Celebration

It was a regular rainy day in the month of July. She returned from School, with a stripe blue shirt and a navy blue skirt on which mud water had painted its own design. Her socks seemed to be soaked in water, having a slight tinge of yellow; this may have been due to less detergent being used at home or due to weather treatments. Her white PT shoes displayed its original colour, while chalk dust covered it in patches.

However, the contrast was her beautiful smile which outweighed everything around her, including her small little house.

Her eyelashes had droplets of water, while her eyes reflected intelligence. Her hair still neat as a pin, when she called in for her Grandma..

Grandma (Mrs Bennett) was few feet away from her, but it took a while for Mrs Bennett to extend her arms to help Meera to take off the school bag, as she dragged herself through the wheel chair.

Mrs Bennett wore a Cotton Saree neatly draped. Her white hair tied as a bun, and 2 old bangles, sort of unnoticeable around her wrists.

Meera then, quickly ran towards the washroom, undressed and patted her herself dry with a towel, wore a tape frock and rushed towards the kitchen.

Her stomach gave her signals of hunger, but she was unable to find anything to feed herself instantly. She checked in the refrigerator, where she found 2 eggs, 100gm butter and few raw vegetables.

Meera being 6 years old, about to be a year older the next day, wondered if it was ok to eat 1 whole raw tomato and if that would prevent her Mamma from preparing dinner tonight.

Having spent few minutes in dilemma, Meera shut the door of refrigerator, filled her stomach with 1 glass of water and went to unpack and dry her school bag.

She began to wander and pondered over what she had observed over the years. Girls wore colour dresses to school on their birthdays and shared small tokens like chocolates, pencils etc. They seemed to be happier on those days, and were delighted when everyone wished them well. She had also heard about some “CELEBRATION” which they had at their houses. She was inquisitive to know what happened there, and only hoped to witness one someday.

Meera sat staring at the watch and waited for Mrs Linnet to return who was the bread earner of the family. Linnet struggled over the last few years to make both ends meet, with the only certainty to see Meera grow up bright and beautiful.

Meera faintly recalled her father, Mr. Rajendra Pratap, whom she had mostly learnt about through photographs. She only knew of keeping few basics in place, to study well and give her best of what she could, and keeping sailing.

In school, she had few friends whom to she spoke to, only in school.

The clock struck 7’ and Mamma rang the doorbell. Meera ran to open the door, while Mrs Bennett peeped from a distance. Linnet seemed to have fought a battle to return from work. She freshened herself and straight went in the kitchen. Quickly cut few veggies , put some cereals into the cooker and set the stove. 22 mins and dinner was ready!

Meera was extremely hungry and delighted. Three of them arranged themselves on a mat, near the sitting area and gulped food at their own pace.

Meera wanted to enquire about any present that her mom would have got for her, but she then chose to remain quiet. She completed her homework and went to bed.

It was 6 am and she set everything ready for school, except her uniform which she could not find. Meera called in for Mamma , and was directed to check in the cupboard again!

Meera slowly scanned her eyes through the few clothes in the cupboard, where she found a new yellow frock with frills lying on the rack. She haphazardly opened it, only to find it to her size. She was about to call her mom, when she saw both Mrs Linnet and Mrs Bennett with extended arms waiting to hug her.

She hugged both and asked, when she would get to wear the dress.

Mamma said, “The day is today…”

Meera was both happy and sad. Happy as it would be the first time she would wear colour dress to school on her birthday. But, sad as she knew wearing colour dress would mean sharing something with everyone in the class, which her family would not be able to manage.

       While she thought so, her grand mom handed over a shoe box neatly packed to Meera. When she unpacked it, she saw a box full of hand stitched handkerchiefs. She gazed in amazement as to what she would now do with these. No sooner, did she think, than Mrs Bennett stated the same was for her to share with the class.

Tears flooded Meera’s glittering eyes and she could not imagine being happier than this. She tightly held her mamma and exclaimed..”this is celebration!” Mrs Linnet nodded emotionally, not really understanding why Meera used the term.

Later that day, she wrote on a piece of paper and gave to both her Mamma and Grand mom that---

I CELEBRATE YOU…I GIVE WHAT I HAVE…THE LEARNINGS FROM YOU..

Mrs Linnet and Mrs Bennett could not believe what they had just read.. and exclaimed in joy… “ This is CELEBRATION..”