'When Will Mumma Return?' Rajasthan Maternal Deaths Tear Families Apart

In a narrow lane, a wooden cot covered with a white sheet has become the center of a quiet gathering. On one corner of the cot, a father sits with his four-year-old daughter. Beside them, a mesh gate opens into the house. The father repeatedly looks inside through the gate, checking on his seven-day-old baby. The infant is asleep, cradled by his aunt. The children's mother died just 48 hours after giving birth. Both children are now left without their mother.This gathering is being held after Isha's death. She died on July 8 at the government hospital in Bhilwara. No photograph of Isha has been placed here, because her four-year-old daughter, Disha, starts missing her mother whenever she sees her picture. She keeps asking one question, when will her mother return?Neither the father nor the grandparents have answers to Disha's questions.