“My father was sick for a very long time. I was a teenager then in the 70’s and I was a strong boy. When my father fell ill, he was hospitalised for years. I had to work on people’s farms to raise money for his treatment. My father was close to his elder brother too, so he was often coming around to support our family. My father developed a strong bond with the female doctor who treated him all those years. I think it helped in his getting better. When he returned home, his doctor visited him weekly to be sure he was taking his medication and getting enough rest as required. But then something happened. His strong bond with his doctor had helped in his recovery but all of a sudden, his doctor stopped coming around. I asked my uncle and he said she had died. I was broken. We didn’t know how to tell my father this sad news, so we kept it away from him. Then began his disturbance – everyday, he would ask about his doctor and get sad. I didn’t know what to do. One day he insisted I told him why his doctor no longer comes to check up on him and I couldn’t say a thing. I ran to call my uncle to come and answer. My uncle told my father that his doctor had died couple of weeks ago. ‘And nobody in this house wanted to tell me about it?’ We told him it was for his own well-being. We knew he liked his doctor and that helped in his recovery so we were afraid for him. My father said he wanted to sleep. He lay on the bed and didn’t say a thing again. He never said anything again. He passed on from there. The villagers came in the evening when they heard what happened. All these happened in the 70’s and I’m pained whenever I remember it. Grieve can be something.
4
27
Grieve. Accept. Let go.