Sujatha Rao

Inspirational Others

3.6  

Sujatha Rao

Inspirational Others

Christmas Spirit

Christmas Spirit

5 mins
214


As she lay in her bed, Shreemati could hear them singing. She pulled the blanket close to her chest as she continued to laze around in the bed. Winters in Hyderabad were the most pleasant. “Soon the year would be over. It feels as though it was just the other day the year had begun, though” she mused.

She found the strumming of the guitar crescendo as the song came to an end. “John’s son plays the guitar so well,” she thought to herself. In the normal course, she found these neighbours a real nuisance with John, the head of that family, coming home drunk and creating a scene very frequently. But to give credit where it is due, the drunkard never bothered anyone else in the colony other than his own family members, to whom, she was sure he was the bigger nuisance than he was to others.

Despite having grown-up children, John never bothered to change his behaviour. “Maybe he is incapable of changing himself.” Shreemati felt.

They started to sing her favourite song “the silent night”. She knew they were practising for Christmas, which was just around the corner. Thanks to her daughter who had studied in a convent school and thanks also to her friend Maria, she knew some of the rituals that went with Christmas. She had, in fact, come to appreciate the spirit that surrounded the festival. People seemed more welcoming and forgiving across the world during Christmas time.

Though she would normally get flustered to be woken up so early in the morning, she didn’t mind when the same happened on account of the neighbourhood kids singing Christmas carols. “After all, I too have to display some Christmas spirit,” she thought as she yawned and got up realizing there was no point in struggling to get back to sleep.

She decided to visit her friend Maria on Christmas day as she did every year. Though her friend was not likely to celebrate the festival in great gusto that year due to the passing away of her octogenarian mother-in-law, she still wanted to pay her the customary visit.

Maria’s mother-in-law lived a long and healthy life and ensured that she lived her life on her own terms. Though she was widowed a few years ago, she didn’t let the parting from her husband come in the way of enjoying her life to the fullest. She went out every day engaging an auto-rickshaw to wherever her fancy took her, despite her family members asking her to take it slow.

She demanded her sons’ attention and affection as she deemed it fit, be it day or night. As her family members built apartments next to each other, she decided to live on her own in an apartment next to her two sons’ families. Daughters-in-law dreaded her autocratic style, but they couldn’t help admire her free spirit that defied to get bowed down in spite of her advancing age.

Despite disagreeing with her on many counts and disliking her for her autocratic ways, Maria held a special place in her heart for her mom-in-law as they both bonded over their common interests of making candles and baking cakes. Come Christmas, they made these items in lots, so that the sale proceeds could be given off to some charity cause. Together they made some pretty “Dias” during Diwali time and gifted them to close friends. Shreemati used to tease Maria that she was her “Lady of the Dias”.


Maria was hit hard by her mother-in-law’s sudden passing away. She felt quite depressed for a while by the vacuum that was left behind by her absence.

Shreemati wanted to drop by Maria’s place so that she could let her friend vent about her feelings freely. When she called her to check about a good time for her to drop by, she heard a lot of noise in the background. Maria told her she was outside and would call her back when she got back home.

When Maria informed her over the promised call that she had gone out to purchase items for Christmas, Shreemati asked her whether she was celebrating Christmas that year.

Maria replied “Yes. Why should I not?”

Shreemati was quite taken aback when she heard Maria retorting back like that. Before she could reply, she heard Maria continue “In fact, I have decided to celebrate it with a big bang this year. I am throwing a big party and hence I went out to purchase a lot of items for the same. You too are invited by the way.”

By now Shreemati was quite confused and somewhat disappointed at the excitement in Maria’s voice. ‘Just a couple of days back, she was so very depressed and today she is talking of throwing a party, she realised with a start.

“I am also planning to bake lots of cake. I am going to miss mummy though.”

Coming out of her reverie, Shreemati thought “at least she is missing her.”

“This party is for the children from an orphanage known to our Church Shree. You see, whatever Mummy’s shortcomings were, she was an excellent family person. Maybe thanks to her authoritative upbringing and her austerity her children turned out fine. I decided that we should give the taste of family to people who miss that this Christmas in her memory. I roped in my co-sisters too into this. We are all very excited about the day. All of us are working together as a team. I feel she is holding us together even when she is not around Shree.”

Shreemati’s eyes turned moist as she listened to all this.

“You are coming, right? I need all the help I can get” Maria asked raising her voice a little bit.

“Yes. I would come.” Shreemati replied feeling quite touched. “Christmas spirit seems to be all around me,” she thought as she hung up the phone.


This story, based on certain true inputs, is celebrating the Christmas Spirit.


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