I can't believe i still have it.
Sometimes when you look at old stuff, you are reminded of how pure and naive you used to be, and yet at times in the naivety is hidden the essence to finding peace.
Love will keep us alive...
This was written specifically for and AIDS awareness competition.
The rain was pouring down in torrents on the road leading up to the hill, it was around six o’clock in the evening and the road was busy with people returning from work. The buses were as usual driven up and down the road with the most dangerous turns. Asmita was coming home from work, she was very happy since she had got her salary today. She was 26 years old working as a junior undersecretary to the proprietor of a very large firm. She was about 5 feet and 6 inches in height, fair with dark curls falling gracefully around her face. It seemed like a perfect day for her except for the rain, she was having a lot of problem driving.
It happened in a flash, a bus came speeding around a hairpin turn and rammed into her second hand Maruti 800 She was thrown out of her car through the windscreen. A crowd gathered around her bleeding body she felt a haze of colour and voices around her and finally lost consciousness. When she woke up she found herself lying in a hospital with her head covered in bandages and a slight prickling sensation in her arms. Her mother was talking to a man near the door. Her brother Rajat however was right by her side and greeted her with a watery smile.
Asmita was discharged in a fortnight from the hospital and only the marks of her bruises remained. Her fiancé Rajesh came to meet her and take her out on a welcome home dinner. Life seemed to be falling back into place. Everything had become normal again or so it seemed for a while.
A few weeks after Asmita returned from the hospital, she fell seriously ill. The doctor suggested a blood test and when the reports came everyone was shocked. Asmita was HIV positive. The whole world began to crumble around her. Misfortune seemed to be poring in from all directions. First she was thrown out of her job, then Rajesh broke the engagement. She was ridiculed and insulted and so was her family. It became a torture for them even to step out of the house. They say that family is one’s greatest strength and that strength did not forsake her. With the help of Rajat and her best friend she started up a counseling center for HIV positive patients. Her business flourished and life was taking her down a new path. She worked rentlessly to create awareness about HIV and AIDS.
In one year through donations and help from friends she brought a small place and furnished it. This she made a home for people who were HIV positive and whose families had abandoned them. There were about 50 residents in that place and she had a few helpers. She decided to call it ‘Swarg’ which means heaven.
A year passed and during that time she had become very friendly with one of the residents. His name was Arun. He was smart, handsome and a year or so senior to Asmita. Gradually they began to nurture a certain fondness for each other. Finally one day Arun asked Asmita for her hand in marriage. At first Asmita was apprehensive but later she agreed. They decided to adopt a boy Ashish as their son who was a new resident. The marriage was a quiet affair and it was a happy marriage.
Asmita and Arun worked rentlessly for the cause of HIV affected people. They managed to get a bigger place for the residents of Swarg and many people were also joining them or working with them as part time helpers. They started another association called Prem, wherein they informed people about various aspects of AIDS and how HIV positive people should be treated. Through this organization they also collected funds to run Swarg.
Seven years had passed since Arun and Asmita’s marriage. Both of them were very weak and often fell ill. Another 3 months passed and Arun, Ashish and Asmita fell seriously ill. Ashish passed away first, then Arun after two days. On the third day of her illness Asmita called on Rajat and requested him to take care of Swarg and Prem. She then passed away in her beloved brother’s arms.
Twelve years have passed since. Rajat lived up to his sister’s expectations. Swarg and Prem were now a few of the many organizations started by him. In front of each organization were placed marble slabs of Asmita and Arun’s words:-
All that we ask for is love
For love will keep us alive.
Rajat got married and has a job but still his first priority is the institution set up by his sister. He makes it a point to visit me every Saturday and take regular reports of our activities. I am the chairman of ‘Gardens of Eden’ which is the name given collectively to all of the organizations. I keep telling Rajat to be on the lookout for another person for this post since it is not long before I too join Asmita and Arun since I am HIV positive too. I hope that after reading this you too will come forward and do something for the cause of HIV affected people because: -
All that we ask for is love
For love will keep us alive.
As narrated by –
Dhruv
