A sparrow and a lady

Seema was busy preparing dinner, and her son, Raju, was playing with toys. Seema's life was so happy with her husband, Ramesh, and son, Raju. She had a small but happy home. She was crooning her favorite song. All of a sudden, the phone began to ring.

She answered the phone. It was a police officer on the other end saying, "Mr. Ramesh has been injured in an accident. Reach the district hospital immediately."

Hearing this, she was shocked for a little while. She began to tremble with fear. She somehow managed to pull herself together and rushed to the hospital with her three-year-old son Raju.

When she reached the hospital, she was informed by a nurse that Ramesh was in a coma and the next few hours were critical. She had no relatives or friends in the town to help her. She informed her mother and Ramesh's relatives who lived miles away in other towns. But before anyone of them could reach to help Seema, Ramesh passed away. She wept all night alone in the hospital. Her mother and other relatives came in the morning. All the relatives except her mother returned after the funeral and some rituals. She and her mother were alone with three-year-old Raju. Raju was unable to understand what happened to his father. He was waiting for his father to come.

Seema was in shock and was worried about her and Raju's future. She had no job, no source of income, and the relatives had no capacity to help her. Her days and nights were spent worrying in her room, where a pair of sparrows were building a nest. Seema was lost in herself and didn't give any attention to these sparrows.

That morning when Seema awoke from sleep, she heard the sound of tweeting coming from the nest. She looked at the nest and found two tiny heads looking out and tweeting. They were hungry and waiting for food. Just then, she heard the fluttering sound and a sparrow came in through the window and began to feed these two nestlings. The scene was fascinating for her. She had no will to get out of bed. The sparrows were coming in frequently to feed their young, and Seema was just watching and enjoying. One sparrow, which was female, was sitting on the grill of the window.

The second sparrow, which was a male, came in through the vent hole and proceeded to the nest. The ceiling fan was on, and the sparrow could not see the blades of the moving fan. It was hit by the blades of the fan and fell on the floor, and died after writhing for a little while. The other sparrow was shocked and was chirping stressfully.

Seema, too, was shocked seeing this. She murmured, "Why does happiness over so soon and sorrow come so soon?" Tears came into her eyes. The room was filled with sad sound of chirping. After some time, the sparrow stopped the sad chirping and flown away. Seema looked at the nest. It seemed desolate to her.

Seema began to think what would happen to these young birds, weather they would survive hunger or not and so on.

The entire room, the house was filled with a sad silent.

"Daughter, please take some food," Seema's mother came to her in the afternoon. Seema didn't respond to her and closed her eyes. Tears were falling from her eyes. Seeing this, her mother said, "How long will you mourn for Ramesh? Pull yourself together for the sake of Raju. He is a child, and he needs you." Seema replied, "I don't feel like eating anything."

Her mother put the plate on the table and said, "Eat whenever you feel like it."

Her mother could not see her daughter in this condition. She turned to go out of the room but stopped when her eyes fell on the dead sparrow. "Oh God, how did this sparrow die!"

Seema said, "Hit by the blades of the fan."

Her mother picked the dead sparrow up and went out to throw it out of the house.

In the evening, the nestlings were chirping impatiently, for they were hungry and no one was there to bring food and feed them. Seema got disturbed hearing the sad chirping of the

nestlings. Just then, her mother came in with a plate of food and began to feed her with her hands. Seema said, "The nestlings were alone and hungry."

Her mother said, "But you are not alone, I am with you and God is with these nestlings."

Raju came in and began to look at the nest. Seeing two tiny heads peeping out of the nest, he said to Seema, "Look, Mom, they are so cute. They are making noise."

Seema took him into her lap and said, "They are not making noise. They are weeping because their parents have gone."

Raju asked with curiosity, "Where?"

Seema replied, "They went very far away to God."

Raju questioned, "When will they return?"

Seema replied, "I don't know."

Raju asked, "When will Father come?"

Seema remained silent. Raju asked again. Tears came into her eyes. She replied, "Wait. He will come soon."

Raju asked, "What will give these little sparrows food?"

"God will give them food," his grandmother replied to him. She paused for a while and then said, "Your mother is tired and she needs proper sleep, so let her sleep and come with me."

And Seema again fell into worry. The nestlings were still chirping and waiting for food. Seema didn't know when she fell asleep while thinking. In the morning, her sleep broke with the fluttering of the sparrow and the chirping of the nestlings. The sparrow was chirping loudly and feeding its nestlings. Seeing this, Seema was happy. She switched off the fan to save the sparrow from the blades of the fan. And the sparrow began her work of bringing food to the nest and then feeding the nestlings. Lying on the bed, Seema was watching them.

    All of a sudden, it came to her that if a sparrow didn't give up, how could she give up? She shall not give up. She would leave no stone unturned to bring up Raju. Now she was feeling confident and free from worries. She got up and came out of the room with a confident smile. She was ready to face life.