I was standing with a bunch of
others, bag on my back, a handkerchief pinned to my sweater and a water bottle
around my neck. For some reason I felt lost in the statue of Mother Mary on the
far right end. There were others like me there too. Some were playing the game ‘steps’ on the stairs to the left. Someone
said 10 and the rest jumped one step. She then said 30 and the rest jumped 3
steps down further. Then there were those who had put the bag on the ground for
some kind of solace on the see-saw. Of course, there were a few crying too for
they had fallen while playing catch. But I seemed to be floating in a bubble of
my own. And then suddenly I felt it. He was there, a surprise, for it was only
12 in the afternoon and he was supposed to be at office. I felt a peck on my
cheeks and saw him. Baba. He had
come to take me home. And I went with him leaving behind everyone else, hand in
hand with my father. Now that I think about it he still holds my hand that way,
firmly around my wrist especially while crossing a busy street. My hero, the
word certainly has a ring to it. And just as I complete the last sentence he
sends me a WhatsApp. Strange how he always knows when I’m thinking about him.
I fought with her as a child but I
was the one she would share secrets with. I woke up in the mornings to cuddles
from her. Of course, it wouldn’t be evening until she played her favorite Rabindra Sangeet on the music system. I
got my love for eating out and shopping from her and needed to be with her all
the time. I would bunk junior college just to be at home with her. And even now
I call her 10 times a day. I don’t know maybe I love disturbing her when she is
in the middle of something. I just don’t let go when she urges that she has a
meal to prepare or a serial to watch.
I need her. Ma, my fairy God-mother. She is probably the coolest mom in the
world. When I stepped out of home for the first time I was surprised at how my
friends had to take permission for everything in their lives from their
parents. Infact, they didn’t even have the liberty to choose what they want to
eat or wear. Thankfully I don’t remember to ever needing any
permission for anything. I just had to inform. And a lot of that has to do with
the mindset she has, even now. Perhaps, that’s why I can take decisions easily in
life. But that’s not it. I can fight with her, even scream at times when I’ve
mood swings but she never ever gets angry with me or my sister for that matter.
She’s the rock of our family and our lives revolve around her. I’m married but
still to me my home is where my mom lives, where she cooks and when she has her
small kitchen garden. She knows when I’m upset for she calls without fail at
that very instant. And then I show my tantrums and ask her to hang up. But then
the very next moment I call her back and there she begins healing me. If she’s
not the fairy God-mother than who is?
Ma and Baba. These are words that
resemble love, care, strength and protection. When your parents are with you,
life seems balanced. What can go wrong? Ma and Baba will take care of
everything right? Who can cause any harm? Nobody. They won’t dare with Ma and Baba
being there. But the moment even one of them is afflicted with anything all
hell breaks loose. Life seems to spiral out of control and even disintegrate.
 |
Hope in the distant Horizon? |
The desire to scream at the top of
my voice fills me today. I feel as though I have been flung from a carousel with
full force towards the unknown. I don’t know where I’ll land. All I want to do
now is not think, shut out all the windows of my mind and heart, perhaps even
hide in some corner of the world. Maybe I’m the
odd one out, maybe I need to quieten my inner self and not react. But some things
just happen unconsciously, don’t they? With a sudden eruption of inclement
weather on the health front for both my strengths vulnerable is what I’m right
now. If there is a higher power out there I urge Him to take care of my
strengths. I promise to be good, I really do.
I don’t know what and why I have
rambled on for here. Maybe I just need to get it out there for in front of my
two angels I need to be strong. Maybe I just need to put words to the heaviness that I feel and let it escape from this little corner of my universe. Maybe I just
need to exhale?