Please note: This story “Fear in vain” is only a fiction. It has nothing to do with any real or true event.
Chandrabhushan Babu was working in government service. Almost 10 years have passed since he retired. Now all his time is spent at home. Staying at home, they deal with the daily chores of the house, as well as take care of the work of farming and household, due to which their time was passing comfortably. It doesn’t take long for the days to pass. Within no time, his age dropped and old age dominated him, his body became weak. Because of which he left the work of farming and household. Now his son Ramesh only looks after this work. He is also in government job. because of which he goes to his duty early in the morning and returns to his home late in the evening. On the day he has to go to the farm, he either goes late for duty or does not go. In this way, he does the work of balancing the housework and job.
As soon as Ramesh got a job, Chandrabhushan Babu got him married. In no time he had four children. In which there were two sons and two daughters. Both the daughters were the eldest and both the sons were younger. With time, the children also grew up. Ramesh had given education to both the daughters till high school. Ramesh’s job was near his village and there was no college near the village. For this reason, the girls of the village could not get higher education. Because their parents did not like to send them to the city for higher education. This was the reason that even both the daughters of Ramesh could not see the face of the college. Ramesh even got the elder daughter married as soon as she left high school. Now only the younger daughter, whose name was Geeta, was left in the house to get married. Seeing that she had also become young and her parents wanted to get her married soon. But due to not being able to find a suitable boy, she could not get married till now. She was not only beautiful to look at, but also had a quick-tempered and fickle nature. That’s why such a boy was being searched for her marriage, so that she could get married and both could be happy forever. But the search was not over yet. Both his sons were younger than both sisters and were still studying in secondary school.
Chandrabhushan Babu had reached that stage of age, where he needed support. He could not do his work by himself. As long as his wife was alive, she used to support him. But as soon as his wife passed away, only Geeta was left in the house to support him. Because both the brothers were not yet old enough to serve their grandfather along with studies. As a result, serving Grandpa became a compulsion for Geeta. She used to take them to the bathroom, bathe them, dress them, feed them, take them for walks in the evening with a stick in hand, after feeding them, making a bed for them, putting them to sleep, eat herself and go to sleep. His days were passing like this. But one day when she woke up and went to her grandfather, she saw that her grandfather was still sleeping. She was very surprised. Because Chandrabhushan Babu used to get up before he reached and kept chanting the name of Ram while sitting on the bed. But that day he remained asleep, so Geeta was surprised as well as suspicious. Grandfather was sleeping facing the wall, so Geeta tried to wake him up by shaking him. Holding his arm with her hand, she shouted saying ‘grandfather’ but he did not wake up. His head rolled to the other side. He fell asleep forever.
Suddenly Geeta shouted loudly, “Grandpa, Grandpa….”. But they could not get up. A sleeping person may wake up even once, but who will wake up the one who sleeps forever? That’s why all the people of the house came running to her after hearing Geeta’s screams. Ramesh felt the pulse by holding his hand, the speed of the pulse had calmed down. It didn’t take long for Ramesh to understand that his father is no more. The people of the neighbourhood started gathering. After some time, the preparations for the last action started. All the relatives were informed one by one. The last action was completed before evening. All the neighbours went to their respective homes.
Gradually everything became normal. Because Chandrabhushan Babu had left behind a full family which was completely prosperous. There was no problem of any kind in that family. Therefore, the effect of the sorrow of his departure did not affect his family much. Then suddenly one day such an incident happened which shook that family. Geeta was feeding food to her father Ramesh, a lamp filled with kerosene oil was burning on a stool next to it. Because till that time there was no facility in the form of electricity in that village. She brought something for father from the kitchen, put it on a plate and as soon as she turned to go back, the lamp hit her hand and fell off the stool. The cover of the lamp was opened, due to which the oil came out and fell on his clothes. The glass of the lamp broke and the flames engulfed the clothes she was wearing. Her clothes were burning and she was running screaming, “Save me, save me……..”. Being engulfed in flames, she had absolutely no idea what to do. Ramesh left the food and started looking for a blanket. He got late. Till then Geeta left her house and went to the neighbouring house. She felt that she would be saved there. But alas, the uncle of the neighbour was also eating food, he thought that some divine power had entered his house by lighting a fire. She kept pleading, “Uncle save me.” But uncle was afraid that it might be some divine power and he was praying with folded hands, “Whoever you are, please forgive me and leave this house. We have not done any harm to anyone.”
She ran away from there and went to the next courtyard. There also she pleaded to save me. Her voice was recognized there. Immediately the blanket and bed were removed from the house and it was completely covered. But by then it was too late. The fire was extinguished but she was badly burnt. Her parents and brothers all reached there. A vehicle was called from the uncle’s house in the neighbourhood, he was seated and taken to the hospital. The distance of the hospital was also about 12 to 15 kilometres from the house. The treatment went on for many days. But there was no scope for improvement. Ramesh used to leave there for a few moments and finish his work, but her mother did not leave her even for a moment. One day her mother was sitting at his head and she was in a light sleep. Suddenly a voice came out of her mouth, “Mother, grandfather is calling me.” Hiccups came out of her throat while she was sleeping and her story ended. She had left the world.
Helping the needy should always be done at the same time without any fear and fear. After the passage of time, there is no justification for any kind of help. If a drowning person gets the support of even a straw, then he also has hope of getting the shore. If Geeta had got help in her own courtyard or in the courtyard of her uncle’s neighbour, she might have been saved. But unfortunately, this could not happen and she had to leave the world.