February 21, 2008

Sad.

Today I saw a child die. I was walking through the hospital campus on my way to get some lunch, and I noticed a small family group frantically feeling and looking at the little girl in her mother's arms. Suddenly the young mother broke out in the most heart-wrenching screams I have ever heard. Her husband, mother, and several other women quickly joined her, beating their breasts, crying out in horror, and quickly drawing a crowd of onlookers. Only when the grandmother wrestled the child away from her mother, and I saw the vacant eyes and head flopping from side to side, did I realize what had happened. Security guards quickly pushed the group, dead little girl still in her grandmother's shaking arms, into a nearby rickshaw. It sped off, the crowd dispersed, and it went back to being an ordinary hot afternoon. I had cashew chicken, naan, and a coke for lunch.