Lets have Mercy...

Aruna Shanbaug - A name that has been haunting me  for the past two days. A human being bedridden for almost 42 years in a vegetative state, nothing less of a nightmare and a situation well beyond my comprehension. The gross inadequacy of  our judiciary in serving the right punishment to the culprit is not something that is disturbing me.That is a taken.Even the wildest criminal of all in the Nirbhaya case will walk scott free in few years time.What is disturbing me is the picture of a women who had to stay in a vegetative state in a closed room of a hospital for 42 years .In few articles, I saw a beautiful young lady all of 25 years, and in some I saw a helpless old lady with no teeth and gnarled limbs confined to her bed. To think  that this transformation happened in a closed room with no sense of what is happening around her, is deeply disturbing.

The first question that came to my mind is- why was she denied Euthanasia??? Why would anyone want to stay in that state with no hope of improvement for a long period of 42 years.She would have died many deaths during those long never ending years.Who had the rights to decide that she should stay in that state for these many years? She did have close relatives, who could have decided to releive her of her sufferings. Of course they didnt want to have the blood on their hands. It is a big decision, and takes lot of courage. It is easy to choose the safest route, abandon her, leave her to her "fate" .

With all due respect to the staff of the hospital who took care of her, could they ever judge what she was going through?Once their shift is over they would all go back to their own lives , with family, kids and other small small joys of life.All the while Aruna's soul stayed strapped to her  body forcefully. Would any of these nurses who celebrated the court's verdict of denying Euthanasia, volunteer to stay strapped in a bed for atleast one week with no kith and kin nearby??They should have allowed her to die peacefully long time back. Unfortunately we all want to be "good samaritians". We all want to be kind, take care of the ill and all other crap.

Taking care of Aruna for past 42 years was not kindness. In my opinion, it was pure brutality. They should have let the soul free and releive her of her sufferings. But no, everyone was being "kind". In that case, its high time that we redefine kindness and humanity. Imagine aging from 25 to 62 all confined to a bed, totally dependent on strangers who were merely acting out of sympathy for you.

For a moment, think about it.Would anyone willingly prefer that fate? Wouldn't you rather die?? I would..In a hundred lives, I would definitely prefer death than her fate. Infact, anyone in a sane state of mind would prefer that. Everybody deserves a happy and fulfilling life. If a person is too physically helpless  to acheive that, then he/she should be allowed to rest in peace. Its high time that we understand the "Mercy" part of Mercy killing..May her soul rest in peace.

Missing..

When you have a 5 year old at home, you know exactly where to check when stuff go missing - under the drawing room sofa cushion, unused drawers ,inside the school bag, bottom end of toy basket..the list goes on . So when Achan informed me that the wardrobe drawer key was missing, I was totally cool.However when the key was not found after searching all the usual hiding places, I decided to have a one to one with the main suspect.Desperate times call for unconventional means..

Investigation - Scene one:

"Sanju, did you see the wardrobe drawer key"

"No amma, I didn't"

"I was wondering if you accidentally put it in you bag and took it to your dada's house today"

" Hmm..that is possible..I might have taken it, but I dont remember"

Now that is a lead. I called up daddy to check if the key has found its way to Sujai's house.He did a thorough search, but the results were negative

Investigation - Scene two:

" Sanju, the key is not there in dada's house. Did you see anybody taking it?"

"No Amma, Last time I saw it on top of the drawer itself, under the newspaper where it is usually kept"

" hmm..thats very sad"

"what happened? Why is it sad?"

"Amma had brought lot of ice-creams and chocolates for you and kept it inside that drawer so that dada wouldnt take it. Now that key is lost, it will all get spoilt"

(A thoughtful pause..intriguing BGM..)

" Amma, Now I remember where it is.I threw it behind the old computer that is kept near the wardrobe"

Mind you, that was the most discrete and the last place that we would consider searching for the key.After the key was found from the said mentioned location..

"Sanju, Why did you throw the key away?"

She looked at me very innocently and said. " One day Ammama scolded me for not writing my homework properly. So when she was in the Kitchen, I took her drawer key and threw it away to punish her. I didn't know that you had kept ice-creams and chocolates in there for me. "

 Ice creams and chocolates were obviously not found in the drawer and that made somebody very angry.As usual, I blamed it on her dada and  compensated with my emergency supply of chocolates in the fridge

Moral of the story: No mystery is too big, for we have ice-creams and chocolates in this world..  :)