Orb Of Bright Light

When I was very very young, my family went to Bombay, (now Mumbai), to visit my grandmother.

All the houses there are close to together. It was hard to keep the outsides of the houses tidy because of the monsoons. The rain water would run through the streets and along with it would be mud and rubbish. The streets were cleaned often, however they never stayed that way.

It was very sad to see how most people had to live in my grandmother's neighbourhood. It was poor and in most cases a few family's lived together under the same roof.

In my grandmother's house there were 3 families living together. Everyone shared the cost of bills and food. They didn't eat like we do here in Australia. Their food was mainly vegetables, curry and boiled rice.

There were about 10 tiny huts/houses behind my grandmother's house and from my grandmother's bedroom window, you could hear and see most of them.

I always heard the lady directly behind my grandmother's window screaming and shouting at her children. They were all aged under 10 years old and I think she had 4 or 5 kids.

The kids cried a lot and were very noisy. One of the children was a really young baby.

My grandmother often took that lady curry if she had some left over because that lady couldn't afford to feed the children. From what I know, she was married and her husband worked, but didn't earn a lot of money.

One day I was sitting in the kitchen and looking out the kitchen window waiting for my lunch when I heard a lady screaming. It was the lady from the back of my grandmother's house. I stood up and went to the window.

The kitchen window faced a communal well where the huts and houses could get drinking water from. I saw that lady run from the back straight onto the well wall which wasn't high and jump in.

I screamed out to my mother to come quickly. A lot of other neighbours also saw her jump in. No one jumped in to save her but police and rescue people were called. People in the neighbourhood didn't know how to swim.

The rescue people came and at this stage we were all outside hoping she'd be rescued. A huge hook was put into the well and when it was lifted up you could see it hooked around her knee. At that very moment a really bright orb/light came from the well above her head and went up into the air.

A lot of people saw the orb of light including my sister and I.

I don't know if it was the sun shining through the trees or that lady's spirit. I remember it all as clear as day.

Meanwhile the children were home and didn't know what was going on. The police went to her house and the father was contacted and asked to come home. Neighbours told the police where he worked.

Apparently the children sent her mad because they were so young and close in age. They cried a lot and she didn't know how to make ends meet so she committed suicide. It was very sad. May her soul rest in peace. 😢