Short Story – A Precious Gift
Photo credit: mconnors from morguefile.com
I never thought that I have to migrate to another state within my country at the age of 14. It was doubly sad for me. One was being lost my father due to cancer and another leaving the native place setting a destination which never would be the same as a home town.
I was busy exchanging the addresses as those days landline telephone was a status symbol and there were not many.
My family got involved in selling off / gifting away all the stuffs which we could not carry with us. So a list was made as what all need to be disposed off. On top of the list was a wooden cradle. Cradles are especially meant for newborns but this cradle being a traditional and a big one in which two kids can sit and swing. My mother decided to gift it to my friend Sara as she used to love playing in it.
We moved from there and for a while I was in touch with my old friends. Soon I got engaged with the new schedule of school, studies, adjusting to the new metro city -the city of joy – Calcutta.
Times fled like winks and soon my letters to friends became limited but used to get the whereabouts of almost all the friends. Finally I heard the news of marriages of my childhood friends one after another including Sara. My thoughts wandered about her, our good times in the native town of Kerala etc. In the meanwhile I got my first job and was happy to learn about the service industry, professionalism and so on.
I happen to visit my native town after a very long gap of 20 years. OMG! What a scene – Sara’s daughter is sleeping in the cradle and Sara was smiling saying ‘do you remember this gift of your mom’?
I also came to know Sara’s mother wanted to give away this Cradle to someone else and Sara was too upset on her mother’s decision and fought with that customer to get her gift back. Sara, even today, treats this gift as a blessing, care and a token of love from my mother to her. She now passes on the cradle to the other newborn babies within the locality and gets it back when the babies start walking.
On my very recent visit to her, she showed me her precious gift that she treats so dearly, kept in a corner of her house –The Wooden ‘Cradle’. She continued ‘this is not just a material thing; this is a symbol of our friendship indicating strong bond.
“The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value”.
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