\u00c3\u00acDo you have children?\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acI have three. I had three. My son, Rajiv, died when he was a young boy.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
While I stood outside talking to Adam on my cell phone, Maya set a place for me at her kitchen table. I walked back inside to see \u00c3\u00acsomething before you begin work\u00c3\u00ae: a mug of spicy Indian tea, a paper cup of water, two round, tan-colored chappathis, two cookies, and a handful of pistachio nuts. She stood some distance away on the other side of the kitchen, and when she told me about Rajiv she looked away, as if into another room. <\/p>\n
Later, I walked to where she had glanced and on the kitchen counter was a small shrine . Inside an open cabinet that would normally hide a blender or a toaster was a photo of her son at about four: round face, dark brown eyes, hair cut short, and a smile perhaps coaxed by an adoring mother standing behind the photographer. On narrow shelves above and below his photo were carelfully set Hindi religious objects.<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acWhat God gives, God takes away.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
Maya seemed equally at ease talking about her son as sitting in her worship room with the sun streaming through the skylight two stories above. She wore a red sari, the same color as her third eye dot, with a flowery pattern sewn into the hem. Her white sandles were either on or off depending on which room she entered. She told me she\u00c3\u00add moved to Weston thirty-six years ago and that her eldest daughter had married after graduating from Northwestern. <\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acI didn\u00c3\u00adt think Hindus believed in such a God. That sounds very Christian.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acWe believe in God, one God, and that we are all a small part of God. All religions are the same. The Jews have a saying, \u00c3\u00acWhat goes around, comes around… .\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acReincarnation?\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acYes. We believe we have eighty-four incarnations and what you don\u00c3\u00adt learn in one lifetime you learn in another.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acBut your son…it must have been rough.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acIt was very rough for three or four years, but when my second daughter was born I realized it was okay. And my aunt-in-law told me that if I love my son, I have to let him go. That my holding on would make him unhappy.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acEasy for others to say. But you were ready to let go after those years of suffering?\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acI was, and I watched my husband. He\u00c3\u00ads so strong and he, better than I , accepted what was happening.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acYou must have gotten much closer then.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acWe did. We were not close before that. I hate to say it, but we weren\u00c3\u00adt. It was an arranged marriage… \u00c3\u00ac<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acOf course.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00ac…but not forced.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acYou\u00c3\u00adve accepted your son\u00c3\u00ads passing… \u00c3\u00ac<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acIt still hurts. Now and then it catches me when I\u00c3\u00adm not aware.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acDid you talk to him at the end?\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acOh yes. He knew more than we did. His doctor said Rajiv had the brain of a sixteen year old, though he was only ten. The doctor told his other patients they should be like my son.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acWere you able to say goodbye?\u00c3\u00ad<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acNo. I couldn\u00c3\u00adt .. .\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acYou…\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00acI couldn\u00c3\u00adt face the reality. You know he would have thirty-five this year.\u00c3\u00ae<\/p>\n
Today’s required reading <\/a> Room with a view <\/a>(Thanks to Chris)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c3\u00acDo you have children?\u00c3\u00ae \u00c3\u00acI have three. I had three. My son, Rajiv, died when he was a young boy.\u00c3\u00ae While I stood outside talking to Adam on my cell phone, Maya set a place for me at her kitchen … Continue reading
\nAs a Word Doc <\/a> to read on the plane to Spain.<\/p>\n
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