On Food And Love

The first thing that struck  both me and my friend about her were her eyes.We were in one of the female wards in the hospice and there was this young woman finishing her lunch. Her eyes were so beautiful! Light brown and almond shaped in a dusky face. We couldn't help gushing over her eyes.  And then we saw those eyes fill with tears."What is the use of having beautiful eyes madam, when I have such a miserable fate ?"

We learnt that the young woman was from Chitradurga and  had three children. The older two were girls, six and four. And the youngest, a boy was two. Six months after his birth, the health problems had begun and then she had been diagnosed with cancer. Her husband was a daily labourer and she said that they had two square meals only on the days he went to work.Her illness brought chaos into their lives. Her mother in law was too feeble to look after the children. She and her husband had come to Bangalore in the hope of some treatment after the doctors in her home town  had given up. The children were in the care of the neighbours. She told her story and wept.

What really pained her, she said was that she was eating a good lunch while her husband was not. She said that they had brought from their hometown, some rotis. Her husband ate one roti a day with some salt as he could not afford to eat in any hotel. He had no money.

We wondered if there was anything we could do about this and went off to meet one of the managers.She immediately said that there was excess food everyday in the kitchen and can be given to this young man. The only problem was that this could not be done in the general ward as  then the other relatives would also have to be given food. If they agreed to shift into one of the special rooms, then it would be no problem at all giving him meals. The only condition was that he would have to be with her all the time as the special rooms are not continuously monitored by the staff.This did not appear to be an issue as he was there all the time anyway.

We happily trooped off to find the young man and give him the good news. That he now no longer would have to go hungry and will have proper meals to eat.We found him sitting near the water body with his wife. We introduced ourselves and gave him the  news that if they shift to a special room, they will get food.

I guess, we were expecting some kind of a reaction from them. Happiness, relief and I don't know what else. But that did not happen. He just sat there quietly, calmly. We thought, maybe, he hadn't understood and repeated our words.

He then smiled and said , "Ho to accha, na ho to bhi accha."(If it happens then its good . If it does not happen, then also its good).

And I was stumped . By his calm acceptance. By his fortitude. By his patience. By his love. By the sheer richness of his being.