#13 Unconditional love

                                                     

SHORT STORY

--------------------------------------------------------Written By- Sweta Sarangi

                                          Unconditional love

        This story depicts love in another form which is unconditional.  Such type of love is observed between parents and children. The protagonist of the story is a mother. It is unconditional in the sense that there is no intention hidden behind such love and it is without any kind of limitations. Her love is sacrificial in nature. It is the most divine form as it is free from any kind of preconceptions and biases. She is the only one in the whole earth who will always stand by the side of their children even if the whole world stands against them and such is her love. One can not estimate the purity of her love. It can only be sensed through opening the channels of heart wide apart.

    

Once upon a time in outskirt of a city, there lived a family consisting of three members: Father, Mother and Son. Though it was a nuclear family, yet it satisfied other requirement of other relationship.Starting with the pioneer of family, Father was a head master in the primary school located about three kilometers away from where they resided. He was an honest person and he always believed in simple living and high thinking. Mother was a religious lady and she used to stay in house to take care of his son who was about one year old. Both of them had a lot of hope and expectation on their son as they wanted their son to become a doctor so that he would serve nation.

    

Their life took a new turn with the demise of the main member of the family. It was like a bolt from the blue. The path of life that once seemed to be straight for the lady, suddenly turned out to be topsy and turvy. It was a big shock for the lady to bear as her husband was the only earning hand in the family. Now the responsibilities of educating her child and meeting the expenses of the family simultaneously were shifted over to her. Her condition was pathetic and miserable. There was no other option left for her to move out of her home and search for some job. She chose both (work as a maid and a daily wage worker in construction site). She decided to sell her house and move to city to get accommodated. “When there is a will, there is a way”. All the doors got opened up with the movement to city. She was able to find a suitable job. She sent her son to school and provided him the facilities that she could afford with a meager income keeping aside her needs. For him she constituted his world and for her he was an apple of her eye.

    

Many years got passed away. The success of his son in medical examination spread all over the area like forest fire. This news provided immense pleasure to her and it was enough to wipe out the pain and sufferings of the past. For the lady, it was a first step in the direction of her dream. But in the corner of her heart there was sadness and agony of separation.  She got the indication that from now on wards she would have to embrace loneliness.  And somehow with a heavy heart and sore throat she managed to bid good bye to her son and blessed him all success in the future endeavour. It was a next phase of her life: completely different. The grief of separation was almost inescapable.  Perhaps the letter of his son would fill the voids of her life.

    

Time flies like an arrow. With the passage of time, the health condition of the lady got deteriorated. She was not able to do the work as she was used to do before. In other words, the work efficiency of the lady started declining rapidly. She was neither physically strong nor emotionally. She was in need of someone to take care of her health.

    

She found herself lying on a bed placed at a corner of a large room. Her vision got stuck to a doctor who was sitting on a chair near her. With astonishment she asked about her health condition. By seeing the patient horrified, he replied in a calm and composed voice, “You are in a last stage of cancer and there is no need to be impatient. We are trying our level best to cure you. By the way, we have got a new cancer specialist who will examine you tomorrow. Have faith in God and he will find some way out…..”

      

It was a bitter truth and a harsh reality of life. Her life started getting bouncing back in front of her. She was reviving her memories of the past. All the memories were linked to his son and of course he was her happiness. She was contended to her life as she had done more than anything possible for her son and because of her only, he realized his dream. It was all possible due to her courage and determination. The moments once she had cherished started becoming alive. Before bidding good bye to the world, she wanted her last wish to get fulfilled so that she would have left with no complaint to the Almighty. Last wish was to see her son as a doctor. She was so lost in her thoughts which made her sleep unconsciously.

    

A faint sound calling a name Dr Arup made her wake up from sleep. With drowsy eyes, she took a glance at a doctor who was standing and found some resemblance with her son. In a hurry she murmured few words and these were not understood by the doctor. Her throat was getting chocked.  Seeing doctor being puzzled, one of the nurses standing near the bed of the lady said, “The lady is trying to say that she is your mother. She did not think anything beyond you and wanted to have a glimpse of you. Now, her wish is fulfilled. She can detach herself from the world happily.” It was something that happened beyond the imagination of doctor. It seemed that the whole world turned upside down. In a hurry he moved his hand towards her wrist to examine the pulse rate where his vision got stuck to the tattooed name of the lady as KAYA……


SWETA SARANGI