“My days are numbered. I won’t be able to leave this hospital bed at all. Perhaps, I may end up h.. e re..Aruna’s horrid thoughts stopped abruptly. She saw her mother, Shobha, struggling hard to hide tears from her daughter. Aruna knows well that Shobha brought her up with great care and showered love and blessings on her abundantly.
Shobha’s thoughts, now, went to twenty four years back. Aruna’s parents, Nirmala and Madan came to the city, after their marriage, from Uttar Pradesh. They have got four children, two sons and two daughters. Aruna is the youngest. They are staying two buildings away from my house. I am a south Indian, have two sons and no daughters.
One day, I met Nirmala with a three months old daughter, Aruna. Our intimacy grew soon and I used to bring Aruna home daily and leave her with parents in the evening.
Later on, Aruna started staying in my house. She stays in her parents’ house for one day, once a month. My sons have great affection for her. My husband treated her as his favourite pet. We had a nice time when all the three children were small.
When Aruna completed four years, I got her admitted in kindergarten. Then, I played the role of her teacher also at home. Every day, I used to drop her off at school and bring her back home. I had to dress her up and tie her hair neatly in style. She learnt our language and talked to us in Malayalam fluently. I noticed her liking for dance and she joined a dancing class. She has learnt classical dance and does Bharatnatyam well.
She was a bright student, you know. Still I put her in a coaching class and she got ninety percent marks in the tenth exam. After 12th, she took up B. Sc. Computer science in a college, not very far from home. But she had to travel to and fro by bus. I used to get worried whenever she came home a bit late. One day, she fell down from the bus while alighting. She was not able to move her right foot forward. She sat on the roadside. She didn’t want me to know about it as she is well aware of my emotional nature. After half an hour or so, her friend, Anisha, informed me about the accident. I got in an autorickshaw and rushed towards her. Tears from my eyes fell on her face. She consoled me saying that nothing bad had happened to her. I took her to the hospital, as fast as I could. When the doctor asked me I couldn’t say anything. I became pale and fainted. When I regained consciousness, I saw her smiling at me and she patted on my back. The doctor told me that he was more worried about the mother than the daughter. She got discharged after a week without major complaints.
*medhini ( Pen name )
( Anandavalli Chandran )
Gist of the story
“ My bond with daughter”
A mother of two sons, accidentally took a liking for a small baby daughter of her neighbour, who belongs to a different state, language and culture. This mother brings her up, shares and encourages her talents, emotions and passions besides educating her. When the girl has grown up, the mother bound by love ties her in wedlock to a man of the girl’s choice. Some miseries happen in the girl’s life even after her marriage. But this mother’s affection for her didn’t deteriorate because nothing was a barrier to them in between.
(Anandavalli Chandran )
One thought on “My bond with daughter – Anandavalli Chandran”
I am very much thrilled and excited to see my humble contribution, to the English story section, in LIMA World Library. My sincere thanks to the dedicated editors and the team.
medhini