For older people who are alone, winter nights are a curse. It is very difficult to sleep in the night. Last year I was almost dying because of the intolerable cold. Every single night I was suffering from the cold. It is our habit to sleep beside our spouse and we never know what the value of our life partner is when they are with you. My wife died two years ago because of her sickness. From then on, I am now living alone. The truth is, there are many things we fail to realize the value until it’s gone.
I found Lalu and Dholu two months ago in a dustbin. Some children were playing with the newborns and I rescued those newborns from those kids. I searched for their mother for several days but could not find her. Since then they are with me and became the children that I never had before. People laugh at me because I carry them on my lap. They go everywhere with me. They never left me for a second and I never leave them. One day, I took them to the nearby sweet shop and the manager asked me angrily, why I was bringing my dogs there and I was not allowed to enter the shop. For the last 20 years I have been eating sweets from that shop so then I corrected him. I replied, “They are not dogs they are my sons. If they can’t eat from there then I don’t want to eat either.’’ The manager laughed at me and let me enter.
This winter I am not feeling so very lonely and cold. My Lalu and Dhaalu sleep beside me. I sleep in the middle. I am feeling blessed nowadays because they are in my life. I feel more energetic and happy. Every night I go to sleep playing and having a full conversation with them and in the morning they wake me up. They changed my life, they really did. Now I have found hope for which to wake up in the morning. It feels like I am becoming a child again. Sometimes I really feel worried thinking this. What if they leave me; what will I do? How I will survive without them? Loved ones makes you dependent on them and you can’t do anything about it. - Ismail Mia 80