Remembering Those Who Cannot Remember
The
beautifully scattered hues of the evening sun made the verdant valley more
appealing. The crows were busy making their way back home.
Ammini
seemed a bit impatient. She was waiting for Safiyumma to take her back home. She
began to low at once she saw Safiyumma coming towards her. ..
Safiyumma,
dressed in a checked lungi with a
blouse and thorth, appeared a typical
village Muslim woman. “Varunnedi mole ithiri thamasichu poyi,” she said, and patted
Ammini’s dewlap affectionately. Safiyumma unfastened the tether and took her to
home. For Safiyumma, life was incomplete without the ‘moo-moos’. She was a courageous
and energetic rural woman, who had always indulged herself in nurturing the
cows or directing the ploughing fields. None could see her chatting with her
neighbours or napping lazily for hours. On the other hand, Safiyumma was busy nagging
her husband and sons with her sharp tongue, for not doing any ‘fruitful’
things.
She
used soft words only for her grandchildren whom she loved the most. Her
happiness was in plucking and ripening
the mangoes, guavas and jackfruits for her grandchildren. It was a frequent scene of Safiyumma cursing
the squirrels and birds for biting and pecking the fruits she was bringing up cautiously
for her kids.
.
Safiyumma
is not hearing the rumbling of the heavy rain or the lowing of her cows. She is sitting in a chair at the varandha. Her eyes, lacking the glint of life, seem rather impassive. She
does not see or hear anything until someone makes her to do so. Safiyumma is
left alone in home as her son and family
went outside to attend a marriage. The cows are tethered outside. They are
lowing helplessly as it rains in buckets. But the ‘moo-moos’ don’t wake her up!
“Umma,
ithungalude vili kelkkunnille? Entha azhichu erithilil kettanjathu?” Her son
asks her as he came back. She smiles naively. That is her answer.
Safiyumma’s
mind is more like a blank paper, nothing to reflect and nothing to read out.
She hardly remembers the names of her sons and even her bustling grandchildren cannot
refresh her memory.
This is
the story of Safiyumma.
She
was an energetic and sharp-tongued woman until she was under the grip of
Alzheimer’s, a disease of memory loss and lethargy, which has turned her life
into a pathetic and helpless one.
Safiyumma’s life has been having a chronicle
of changes ever since she was diagnosed as an Alzheimer’s patient. Her loss of
memory was gradual. In the early stages she used to fumble when asked about her
sons’ names, but as years passed, their faces also became vague in her memory. The
numbness she has towards her cows is another awful part of her illness.
She
forgets to have food and hesitates to have a bath.
The
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most challenging diseases the modern medical
science faces today. The Alzheimer’s disease which is almost incurable was
first described by a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer
in 1906 and is named after him. It commonly affects middle-aged people though
there are exceptions. During the early stages, the symptoms may be misunderstood
as the age-related concerns. When the disease gets advanced, the symptoms
include confusion, mood-swings, language break-down and long-term memory loss.
As years pass, the body functions of the patient worsen and finally end in
death.
On September 21, the Alzheimer’s day, let’s
remember those who live without memory and emotions. Caring…that’s all they want, to live on. So let’s give them a
little care with a touch of love.
With
lifeless eyes, Safiyumma stares at the darkness through the window. No shards
of hope shimmering in the darkness. Yet,
she smiles looking at the night…a smile of innocence.
