Moral Short Story – The Little Lilly Park
Photo credit: Schick from morguefile.com
Every now and then she was checking the time and murmuring ‘I got to cover the story of a film hero, let’s finish it asap’. I poured the tea into the kettle and walked slowly towards her and sat in a chair opposing her and put the tray on the table beside us, she introduced herself as reporter Nirmala from a newspaper and I shook my hand with her in formality and asked her “So, ma’am you want to take my interview?”
She nodded in response and continued “Yes sir, but will complete it very soon, don’t take much of your precise time”
I poured the tea in two different cups and offered her one and said with a formal smile “I have got all the time in the universe, it seems you are in desperation… so what you want to know about me?”
She took a sip and asked “Sir we want to know how you grew this Little Lilly Park? what is the reason behind growing a park and naming it ‘The Little Lilly Park’?”
I took a deep breath and told “You will be late for the hero’s interview then”
10 years ago
“Ladies and Gentlemen on this beautiful evening of Shruti’s birthday I would like to make an announcement that is… I and Shruti are getting married very soon”, the crowd cheered gently but Shruti angrily took me off stage.
“Why did you make that announcement?”
“What’s wrong with you? We had planned this 6 months ago and you are acting like it’s a bad surprise, and why you are avoiding me for three months?.” I asked in a very gentle voice avoiding a scene in front of guests.
“Ya , we had planned but you are not same as you were then, now you can’t stand on your own feet, how can you stand in your life? You neither have feet nor the fate. You need these stupid clutches to stand and walk, don’t you remember you have lost legs… now please don’t spoil my party and please…” she said in a very high tone.
I took my clutch she had thrown aside and simply walked away from the party.
I and Shruti were in love for two years and everything was perfect, her family had agreed but on a very bad day I met with an accident and lost the strength in my legs , I was hospitalized for weeks and once or twice Shruti and her family came to meet me and all I was left with was misery, pain and loneliness, I even thought of killing myself but just because of Shruti I kept living, but whom I was living for didn’t want me to live with, with no reason to live, I decided to kill myself and the very next day I went to the Pharmacy to buy sleeping pills with my prescription letter given at the time of my accident. While paying my bill I noticed a hand bill with the statement ‘Need B+ blood’, Since I had the same blood group and I was about to die I wanted to donate my blood, I dialed the number and noted down the address of hospital.
I was lying on a bed in the hospital, on the right-side bed was the victim, she was a child of around 10 years, beside her stood her mom with worried expression caressing the girl’s head, another patient was asking the girl’s mom about the girl’s condition, I heard what the girl’s mom told “She is suffering from a condition when the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough red blood cells, hence the organs receive less oxygen, the only cure is blood transfusion from a healthy person every month, but from few months she has got Iron overload which is a side effect of frequent blood transfusion, the excess iron got stored in the liver and it will lead to liver failure very soon, she can’t survive more than 6 months”, she told it with a firm voice, probably she has learnt to live with the fact.
After the completion of this process I got up and asked her mom who was standing in the corridor “Ma’am don’t you feel fear?”
“Fear of what?” she asked confused.
“Fear of losing your child, you told she is gonna die soon, won’t you feel the pain of separation?”
“Of course she will die but neither I am gonna lose her nor she is gonna separate from me.”
I was puzzled, she understood my expression and continued “Okay I will elaborate you, you know there are around 7 billion people in this world, but we don’t feel everyone’s presence in our life and out of 7 billion we may know around hundreds of people and we feel there presence in our life when they are with us and in 7 billion we hardly love 1 or 2 persons the most, and when we truly love a person we feel their presence even when they are not with us, and I am sure I love my child the most” she told it looking at the child sleeping peacefully on the bed.
I went near her bed looked at her face, it was calm and soothing, it resembled the face of little angels from the fairy tales not that angels from facebook, the smile dominating on her face could bring back the life of a dead. While I was about to leave her mom put a plant on my hand I asked “what is this?”
“It’s her dream ‘Greenary’, she loves environment, she plants trees wherever she can and encourage others to plant more, she had a dream to grow a park in future, she knows her condition and believes someone will fulfill her dream” I heard that and nodded. Before leaving the hospital I asked her mom “Ma’am what is her name?”
“Lalita, we call her Lilly.”
I was walking down the street towards my home slowly with the help of my clutches, sleeping pills still being in my pocket, millions of questions were interrogating me in my head, that little girl and her mom had taught a big lesson in my life, I made a decision, decision to live,” I had considered Shruti as that 1 person whom I loved the most but now she is not even in the list of hundreds of people whose presence affect me a little, she will be in those 7 billion people whose existence won’t make any difference”. I had 10 acres of land left by my dad, where I wanted to build a school but, after this incidence I decided to grow a park. It was not an easy task to grow a park in that place, I sold two acres and started the work, it took almost a year to complete the construction itself, few NGOs noticed my work and helped me with money to fulfil my dream, sorry, to fulfil Lilly’s dream.
The reporter heard everything and told “It was really an inspiring journey, from a guy willing to die to a successful social worker, from an abandoned place to a park organizing national level flowers exhibition. Very few might be knowing about your past. You had almost attempted a suicide, sir what’s your view on suicide?”
“See ma’am suicide is when we kill our own soul that’s why we call it ‘Aatmahatya’. But when kill ourselves we end up killing our body not the soul, soul will take rebirth, hence we end our life being a murderer, but when we pollute our environment, when we make it a worst place to live in, we are gifting a pollute world to our younger generation, soon birth rate will fall and so many souls will not be able to take rebirth. So I call this a real suicide that is polluting our environment in any way.” I said taking the last sip of my tea and checked the time, 40 minutes have crossed “ Ma’am it is getting really late, you still got to cover the story of a hero” I said standing up with the help of my clutches.
“Sir, I think I have covered it already” said the reporter with proudness in her eyes and took her bag getting ready to leave “nice meeting you sir, I learnt lot of things today”.
I followed her to her vehicle, I stood till her vehicle went away waved my hand and turned back, a little girl in a wheel chair approached me with a beautiful yellow rose in her hand and said “Uncle this is for you, I really liked the exhibition.”
“Thank you beta” I said taking the flower. I gazed at the wheel chair thinking ‘what might have put this little girl in wheel chair?!’
Like she understood my thought the little girl said “Uncle, mumma says I am special, see uncle, other kids have to cry for bicycle, I don’t have to. Mumma says god didn’t want my cute legs to get tired so he didn’t make me even to stand.” As the girl finished her sentence her mom called her “sweety come, we got to go”.
I almost guessed the women, 10 years gap has’t blurred her image in my head, “Just a minute mummy” replied the kid and continued “Uncle I want to become social worker like you, mumma says she will support me always and will never leave me”, her mom came searching the kid, I looked at her and I was right, she looked exactly same as she looked a decade ago, I saw the awkwardness in her eyes, I replied to the kid ignoring her presence,
“I hope she will, at least this time” further looking straight into her eyes I said “Who told we need feet and fate to stand in the life? All we need is faith.”
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