Today is a very special day at the women centre as Utpal’s mom is coming back home! It is true that for a brief instant in the heat of the moment and the haste to succeed one had allowed one’s self to fleetingly forget the reason of our existence: giving women a second chance.
Today as Jhunnu makes her way home we all can redeem ourselves.
It has been a long ride home for this diminutive woman as she moved from place to place for long years nursing an ailment no one understood, but one that was slowly gnawing at her very soul. She battled her undiagnosed disease as best she could even at times when everyone turned against her. But her spirit never gave up.
Even why failed to recognise what truly debilitated her and spent two years treating the symptoms. It is only a few weeks back that the penny dropped.
This morning Sophie, a young nurse from France who is at present living at the women centre, decided to take a staff meeting and explain to all concerned what bipolar disorder was, as she felt that unless everyone understood the nature of the ailment, Jhunnu’s recovery would not be possible. As she described the signs and symptoms and stressed upon the fact that they were involuntary we all realised the pain and suffering that she had gone through.
As I listened on, I became aware of another fact that many of us may have overlooked: Jhunnu had no home but the women centre and no family but the motley crew that sat on the cold floor listening to Sophie. At that moment Christian Morgenstern’s words Home is not where you live, but where they understand you rang terribly true.
It was now for each one of us to make sure that this was truly home for one who had suffered too long and whose beautiful son waited patiently for a healed mother.
Welcome home Jhunnu!