A selfless compassion

It was a quiet Thursday evening and the house was brimful with breezy ambiance. The warm sunbeam peeping through the window was trying hard to make it to the bed. Asleep on the bed was a cute baby, almost at the end of her sleep cycle. Rolling her eyeballs side to side, the toddler was waiting for a trigger to end her nap time.

'Ding-ding, ding-dong', rang the doorbell. Then followed a loud scream of the baby expecting an instant cuddle from her mother. Radha headed to the door to answer the doorbell, while Diya rushed to the bedroom to soothe her toddler.

At the house entrance was Leela, Radha's close friend. Welcoming her childhood friend with immense love, Radha enquired about her uninformed visit to the town. Leela then detailed her son's sudden transfer and conveyed that they had moved to a house in the adjacent street. Happy Radha hugged her and exclaimed, "Our good olden days are back! We're going to share our teatime again!".

Meanwhile, Diya joined them in the hall with her unsettled baby. Radha introduced her daughter-in-law Diya and her granddaughter to her friend. Leela was immensely happy to see them and she rushed to carry the baby in her arms. Instantly, Diya stepped back in a sign of denial and uttered that it was time to feed her little one. Saying so she left to her room and slammed the door. For a few seconds Leela couldn't perceive what happened. In an attempt to break the ice, Radha took Leela to the kitchen to brew some tea.

In sometime, the kitchen was flavored with the brewing ginger tea along with the sweetened memories of childhood buddies. They sat down on the couch to sip their favorite drink, but Leela's brain was still pondering over Diya's denial to hand the baby to her. She neither wanted to ask Radha about it nor could she get over it. Hours after chitchatting with Radha, and swearing to come over every evening to have tea, Leela left for her house.

Consequently, Leela visited Radha's house in the evening hours and they both shared their tea time together. One such day, Leela visited Radha a little early to spend some extra time with her only to find Radha struck up in her chores. Radha was dressing up the little baby in the bedroom while Diya was taking bath. Though curious to join Radha in dressing up the little one, Leela rather preferred to wait in the hall, reading the weekly magazine. In sometime, she heard Diya screaming at Radha.

"What have you done to the baby? Don't you know it's not safe to apply oil to a baby's head in the evening times? What if she catches a cold?"

To which Radha patiently replied, "Do not worry dear. I applied only a few drops. I found her hair dry enough and hence I couldn't resist applying oil."

Diya, in a consistent tone, uttered, "This isn't going to work. You please do only what is being told to. For God's sake, try not to do anything extra".

Radha simply nodded her head and left the room. When she approached the hall, Leela tried to ease the tension by diverting her to a socio-economic article in the magazine. Then commenced their teatime spiced with lively chats.

Days followed days and so did their teatimes. Many days, Leela witnessed Diya to be an overprotective mother and a rude daughter-in-law who very often loses her cool and shouts at Radha for silly reasons. On the other hand, Radha patiently bore the screams and dealt with the situation patiently. Leela felt as if Radha and Diya had interchanged their roles. Aren't the mother-in-law supposed to rule and the daughter-in-law supposed to adhere? Though Radha and Leela openly discussed all issues on the earth, they never spoke much of their families. Eventually, it will appear to anyone that they are gossiping about their own kin and hence they voluntarily opted to stay out of the topic. On many occasions, Leela was badly tempted to intervene in Diya's blames and take sides with Radha but she controlled herself from entering the family space.

The only way Leela could interpret Radha's silence was a state of elderly helplessness. She felt that Radha, being a widowed single mother for the past 20 years, couldn't bear the abandonment from her son's family and hence chose to bear her daughter-in-law's silly accusations. She couldn't stay quiet on her close friend's helpless state and once and for all decided to open up the topic to her, with the intention to render support from her side.

For a change, she invited Radha to her house for tea time. As they brew the tea together, Leela started the conversation with a serious tone.

"Listen Radha. There's a reason I invited you to have tea at my place today. For a long time, I had been yearning to ask you something but have refrained every other time because I felt it would be too personal to talk about. But here I am, no longer able to withstand the mystery."

To which Radha replied in a funny tone, "Oh! I never knew you are going to unveil a mystery today. I'm all prepared my Lord, go ahead."

Leela eased her throat and continued, "Radha, I know you since our childhood. I have seen you battle all the tough phases of your life. But now I find you accepting things easily with politeness and patience. What's wrong with you?"

