Good bye Jyoti.

[Guest guest]

JYOTI, WHO WAS SUFFERING FROM AIDS, DIED RECENTLY. BUT SHE'LL LIVE ON

IN THE HEARTS OF HER CARE-GIVERS FOREVER. HIV+, she battled social

stigma to give others hope, courage

Hans Billimoria

Pune, December 9: I went to see Jyoti recently. With the Wake Up Pune

campaign, I have not had the chance to speak with her at Sahara

Aalhad Care Home for some time. The last time I saw Jyoti, she was

refusing a nasal feeding tube.

Then, Mike made a deal with her. In a few days, the tube was out and

she was eating again and the ice cream — mango — followed. She ate

well to make sure she would not suffer the ignominy of the tube

again, and also what in her mind it meant — the beginning of the end.

Last weekend Mike told me Jyoti's CD4 count had dropped to 19. I was

devastated. This meant she was vulnerable to all those opportunistic

infections that floated around Sahara.

On the way, called and said he thought I should come and see

Jyoti and my mind was trying to figure out where I could buy her a

cup of mango ice cream. But when I turned into the lane, I saw Mike

and Malik standing outside the gate. Somehow, I knew I would not have

to buy the ice cream.

I walked past them into the women's ward. The green screen was up

around her bed and I pulled back the blanket, and kissed her forehead

that one last time.

This woman was our hero.

She stood up in front of almost 3,000 people last year in Tadiwala

Road, on World AIDS Day — Celebration of Life — and declared she was

HIV+ and asked her community to accept her. She did this knowing that

her uncle threatened her with no support if she went through with

this, something she did not tell us then.

She also stood up in front of the community leaders of Tadiwala Road,

narrating her experiences of stigma and discrimination. She walked

into city colleges and spoke to students of her struggle. Rail thin,

she was probably everything that HIV+ people are supposed to look

like... but she spoke with her crooked smile and was eloquent.

Jyoti taught me that death was not something to fear. She called it

her second death; her first was when her family rejected her after

she was known to be HIV+.

Wake Up Pune is about Jyoti and those like her. This very morning, I

was at a school session, speaking about how HIV+ people can

live `positive' lives, and that India has the highest death rate in

the world (4,00,000 last year according to UNAIDS) only because

people are afraid of HIV.

Ignorance, Fear, Stigma, Discrimination... Silence. Our stigma

chakra.

Wake Up Pune, but Jyoti was not about to wake up.

We took almost two hours to get to the crematorium and finally laid

her on a bed of dried cow dung cakes. As the flames danced brightly,

I stood there with my team and said thank you to Jyoti. Tears fell.

We stood there and watched her last dance.

Goodbye Jyoti.

(Hans Billimoria is the project coordinator for Deep Griha's

Integrated Service for HIV/AIDS (DISHA). Jyoti had been tested HIV+

over 12 years ago)

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=212621