I had to move from Mumbai to Navsari in Gujarat with my family and belongings on my transfer in 1993. Even as we were busy arranging our belongings in our new home, an express telegram came one evening that read, “Mother admitted to hospital; start immediately.” Those days, we had no mobile phones, and only a few people owned land lines.
My mother, who lived with my sister in Shivamogga, was hospitalised. Upon receiving the telegram, I left in a hurry, leaving my wife and my 10-year-old daughter in a new place.
I could get into a general compartment with great difficulty. The train, after approaching Valsad, the next station, came to a halt. There was no sign of its further movement. It was announced that there was a track problem and that the train would not be able to move for at least two hours. Every minute seemed like an hour to me. Passengers got down and flocked to the eatery on the platform.
I noticed an STD (which means a public telephone booth) right in front of my coach. I remembered that my brother’s next-door neighbour, who lived in the same town as my mother, had a landline phone number that I had saved. I got down and dialled the number. A lady answered. When I requested that she call my brother to talk to me, she told me, “Ayyo, their mother has died, and they have gone. The house is locked!”
My worst fears came true. I had to travel with a heavy heart, changing trains at Mumbai and again continuing by bus from the nearest railway station. It was late in the afternoon when I reached my sister’s house. As I stepped out of the autorickshaw, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!
My mother was resting on an easy chair in the front courtyard! “Oh, why did you take all the trouble to come?” She exclaimed as tears rolled down my eyes. They were tears of happiness and relief, of course.
It transpired that my brother’s mother-in-law had passed away. The lady who answered my phone call had in mind my sister-in-law’s mother and not my brother’s! My mother, who had been admitted to the hospital two days before for dysentery, was back home healthy by the time I arrived.
My mother, who had been dead for a day, had come alive! I looked up toward the sky as my mother watched me!