Who killed my sister? VD

Jan 1999

I was quite close to Vaishali Didi and shared a strong emotional bond with her. There was a unique sense of security and warmth that I used to get from Vaishali di. MSR also used to make me feel the same way. Another thing the two had in common was that they were both extremely enigmatic, making it difficult to learn anything about them. Didi’s childhood was difficult. Her parents, who were my Mausa-Mausi , used to discriminate between didi and her younger brother Devang bhaiya. Because of this, there were regular fights between the brother and sister. And after each fight Vaishali Di will get the beating from her mother. My mother often used to tell mausi to treat Vaishali properly because Vaishali Didi was very sensitive child. Initially she used to cry easily. Later she started showing anger. Once there was fight between her and Devang Bhaiya . Dewang Bhaiya was asking to her play with him but she was not interested. Devang bhaiya started abusing her. She lost her patience and picked up his bat and hit him on his back.  Devang bhaiya started screaming so much that all the neighbours came and was consoled by everyone. Mausi had gone to market that time. When she came back, she locked Vaishali Didi in washroom for whole day. That time she was in grade 10  Devang bhaiya was in grade 5 and I was in grade 1 but still my memories of such incidents are very strong because I was very close to Didi and could clearly saw the impact of these incidents on her personality. By the time she had reached grade 12 her parents had started searching for her groom. Thankfully she was very good in studies and hence parents did not stop her studies. When she was studying in MBA a tragedy happened in our family. Vaishali Didi had returned from her college in the evening. She did not have lunch. Whole day Mausa ji and Mausi ji both were busy making list of items for their Kiryana Shop. Hence, they could not make food that day. They had eaten food from outside. Moreover, the pipe of LPG cylinder was leaking a bit. When Vaishali Didi asked for Maggi, Mausa ji went to market to buy new pipe. Mausi ji knew that Vaishali Didi gets angry very easily when food is not served on time. She thought that pipe is still fine and went to kitchen to prepare maggi. Unfortunately, the gas from pipe had already started leaking a bit and when she lightened the gas it burst and she caught the fire. Mausa ji came running and tried to save her but also got burnt in the fire. Vaishali Did was in washroom. She along with some neighbours took Mausa ji and Mausi ji to hospital but both died. Vaishali Did did not talk and at the same time she did not cry. She just went in her own zone. Her grandparents asked both the kids to join them in their native place in Vijaywada but Vaishali Didi refused to go. She wanted to prepare for her final semester exams. After MBA she got placement in an MNC. But her life remained the same. She would go to office, come back and spent hours and hours alone in her room. That time we did not have smart phones, what’app and other apps. Devang bhaiya did not write exams and had started taking care of Mausa ji’s shop