UBC day 20 - Ground Zero- concluding part

read part 2 here

It had been a month since they came to Savanpur. Kunal had told her that they could leave in a couple of days. 

"Get packing, Suni, the next batch of doctors are here, we can go back now."

She sighed. She hadn't realised, that a whole month had passed by and it was finally time to leave. She had been so engrossed with the lives of the little girl down the hillock that she didn't know what she would do once she was back home. She decided to capture every moment of the little girl so that she could keep her in her memories forever.

She carried a camera along with her and sat down on her favorite perching place positioning her camera. The little girl was walking towards the shrub with the pickaxe in her hands.

Click…click…click… she went on clicking the pictures with an urgency that she could not explain. She had still not been able to get a shot of the girl’s face. As she kept her lens focused on her face, something happened; the girl looked up at her!

‘I don’t want to miss this shot, she thought, this is as close as it gets. I might not get another shot of her face if I don’t hurry. 

Another click.

Ah! Nice shot!’ she patted herself.

And then she froze!

No, she had to be sure.

She focused her lens on the girl again but she had her back turned to her.

With trembling hands, Sunita switched the mode of her camera from ‘click’ to ‘view’ to have a closer look at the girl’s face.  Hair in disarray, sun burnt face, stubby fingers that looked like they were 50 years old, a pile of sticks nestling between them and her tiny frame…no, her Komal wasn't like this. She was a soft as silk, her hair was beautiful, black and silky, her skin was fair and glowing, her hands were the chubbiest and pinkest that she had ever seen. This couldn't be Komal! 

And then she saw the eyes….Deep black eyes…..Komal…! Unmistakably Komal!

Her heart thumped so hard she could almost hear it …it seemed to be pumping a millions beats a minute! She stood up, hardly able to breath, her face flushed with joy. She stumbled down the hill, falling down and then rolling a considerable distance before she could find flat ground. She searched for the shanty and ran towards it as soon as it met her eyes. The little girl had just reached her home, the pile still balanced on her head. She saw Sunita and gave a little gasp; her eyes wide with shock. She dropped the pile to the ground and rushed into Sunits’a arms.

“Mamma…” she clung to her mother’s bosom like she’d never let her go, crying bitterly, shaking with relief.

“Oh Komal, Mamma’s so sorry,” she said amidst sobs, kissing her child madly. "Mamma is so sorry darling! I will never ever leave you alone like that."

The woman watched the two of them, with tears streaming down her own eyes.

“I am…..” began Sunita, walking towards her.

“I understood that you are her mother.”

“How did you find her?” Sunita wanted to know.

“I was cleaning the hotel corridor that day, when this child was standing at the door crying. Suddenly the hotel started shaking and without thinking twice, I grabbed her and jumped out of the window. We rolled down this hillock and lay here for quite some time, must have been days…" she paused as if she had been transported back to that day all over again.

"I brought her to the relief center but in the mad rush, no one bothered to help me. They took down the details but no one ever got back to me.Your girl was in shock and wouldn’t speak anything for so many days. I decided to keep her with me till someone came looking for her. She kept asking for you, screaming for you in her sleep. I taught her little things to keep her occupied. She’s a smart girl,” she said patting the girl’s head.

“I have seen how well you cared for my little girl.How can I ever thank you….”

“Don’t. I don’t have a family, so I must thank god that he brought this girl into my life, though briefly, or else amidst all this devastation, I would have lost my mind.”

“You must come with us, I’m sure Komal will want you to….” She said thinking of how well the woman had taken care of Komal. It was now her turn to give back.

"No..no..don't bother about me, I'll be fine." said the woman, visibly pained at the impending parting. 

Komal took the woman’s hand in hers and smiled. The woman nodded her head and smiled at Komal. She was now family too.

                                                   ****the end****

UBC day 19- Ground Zero- part 2

read part 1 here.

Two months had rolled by without any news of their daughter.

“Suni, I got a call from Sawanpur,” said  Kunal one day.

“They found Komal?” she asked eyes brimming with hope.

“No Suni, They asked if we would volunteer to help rehabilitate the villagers. Being a doctor, I couldn’t refuse. Would you like to come with me?”

“Of course, maybe we can search for Komal again.”

He didn’t know what to tell her. A mother’s heart could never accept that her child was no more.

                                                                         ********

They reached Sawanpur by the army helicopters as the roads had been completely washed away.Temporary tents had been erected at various places .They had been devastated to see how flat the whole place looked. No sign of the hotel they had lived in.

