Bano

Clad in a maroon saree she sat on floor having nothing to say. The face was humble and it looked that she belonged to a decent family.
“Yeh Bano hai, memsaab, Kaam chahiye isko”, the woman who accompanied her said. She has brought Bano to my aunt’s place to fetch some job for her livelihood.
“Yeh kahan raheti hai?”
“Pata nahin, yeh mujhe raste me milli. Iska koi nahin hai, isko ap apne ghar rakkho”.

My aunt felt helpless, she already had a domestic help. She called my mother, if she needed her & can provide her a shelter at her home. My mother who is blessed with a generous heart can never say no to a needy.

She took Bano home.

Bano, was ready to work but did not remember how to do those jobs.

“Bano tum ko roti pakana ata hai?”
“Roti? pakaoungi”
“Accha chaye bana kar dikhao”
“Memsahab mere saruraal me sirf doudh ki chaye banti hai, bahut sari gaayein hain…”
“Accha……. Tumhara sasurral kahan hai”, enquired lovingly.
“??????????”, she had no answer.
“Ghar kahan hai tumhara?”
“Yaad nahin…..”, she walked slowly & sat on a corner, with empty look.

It was about a week now Bano could not recall where she belonged to. She was loosing memory slowly. At times she could recall few things but could not convey exactly.

She now seems to be lost in herself. She started eating food less. We took her to the doctor, who prescribed few medicines. Bano was loosing most of her memory, she could not even locate where the toilet was. Started using the corners of the courtyard.

We made desperate attempts to talk to her to find out her home address so that she could be sent to her loved one. Now it was obvious that due to her memory loss she had forgotten her way home. But all our attempts were in vain.

We decided to take her to old aged home. The administration was strictly ‘no’ for it, giving an excuse that they have a space of 40 beds & they have accommodated 100 inmates, they cannot help us. They are sorry.

We took her to another women’s shelter. They had another excuse to refuse. They said that they can only accept her if she is brought by the police. So they requested us to hand her to the police. This was out of question. We could never do that, handing a helpless, innocent woman to police. We had no clue to your situation, except to return back home.

We fed her with hand, pat her back, stroke her hair & lovingly asked one day, “Do you want to go home Bano?”
She said “Haan... Gulbarga…..”
Finally, finally she knew where she belonged to!!

Next day we took her to the railway station. Bought her ticket to Gulbarga. Gave her some money and a note of our address and phone number, handed a letter addressing to whom so ever concerned, writing details about her and asking us to contact incase help needed for her. We informed the co-passengers about her, gave them some money & asked them to help her on her way back to her home. They willingly agreed.
We called the Gulbarga railway station master & informed him about her coming, gave the seat number and the bogie details and prayed that she reach home safely.

We were sleeping so deeply maybe with so much of stress that we were feeling for her that we could not even hear a long ring of the telephone early morning.
My mother woke us. She was having a bright smile on her face, she was feeling so happy & a smile of victory was evident from her speech.

We couldn’t believe what she informed after that…….

“Bano ke bhai ka phone tha, bahut bahut shukriya ada kar raha tha hum logon ka, Bano khairiyat se ghar pahunch gayi”

“Kah raha tha Bano aath (8) mahine baad ghar ayee hai………..” We could see a tear just to fall from my mother’s eyes.

We all hugged her for her victory!