“This is Michael Jackson ! “

Late Mrs Ranjit Malhotra
” This is Michael Jackson !”, she shouted in excitement and tried to do moon walk .Did not quite succeed, decided to sway her hips a little instead . This time did catch the rhythm and the joy reflected in her eyes. Then she walked to the washroom; the walker supporting her all the way.

This was my 87 year old mother, in 2014, late Mrs Ranjit (A Punjabi name meaning the one who wins a battle), fighting a losing battle with cancer. After Mastectomy at the age of 85, she had developed Myelodysplastic syndrome and had to be hospitalised frequently for blood transfusion. Two bad operations on her broken femur in 2004 and 2006 had already made her dependent on the walker. One eye was useless too as the cornea transplant had given her light only for 10 years.

But she was Ranjit, a perky, die hard spirit who decided to fight cancer with music! For two years s constantly playing on her keyboard, tunes not only familiar but the new ones she heard on my husband’s laptop or TV.

The moon walk attempt was just as we were preparing for another visit to the hospital on August 30, 2014. We didn’t know it was going to be her last. As she got up from her wheel chair to go to the wash room before the taxi’s arrival ; my husband showed her MJ’s video on his phone and she started swaying .

“This is Michael Jackson!” resounds in my ears whenever I hear his music or watch a video of his .

What better tribute to the great star, to music or to life itself .