it will become even more difficult for her, for Mukul and us as well. Let us accept that Tara has an illness and we need to keep her at home or else she will be a danger to herself and people around. The doctors have said that she may also become violent in the coming days. What will we do then, have you ever thought about it? Get practical, Ratna. There is a place, not far from here, where they keep such patients and they have trained doctors and nurses to take care of them. I have a colleague whose younger sister is there in that home and he told me that it is a good place. Since the time his sister has been shifted there, happiness and peace has returned to their home.

Stop! I don’t want to hear this lecture from you again tonight. She is my daughter and no one is taking her away from me. I will keep her with me. I know the place you are talking about. They call it care home for mentally challenged children, it is nothing but an asylum. My Tara is sick and not mad. She has an issue with the development of her brain. Yes, she gets violent at times and has difficulty in concentrating but these can happen to any kid. Do you know that they often keep the people in that so called home in chains and I can well imagine what care they provide for? Tara is my blood and I will not let her be sent anywhere.

Rohit did not argue. He switched off the light and lay down with his back turned to Ratna. Ratna sat on the bed for some time and then went to the children’s room where she found Mukul soundly sleeping on one side of the bed and Tara on the other. She went towards Tara who opened her big eyes. A big smile came to the girl’s face as she opened up her arms and the mother bent down to give her a tight hug and a kiss on her cheek.

Good night, Mommy.

Good night, Baby.

This was an everyday ritual. Neither mother nor the daughter would sleep without this hug and kiss in the darkness of the night as the father and son duo slept peacefully unaware of this happening next to them.

Next day, Rohit went to work and Mukul went to his school. Ratna stayed back with Tara. It took her quite an effort to explain to the kid why she would not be going to school for she loved the cycle rickshaw ride every morning with her brother. The rickshaw driver, Sabbir, was their regular man and he too asked, Baby, isscool nahin chalogi aaj? Tara just nodded her head as drops of tears rolled down her chubby cheeks.

Rohit returned home in the evening and Ratna made him his favourite lemon tea.

I have some good news. I went to the crèche in the morning and checked if they could keep Tara during the day but they said other parents might object as they all knew about her. I felt disappointed but then there was an elderly couple helping the staff in the crèche. They asked me to wait outside for them. After a while they came out and we went and sat in the bench at the park and talked.

Hello. I am Subhash and this is my better half, Romi. We live in the next row over there. When you were talking to the Madam inside, we heard you. Will you let us take care of your lovely daughter when you go to work? I am a retired man now and Romi still teaches in the municipal school nearby. Now you might wonder why we are willing to keep your daughter with us? It is simple…we do not have kids of our own so we come to the crèche whenever we can and spend time with the children there. We understand Tara is a child with special needs but we can surely handle her well if you guide us for a few days. She will be safe and we will take care of her to the best of our abilities.

While the old man was speaking, his wife held Tara’s hands and was softly talking to her. Usually Tara would be shy and never speak to unknown people but with this lady, she was giggling and talking. Ratna was bewildered with such an unexpected offer and didn’t know what to do.

Thank you. Can I discuss this with my husband in the evening?

Yes, surely. We live in Flat 6A, C Block here. You can bring him to our house as well.

Rohit heard the story and almost spilled hot tea on his shirt.

What about the money? I am sure they will ask for a hefty sum for doing this work. Why should we send Tara to live with some strangers? I think Ratna, you are getting emotional and unable to think right. She needs to be in the home for special children and not outside. You have seen how Mukul teases her and calls her pagli which infuriates her. He refuses to call his friends home for he is ashamed of his sister. The other day she tore off Mukul’s notebook and threw a glass bottle at him in rage. Fortunately, it missed him or else there would have been a major mishap. The two of us cannot go to any get-together for you refuse to go without her accompanying us. This cannot go on. These old people will soon leave this government accommodation and go off. What will happen then? We need a permanent fix and not a stop gap arrangement.

Rohit, I will not send my child to that home. Not as long as I am around. I have heard there are new developments in medicine and surely they will come up with some wonder drug that will cure my child. I will take leave and also go on loss of pay but will be with her always.

We have tried everything, Ratna. We have already taken her to the best of hospitals and specialists. We have tried all treatment including electric shocks. You even brought home the Pir Baba who did everything from burning incense sticks to coconut coir, danced around in his lungi, tapping Tara’s head with his feathered broom. He almost put our house on fire. We have tried homeopathy to ayurvedic treatment. No one can say we did not try. Now that we have failed and her condition is not improving, it will only get worse. I think we have just that one option left.

No Rohit, no! That is not an option. My daughter will be with me and no one will take her away. We will put up one of our rooms on rent to a couple, one of whom will be at home and will take care of Tara. We will charge them a nominal rent but that is not important. My child’s safety and care are more important to me than anything else. I know it will be difficult for all of us but I can see no other option.

That night Mukul went to sleep in his parent’s room and shared the bed with his father. Ratna went to sleep with Tara.

Mommy, don’t send me away. I will not do anything bad. I promise.

No Baby, you are not going anywhere. Just hold me tight and sleep.

Tara wrapped her arms around her mom and slept while listening to her mother reading a fairy tale.

Next morning, Ratna got up early to make breakfast and get Mukul ready for school. She then packed tiffin for Rohit who went away without speaking a single word despite Ratna trying her best to start a conversation.  Just an hour may have passed at work when the peon came to Rohit… Sahab aapke ghar se phone aaya hai. Rohit went to the manager’s room….it was Ratna wailing on the other side…Come home quickly.

Rohit reached home and saw a huge crowd gathered outside. He knew something was wrong. As he walked inside, he found a silent, stoic Ratna and howling Mukul waiting there for him.

What happened?

She did not wake up today. I called the doctor who came and said she had suffered a heart attack in her sleep. How come I did not understand what pain she was in while she had her arms wrapped around me last night? I wish I knew and could have rushed her to the hospital. Anyway, it is all over now. I am relieved today, my daughter is free. She has broken the shackles we wanted to put in and run away. So no more shame for Mukul, no more worries for you and me….my Tara is now a star in the sky, unseen in the blue sky on the days when we are at work, but shining and smiling bright  on us all through the nights.

SS