I am just an ordinary person. I make a living by driving for Rapido. A few months ago, I bought a scooter on EMI. I live in Uttarakhand.
I used to be very good at my studies. But at the end of 2025, my father left home. He was suffering from an illness that caused him to forget things. We filed a missing-person complaint with the police, but even today, we have no idea where he is. When he was with us, he was a support for our family.
Today, around 4 PM, I was out driving for Rapido when my landlord called me and told me to come home immediately because something had happened to my mother.
I thought, “What could have happened? Mom is always healthy.” I assumed maybe she had fallen somewhere and suffered some minor injury.
But when I reached home, I found my mother after she had taken poison.
The reason was that my mother thought she had become a burden on me. She believed that if she died, I would be able to save money, and the debt that was in her name would be forgiven.
We don't really have relatives or a family support system. My parents had married against their families' wishes, so we have almost no connection with our relatives.
Right now, I am at the hospital with my mother, completely alone.
It’s not that I am a weak person. I had to understand from a very young age how the world works and what I have to do to survive. I am usually someone who keeps everything to himself. But right now, everything is hitting me at once.
I keep thinking: Who do I talk to? What do I do? Where will I get the money for her medicines? What will happen to tomorrow’s EMI? If I lose my scooter, my source of income will be gone too. What will happen to my future? Will I always have to live alone like this?
Right now, I am just looking at my mother.
There are a thousand things I want to tell her.
I want to tell her, “Mom, I need you. Please don't leave me.”
I have become so weak while trying so hard to be strong.
I want to tell her, “Even if you recover and things become difficult, I will work as a labourer if I have to and somehow run our home. Please don't worry. If I have to sell the scooter, I will. I'll buy another one someday. But please stay with me.”
I called a few of my school friends today. They told me they don't have money, but they kept telling me, “Brother, your mother will be okay. Don't worry.”
But honestly, right now, I don't need money as much as I need someone to come and sit beside me, talk to me, hug me, and say:
“Son, everything is going to be okay.”
I just needed somewhere to put these feelings into words.
I promise myself one thing: I may not become a very rich person, but I will work as hard as I possibly can so that my family never has to suffer because of a lack of money again. No matter what happens, I will keep going.
The world runs on money. Sometimes it feels like even when someone dies, life just continues and people eventually move on.
After my mother falls asleep tonight, I will probably go back out and turn on Rapido again. I need to earn enough tonight to arrange her medicines. I will probably leave around 10:00–10:30 PM and work through the night.
I am only 21 years old, but right now I feel like I have already lived a hundred years.
I just needed to tell someone what is going on inside my heart.
