Wailing Woman

The distraught woman on the streets

Another rain-soaked morning – dark and gloomy. Nothing eventful, but for animated discussions in the China Hut on dipping water levels in the city’s lake reservoirs, rising prices of veggies, the all-pervasive sense of despondency, the challenges of living with dignity and so on.
At a distance, a lone woman wailed. Huddled in rags with a plastic raincoat around her frail body, she sat under a tree, alternately crying and talking to herself. Some people on the walking track stopped by out of curiosity, then walked away briskly. Others watched from far, too scared to get any close.
Everybody knew this woman. For nearly a year, she has been visiting the Garden in the mornings without fail. When she showed up initially, she said she was new to the city and needed a place to stay. She had the money. But nobody would let out even a bed to a woman, single and jobless. So she spent her nights on railway platforms and roamed the streets by day.
The woman claimed she had been working as a sub-editor with the news services division of All India Radio, Delhi.

Rain-soaked morning in the Garden

She quit the job when she was offered the position of a news editor in a private TV channel in Mumbai. There was no reason to disbelieve her as she looked bright and enterprising and spoke impeccable Hindi. But the narrative breaks there as she could not explain how and why she found herself homeless and jobless.
As time wore on, she became increasingly aloof and haggard. Money was obviously running out. One day, Shireen and her friends offered her some cash and she snapped: “I am not a beggar.” Another lady suggested she work as a maid for her. She refused. Mohar Singh offered to place her with a gurudwara in Four Bungalows which would take care of her food and shelter. Again, she declined. She said she wanted a decent job and not live off charity. One by one, her sympathizers gave up.
Today, they all agree she is losing her mental balance. Cold and hungry, she sat on the Garden bench, shivering in the wet morning breeze. And here we expounded on the price of tomatoes, state of the nation and living life with dignity. But she too has dignity.
Jagmohan Papneja:
It was great of you to write about the lady who came from Delhi to make her fortune in Mumbai. It is sad to note the difficulties she has been facing since. However, she has missed the opportunities offered to her by our colleagues. It appears she is living in a fool's paradise. She is the cause of her own suffering.