Red Jewellery Box

3 months back…

When Birha was a small girl she was always taught by her mother – “Dear, Always remember that teachers are your second mothers. They nurture you and they teach u true meaning of life..”

This statement was always nailed in Birha’s mind..And she completely believed in it always till she grew up.

Birha’s mentor, who was an angel-like lady with a strong personality and heart of gold, moulded her and showed her life is beautiful and taught her to be happy.

Birha thought her to be second mother because she nurtured her and taught her true meaning of life. So Birha was highly attached to her.. because she held Birha’s hand when Birha saw a downfall in life.. So Birha used to call her mummaa..

That day, Birha came to know that her mentor was unwell. She tried not to go there and bother her because she wanted her mentor to rest.. But again her heart took over her mind.. And she could not resist from seeing her.. She went there...

Birha was quite bubbly, chirpy and childish by nature. Her parents used to always gift her a teddy when she used to fall ill. So that she could cuddle it up and sleep. And she believed that teddy bear healed her illness. Birha thought it would heal her cancer also.

Yes! Birha was a cancer patient…

Birha loved her mentor a lot and more than love, she respected her a lot, A respect that’s beyond worship.

She went there with a teddy bear for her.. Her mentor was someone in forties. She immediately started laughing on seeing the teddy bear and at Birha’s innocence.

She told – “I can’t accept this since I am someone who is quite old for this. So please take it back else I will give it to someone else. I certainly won’t keep it.”

Birha never argued. She wanted to explain her that – “But mummaa, this will heal you.. It has healed me also every time..”.. But she just din’t say anything. She plainly said – “Ok mummaa.”

Birha felt little bad because she wanted to heal her mummaa anyhow. So she thought that – “Mummaa should have taken it just because I brought it for her to get well soon. It would have healed her naa..”

But she didn’t utter a word. Because for her, at that time more important was that she was with her mentor and she was enjoying every bit of being with her because she wanted to learn more and more from her..

Birha enjoyed a lot that day with her mummaa.. Passed comments, enjoyed, did all kinds of silly and crazy stuff and both of them laughed. She felt contented as she saw laughter on her mumma’s face. It was as if her mumma’s laughter was getting reflected in Birha’s eyes.

Just when Birha was about to leave, her mentor said – “Birha. I am leaving the city soon.”

Birha felt as if there was no ground beneath her feet. And as if her world has turned upside-down. After that, whatever her mummaa spoke, Birha could not understand. For her, it was as if her mumma’s lips were moving but she could not hear. She could see her world devastating because she was too attached to her. Her mummaa being on a high post whenever went out even for 2-3 days trip, she would feel alone. So she leaving the city forever, even the thought made her feel shattered.

However, she saw the firmness in her mentor’s eyes. So Birha decided to hold back her emotions and tears. She just wanted to move out of the place and go somewhere and cry loudly. But she managed to smile all the time till she was there. She felt a pain in her heart which was much more unbearable than the cancerous pain even.

Birha wanted to plead her to stay back because Birha needed her. Birha was highly addicted to her. Every iota of detail what Birha did in her daily routine, she used to share with her since she was her only best friend. Birha could not imagine the world without her. But Birha decided to keep quiet because she believed in her mentor’s happiness. So somehow she still managed to smile while heart wanted to hug her tight and cry aloud.

Her mentor said after a while- “Promise me that you will take your therapy.”

Birha said – “I will. I have always obeyed you. I promise I will take the therapy.”

The mentor was unaware that the only ray of hope that actually kept Birha positive and gave her will power to live life, inspite of cancer, was – the mentor herself.

She never took Birha seriously but that wasn’t her fault. She always felt – “There are thousands of students who get attached to teachers because teachers take care of them. This phase shall pass and Birha will recover and move on.”

But Birha was still a child, unaware of harsh realities of life. She always wanted her loved ones to stay around her as she had only few, namely her mentor and her parents.

Birha, while leaving, went to hug her like she did usually. But the mentor refused to hug since she was unwell and Birha might get caught up in her infection. She was right in her way because she didn’t want her Birha to fall ill but Birha felt a sting in her heart. Because again she wanted to give her a healing hug so that she heals. That’s the only thing she wanted at that moment.

While leaving her mentor, gave her a box – A red beautiful jewellery box..

That day, for the first time, Birha didn’t feel contented after meeting her mummaa because neither did Mummaa take her gifts and nor did she let her hug her…

As soon as she left her mummaa’s place, she started crying in the car itself.. She cried all the way.

While coming back, Birha saw a small girl, sleeping on the footpath, shivering with cold. She went to her and gave her the teddy thinking it might heal her atleast and it might cuddle her up.

That night, some souls thought to be independent, some souls were silently sacrificing the dependency.

Some souls healed in the chilly night, some souls got shattered and heart got burnt.

When Birha reached home, She got message from her mentor saying – “Putting trust in someone requires a lot of courage. I trust you that you will understand the delicacy of this relationship and maintain the sanctity for the times to come.”

Birha got shocked reading this and just said like she used to – “I will .. Don’t worry… Will never let u down mummaa?”

Birha understood the meaning of the message. Because she was an author and a poetess, she romanced with words with all the time. And so she understood what her mentor wanted to say in those flowery words.

Birha understood what was coming then in her life.. She decided to still keep her emotions to herself…

3 months passed… Mummaa left the city.. Birha lost the meaning of the words – “Life” and “Smile”. She was however happy that her mentor moved on in life and was happy at least. All that mattered to Birha was her happiness even if it meant sacrifice of her own emotions.

Today

Today, Birha is in the therapy room, taking radiations as promised to mentor. Her body and her cancer is healing with radiation but her emotional side is shattered.

Every time she enters the radiation room, she carries a bag with her. That is not allowed usually. But she has requested and pleaded the doctor and convinced him to take that along with her in that room. And every single soul wanted to know what’s in that bag including the doctor because never in his medical career had someone requested him so.

But no one was allowed to even sneak into the bag. Not even parents.

The positive light that gave her will power constantly to live is now lost into the dark. The guiding light that showed her life is beautiful is now no more sneaking into her life..

Birha has completed her radiation session for the day.

The sister enters the radiation room. She is lying still on the bed. Sister goes near her to help her stand up. When she touches her, Birha’s body is pale and cold. She tries to shake her up but her body doesn’t move a bit.

Sister immediately rushes out and calls for a doctor. The doctor comes inside and tries every possible thing. And then declares that she’s no more.

Her parents shatter. They had lost their girl 3 months back – the chirpy, the bubbly and happy-go-lucky girl when her mentor went away but now they now lost her body and her physical existence as well.

That day, after cremation of her body her parents received a call from hospital. They told them to collect the bag.

When they went to hospital, there was an entire hospital staff standing there just to know what was so dear in that bag that she carried to radiation therapy.

When they opened the bag, they saw –

A RED JEWELLERY BOX ( the one gifted by her mentor).. in that was a chit.. a chit on which something was scribbled and there were marks of few drops of tears .

The chit read –

“My sweetest mummaa.. please come back to me.. because you are the only jewel I had in my life. I just want to see u once and hug u once. Please come back.”

True love or the unconditional love always means wanting what’s the best for someone u love..even if that doesn’t include you.. And no other love can be more unconditional than that of mumma-daughter.