Birthday Gift

Reshma convinced her father, Mr. Subbu, to buy her an expensive gift for her birthday. Only she knew how difficult it was for her father not to succumb to her yields. He had been doing it despite his wife's request not to do that since her birth. Considering his clerical job in the office, Reshma's mother tried to explain to her every time she used to cry for something or the other, but Reshma did not pay heed to her mother. Reshma's father somehow used to convince his wife that since Reshma was small and the only darling daughter, she would not understand all this and that she would definitely understand it once she grows up.

Reshma's father always used to make her feel special, on her birthday. He used to go to such an extent that even if he had to sell his dear vehicle for that, he would do it though it was his favorite two-wheeler.

This year also was no different for Reshma. She had made it a habit now. She knew that her father would never refuse to buy her anything, especially on her birthday. Call it innocence or being shrewd, she asked for an unimaginable gift from her father and that was too much for him to refuse it.

He had to abide by it since he was the one who used to buy each and everything Reshma had asked for. He didn't know what to do with her request, or rather demand. He thought of all possible ways to buy it, but nothing really worked out since morning. It was already 6 in the evening and every year they would celebrate her birthday at sharp 7.30, her birth time.

Reshma got ready a little too early for her birthday. She had called her friends home and was helping her mother in arranging things. She was looking at the clock at the same time. Her mother knew her anxiety but didn't know about the gift she had asked her father to buy. She thought she would get to know about it in an hour's time, and got busy in the kitchen. Reshma started walking from her balcony to the hall, waiting for her father.

Reshma's father went inside the jewelry shop and asked for the cost of the chain. The shop owner said it cost around a lakh rupees. Without thinking twice he requested him to take his new bike which was worth one and a half lakhs and give him the chain. The shop owner refused first, but then after seeing the condition of the bike and it's documents, he agreed to do so. Time was exactly 7. He immediately got it gift-packed and caught an auto.

Reshma's best friend, Ruhi, came in wearing a chain, which Reshma had asked her father to buy. She had a gift in her hand, which she gave to Reshma. Reshma immediately opened it and found a similar chain, which Ruhi said she had bought it for her. Reshma's mother told Ruhi that it was wrong on Ruhi's part to have asked her parents to buy such an expensive gift to which Ruhi started laughing and told them that it was an artificial chain and since Reshma had liked it so much, she had told her mother to buy it from the nearest fancy store, from where her mother had bought it for her too. Reshma got the shock of her life. She started crying and told her mother about the gift she had asked. Her mother started scolding Reshma very badly. Reshma didn't know how to react now. The only thing she knew was it was going to be 7.30, and her father had not come home yet. She went to the balcony to look for her father and saw that he was carried by 2 men. She couldn't bear the sight and was about to slip from the balcony calling out for her father. Thank God, she was held back tightly by Ruhi who had come behind Reshma asking her to cut the cake. Reshma's mother heard Ruhi's scream and immediately rushed to the balcony. She hugged both Reshma and Ruhi tightly.

The two men who had carried Reshma's father came inside the house. Reshma ran towards her father followed by her mother. He told Reshma that it was just a small accident and that he was alright. He told Reshma to cut the cake since it was already 7.30 with the gift box in his hand. Reshma hugged her father firmly and apologized to him for her clumsiness. She felt even more unhappy when she got to know that her father had sold his favorite bike to buy her a gift. Now, it was Ruhi's turn to say sorry which she did earnestly. Reshma's mother could not stand that her husband was injured, so she went inside to get some cotton and Dettol. She started cleaning it, which was indeed painful for Reshma to see. She made up her mind and told her father with a conviction that henceforth she would not trouble him by asking such gifts for her birthday and that she would ask him only one gift on every birthday of her's to which everyone became quiet, and started laughing afterward because the gift was a Birthday Cake.