I was 23 years old when I first met Aruna in 1988. Our matron told us what had happened, and we were all shocked. I wept when I first saw her. Aruna was a very, very strong and strict person. She was very intelligent. I have known her for 27 years. Then in 1996, I was made her full-time nurse for one year.
She was in Ward No. 4 - the corner room. She was in a vegetative state. She could open her eyes and look at people. She would sometimes scream when we entered her room. She was very afraid.
I would sponge her, feed her, give her medicines. We would always lock her room after we left. She would sometimes stay awake all night. Just staring.
Her screaming never frightened me. We tried to give her the best care. She didn't have a single bed sore. We would change her position every three hours, change her bedding every day and of course sponge-bathe her every day.
She loved food - fish and mango were her favourites. Breakfast was bread, butter and eggs. Lunch was fish curry,
dal, roti and rice. Dinner was veggies,
dal and rice. When she liked her food, she would often bite my hand. But she never smiled, she just stared.
File photo of Mumbai nurse Aruna Shanbaug who was in coma for 42 years after being raped in the hospital she worked in
In the 27 years that I knew her, I never saw a single visitor. Not even her sister. Yes, many people would ask us about her - where she was, what she was like. But, of course we didn't let anyone see her.
I was always against the campaign for euthanasia. She had a right to live, even though every day was a challenge. It would break my heart to see her in that condition. But the challenge was to make her feel that we were all family, that she was loved and was not alone.
At the time of the assault, Aruna was engaged to Sundeep Sardesai, a resident doctor at KEM Hospital. They were so in love. He looked after her for four years and hoped she would recover. He then moved out of the country and married. His wife and he often visited Aruna. But that was all before 1988. They did not come after that.
We cremated her at Bhoiwada (near the hospital). There were 500 of us. Our Dean - Dr Avinash Supe - lit the pyre. There wasn't a dry eye.
(
Namrata Kasabe is a staff nurse at KEM Hospital, Mumbai.)
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