Mothers and Daughters

Spoke to my mom today for 2hrs 20mins on international call. My Reliance calling card is probably depleted, but the very thought of her living alone in that huge cavernous house, unable to sleep, watching astrology shows in the middle of the night makes me want to cry! That I'd been able to fill some part of empty world is solace to me! When she's here she drives me crazy...when she's in Kolkata I pine for her...

A friend of mine took one of those silly quizzes on Facebook which predicts the time of her death. She's supposed to die in 2016 at the age of 44. Of course, I cracked a silly joke about wanting her entire saree collection when she pops it, etc! Many years ago an astrolger predicted some events in my life - typically I don't believe in all that mumbo-jumbo, but whatever this dude had predicted has come true so far. Unfortunately, he had mentioned that I'll lose my mother at the age of 40...that gives her only 3 more years!

Another friend of mine is in Kolkata now. She's been there since June. Her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. The moment she learnt about it, she picked up her kids and landed in Kolkata to be with her mom. I was also in Kolkata at that time and since our kids are friends too, we'd meet every now and then to let the children play together. Every time I saw aunty, it broke my heart - she was so full of life and so cheerful while her body was falling apart! I came back to Seattle after the vacation was over and my friend was supposed to come back towards the end of August along with her parents. She felt she could provide her mom with the best possible care here, in Seattle. Yesterday, when I called her home to find out how they were doing, her mother-in-law picked up the phone. She said that my friend has stayed back Kolkata and her boys have come back to start the school year. I immediately called my friend in her Kolkata number and found out that aunty has had a cardiac arrest right around the time I left and is in  coma since then. My friend can't leave her mother and her aging father alone - so she had to let her children go!

She's miserable and so are her boys. No amount of time spent on Skype can fill the void for either. I would know - I had to spend one whole miserable week not being able to touch my children. It was like someone had taken away my oxygen tank. Every night I'd watch them sleep peacefully while my fingers ached for a single precious touch!! But if I were in my friend's place I'd have done the exact same thing. Without doubt I'd have chosen my parents over my kids. But why does life throw us a curve like this? When daughters become mothers, it's such a hard choice to make...