The story dates around 80 years back...
Ratna was the first born daughter to a farmer couple...
Everybody from the family was really happy since at that time having kids were considered as God's gifts....
Ratna was so intelligent that she was known as 'ekpathi' - someone who could memorize by just reading or hearing it once.
Catastrophe struck when at a young age Ratna was detected with Typhoid and meningitis.
All local cures at their village failed....
After almost a month of being bed ridden, her condition worsened.
Finally on a cold Monday morning, she was declared dead.
The news reached the nearby village where one of her favorite uncle's stayed....
They were going to wait for him to reach before they cremated her....
While he was coming in a Bullock cart he was stopped by a saintly man...
He asked him, "Is anyone dear to you really sick?"
To which this man (Ratna's uncle) replied, "Not sick, my niece is dead... I m going for her cremation"
The saint gave him some greyish white ash and asked him to apply it to Ratna's forehead sprinkle it over her skull area and place a pinch of it in her mouth....
"But ..She is already gone!" Replied Ratna's uncle...
The saint smiled and left without uttering another word....
Uncle reached his brother's house where the arrangements for the last rites were being made....
He went upto Ratna's body and did what the saint told him....
Within minutes, Ratna opened up her eyes....
Everybody was astonished and awestruck....
He narrated the whole incident to everyone....
From then on wards Ratna was considered precious and treated with extreme care...
Ratna was a bright student, who studied upto her SSC and got married to a renowned architect and moved with him to Mumbai...
She continued her studies post marriage....
Firstly, she completed her BA and a course in Montessori to start a kindergarten at her house.
Till then she had two kids, a daughter aged 5 and son aged 4...
She was indeed a multi tasking lady who managed the house, kindergarten and the kids.
Her husband was doing well and was soon going to be sent abroad for a project.
However, life couldn't be just a rosy ride.
Her husband was having minor kidney stone issues and before going abroad they decided to get it operated.
The kidney operation which supposed to be a minor surgery went horribly wrong and Ratna was widowed at a young age of 25...
She was offered a job on compassionate grounds in the same govt dept where her husband worked.
However she wanted to do something on her own and rejected the job offer.
She took a courageous decision of moving to a tribal village and joined hands with an education visionary lady who had dedicated her life for the welfare of the tribals...
Working with her, setting up a school and teaching while managing two young kids, it was a challenging time....
Her daughter was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes....
It was a time where there were no refrigeration facilities in the village...
Her daughter took bus to travel to the nearby town for Insulin everyday...
It was challenging to manage her cravings of sugary foods at such a young age...
The family took a decision and decided to sacrifice sweets for her...
Within a few years, Ratna was able to complete M.A. and B.Ed.....
For better life and education for the kids, Ratna decided to move to her husband's ancestral home in the city and left the tribal village.
She started teaching in the same school for which her husband had drawn the architectural plans.
It was a close knit family and Ratna doubled up as a father and mother to ensure the children don't miss their father.
She had decided never to marry again and devote her life for her children..
The family was one evening watching the movie Anand..After watching the movie, Ratna who had not been keeping well, decided to get a thorough check up done.
To the shock and horror, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ratna resolved that she had to live for her kids and there was no way that the almighty would have brought her back from the dead during the childhood to take her away when her kids need her.
It was her daughter's 11th std. (SSc) and younger son's 10th exam....
Ratna decided to pawn all her jewelry to get treated at the best medical facility in India - Tata Cancer Research in Mumbai to avoid what had happened to her husband.
She recovered after the surgery followed by chemo and their life continued.
The elder daughter got her Masters degree in commerce and passed the banking exam and joined a bank...
She married her senior from college a journalist....
Her son also did his M.Com
and joined an insurance company....
A few years from then, she retired with content from her post as a principal of a school....
She was proud watching her daughter rise to the position of a bank manager and her son the CEO of an insurance company.
After her retirement she planned to live a life of relaxation with her grandchildren and a close knit family....
Destiny however had some other plans...
She got diagnosed with cancer yet again and that too at a stage of no recovery....
Her son and daughter made sure they gave best of the treatments available...
Within a year she passed away contended with life....
In this lifetime, maybe she had written things to ward off much karma together....
With the blessing of the saint early in life, she also got a challenge to face..
Yes she struggled...
Yes she suffered...
Yes she succeeded....
But she couldn't defeat the inevitable.
But she does keep alive in the memories of all her students, siblings, relatives, children and grandchildren as an inspiration to look up to and live by....
Every life is a struggle in some way or the other...
Every life teaches us....
Every soul completes a part of its journey lifetime after lifetime....
All life stories inspire....
