Sonia was the youngest of all eight brothers and sisters. Sonia had little memory of her Dad who passed away years earlier owing to heart attack when she was little.
All her brothers and sisters were married living in the city scattered and also abroad. She relied on her elderly mother solely for emotional and financial support.
Her mother, despite being only in the sixties, suffered from ill health. This time she had pain around the waist above her hips. When other brothers and sisters of Sonia came to know about it, they immediately hospitalized her. She would bend and walk, and so Sonia’s siblings were concerned and started talking to the doctors.
Finally, after much consultation, Sonia’s mother was injected around the waist above the hips and she was immediately able to straighten herself and walk instantly.
Siblings of Sonia including herself rejoiced. Yes, their Mom was going to be okay, they told themselves. But unfortunately not for long.
The side effects of the injection took their toll and badly affected Sonia’s mother’s tummy. She had chronic stomach aches. An ultra sonogram of her stomach showed that large parts of her intestines were badly affected. Gradually Sonia’s mother’s condition deteriorated and she couldn’t eat. Pipes had to be put through the nose and mouth inside her body so that they could let her have in liquid food.
The brothers and sisters of Sonia took turns looking after their mother at the hospital. They felt very helpless when all of a sudden, their mother breathed her last and was gone from the world.
Sonia’s youngest brother fell unconscious while Sonia cried out loud in great agony. All other brothers and sisters started weeping quietly.