Ours was an arranged marriage. The first time I met her was in 1978…I was shy, but she spoke for the both of us. She was beautiful, smart, full of life. 2 months later, we got married.
Her, ‘You know what happened?’ at night, & her spontaneous, ‘Let’s go on a trip,’ was what I lived for. Once we had kids, they became part of our road trips. But then, one day, everything changed.
In 2010, at a party, when someone had cracked a joke, Kiran pretended to laugh forcefully. I could understand she was out of sync with the conversation. Then she began forgetting small things – like which key would open the door. She would lock herself in the washroom & not know how to get out.
So I took her to multiple doctors. Some said, ‘Alzheimer’s,’ some said, ‘Bipolar Disorder.’ I was confused. She started losing the sense of time. And then…she lost her speech.
Then, in August 2015, we finally got a diagnosis—Fronto-Temporal dementia. We were told, ‘She has 2 years to live.’ But I wasn’t ready to let her go…But when she forgot me, our kids, & our life, I stopped trying to treat her. Instead, I decided to spend whatever time she had left, with her. I took her on walks & gave her flowers. But slowly, she stopped eating & walking. She began having seizures.
During one such seizure in 2022, we admitted her to the hospital. She was covered in tubes. But she hated hospitals. So, we took her home. I still remember that day—we gave her a bucket bath. We even clicked family photos. She smiled till the end.
2 days later, on 9th August 2022, she took her last breath. It was difficult, but I knew she needed to rest. It’s been two years since…I’m trying to understand life without her. But every time, I hear, ‘Mere sona re,’ or go on a road trip or take a walk in the garden, I realize that…Kiran yahi toh hai…hum 44 saal saath mei the. Woh chor ke thodi na jaygi kabhi…”
Featuring: Sunil & Kiran
Photographs by: Manjari Sharma
Written by: Nishita Singhania
This post was originally shared by Humans of Bombay on Linkedin.