From a Psychiatrist’s Diary

This is a real incident from a psychiatrist’s diary. Shweta Gupta got up at 1 PM hearing noises outside. Shweta was restless since evening. Her husband was deep asleep after a tiring day’s work. They lived on the first floor of a chawl building with a common balcony. The noises were coming from the next door Meena Vora’s home.

Shweta was a dark-skinned lady married to an Iyer. She was proficient in handicrafts and had decorated her home with her work. Meena Vora had struck a friendship with Shweta, the day Shweta had shifted to this building.

Meena Vora was bound by her religion, Jainism, which did not allow her to have food cooked from all plant products growing below the ground. This included all nourishing plant parts like potatoes, ginger, amorphophallus, onion, arum, garlic, etc., which are actually considered good for the health. Meena would religiously follow all the prayers and the food restrictions. As a result, she did not have the strength to work at home. Shweta would tell her friend about the goodness of the food, she avoided. But, she did not insist on it because of her religious restriction.

Deepa Patel lived on the same floor as the other 2. She was envious of Shweta and tried to create a rift between the 2 close friends. But, that did not work and she began to device means to reach her goal. Meena had a weak health constitution. Deepa kept telling her to clean the house. But, Meena could not keep up with the active life of Deepa. Shweta told her friend not to stress too much on cleanliness. Health and hygiene were more important, according to her. Meena followed Shweta’s suggestions and Deepa could not digest that.

When Meena’s mother-in-law (MIL) came, Deepa complained to the older lady that Meena did not clean the house. Meena’s MIL, in turn, complained to her son. Her son kept scolding Meena about housekeeping. Meena’s health deteriorated further.

Soon, Meena’s son got married. Deepa brain-washed the new bride’s mother into creating issues between Meena and Shweta. Deepa brought a mantra-infused lemon with pins on it from a Tantrik Baba and gave it to the new bride’s mother, saying, “Rotate this in front of Shweta’s house and the friendship will be broken!” The pin-cushion-like lemon was then disposed off as directed by the Baba. The new bride was against this. Despite this, the act was performed.

If you want to know what happened after this, stay tuned…

To be continued…