A Blessing In Disguise

Across the streets he was pacing away…dodging all those passer bys…People watching in amazement...What’s come over this boy today …The tiny limbs covered very small distances..yet he was running…panting , sweating profusely…but he was happy today , very happy….The chemists shop was still a couple of crossings away…But he seemed possessed…

The rugged clothes waving in the fury of his flight…The hawkers were calling him…”Where are you going “?

But he seemed too much in haste to bother….’Dua’, A Blessing was too happy today….

The fourteen year old had got his first salary…One thousand rupees…He had enough to buy the bottle of medicine for his ailing mother….

What an irony in the name itself…May be all the little he had…the only thing missing was a Blessing itself….

“Ma, Moi tonic aichi !”

She turned from the bed, weak and looked at her little..he was all she had…She had lost everything from her husband to her house , wealth everything had been snatched from her by the riots…And her fate her left her to suffer…

Sometimes she thought of killing herself…But something stopped her..That innocent face, the mellifluous laughter, the constant chatter of her little one made her live on amidst all her pain…

An age where Dua was to be a student, destiny made him the a laborer…But he was too small to realize such intricacies…He knew he ad to work…Many of his friends in the colony did also…He knew his dad gone to Allah! For some work , and he had take care of his mother…he loved her a lot…

The tea shop he worked in was not owned by the arrogant owners that we all hear about…Not that he was kind by any means yet..He never exploited his aids…

Sarin used to come everyday to the shop with her dad…She was a very good friend of Dua ..they grew up together but may be it was the communalism more than fate that changed their paths…

May the blessing had made Sarin go to Kataanagar, far in the suburbs….during the riots..Keeping her family safe from the wrath and horror of it all….

Those eyes spoke a lot…She missed him..even he sis..He remembered the days they went to the Mela hand in hand…The ferris wheel, the sweets…This was the time he missed Abbah! The most….But Dua never cried…

Jamal Uncle , Sarin’s dad somehow seemed a changed man..He loved Dua a lot earlier...But now he avoided him..did not even make an eye contact…or even ask how his mom was….

But Dua never understood these things…He still cared..but somewhere the gap seemed to widen with every passing day….

That day Jamal Chacha was busy with some friend of his who had happened to drop in at the shop….Seeking the opportunity Sarin slowly went down from the table..to Dua..He was busy serving tea in the mud pots…

“We are leaving for Surat You Know !”

“We will settle there permanently….I’ll miss you a lot , but Dad insists that we have to leave , the times are bad!”

“Huh” replied Dua...unable to move his face from Sarins...She was looking very pretty today...The moist cheeks seemed to enhance the innocent beauty even more…

“Will you never come back…?”

“May be not” , Dua never replied, he was quite used to people not coming back..his dad….grandparents…His sister..all had bid farewell to him..he knew he was alone….

“Take care of yourself ” Sarin said clutching his rough hands…coarse with hot kettle and soap…

I will and so do you…

She was about to leave when She turned again….She opened her bracelet…A thin Silver chain… ”This is for you” she claimed..

“But I have none to give you”…

”You need not” She replied…

She left…All that Dua could feel was her last touch…Her moist eyes...Glistening with tears…

Time passed by…Years went…

Dua now owns the highway Dhaba…His mom had also bid him farewell a month after Sarin left. It was finally left to him and his hard work…that now makes him whatever little he has now…

“There’s a big order…” , Little Aryan said…He helped Dua in his work…he was an orphan…but more like his brother…Dua gave him all that he was deprived of..but like Dua he always wanted to repay..So he took the orders from the customers….In the noon after he had finished school….

Well Twelve Plates of Sabji…, Kabab and Biriyani…with Lassi….

Hmmm! Dua was pleased..He really had big order in hand….

He gave the list to his Kitchen…When a very beautiful woman stepped out from the car…She was a married Lady of ethereal grace…

“Can I get some water to wash my hands…”, she asked in a feminine tone…

“Dua took a jug and said this was all he had..No taps”

Dua poured the water…and Lady washed her hands and face…And went back into the car…

They left…

“Bhaiyya, I forgot the Memsaab gave you this”, he said handing over a letter…

“I was shocked to see you here…You still wear that bracelet…I pray for you even today….Allah has listened to my prayers...I was so happy to see you that I cannot express myself…Forgive me for not speaking then…For if I had I would not have been able to control my emotions…I thanked the lord…for keeping you healthy and safe…May you do well in life”

Sarin

Dua , felt disgusted,

Why does he never get what he prays for..or may be he never gets it the way he wants…All these years he wanted a glimpse of Sarin…And when he got he failed to recognize her….

He was happy after a very long time…Sarin was happy…eshtablished …and above all wherever she is…whoever she is with..She still remembers him…

There are always some things to cheer for….