A moment of eternity: mother of Sona and Mona was kept in prison on trial.

She was charged with

two cold blooded murders and an attempt to suicide. The judge was to pass judgement on her.
However, the tender-hearted old judge’s voice faltered and heart throbbed before passing death
sentence by hanging on the prisoner by the bar. After a long hesitation, the judge moderated his
judgement with mercy. He ordered four years imprisonment for the prisoner instead of dead
sentence. At this, the prisoner trembled in disdain and dismay. She felt the mute scream thrum at
her throat in a tightening of agony. Mercy was shown to her while she was waiting for death. In a
moment she fell in retrospection. The moment brought before her eyes all that had happened.

However, the prisoner at the bar belonged to the poor middle class. She had a sincere husband and
two sweet children-Sona and Mona. They both loved and fondled their children. But the father of
Sona and Mona was always undergoing extreme financial worries and uncertainties. He dared not
marry for fear of feeding an extra mouth. At last he had married at the compulsion of his
grandmother’s tears. He lost his first job, a clerical job at a departmental store. He had college
learning, but it failed to ensure a permanent job for him. However, he got another job in the office
of a coal merchant. But once more he lost his job because the coal merchant’s head assistant’s
nephew had to be provided for. Each day he hunted for job, in vain. He was expectantly looking
forward to an appointment letter from the bus service. He even went on making a long list of goods
to be bought for Sona, Mona and their mother with his monthly salary. But his dreams did not prove
true. He was given to worry and slept very badly. He fell a victim of consumption. He coughed hard.
His fever rose high. He spat much blood. He was about to die.

However, the mother of Sona and Mona had nothing to give him save her soul. She had no art
needed to make a living. But she was a devote wife. She could bear the seven hells to give him the
least relief. She could die a hundred deaths to make him happy for a day. All her moments were
attuned to his struggle and pain. She was battling with power of her spirit to save him. But all her
earnest feelings and endeavours fell flat. It was a job that they required, it was money that they
needed the most.

The father of Sona and Mona however, died after falling seriously ill. The sickness was galloping
within. He needed to be moved in a hospital, but the beds were full at that time. They could ill
afford to pay a doctor’s fee. For want of proper medical treatment. He died one day. The mother of
two children fell alone with her two child, became helplessly mad. She was at a loss. Life lost all its
meaning for her. She planned to bring an end to everything. She let Sona swallow the beads of
opium from her hands, and Mona suckled death out of her opium smeared breast. She then put the
rest of the opium in her mouth. But sadly or tragically she did not die. She was then treated in the
hospital where she came round. After that she was out in the prison.

Of course, the order of four years imprisonment frustrated her planning. She never for a moment
wanted thereafter to live any longer. To live, with full awareness of what had happened to her and
what she had commited, was to undergo endless pain and agony. She wanted to forget everything,
and for that she invoked madness. With each drops of her hearts blood, with each nerve and cell and
sinew she prayed for madness. But sanity remained and tormented her severely.