There was nothing in that place. It seemed like there was never anything in that place. Sunita’s eyes welled up again thinking about Komal. She could not bear to think how the heavy walls must have weighed themselves on her child’s delicate body.

She walked to the ground, sat on it and cried for some more time. She knew she had to accept that she had lost Komal forever. Maybe, acceptance would give her some closure. The hotel was above a small hillock and she saw some flowers growing by the slopes. She gathered herself and walked to the edge, to pluck some flowers and lay it on the place where she had lost her daughter. That's was the only goodbye she could afford to give her child.

Eyes still blurred with tears, she knelt to pluck the flowers. That was when she noticed a small shanty down the hillock. A woman was trying to light a stove made of wood while a little girl played nearby. She stood watching the child, as if it were her own. She couldn’t see their faces clearly as it was several feet down. But she could still feel the mother-child bond that she saw between them. She watched the mother feed and then lull her child to sleep.

As she walked back to their tent, she could not stop thinking about them. Each day after Kunal left for the medical camp, she would unwittingly find herself being carried to the hillock to see the duo. Every day, the little girl would chop some wood from the nearby shrubs using a small pickaxe and bundle it in a neat pile. 

She was amazed at the precision with which the girl chopped the wood, sorted out the dry and wet ones and bundled it neatly. There was a rhythm to the chopping; it almost felt like a song. She also wondered what kind of woman would let a child handle a pickaxe by herself. 

She, for one, had never let Komal even touch the kitchen knife. But, C’est la vie, she told herself,….such was life!

Then she would carry it over her head and bring it to her mother. Her mother would use it to cook food, while the little girl tottered around carrying pots of water from a stream nearby.

“What a difficult life for a 6 year old,” she thought. Her child had never had the need to as much as lift a finger. She would happily dote around Komal all day long, attending to her every need.  

The mother would then lead her child to the stream and give her a bath. The child seemed to like splashing around in the water. 

Sunita smiled. Komal had loved splashing in the water too. She would break into an impromptu dance in the tub, splashing water everywhere! 

 Then she would feed the child ever so lovingly. The child would always eat in silence.

Komal had been quite the prankster. To get her to eat a morsel of food had been so difficult. She would jump all around the place, refusing to open her mouth till Sunita told her a story. 

And then the mother would pat the child to sleep. Perhaps she sang her a song, her pats felt rhythmic. 

Komal had loved the lullabies that Sunita sang for her. Her favorite had been a Krishna-Yashodha song that she would ask to be sung everyday. 

 This girl was so much like Komal. But maybe all little girls were like that, she told herself, not wanting to get emotionally attached.

                                                        ******to be cont*******

Read concluding part here

UBC day 18 - Ground zero. part 1

“Komal…. that’s what I want to name her!” Sunita said excitedly, bringing her bundle of joy close to her and tickling her tummy, making the little one squeal with delight. “Isn’t she as soft as silk?” she asked touching the silky soft cheeks of her baby.

“Indeed she is, Suni, Komal is what we’ll call our baby” agreed Kunal.

Everyone clapped and cheered as the proud parents called out the baby’s name thrice in her tiny pink ears, and the priest continued with the other naming ceremony customs.

Sunita wiped a tear as it slid down her cheeks.

“Stop watching this over and over again, Suni,” said Kunal taking the remote from her hands and switching off the VCD, “It’ll only make forgetting Komal harder for you.”

“You think I can ever forget her? Which mother can? It’s my fault….”

 “…..Shhhh….don’t say that. It’s not your fault.” His voice was choked with emotions too as he thought of that fateful day.

                                                                 ***********

The three of them were holidaying in the picturesque location of Sawanpur, when the rain gods vented their fury and turned their lives upside down.

“I’ll run down to the lobby and try to hire a cab, ok? Let’s see if we can get some flights from the nearest airport” Kunal had told Sunita. It had been raining too heavily and there had been no point staying there any longer.

 Then Kunal called up on the intercom.

“Suni, get my wallet, I left it in the room.”

“Komal’s sleeping.”

“It’s ok; it won’t take long, its just 2 floors down.”

Sunita had run down to the lobby when there was some strange noise and someone pushed them out of the lobby door. In the seconds that followed, the entire hotel collapsed. They had both escaped with minor bruises, while their 6 year old Komal lay trapped in the rubble somewhere.  

