Coping with loss

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. ~

Mother Teresa


Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate – Germaine Greer


They were refugees from East Pakistan. They were six of them four sisters and two brothers. Sona was the second eldest .A brilliant student she had joined the town’s prestigious women’s college as a full time teacher after her postgraduation from Dhaka University .The family moved to Kolkata during the Bangladesh liberation war. Sona got married to a dignified handsome engineer . She became a docile housewife completely dominated and overshadowed by her overbearing husband. Sona’s only son an engineer got a scholarship and went to the US . Soon they found a bride for him and arranged a grand wedding . Months after, her husband died suddenly one night from a major heart attack.Sona was alone that night and probably became alone for the rest of her life.

An elderly lady now in her early sixties Sona was completely at sea. She had no clue how to manage her life .Her brother came and took her with him She stayed with them for few months. She wanted to be with her son. Her son was not interested or possibly unable to help even if interested. Sona suffered a nervous breakdown.She shut herself completely from the outside world. She became paranoid . She started imagining things and feared for her life. She stopped answering calls from her siblings. She did not open the door when her brother came to meet her. Her relatives held the son responsible and cursed him for his indifference. Her son was everything for her .Sona refused to face facts.

For over thirty years Sona had lived a parasitic life .She had basked in the glory of being a pampered housewife . She had been completely spoiled by years of comfort and luxury. Sona has to do lot of relearning and reskilling now to cope with her daily life. A challenging future awaits her.