Short Story family – A Costly Sacrifice
Image© Anand Vishnu Prakash, YourStoryClub.com
There was a small village which was on the coastal line of Kanyakumari. Though it was a small village, it was surrounded by greenery on one side, brown thatched houses on the another side and light blue sea on the other side. The village looked spectacular with shades of Green, Blue and Brown. People who visited the village once, had made multiple trips just to enjoy the freshness of air and the scenic beauty of the village. Every house was big with backyards, where people had grown vegetables and fruits of many kinds.
There were around 50 families who were the early inhabitants of the village. All the families were well united and very co-operative that they carried out common tasks without any challenge.
Raju’s family was the smallest family; dad, mom and Raju who was 10 year old. Raju was a tall, dark and handsome and had a lot of dreams. He had always dreamt of living in a city. He was always his dad’s charm, as he was not quite happy to spend time with his mom. All he could remember about his mom was her scarred face which had red and white scars on her face, neck and hands, with skin peeled off and hanging on her face. He always felt yuck to see his mom’s face.
His mom Kamala used to drop him to school and pick him up every day. One of the days, he felt awkward to see his mom with that scarred face standing in front of the school gate. As he was laughing and chatting with his fellow school mates, all of them became silent and started staring at the gate. So, Raju turned towards the gate with a lot of curiosity. He froze looking at his mom, face covered with her pallu. Raju felt ashamed and walked out of the school with lot of anger.
As days passed by, Raju started to dislike his mom more. He did not like to get picked up or dropped by his mom. He felt that she was ugly and so abnormal.
As he grew old, he stopped going out with her to the market or anywhere outside. Even when his dad made plans to go to the beach or watch a movie, he refused to go just because he never liked to be seen with his ugly mother. Kamala tried her best to make her son happy, got him everything what he wanted and gave him his space. She understood what her son was going though and felt pity for herself and sad for her son, as she was helpless.
Kamal really loved her son which could not be described in mere words, but the son did not pay heed to any of her instructions and remained as his dad’s son.
When Raju turned 18, he decided to go to Coimbatore for his graduation. With all the money that his parents saved, he got admitted in KIT Engineering college. He was really excited about the city life for 4 years. Moreover, the very thought of not being with his ugly mother made him very happy.
Once Raju’s parents were invited for parents meeting. They wanted to surprise their son, so they did not inform Raju about their arrival. When they arrived at the college, Raju was shocked to see his parents sitting in the visitors lobby. He was with his friends who looked very rich and lavish. Raju did not have the face to introduce his mother, so he just introduced his dad to his friends. Kamala was disappointed, but she looked as if she expected that.
In all possible ways Raju ignored her, disliked her and dishonored her. As a compassionate mother, she was very forgiving and loving.
Raju joined WIN IT company and was quite successful in his career. When everything was going fine, he got the emergency post which said ‘start immediately, your dad passed away’. Post the funeral, all his relatives insisted Raju to take his mom with him, but he refused to take her. He told his relatives that he wanted to have a peaceful life in Chennai and would not like to see such a scarred face every day. Also, he said, if he had to take her with him, it would only bring him bad luck. His words made Kamala break and her heart was torn into pieces.
After his dad’s death, Raju took 2 years to save money and planned his wedding with Rekha his lover. He invited a lot of people for his wedding, but failed to inform his mom. It had been more than 4 years after his wedding that he visited his village or met his mom. He was very busy with his work and life that nothing seemed important or prominent.
He never heard from his mom or anyone from his village for more than 5 years, moreover he was not bothered much. His routine continued till he received a letter from his mom. Though he was not interested to read the letter, he was a bit curious to read as it was the first letter ever from his ugly mom.
The letter read:
Dear son,
I know that you ignored me and disliked me just because I am ugly. I would like to tell you a real incident which happened when you were 2 years old. On one of the afternoons, I put you to sleep and stepped out to the nearby shop. You dad and grandparents were at home, so I was rest assured that they will take care of you. Little did I know that there would be a fire accident in one of the huts and it started spreading to the other huts.
When I returned, I saw our house in flaming fire and I saw your dad, grandparents and others standing outside and watching you inside the fire blazing hut. I fell into a seizure mode, but I never gave up. My only motto was to save my innocent baby who was sleeping inside, so I rushed into the hut not bothered about anything and I took you into my bosom, covered you with my pallu and went running out of the hut before it fell apart.
I came out and fell on the ground unconsciously. When I woke up, I saw myself lying on the hospital bed and I couldn’t wait to see my baby. I was so delighted to see my baby alive with no signs of scars or burns. I soon realized that my entire face, neck and hands were burnt and swollen and it was very painful. I had to go through a lot of pain just because of the fire burns on my face and all over my body.
My son, when everyone was just watching you sleep inside the hut that was on fire, my mind and heart could only think of saving my baby and was not bothered about me.
I had to sacrifice my beauty to make you look beautiful.
Love you loads,
Your Mom
As Raju was reading it, his eyes filled with tears and he could not control any longer. He cried loudly and continued crying till his eyes turned dry and that he could no longer cry. He immediately booked his ticket and started to his village to meet his mom. Throughout his journey, he recollected how much he had hurt her all these years, how he had ignored her and he realized the amount of pain and agony she would have gone through.
Little did he know that his mom died in the recent Tsunami hit which swallowed all the huts on the coastal area.
–END–
