Death's Devious Knock on the Door

by RPSaxena

The Death comes on the destined day either in a natural way or in contrary to it. In the latter case, it swoops down on its prey disguised as somebody or something else, and upsetting the mental balance of the victim and that of his / her genuine well-wisher, it distracts them from the judiciously selected path by creating bewildering situation everywhere in the surroundings.

Having undergone such a tragic event in my life, I can't help calling it a true story, and therefore it's essential to cast a glance at its background to comprehend it in the right perspective.

My father's demise in 1954, leaving behind the mother, five brothers including me as the third one and a sister, aged 34 years, 14 years, 10 years, 6 years, one-and-a half years, one-and-a half month and 3 years respectively, was 'a bolt from the blue' for mom and the first three brothers, who realized the prickly pinch of this heartrending loss.

Having worked hard per our abilities and faced various ups and downs, we gradually regained the lost luster that amplified by leaps and bounds since my marriage in 1976, when I found my wife 'Suni' possessing divine traits, the descendant of a 'Feudal Lord's Family'. She proved to be a boon for our family.

In spite of evil currents backed by jealousy and greed beneath the surface, the family appeared cohesive only because of her. She often suppressed her grievances even at the cost of her self-respect, and faced all kinds of vicious circumstances with a sweet smile on her face for the well-being of the family.

My son and daughter, having settled at their desired places in India and abroad after marriage, were enjoying the life. I and my wife lived in a three room flat of our ancestral house, a mansion with its major part in dilapidated condition, at a small town in India, where this 'so-called joint family' consisting of sixteen members in the age group of eight to eighty resided, displaying the image of an excellent garland like unity and beauty up to May 31, 2011, when Suni, as its running thread, got broken quite untimely and unexpectedly, and as a result, the garland's flowers fell apart exposing their ostentatious sheen.
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Thud! thud!! thud!!!
The boisterous sound of continuous knock on the inner-courtyard facing door, at about 10 a.m. on 8th April, 2011, fell on the deaf ears, for we were engrossed in our peaceful life. The maidservant was busy with the kitchen work while I was taking sandwich and a cup of tea, having finalized the monthly report of Suni's condition to be discussed with the Doctor during her monthly check-up on April 10, and Suni was watching a TV serial as well as relishing her favorite stuffed paneer-parantha with a glass of fresh buttermilk.

"Wow! here you are eating sandwich and there 'Dadaji' is so madly knocking on the door," our familiar electrician said, laughing and entering my room, having come from the open main gate.

At once, leaving the half-finished sandwich on the table, I came out of my room, heard a loud banging, ran towards the door, opened it and saw my seventy-five-year-old eldest brother.

"Brother, we have planned to renovate the central courtyard. What do you say?" he said, with a dry smile.

"Sir, its condition is good and moreover, it isn't in my priorities for the time being." I replied courteously.

"The renovation cost is only Twenty Thousand Rupees." Without paying any attention to my words, he continued, "Don't worry, I'll pay now and you can give your share later."

"Sir, it's not the issue. I can make full payment. However, these days, I'm busy with something else, and that is more important for me.

"All other brothers have agreed...."

Controlling myself and interrupting him, I said, "Yes, I've been watching their activities for some days."
"Just...."
"Just, please try to understand me. I don't want to be disturbed at least for four-five months due to my wife's treatment which is on the turning point." I said, keeping in mind my plan of making some more fruitful change in the treatment.

Grumbling, he went to his upstairs room , and I came back to mine closing the door. While I was passing before my wife's room, she said, " Why did you resist? Let him do as he wishes."

"My dear Suni, you neither know anything in this regard, nor should you bother about it. Only take care of yourself," I said, entering her room.
"I can't see him sad...."

"I know you've a soft corner for him in your heart because of his being too old, without wife and children, but You are quite unaware of the conspiracy which is being hatched by others nowadays. As usual, he's being used as a shield, and the courtyard-work is the tail of camel," Cutting her in the middle, I tried to calm down her.

Smiling, she began to say, "For the sake of peace......."

"Oh, Darling! I'm worried about you, and you for these cheats. I've told you several times not to bother about anything else except your own health." Fuming and saying so, I left the room, but felt my mental peace badly shattered.

I moved to the outer courtyard nearly covered with railing-material, cement- bags, sand- bags, concrete, pieces of marble etc I was very upset and started walking up and down there. Soon I came to my room and began to pass the time in doing trivial things. After a little while, both of us took lunch and tried to have a nap, but almost failed to do so.

Luckily, in the evening when I came outside, I noticed the whole material missing. All the items had been sent whence they had come. I felt a great relief, we were very happy and slept well at night. The next day also passed peacefully.

On the 10th of April around 8.30 a.m., per our scheduled program, we left for Agra to meet the Doctor about Suni's monthly check up and returned in the evening. We were shocked to see the same things lying in the compound and my elder brother's wife walking merrily in the verandah. The whole scenario appeared a bad omen. However, restraining our temper, we moved toward our flat, unlocked the gate, went inside but none of us could relax and sleep properly that night.

My 38-year-old nephew, a pseudo actor, came into my room at 9 a.m. the next day and started showing lip sympathy.
"Uncle, I've come to know about the aunt's kidneys' failure; very sad, indeed; but don't worry, I'll give one of mine." He said, shedding crocodile tears.

"What a rumor! He / she is truly a mean enemy trying to harm us by disturbing our peace of mind so that we may take wrong decisions and, consequently, fall into his/her well-laid trap," said I, angrily and continued, " Of course, she's diabetic and her one kidney has been slightly damaged since she fell down from the bike and severely fractured her left hand a few years back, nevertheless, under Allopathic as well as Homeopathic treatment, she's considerably improving," assertively, I said.

"Even then, I'm ready to....."

"Dear actor, It's an open secret that even in trifling matters, you have not acted on my sincerely sought advice and went ahead only with the consent of your mother and the other elders. Have you taken your mummy's permission in such an important affair?" I retorted.

"Oh, uncle, I'm not a kid now and...."

"That's why I'm asking you not to play a nasty game. Why don't you stop this perilous nuisance neutralizing the effect of all the medicines and leading her to the life's end. Excuse me, please.
I've to give medicine to Suni," saying this bluntly, I got up from the couch and then he also had to leave the room. In fact, he had come to demoralize us.

One thing was quite clear to both of us that we were going to face a tense atmosphere in days to come. On the one hand, all these ill-wishers in the garb of well-wishers had started spreading the negative waves around us, and thus weakening our killer instinct to fight and win the battle of life. On the other hand, the ear-splitting renovation work being done elsewhere in the house, barring inner courtyard for the first three days and the last two days, proved gravely harmful to my wife.

Unknowingly, both of us lost our mental balance, deviated from the time-tested right course, started taking 'several times avoided Ayurvedic Medicines/Herbal Medicines', consequently, her condition deteriorated beyond control within a few days, preventing us from going to see our Doctor, and ultimately I underwent an irreparable loss during this one-and-a half months period

The fatal din continued nonstop till the evening of 31st May, 2011, when Suni suffered a severe, but silent heart attack and closed her eyes forever, uttering "They are really doing very bad."

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