#notsotinytales
- Prajakta Sathe
Ratna was the first born daughter to a farmer couple...
Everybody from the family was really happy since at that time having kids were considered as God's gifts....
Ratna was so intelligent that she was known as 'ekpathi' - someone who could memorize by just reading or hearing it once.
Catastrophe struck when at a young age Ratna was detected with Typhoid and meningitis.
All local cures at their village failed....
After almost a month of being bed ridden, her condition worsened.
Finally on a cold Monday morning, she was declared dead.
The news reached the nearby village where one of her favorite uncle's stayed....
They were going to wait for him to reach before they cremated her....
While he was coming in a Bullock cart he was stopped by a saintly man...
He asked him, "Is anyone dear to you really sick?"
To which this man (Ratna's uncle) replied, "Not sick, my niece is dead... I m going for her cremation"
The saint gave him some greyish white ash and asked him to apply it to Ratna's forehead sprinkle it over her skull area and place a pinch of it in her mouth....
"But ..She is already gone!" Replied Ratna's uncle...
The saint smiled and left without uttering another word....
Uncle reached his brother's house where the arrangements for the last rites were being made....
He went upto Ratna's body and did what the saint told him....
Within minutes, Ratna opened up her eyes....
Everybody was astonished and awestruck....
He narrated the whole incident to everyone....
From then on wards Ratna was considered precious and treated with extreme care...
Ratna was a bright student, who studied upto her SSC and got married to a renowned architect and moved with him to Mumbai...
She continued her studies post marriage....
Firstly, she completed her BA and a course in Montessori to start a kindergarten at her house.
Till then she had two kids, a daughter aged 5 and son aged 4...
She was indeed a multi tasking lady who managed the house, kindergarten and the kids.
Her husband was doing well and was soon going to be sent abroad for a project.
However, life couldn't be just a rosy ride.
Her husband was having minor kidney stone issues and before going abroad they decided to get it operated.
The kidney operation which supposed to be a minor surgery went horribly wrong and Ratna was widowed at a young age of 25...
She was offered a job on compassionate grounds in the same govt dept where her husband worked.
However she wanted to do something on her own and rejected the job offer.
She took a courageous decision of moving to a tribal village and joined hands with an education visionary lady who had dedicated her life for the welfare of the tribals...
Working with her, setting up a school and teaching while managing two young kids, it was a challenging time....
Her daughter was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes....
It was a time where there were no refrigeration facilities in the village...
Her daughter took bus to travel to the nearby town for Insulin everyday...
It was challenging to manage her cravings of sugary foods at such a young age...
The family took a decision and decided to sacrifice sweets for her...
Within a few years, Ratna was able to complete M.A. and B.Ed.....
For better life and education for the kids, Ratna decided to move to her husband's ancestral home in the city and left the tribal village.
She started teaching in the same school for which her husband had drawn the architectural plans.
It was a close knit family and Ratna doubled up as a father and mother to ensure the children don't miss their father.
She had decided never to marry again and devote her life for her children..
The family was one evening watching the movie Anand..After watching the movie, Ratna who had not been keeping well, decided to get a thorough check up done.
To the shock and horror, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ratna resolved that she had to live for her kids and there was no way that the almighty would have brought her back from the dead during the childhood to take her away when her kids need her.
It was her daughter's 11th std. (SSc) and younger son's 10th exam....
Ratna decided to pawn all her jewelry to get treated at the best medical facility in India - Tata Cancer Research in Mumbai to avoid what had happened to her husband.
She recovered after the surgery followed by chemo and their life continued.
The elder daughter got her Masters degree in commerce and passed the banking exam and joined a bank...
She married her senior from college a journalist....
Her son also did his M.Com
and joined an insurance company....
A few years from then, she retired with content from her post as a principal of a school....
She was proud watching her daughter rise to the position of a bank manager and her son the CEO of an insurance company.
After her retirement she planned to live a life of relaxation with her grandchildren and a close knit family....
Destiny however had some other plans...
She got diagnosed with cancer yet again and that too at a stage of no recovery....
Her son and daughter made sure they gave best of the treatments available...
Within a year she passed away contended with life....
In this lifetime, maybe she had written things to ward off much karma together....
With the blessing of the saint early in life, she also got a challenge to face..
Yes she struggled...
Yes she suffered...
Yes she succeeded....
But she couldn't defeat the inevitable.
But she does keep alive in the memories of all her students, siblings, relatives, children and grandchildren as an inspiration to look up to and live by....
Every life is a struggle in some way or the other...
Every life teaches us....
Every soul completes a part of its journey lifetime after lifetime....
All life stories inspire....
#notsotinytales
- Prajakta Sathe
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