In this short story, Abhishek Mittal shows us the world around us in a new light with questions that are thought-provoking.
There is no power even today.
In a small room painted yellow three years ago, I sit miserable under a still fan, drenched in slow trickling sweat. But my grandma is remarkably patient. She is lying calm and delirious on a wooden cot the perfect size for her body, her eyes open in two narrow slits, just enough for the flickering visuals of the television to pass through. The doctor has refused to admit that she is in a coma, not even in early stages. She is alive and kicking, observing and reflecting, seeing and hearing everyone around her.
“Monu? Did you finish your chapter?”
My mother worries about my 10th-grade studies more than she worries about my grandma. She and Dad have declared her case hopeless, relegated to the back room of our modest apartment, with a fan, a battery-operated television, and a toilet to keep her company till she breathes.