Mother : A Symbol Of Solace

Alex was sitting quietly at the corner of the living room, staring at the

gloomy dusk outside the window. His temples were aching and the ceaseless

drops of tears made him very tired. The living room was already overcrowded

with relatives who had arrived from far and near. Their bedroom was also

crowded but daddy was quietly sitting beside the cold, motionless figure of his

mom.

Alex could not believe that he would never again get to listen to the ringing

sound of his mother’s laughter. His heart longed for the warm, comforting hug

from his mom. He had never imagined that things could fall apart so easily.

Some of the relatives, though he could hardly recognize them with blurred eyes,

were trying to comfort him. “Is there any comfort left for me ?”, he thought. He

did not want to go to the bedroom for he could not bear to see his mom lying

motionless. Neither could he bear the sight of his father’s grieved face with

clenched jaws, which remained as strong as steel till a few days ago.

As he wondered, he collected the sweet memories of all the happy moments

they had shared together. But all of a sudden, he felt a terrible guilt. He blamed

himself for all the days he had quarrelled with his mom; he remembered how he

had often misbehaved with her over small things. He was even angry with his

father now, for the many occasion he had seen them arguing over problems that

never existed or probably were too insignificant. And now, he longed for the time

to come back. He wanted to revive those sad moments and turn them into happier

ones. He wanted back the time he’d spent without talking to his mom, out of

anger. He desired to live those moments again and fill them up chatting merrily

with his mom, telling her all the things, he knew, he would never be able to. He

felt his eyes becoming heavier and he drifted off.

* * * *

Alex could feel a tender palm brushing his forehead and a distant voice was

coming to his ears. He opened his eyes to see the room full of decoratives.

‘HAPPY BIRTH DAY’ hung in the walls. His dad was standing beside him,

gazing at him.

“Happy Birthday, Alex”, Dad said.

“Thank you so much, dad”, replied Alex.

Suddenly, he shuddered at the thought of his mom; his heart began to throb

faster. But strangely, mom came walking in to the room with three cups of black

tea. She planted it on the table and threw her arms around him.

“Happy Birthday, dear”, she said with a gentle smile on her face.

Alex was perplexed. His mind was confused.

“So it was a dream. A dream” thought Alex. He was glad that it was a

dream. After all, everything was alright. Everything was just as it used to be,

wondered Alex as he finished his cup of tea. And he fell a splurge of joy through

his nerves.

His birthday was to be celebrated and all their relatives would arrive in the

evening. Mom and daddy had taken their day off, as they had to make the

arrangements for the evening. He had his breakfast and went off to school, for he

could not afford to miss his classes.

During recess all his friends were gossiping or playing but today, Alex was

sitting alone and his thoughts drifted away to his dream of last night. He resolved

firmly that he would never again quarrel or misbehave with his parents and his

near and dear ones. At this point of his solitude, he knew, that, one day, the

dream would become a sad reality; after many years, or decades may be, but it

was inevitable and obvious. Till then, he promised to live happily and obediently.

He wanted to cherish whatever good he had and decided he would never complain

about insignificant discrepancies. He also made it a point to make his parents

promise that they would never again waste the limited precious moments life had

to offer by arguing. The dream had taught him a lesson. After all, he had a

wonderful family and that was all he wished for.

In the evening when he returned home, his relatives had already arrived.

They all wished him and gave him presents. As they all gathered gossiping, Alex

narrated his thoughts to all of them. In the end, he requested them to resolve that

from then on, all of them would fill up life’s moments cherishing the happiness of

whatever good life had to offer.

Later in the evening, as he was cutting his birthday cake surrounded by his

near and dear ones he felt complete happiness.

“I have all the comfort and happiness. What more can one wish for ? It

feels safer than the heaven’s, Alex said to himself.

Akash Dasgupta