"Polite and patient? Is that a compliment or complaint?" questioned Radha.

"Straight to the point. I feel you always surrender to your daughter-in-law. It makes no sense to me when you acknowledge her false blames. Why would you do that? Is it because of the fear of being abandoned by your son's family at this age?" asked Leela with a broken voice.

Radha chucked instantly and replied, "Oh my dear friend, do not visualize me as an object of sympathy while I'm still renowned and legendary. Jokes apart, I heartily feel contented for the care you shower on me right now and I'm always a big fan of your tender heart".

"Does this answer my question?" queried Leela in an angry tone.

"Oh cool my angry bird. Trust me, I have answers to all your questions and there is nothing for me to hide from you. But right now, it's the right time to sip our tea. Why not we continue the conversation in your garden?" asked Radha.

The two friends proceeded to the backyard garden and sat comfortably on the wooden lawn chair with perfect armrests and back support cushions. As Radha glanced at the plants in the garden, a group of plants with no sign of recent vegetation caught her eyes. Neither had they seemed to produce veggies in the recent past nor did they appear to produce in near future. Those plants were given special attention, the soil being dressed in organic manure, egg shells, and rose petals to help them turn productive. Radha questioned those plants to Leela.

"Those plants, the one in the right corner, seem to be still for a long time?"

"Oh yeah! Since the time we moved to this house, I never noticed any produce from those plants. I then recollected the house owner's statement. She informed me that some plants over here may take their own time to prosper and that they are really productive when the time comes. Maybe like humans, plants also have tough times."

"The rich manure, the eggshell, the rose petals are all....?"

"My ways of supporting the plants to help them survive"

"This answers your prior question Leela." happily concluded Radha.

Thoughtful Leela rewound her question and connected it to the answer. The next moment she laughed at her invalid concern and appeared contented. Though she wasn't very much sure of what exactly was happening in Radha's house, she was convinced that Radha isn't a victim there.

The next day, when Leela arrived at Radha's house for teatime, she was surprisingly welcomed by Diya. When asked about Radha, Diya conveyed that Radha and Ram had been to a nearby healthcare center to put polio drops for the baby. Diya hesitantly asked, "Would you mind having coffee with me?".

Leela firmly replied, "It would be my pleasure, dear."

Diya made Leela comfortable in the hall while she entered the kitchen to prepare coffee.

She served coffee and snacks to Leela at the dining table. While sipping their drink, Diya explained to Leela that she had been suffering from Postpartum Depression for a few months post-delivery. She detailed her experiences with mood swings, anger outbursts, possessiveness towards her baby, sudden breakout with no particular cause, her insecurities, and her current counseling sessions with a psychotherapist.

Leela replied in a low tone, "I can understand what you said, but I can't feel it. We haven't experienced any such things and our generation is completely away from it."

Diya replied with a bright smile, "Understanding is the starting point for any relationship, aunty. Thank you." Saying so, she collected the coffee cups and headed to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Radha and Ram returned home with the baby. Radha handed the baby to Leela. At the moment, Leela couldn't express all her love for the baby as there were several thoughts pondering in her unsettled mind. She kissed the baby on the forehead and handed her to Diya and watched her still as she entered the bedroom with the baby and locked the door. The closing sound of the door brought her back to her senses. When Radha questioned Leela about her time with Diya, she heartily replied, "Today I realized that I can enjoy my coffee as much as my tea."

Without saying anything more, she headed to her home. She went straight into her backyard and sat in the garden amidst the plants to spend some alone time. The declining sunrays or the chirping of birds didn't catch her attention. She was trying to make peace with her thoughts for she never knew that motherhood is associated with mental suffering, and she hadn't faced any. She was oblivious to the fact that a mother could fall into depression despite being blessed with a bundle of joy. All that she knew was "A woman attains the highest degree of happiness and satisfaction upon becoming a mother". And there she was battling with her inner thoughts to forgo the proverbial facts and accept reality.

As the night dawned with a clear sky featuring patches of white clouds here and there, she looked upon it and realized some peace. She then gazed at the struggling plants in her garden under the twinkling stars and the bright moonlight. She went near them and silently whispered "I'm unable to empathize with what you're facing but I sure can witness your external struggle. I promise to support you in all ways".