Quick-reads

Naina

She was beautiful though Naina couldn’t see her face this time either. Dressed in a beautiful red and green saree, bedecked with resplendent jewels, her beautiful feet in thick, gold anklets and toe rings…She saw a hint of her unbound hair… ‘Naina! Naina! When will you wake up? You have to get ready for school. It’s not my job to wake you up every day. Be responsible…. Naina’s mother had quite a temper and Naina didn’t like it one bit.

There was no ‘Good Morning,’ no ‘did you sleep well,’ no ‘wakeup my princess.’ And every time, she interrupted Naina’s dream. Naina had become a quiet child because there was no love in her life and neither did she understand what love really meant at the tender age of 7.

But one thing was clear. Her friends’ parents hugged them, brought them treats and gifts, they dropped them and picked them up from the bus station. But Naina’s mom was never there. She never hugged her or kissed her.

This is why from a very young age, Naina loved Maa Gauri and believed she was her real mother. She went to the temple everyday on her way back from school and fed the beggars with whatever she had in her tiffin.

When she got home, there was a meal of rotis and milk every day. She would eat, nap a little and then go out to play with her friends in the slum ground near the construction site. In the evening, Naina would do the dishes and make some dal for dinner. Her mom came home and made hot rotis.

This was Naina’s routine and each day she dreamt that Maa Gauri would come in her dreams and one day, come for real and take her away because she was her real mother. She would love her, take care of her, pamper her and give her all the love she wanted.

She was collecting money in a gulak to buy an idol of Maa Gauri. She kept adding a rupee or two now and then whenever her mother sent her to the market to buy something and there was change left. She never wasted money on sweets and ice lollies because her own Maa Gauri would give her much more joy than that.

***

Maa

Shravanti kept most things to herself. Not because she wanted to hide anything but because she had no-one to talk to. She grew used to the solitude and penury. Her sole purpose in life was to give Naina a good education so that she would never have to live in this slum and toil. She would work in an air-conditioned office and live in a flat and even drive her own car.

She was lucky that she found Naina on that rainy day in a ditch. She picked her up and took her home. The baby had big beautiful eyes. The name, Naina suited her perfectly. Though Shravanti wasn’t married, she decided to take care of the baby. Initially, the people in the slum slandered her but she didn’t budge.

Naina was her meaning in life, her purpose, hers. She was life itself. She would do everything for this child.

Shravanti began working as a maid for 12 hours in a house where she had to care for two children, cook and clean the house. Perfectly acceptable given her health condition. Nobody need know what she was ailing with – that was her secret. The doctor said she would live about 10-15 years lesser than normal but that was perfectly acceptable too because now Naina was there.

She wondered if the pain had made her somewhat mechanical and cold. She felt like she had no time in the day. Early in the morning, she had to go to the clinic for her daily IV medication. She rushed back home and readied Naina’s tiffin and was off to work. Work was a blur. Two kids! One in the terrible twos and one about 5 years old. Mayhem.

Sometimes she rolled a roti and had it while working but her only meal of the day was at night. The lovely dal that dear Naina made along with fresh rotis that she made. After that, she swallowed a bunch of medicines as Naina nodded off to sleep on the cot. She slept on the floor on a sheet. Nothing should disturb Naina’s sleep. She was a queen.

***

Naina was deep in sleep. It began raining and water was dripping through the tarpaulin in the shanty. Her corner was warm and dry but Shravanti was getting cold.

Naina slept well, unaware of the weather and the cold because the only blanket they had was always on Naina.

There she was again. Thick, long, black hair. A red bindi on her forehead, shining. She was in a beautiful red and green silk saree holding a sword, an axe and other weapons. She had many hands. She raised her face for the first time and Naina was shocked in her dream. It was her mother’s face! Shravanti’s face! But she looked so peaceful, calm, beautiful and so full of love and Naina eyes grew wet in her sleep. Tears streaming down her face, she woke up with a jerk frozen at the vision she had had. Was her mother really Maa Gauri?

She looked around and realized she had slept late. But strangely enough, Shravanti was fast asleep too. Naina went close to her and woke her up lovingly. ‘Maa? Wake up Maa?’ Shravanti had a high fever and Naina was worried because she wasn’t waking up. She had to be taken to the clinic in the city.

Naina broke her gulak. She had Rs.36.50. She quickly called a neighbour to help her get an auto to the clinic.

At the clinic, Shravanti received treatment and a unit of blood. When she woke up, she asked for Naina. She smiled when she saw Naina and apologized for the whole situation. ‘Don’t be scared. I am fine,’ she said to Naina.

‘Maa, thank you. Thank you for taking me as your child,’ said Naina. ‘You were with me all along and I didn’t know….’

Shravanti let out a little laugh and said ‘you silly one… where will I go without you!’

***