Thursday, May 14, 2009

A wish fulfilled

Radha was quite contented with her life, she was a woman of fifty and wasn't very well off. Nevertheless she had a home to live in and a husband who unfortunately remained unwell most of the time.Belonging to a society, where women who had sons were considered quite superior than those who had daughters, Radha was quite a queen with five sons to adorn her status.But what no one knew was the fact that Radha longed for a daughter, who if she had, would have been her companion and her best friend.
Time passed and so did the circumstances. Her husband died and she was left with her five sons and their respective wives. As they say destiny spares no one and thus it let down a brutal blow on Radha. She became a burden for the children whom she had nurtured with her sweat and blood, as her husband had been bed ridden for a long time, Radha was left to fend for her family when her kids were quite young.Bringing the little ones up was quite a tussel for her, and now when the time had come that she could enjoy the fruit of her hardwork,she was thrown out by her sons who felt that she was no longer fit to live with them, as old age had made her very irritable and unfit for a family life.
The depressed and worn out Radha left the house and was found by the people of an old age home, where she stared living with no taste for life anymore.
Days passed but there were no signs of improvement , her depression was taking a toll on her health.Unwilling to talk to anyone, she choose a secluded corner and spent her days sitting there with down cast eyes, lost in the painful memories that had wrecked havoc in her life.
The old age home had many regular visitors, these were the people who spent time with the inhabitants who were mostly homeless and in many cases left by their so called families.
Many such visitors tried to talk to Radha but she never responded.But there was a young girl, who inspite of knowing well about Radhas state came and sat next to her and talked for hours on end, despite of the fact that there was no reply from the other side.This went on and became quite a routine.
One day the girl just came and sat next to Radha, she wasn't her usual chirpy self.Tears were rolling out of her eyes,"I lost my mother in an accident and todays her death anniversary, why did she ever leave me alone in this world!Why!"The girl started crying bitterly, she didn't expect a reply for obvious reasons, but this time her conversation found its cord.
"How can you say that you've lost your mother, when I am sitting next to you"!The girl was taken aback, this was the first time that words had left the caged persona of Radha.
Her joy knew no bounds, she hugged Radha with an elated shriek of happiness,"Amma, youre back!You can talk to me!" Yes, my child," came the reply,"I've finally found the daughter I had always wished for."

The pricest bonds are those that run deep, irrespective of the lashes of time. They act as an anchor to give comfort in the turbulant phases of our life:)

6 comments:

Ayesha Parveen said...

A beautiful, heart-touching story. The bond between a parent and child ought to be unselfish and for the parents, regardless of the child being a male or a female.

With good values and good education, a child can become an asset for the parent. However, the parent also needs to be considerate to the child's needs and feelings.

Radha was lucky at last.

Best wishes, Sana :)

Chubskulit Rose said...

Oh my God! This story touched my heart and made me cry for joy! How shameless of her sons but I think it was God's way of giving her the daughter that she really wanted..

Thanks for your heartwarming comment on my post...

A New Beginning said...

Thanks Ayesha and Chubskulit for your generous comments:)

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi:)

You are a great creative writer. You have written a heart touching story. It is brief, easy to read and understand. The change of scenes are fast and gripping.

I can only see one strong message in this. Life is full of changes and we have to adapt to changes if we want to survive. Of course, you have introduced an element of love in the story and this is absolutely right because we all crave for love and affection.

Recently I read a brief story of Mary's, Arundhathi Roy's mother, life story in a news paper. Mary left her drunkard Bengali husband, came to Kerala with two small children and stuggled to establish herself. Now she is the owner of a well known school in Kottayam.

I enjoyed your fantastic story with a great message. Many thanks.

Best wishes:)
Joseph

A New Beginning said...

Thanks Joseph for your wonderful comment:)

SindhuBhairavi said...

That was just beautiful.. packed with emotion.. Loved it..