Year 2000: A Memoir

 Year 2000 

A Memoir

 It was a chilly day in the first week of February 2000, when my parents returned home with downcast eyes and troubled faces from The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. My amma had not been keeping well for some time. She was suffering from excruciating pain in the hip bone region. The doctors at AIIMS had diagnosed her problem as Tuberculosis in the hip region of her body.

  Earlier in 1999, a nincompoop doctor from a well known nursing home at Chennai had handed over a wrong diagnosis of arthritis to my mother and had given her anti-inflammatory medicines, which my mother did not fail to consume regularly but to no avail. 

  Appa said that he was taking amma to Chennai for treatment. We all agreed that it was the most logical thing to do. After all, Chennai had warm weather and there would more family support available to my mother. We realised that the winter weather of Delhi had almost killed her. 

  My mother gave me some cash and told me to go to college, regularly and return home safely. She told me to comb my hair on my own. I was 18 years old but still had not learnt to comb my own hair! I had not been taught many things and I had also failed to understand or realise much of life's play. Meanwhile, my elder brother was given cooking duties at home in addition to his own college work( he was pursuing M.B.A. at Qutb Enclave)!

  My mother and father left for Madras on the 9th of February 2000. Amma would not return to Delhi, again till June 2005 ( when appa was Member, Postal Board). I was at Delhi with only my brother for company from 9th February 2000. My mother had never left me alone( not more than a few days) before. I was young, unprepared and blissfully unaware of the complexity of life. I grew up almost instantly on February 9th 2000. I somehow knew that life was not going to be smooth sailing post that day. I realised that I needed to figure out things, quickly. I hope that I did. 

  Meanwhile, my brother had to leave for Bangalore in the first week of April 2000 for his Summer Internship. My father came back from Chennai around the same time. My father took care of me for a few days. Then my father left me in the home of his friend and colleague, Shri.Sankaranarayan. My father returned to Chennai to be with my mother. I stayed at my father's friend's home for approximately 19 days. My mother had never left me at anyone's home for more than a few days. Appa returned to Delhi at the beginning of May. I re-united with my mother at Chennai after the midnight, nearing the dawn of the second of May 2000.

   In hindsight, I realised how I became  emotionally mature in a matter of a few days in February 2000. It was a kind of necessary life lesson for me. But it was much later that I began to realise that life would keep giving me even tougher lessons. 

   

S.Padmapriya