The relief

Saswathi, thirteen years old, was a mentally retarded girl. Gawky in her gait and ungainly in her walk, she was quiet most of the time but went hysterical on occasions. There were long periods when you would not suspect of her disability. She would talk sensibly for hours and ask very pertinent questions. One would not know why she screamed on occasions as the doors to her house were always closed. She had a younger brother who was normal like any other child. Her mother never allowed her to go to the neighbouring houses. But Saswathi knew how to dodge her mom and often escaped to other flats. In many houses she was not welcome. She would pick all things from the show case and butter fingered as she was, would drop them. When something gets broken she would cry inconsolably and plead with the lady of the house not to report to her mother. She would lift her skirt and show the burn marks she received as punishment. It was a pathetic sight for a girl of 13 sobbing like a young kid, wiping her nose with her upper cloth. She would relate with exaggeration to the willing ears how her mother wished that she commit suicide instead of being an embarrassing burden on the family. She would narrate in detail to some of the gossipy neighbours the fights between her parents or about things not usually discussed in public. She was a simpleton unaware of the mean people who encouraged her to talk by their sweet words. She would not cover herself properly and would ask the young boys playing cricket to include her too. Her mother would rush from nowhere and drag her inside after slapping her. It was a regular sight and the boys would hang their heads in pity for the girl when she gets beaten in public.
Her mother used to tell her close friends in the colony that the girl was cunning and not as simple as she appeared to be. She would deliberately scream aloud when she saw some people around her house. She craved for attention and pity from others. On one occasion she went round the colony telling that her mother was dead when she was actually asleep and did not respond to her calls. Schools were not willing to admit her. Her father had no regular income. He kept changing jobs frequently. To make up for the income her mother did odd jobs, taught music to the children in the colony and also undertook tuition for small children. The lady worked hard to make both ends meet. Her husband would stay away from the house for three or four days now and then without informing her. A recluse he never took interest in the family and was not a steady support to his wife.

It was then a young doctor came to live in the same building. A psychiatrist he witnessed the tantrums thrown by this girl intermittently. The mother approached him for help. He became a regular visitor and a sort of family friend. But the girl took a dislike for the doctor and shouted at him to go away. Her irritability became pronounced whenever the doctor was around. She would be put on tranquilizers when things went beyond control. Over a period of time the neighbours were talking in hushed tones that the doctor was seen most afternoons in her house. Whispers were also heard that he was helping the family financially. The neighbours mostly women were jealous of the mother who was fetchingly good looking. The main topic in their gossips would revolve around what was perceived by them as a passionate affair between the doctor and the mother. There was no credence to this except their malicious surmise.

It was a year or two later when one afternoon everybody heard Saswati’s loud screams from the flat. They thought it to be one of her usual bad temper. When the screams became persistent and loud, they rushed to help her but found the doors bolted from inside. Smoke was coming out. Her mother was evidently not there. They shouted back asking the girl to open the doors. When this proved to be of no avail, they broke open the doors. It was too late to save the girl. She died in the hospital that night. It was perhaps a relief both for the girl and her mom. But the incident set the tongues of neighbouring women busy with all sorts of baseless stories. Sympathy for the girl was one ingredient that was missing in their rumour mill.