A Fight

Last night was terrible. Raj and Mai got in a fight. I mean a real fight. They argue all the time, they never stop. He says Sikhs are really Hindus. She says not. So they argue and even insult each other. They have done this for at least 30 years. Last night they got in a fight. She hit him. He hit her. She did that thing she does, she threw him over her shoulder. He landed on his ankle. She jumped on him and he screamed because her knee was in his crotch. Now he has a sprained ankle and is sore. Mai has a bruise on her cheek but she seems to be unharmed. If it matters, she won the fight. (Mai here: Of course, it matters!)

My husband and my best friend! She threw the first blow, but I can understand why she was so angry. There used to be a song called, Oh, What a Night. It starts, Oh, what a night, late December back in 63 was a very special night for me. Only Raj changed the date to late October back in 84 and made the song into a story about raping a Sikh woman in Delhi. No, my Raj did no such thing. He was in Montreal at the time. Mai was angry, but she freaked out when he reached the line, Sweet surrender, what a night.

I know violence can never be justified and Mai was wrong to hit him, but he was doing violence against her spirit and I can understand. He knows she is very ill and I think he thought that she was finally weak enough that he could defeat her. Anger is violence and I am trying very hard not to be angry at either of them.

I am worried about her. All of us are. I think she is more alive today than she has been for a couple of weeks. I am staying with her today while Simon is at work. We think she should not be left alone at this time. So far she hasn't objected.

I am going to put the words of that song on the lyrics scroll to the right. They are the original words, not Raj's words (Mai: which are better forgotten.)