Friday, August 11, 2017

Emotionally draining........

It's the saddest day in my life.

I'd visited the old lady, along with a few of my folks, at the palliative care of the hospital right in the heart of the town. We're informed that her room was 504 and so, I'd made a dash towards that end. In the process, I'd passed past her sitting by the television in the wide corridor, short of the turn towards her room. Actually, it wasn't that she was watching it, she was totally out of focus and missed us, too, as we walked past! Based on her second daughter's latest directive, her bed was being changed to a narrower one with side railings to prevent her mother's movements out of the bed!

Once the new piece of furniture was in place, the old lady was guided in and she'd flashed her million volt smile on seeing me. She'd the nurse, Rema, who seemed to take the task of looking after her ward rather seriously attending on her. Her observations:-

    * Amma doesn't speak much.
    * She's extremely sad about her present plight.
    * Though her daughters drop by everyday - to hoodwink the others, giving the impression that
       they care - the old lady seems to have given up on them. She must have realised that she has 
       been abandoned by her daughters, for whom she gave her everything! She'd that wistful, far 
       away look.

As we moved away, she walked us up to the door of her room. There was immense sadness in her eyes and she inquired as to whether I'd visit her again?

It was an emotionally draining experience. A feeling of impotent rage had taken over. What do these misguided daughters want in life? Are they smug that everything's gonna be hunky dory for them from now on? How do they manage to put up a smile in front of the others? What they haven't realised is that it's the beginning of their downfall.

And what would I do............

     * I'd break my relationship with the two daughters, their families forthwith.
     * They cease to have any place in my life anymore.
   
Having told myself the above, the rage is not showing any tendency of diminishing.


Tailpiece.

When our child passes stool and messes itself up, we pick it up and clean it and apply appropriate toiletries. Why, then, do some of us banish our elders for the same reason? Who has given them that right?


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