They stayed for several days amidst the ruins waiting for it all to be cleared up, but the search had drawn a naught. Sunita had been in deep trauma over losing her only child. She had refused to leave the place and had to be sedated before being forcefully airlifted back home.

                                                                      *****to be continued*****

read part 2 here

UBC day 17- Turning forty!

It's hubby's Birthday today!!! He turned 40!! So it was a big deal for him and I wanted to make him feel that it was special.

I was wondering what gifts to buy, since we have given each other every possible gift during the last 14 birthdays and 10 anniversaries that we have celebrated together. I toyed with the idea of packing 40 little gifts, but you'll agree that while you can think of a hundred things to gift a woman, it is so difficult to buy as many when it comes to buying gifts for men!!

While I was still scratching my head, it occurred to me how worn out he looks now-a-days, with his constant work related travel. He is the Zonal head in his company and he has to travel quite a lot. That's when I got the idea for the gift!

He got the first shocker when I told him, 'don't take your bath now'.

He nodded, assuming exactly the opposite, and suddenly realising what I said, 'Did you just say don't ?

'Hmm...'I winked. 'We are going out now.'

'What kind of place are we required to go without taking a bath?', he wondered aloud.

'Patience, my dear Watson,'

'Ok let me change, he said.

'You look fine, let's go like this.' I told him.

'In these tracks? On the roads? You must be joking!'

'Oh come on..' I dragged him out.

'Where are we going?'

Next shocker.

'To get you a tattoo'

'No way!'

'What? I got one for you, na? Your turn now, Ink my name on your arm.' I teased, knowing pretty well how scared he is of needles.

He gave me a weird how-could-you-do-this-to-me look.

I drove him to our destination. As we walked inside, I saw his eyes turn wide with surprise.

Kerala Ayurvedic oil massage center.

'Wow!'  he said. 'This is the surprise?'

I loved that priceless look on his face. I winked.

After that Balakrishnan, the expert massage specialist took charge, while I left him there to relax for 2 hours and shopped for the other gifts.

When I went to pick him up, he had the most wonderful smile on his face. 'Thaaaaaanks' he beamed. 'That was so relaxing. What a start to my day!'

I made Palak rice that I learnt from SuKu, Aaloo ka paratha, Raita and Lauki ka halwa with all the little accompaniments. He couldn't stop raving about it to anyone who called after that! He loved all the other little gifts too, but he gets them every year anyway!

All this is too small in comparison to how well he takes care of me and how loved he makes me feel. So here's to you, hubby dearest...Cheers! Happy 40th Birthday!

UBC day 16 - Some people, I tell you....

My neighbor “G” had come home to return my bowl in which I had sent her some kheer (pudding) yesterday. I called her in and offered her some dosa that I had made. I know she loves dosa and couldn’t refuse. She settled at the dining table while I made crisp dosas for her. I came out with 3 plates, and setting it on the table, called my help Ashwini to come and join us.

Ashwini pulled a chair and was about to sit down when G let out a gasp. She bent close to my ear, and whispered, “She’s sitting with us?”

I nodded. “She always does.”

“Have you lost it?” she asked me. “How can you ask her to sit with us?”

Ashwini was suddenly uncomfortable and she picked up her plate. “Didi, I’ll sit in the other room,” she said and walked away.

I felt really bad for her. I usually have a late breakfast and it’s kind of a habit now that I have my breakfast with Ashwini every day, once she’s done with the chores. She is a lovely girl and she loves chatting with me telling me about her college and friends. She shares her problems with me, and I teach her English.

I saw her finish her dosa quickly and she left with a silent ‘bye.’

After she had left, I told G that Ashwini must have felt bad.

“What’s there to feel bad?” she said, “She must know her place.”

“I don’t think you must differentiate like that,” I began.

“How can you make her sit at the table with you?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

She didn’t bother to answer.

“And to top it you are serving her hot food in your regular plates.” The stress on hot was not lost on me.

“What????” 

“She doesn’t even have a separate plate?”

I had had enough of that rubbish.

“She works in 3 homes in the morning and then goes to college, G. She is exactly like you and me. If anything separates us, it’s our financial condition. With all the hard work she does, she’s bound to come up in life some day. She’s a lovely girl.”

G wasn’t impressed.

“If my mother-in-law knows this, she will never eat in your house again.” She said as she popped the last piece of dosa in her mouth and stood up to leave even as I wondered if I should give her a piece of my mind.

Some people, I tell you….