A TREASURED PAST

A bed. Isn’t it a small thing? But you never know how many memories are hidden under its beautiful sheets and fluffy mattresses. We all have memories longer than the road that stretches ahead, isn’t it?

Sometimes, I look up at the blanket of brightly shinning stars that stretch to infinity and think about the days that I have left behind and the time that is to come. One of the things that come to my mind while reminiscing about the bygone is my bed. My mother bought that bed on the day of her marriage. Working as a lecturer in a college in Jajpur, Odisha, she got married to my father who was in the same profession and serving in a college in Sikkim.

After a lot of hardship, there was standing our own house, our own home. From the streets it is brick and mortar topped with tiles, the same as any other, yet if you step inside, you will feel that it’s so different; a place where the lungs choose to fill a little deeper and the heart beats a little steadier.

Days passed and I started getting used to our new house which felt like the safest thing to ever exist for me. As I became of suitable age, I was admitted in a school nearby our house. Soon I came in touch of the technophile world, and my parents bought me my very own computer, which is my strongest companion till date, always helping me with every sort of thing. Even nowadays, when it hangs numerously, the loyal me never dared to give it a slight slap. But then suddenly, I became extremely fond of books. My parents readily bought me much kind of books which I demanded. Till date, I never allow anyone to touch my bookshelf as I love my books more than my life.

It was just a normal day for me till my mother got the news. The news said that my mother got selected for a higher post in a university situated in Sambalpur, a town far from my own home. I knew that my mother was never going to reject the offer. I had nothing else to do rather than accepting my fate.

While everyone was supporting and congratulating my mother and making me understand the importance of adjustments in life, they were failing to understand the long bond that I shared with my prized possessions, my treasured belongings, my school, my friends a

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nd my locality. But fate won, and my heart lost. I had to accompany my mother for a long distance journey leaving behind everyone, especially my calm and cozy bed.

I had a few days left for my final exams to get over and before the transfer. My parents were busy over settling belongings, finding a new house in a very new locality, arranging a new school for me, moving around the market to buy new accessories, but I was treasuring those days. I have no idea how tears swelled up in my eyes just looking at a common shop in the market, but deep inside I knew that I am going to visit my home, my locality once in a blue moon. During that short period, every time my father took me to the market, he did his work, but I stood there, glued to my position, trying to click a perfect picture of my hometown; just to adore it forever in my heart.

This was it. I was sitting on my bed, feeling its velvety covers and staring helplessly at my parents’ happiness, with the last minute hope lingering in my mind. I couldn’t look back. In a moment, I was out of my own house, handing over the treasures of my life, to a person who never knew its value.

Then my mother showed us her new shiny, polished king-sized bed, designed with motifs, crafted by the professionals of a famous brand. And her new branded mattress, perfectly hard according to the physio and ortho doctors.

I was admitted to a new school, whose online classes started right at 6 O’clock in the morning that paid no heed to my long hours of sleep. I tried to adjust. I am still trying too. I don’t know, how long will it take for me to calibrate the change, how long will it take for me to understand my parents’ perspective. But I know that nothing can be more comfortable for a person than his hometown, his own home.

Instead, I understood one thing. Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future. I have to adjust. I have to change my mind. We all have to one day. But definitely, the perfect picture of my placid bed will cross my mind every time I start reminiscing; exactly like two star-crossed lovers thwarted and bound by the cruel destiny.