In this poignant verse Mamta talks of the trials and tribulations of advancing age and Alzheimer.

Her memory
Razor sharp
Loses its fluency
Choked grey cells
With corrosive plaque                                                   
A sapless present
The mind clinging
To the fragile strands of the past
Vacant eyes, frail body
Frugal meals
A festering bed sore that never heals
Muted undercurrent of panic and sadness
Crisscrosses the household
Immune to the long struggle
Relatives thwart the threshold
Fearing contagion or assistance
In a mofussil town
Devoid of geriatric specialist or a sturdy forum
Trial, error, online research and sanity
Remain the only option
For a bewildered family
All spaces shrink to one bed
Fusty somnolent interiors
A windowsill piled with medicines
Blocks the view of the outside world
A trail of red ants senses death.

Pix from Net

Mamta Joshi

Mamta Joshi did her post graduation in History from University of Allahabad. She writes short stories, reflective essays, prose pieces on everyday life in national dailies and international e-magazines. She writes with equal ease in Hindi. For over two decades, as a teacher of English in college section at SMC, Allahabad, she has been interacting with young minds, understanding their pulse and in turn being savvy on technology, fitness, fashion, humour and rumour too.