(Part 2/3) “When her son was 6 months old, her husband came to visit. He told us that he was leaving for India to find work. ‘I will go and work for some time. I will call you regularly. I will earn money and maybe only then I will be able to provide for you. Maybe we can move to a better place, buy some land and build a house. The children can go to school too’. In hope for a better future, we all bid him farewell.

After that, it was just my daughter, her two kids and me at home. We were more like friends than mother and daughter. We took turns cooking and looking after the house. We took turns taking naps and looking after the children. We talked about our husbands and made plans to visit temples. We bathed the children and played with them. We talked for long hours before sleep. But everyday she had started talking less. I could guess she was missing her husband. He had not called as he had promised. As the days turned into months and months to years and she did not hear from her husband she started eating less. She started taking care of her children less. She started staring into the walls and the skies.

I could see the desperation in my daughters face. In this long painful everyday wait for her husband, she had to abandon all her wishes. Of being with friends, going out, making merry in festivals. I felt her heart was filling up with many worries. I would go to her several times and try to give her some comfort. ‘I am here with you. I am here as long as I have breath in my body. We will live together, mother and daughter and I promise I will take care of you all. Who knows, someday your husband might return. Who knows that day is near’.

Stories of Nepal X BlinkNow