Chapter 24: chapter 24

She had asserted, "Sister, my husband was not willing to let me come to your place fearing the contamination. I pleaded, cried, and exhibited displeasure. At last, I warned him...If you don't take me to my sister, I will go alone and drown in water if you'll doubt the infection. My sister had lost her husband who had been a father figure to me ever since my marriage and you are worried about the pandemic. I don't fear anybody. I will reach there risking my life. If you don't want to escort me stay back.....This was enough to scare him. The next moment he filled the oil tank of his Scotty, seated me at the back and started immediately. "My father-in-law's cousin's brothers joined us in the afternoon with a steel tiffin carrying our lunch for the sake of ridding a formality since the departed soul was their elder brother. They were doubly masked from all sides for better protection from the virus. The tiffin which they brought only once remained in our house for three months. As I said earlier we were treated as untouchables by everyone. I would rather thank them because it was because of them that we got a wholesome meal of rice, dal, chapattis and potato fry to eat for the day.My husband was struggling alone in the hospital with bills and waiting to claim his father's lifeless body. The question of the funerals was also looming large in his mind. The Gurudwara committee strictly forbade him to bring the body to his residence defying the traditional beliefs. There were a lot of apprehensions regarding his burial. The head of the committee lent his inability to attend the funeral rites in a most dejected manner, "As you know, we are all in our past sixty, it is advisable to conduct the funeral at Jamshedpur. If you desire to get him here, nobody will attend for the fear of being infected as he had been a corona patient."My husband understood well that they were getting at excuses to avoid the hassle of attending the last rites in the garb of showing sympathy. Whether at the home or abroad they were not going to participate in the liturgies at any cost. My husband was hell-bent to bring his dead body home so that we could see him for one last time. Unfortunately, the stars didn't align in his favour. The hospital fraternity handed over the body, wrapped in a plastic cover around six in the evening. They carried it to the cremation ground in the hospital ambulance. A few of our close relatives residing there followed the ambulance in their vehicles. A priest was escorted urgently. My husband and Raghav progressed with the ambulance to the cremation ground in the car. The funeral pyre was lit with due respect by my husband with tears overflowing his face.A very hard time for my husband, he kept us informed about the proceedings. I felt guilty for not being by his side during this difficult hour. He performed his duties religiously despite getting infected himself. He gulped medicines to channelise his energy to get all the work done properly. After winding up with all the responsibilities and reverentially paying homage to his father, he returned home fatigued and drained of all energy. He washed and bathed, consumed his dinner brought by the relative and secluded himself in his room to sleep. He had brought some soiled clothes of my father-in-law. My mother-in-law wanted it to be washed then and there according to a custom. I had to oblige ignoring my weak physique. I kept my patience in not enquiring my husband about the whereabouts and directly allowed him to retire into his room for a deep slumber.