Burning Cylinder

Her name was Nafeesa. Amma never liked her from the very first day. She was hired to take care of Amma, as Amma was unable to walk. Amma would say to Diya, “In the whole world, you could only get a Muslim girl to look after me?”

“Her feedback is good, Amma. Don’t look for her religion. Look at her work. She has experience of handling patients of your type. So, she will manage all properly.” Diya responded as usual.

“I don’t like her at all. She eats non vegetarian food at her home, and how can I let her touch my food.” She said incomprehensibly.

There was a continuous hissing sound from outside, initially she didn’t pay attention to it, but the sound increased so she couldn’t ignore it, she opened the door, and was shocked to see a burning cylinder lying just a few meters outside the main entrance.

Terrified, she shut the door and bolted it. The lying cylinder that had caught fire could be disastrous. She immediately went to tell Amma, but Amma was sleeping. She thought of running away before any worse could happen. Before the cylinder could explode, she would have left the house. But then what would happen to Amma. She couldn’t even walk. The thought of Amma stopped her feet. Though she knew Amma never liked her, but she couldn’t get away from her responsibility. Amma’s responsibility lied squarely on her shoulders. She couldn’t leave her like this. She tried to wake Amma up, Amma opened her eyes, looked angrily at her, then shut them again. She tried again and again with her heart pounding and face wet with tears, eventually managed to awake her.

After knowing the reason, “Why you are still here, run away, run fast. I am old, don’t think for me, you have your whole life in front of you. The cylinder can burst any minute, save yourself first. Taking me along will only waste your time, which you can utilize to save yourself. I refuse to go with you. Follow my order – go away.” Amma tried to intimidate Nafeesa.

Tears continued to fall off Nafeesa’s eyes, she was seeing Amma’s this attitude for the very first time. But Nafeesa was firm, she knew what she had to do. Forcefully, she made her sit on wheelchair carefully. When she opened the door, terror engulfed her. She stopped to a halt, felt miserable. But she knew, she had no choice. She composed herself, made her way outside, though it was not easy to get wheelchair out, but she had that strong warrior instinct inside her, which made everything possible. She ran away with Amma on the wheelchair, didn’t dare to look back. After reaching at a farther safe spot, she gathered mob, requested to help. Before worse could happen, fire was extinguished.

Amma certainly had developed great respect and admiration for Nafeesa.