Rama….It is the name of my old friend. She is like any woman who tries hard to keep her family happy by working hard through day and night. She was one of my colleagues; I sometimes used to wonder to see her enthusiasm in purchasing grocery at the end tiresome day.
She used to always tell me about the importance of being practical in life. Though she would praise the practical approach towards life I could easily get that she is a very emotional person.
Among other colleagues, she was known as an introvert person, but when I met her at the very first time, I found a simple woman with neatly draped sari and a little antique piece of necklace.
Her outer shell is enough to convey her inclination towards orthodox views, but I found her very friendly. In a very short time she became my best friend and she started sharing sorrows and happy moments in her life. My other friends used to convince me that she is very egoistic and reluctant, and I used to always counter attack them on this point.
How could they be so harsh to her? How easily we form our opinion about the other person…..
After some interactions with her, I figured out the fact that, she was extremely shy and could not mingle with other people because she was not comfortable to participate in their discussions which were Cosmo and bizarre according to her.
Though she was so particular and strict about her work, one noticeable thing about her was she used to finish her work on time and be in a great hurry to reach home. This was enough to understand her concern for her family. Though she never used to express her opinions and thoughts, I could empathies her, in spite of a major age difference don’t know how!
Anyways, that day she was very happy. In the lunch time she told me the reason behind it. Her 9th standard daughter had scored 80% in her final exams. She was very excited to select a very unique gift for her. She hurriedly finished eating the paratha and went straight to market. After returning to office, in the tea break, she showed me the gift. I was surprised to see her choice. It was a glass pen holder with two pens having extremely beautiful golden design.
I said, it must be very costly! She was so excited to see the expressions on her daughter’s face and this time could not hide her emotions.
In the evening while wrapping that gift neatly in an attractive paper, she insisted me to come to her house. I could not deny her request and went with her. While we were on the way she was continuously praising her daughter and describing how she searched for that costly gift and costly gift wrapping paper.
We reached home and she pressed the door bell. After waiting for a long time, she again pressed the door bell. Her daughter opened the door; I could see a very irritated expression on her face. She said, “Can’t you wait for some time?? I was busy chatting with my friend.”
Rama still continued praising her daughter while introducing me to her. After entering home, she immediately took charge of the kitchen and in a very short time came back with tea. By that time I was watching her daughter who didn’t even offered her mother a smile, was busy in playing online games and chatting with friends.
I reminded Rama about the Gift. She slowly went to her daughter and offered her the gift. I also congratulated her. Her daughter hurriedly opened the pack, without even looking at the beautifully wrapped cover, and hastily took out the pen holder. No sooner did she pick one of the pens; than the holder fell down on the floor and broke in to pieces. At the same time her mobile phone rang and without paying any attention to that gift she went to her room to attend the call.
I looked at Rama’s face; it was pale with a great despair. I took her leave and while returning home, my tiny tears were consoling me.
I can understand if her colleagues do not understand her and do not care for her emotions….but her own daughter….she also failed to understand her mother….
I wanted to scream at her…..hey look, your mother bought this expensive gift for you….just say that it is good, it is nice….you liked it…
Do you know what have you done? ... you stole a happy moment from your mother’s life which was very precious and may not come again…. I wish I could tell her this! ….
Most of us knowingly or unknowingly do not respect the emotions of another person may it be, sister, father, mother, brother, friend or colleague….and by doing this we steal one happy moment from their life. ….
