Every Day Hero

Having seen some bit of the world in my 44 years of existence, I do believe that there is a hero within all of us. We just don’t give it much recognition. We only think that heroes have a consistent heroic life and are out to save the world. We have grown up fed on the stories of superman, he-man and more recently shakitmaan. Those are amazing I don’t mean to take their brand of heroism away. And look around or better still look to yourself, there have been so many times when you have faced your fears, leapt with faith, taken over the unknown, jumped into a challenge and risen above the banal.

Today, i want to share a story that for me is a huge story of extraordinary heroism, something that has always tugged at my heart strings and sometimes warmed me and sometimes melted me. This is the story that is an ode to my mother in laws courage.

In December of 1998, we as a family went through the darkest time of our lives, we lost my best friend, my baby bro-in-law Sumi to an unfortunate accident in Pune. He was the darling of the family, absolutely pampered, most loved and cherished, and since he was the youngest; he was indulged in for every whim. And trust me he had multiple whims J and loved to live life fully.

The night of 3^rd dec, my husband was travelling and at 3 am our door bell rang incessantly. Not realizing the foreboding of that bell, I opened the door and in walked Sumi’s roomies parents. A couple of minutes into the conversation, when they told us about the accident, they broke the news that shattered the world around us. We were in a state of shock and disbelief.

I can only now imagine the pain a mother would have gone through losing her young one at the age of 22. I can only now fathom how life must have moved on for her. In a daze we did all that was to be done.

And as luck would have it, a couple days down, end of December a wedding in the family of a dear cousin had already been scheduled. They were willing to postpone it and spoke at length with my mother in law. However, mummy said the wedding must be solemnized and finally the aunt relented saying it will happen only if she would attend it too.

I as a young girl all of 24 myself, was shattered and did not know how to process my feelings. Mum paved the way and all credit to her she went on to attend all the functions, I just the wedding.

For me, it was a huge step that a mother took. Today I look back and think of all the courage it would have taken her. For me this act was heroic. For me she is the hero in this story. For me she rose above herself. It also taught me that no matter what, the show must go on!!