My Mom

 '' Remember to complete your assignments students. This will be a part of your dissertation. Well your learning is complete and I wish you a bright future, '' said our professor in the concluding part of his speech. My graduation learning was over now and after submitting my project of the dissertation, my education would be complete. The degree would follow soon. Myself, Rajan, had come to the United Kingdom to study law and become a barrister. It may seem, dear reader, that I have had a cocooned life with myself being born with a golden spoon or that is how the proverb goes. But in reality the life had been far from it. The subject of the project for the dissertation was to write about the person who has had a huge influence in my life. So I will write about my mom, my mother, who has had a deep impact on my life. What I am today or the journey completed so far has been possible for my mom.

Our life was not so as it is now. It was very far removed from what it is now. Now we lead a very comfortable life with all the modern amenities of living. But nearly two decades ago it was not so. I was born to a brick kiln labourer couple amongst dire poverty. My birthplace was in the village beside the brick kiln on the banks of a little river. I was in the centre of poverty and illiteracy. Food was scarce while country liquor and other intoxicants like ganja and tobacco was more easily available.  From childhood I had a hazy memory of my father. At my very early age my father was taken into custody and imprisoned. He had been implicated in a rape and molestation case in which he had nothing to do. My mother would swear on any God and say that my father was too docile to even think of doing such a thing. According to her he was so happy with her that he had no such thought of humiliating a woman and outraging her modesty. But their brick field manager Makhan Lal was a proven scoundrel and wily as a coyote. My mom said that the crime was committed by Makhan Lal and his associates acting at the instructions of the owner of the brick kiln, Sarju Persad. This Sarju Persad and Makhan Lal were an invincible team and they would repeatedly violate sexually the innocent women workers of the brick kiln. The illiterate women didn't have the means to fight the wrong doings against them.  But my mom was not like other tribal illiterate women. Though illiterate herself, what she had the others didn't. She had lots of courage. The woman who had been violated upon was her childhood friend. After the mishap the victim was very distressed and was on the verge of taking her life. Then my mom saved her life and took the immense courage to go to the Police station to book a general diary. The Police hesitantly took the complaint and registered it. They were unwilling because both Makhan Lal and Sarju Persad were wealthy and powerful persons with political connections and my mom had mentioned their names in the FIR. From then onwards trouble started for my parents. Both Makhan Lal and Sarju Persad left no stones unturned to protect themselves. They doled out money like water here and there and framed a case against my innocent father who was nohow involved in the matter. This was just to punish my mother. Every day the police would take away my father to the police station and torture him and return him in a bad state. This continued till they could get a statement from him that he had done the molestation. My father was sent behind bars for an indefinite period till the judgement was delivered. My mother didn't have the means to hire a lawyer. I never saw my father till a long time.

My mom's struggle began then with my father behind bars. She had to run the family with a new born baby, myself and her parents and my paternal grand parents. But she could no longer work in the brick kiln of Sarju Persad and Makhan Lal. She was ousted from there and due to the threats given out by the criminal duo no other brick kiln would employ her. So the situation was mighty challenging for her. Seeing my mom in such difficult situation, Makhan Lal and Sarju Persad started in tandem harassment of many types. Things were very bad at the home front with no food as my mom's regular income had stopped. She couldn't even take delightful food for my father in the jail. Gradually she stopped going there and finally lost all contacts with him. Then a time came when she had to leave home permanently along with me. I was always tied to her back tightly in a piece of cloth like a ruck sack. She never left me even in times of facing grave danger. The goons one day started chasing my mother. My mother along with me tied tightly behind her back started to run towards the highway and away from the village. She had to run to save herself and perhaps runaway to the city life to get some work if possible. She left behind her parents and in laws to fend for themselves all left in abject poverty. It was a long way to the highway and she had to run for safety. Having not eaten for several days she was not able to pull on. Plus she had my weight too though I was a mal nourished child. Hot on our heels were the men of Makhan Lal and Sarju Persad. My mom knew safety was there when we reached the highway because then their fiefdom ended. Then what was a never ending wait we reached the highway and the goons retracted. My mom fainted and I was absolutely sick. Then when we regained consciousness we found ourselves in a well furnished and well decorated room. I could see mother who was lying on a bed and some one was attending to her probably a doctor. I was being fed by a gentle lady.

Later we came to know that after we collapsed on the highway, a car had come and stopped by. They took us in and now we were in the house of the God send benefactor. The house belonged to a rich lawyer who was childless. Her husband, also a lawyer had died a few months ago in tragic circumstances. The lady lawyer took pity on us and took us in permanently. My mother was more than glad because she had no other choices. Her main concern was food for me who had been starving for so long. Finally gone were our bad days. I immensely thank my mom for being so courageous and because of her courage we could get to see another life for us. Slowly we got accustomed to the new household. My mom became the trusted maid of the lady lawyer. We did not have any problem with food, clothes and shelter. My mom did not have to work to earn money. Because we had been adopted by the lawyer lady and did all the necessary paperwork for the adoption. She fought the case in which my father was falsely implicated and had Makhan Lal and Sarju Persad put behind the bars for a long time to come. My father was finally free. We had a very happy reunion. I got a glimpse of my father for the first time because I did not have memories of earlier meetings. But due to long stay in jail in unhealthy surroundings and lack of good food my father's health was shattered. He lived only few months after his release. Life however went on. I was provided with good education and studied law in India and then followed it up with the degree from a college in England. I completed the inspiring story on my mom and submitted it for my dissertation. It was accepted and I passed with distinction.