Loneliness

Loneliness

7 mins
239


Haruto Tanaka strolled restlessly on the corridor of the hospital outside the operation theater. The doctor came out and smilingly said “onna noko”. Haruto heaved a sigh of relief . Aika his wife was expecting and had given birth to a baby girl. He saw Aika being taken out of the operation theater into a room along with the baby. After a while Haruto was called inside the room to see the baby. He entered and smiled at Aika. On seeing the child he said “Kanojowa utsukushi “meaning she is beautiful.


Aika stayed in the hospital for a week. On finishing the discharge formalities, Haruto carried the child to the car as Aika walked along. Aika sat slowly in the car. Haruto’s mother was waiting for them inside the car and took the baby in the back seat. She was joyful to see her granddaughter.

On reaching home, Haruto’s mother carried the baby slowly till the living room. The house was full of guests. Everyone clapped and said “Sugoi”. It was the first child in the family and all relatives as well as friends were overjoyed. The baby was placed in the cradle and everyone took turns to see her. The toddler was unaware of the joyful moments she had given to all and kept her eyes closed most of the time.


Aika went to her room and rested on the bed for a while. In the meantime, Haruto’s mother had lunch. They all chatted for two hours and the guests left after that. It was evening by the time everyone left and Haruto as well as his mother were tired. Both of them rested for an hour. Haruto’s mother knocked at the bedroom door and asked “Haitte mo idesu ka “ meaning “Can I come in?”. Haruto replied “Hai okasan no kotoga dekimasu “ which means “Yes mom you can “. Aika got up from the bed washed her face and all three sat at the tea area. Haruto made tea and all of them them had tea. Tea making is a tradition in Japan and is considered to be an occasion. After sipping tea, Haruto’s mother carried the te tray to the wash basin, She washed and placed all items carefully after wiping them. The baby had started crying and Haruto’s mother carried her to Aika. Haruto in the meantime carried the cradle inside the bedroom. On feeding the baby, she fell asleep in Aika’s arms. Haruto took the child and placed her in the cradle.


Days passed by and on a Sunday morning, they took the baby to the church so that she could be named. After the prayer service and choir, the kid was taken to father who named her as “Sakura”. Sakura Tanaka was the apple of everyone’s eye. She chatted, played, looked beautiful and intelligent. After clearing school with good grades she applied for universities of America and got some invitation letters. She chose the University of California at Los Angeles with a computer science stream. She read the letter of acceptance and yelled: “Mom, Dad I have got a full scholarship at the California University”. Her parents replied “Congratulations, but will you leave us?”. She said, “It's only a matter of four years of degree and then you all can come with me to America”. Her parents were happy for her success but the feeling of letting her go away from them brought sadness. They had never stayed away from Sakura.


Sakura packed her bags after getting the visa from the American embassy and collected some dollars. Haruto booked three tickets and her parents were accompanying her to the University for completing the admission formalities. Haruto’s mother was old and couldn’t travel so she stayed back and allowed Sakura to leave with a heavy heart. All of them left for the airport, boarded and reached after traveling for twelve hours approximately. “Aika and Sakura you two wait here while I book the cab to the hotel,” said Haruto. All the three then boarded the taxi and left the airport to reach the hotel. The city of Los Angeles was very developed and full of skyscrapers. The atmosphere was lively and people were tall, unlike Tokyo. Sakura was very excited and said, “Wow it’s a beautiful city”.  


The cab dropped them to the hotel. It was almost afternoon by the time they checked in. After a shower and some food, they slept off to overcome the jet lag ad tiredness. The three woke up by evening, had dinner and again slept off. The next morning Haruto shook Aika and Sakura “Please wake up and get dressed, else we will be late to the university”. The two got up from the bed, dressed and Sakura said: “I have to take some files of certificates and accomplishments”. She opened her bag, removed the files and the three went to the university. After the admission formalities, they headed to the hotel where Sakura was going to stay during the course. The rooms had a bed, laptop, study table, chair and a table lamp along with the attached restroom. Sakura was excited to begin her new journey. After going back to the hotel, the three spent some quality time together before falling asleep.


Haruto and Aika left Sakura’s luggage at the hostel room and hugged her. “Study hard and do not worry about anything, “said Haruto. Sakura nodded and with tears in her eyes, Aika said bye to her daughter. The two then picked up their luggage from the hotel room, checked out and boarded the flight to Tokyo. Life had now become challenging for Sakura. She had stayed in a protected environment and here was alone. There were times when she was homesick and lonely but tried to study. Aika, Haruto and Haruto’s mother also missed Sakura. Sakura against all odds was doing well in her semester exams and soon cleared two with flying colours. She came home during the breaks and left after a fortnight of holidays. All waited for those breaks.


One day while Sakura was coming from the class to the hostel, she got a call from Tokyo. She said “Hello”. The caller said, “Sakura I am your distant aunt and have something to tell you”. Sakura replied, “please do”. Her aunt burst out “Your parents and grandma met with an accident last night and are no more”. Sakura couldn’t believe the words. Her whole life had shattered and it appeared as if someone had ripped her apart. It took some time for her to realize what she had lost and tears started flowing down her cheeks. The caller continued “Cremation is tomorrow, please come to Tokyo immediately”.


Sakura packed her bags and hurriedly left for the airport. After cremating her parents she came back as her semester exams were near and there was little time to grieve. She had nothing left with her. he was all alone in this world and loneliness surrounded her as she became very serious. It was mandatory for her to do well in her studies now. She mustered some courage and studied. During breaks she went home,opened the door,cleaned the house and remembered the times spent. She cried for days as there was no one to even ask her about her well being. One day she went to the church and met father. While she was sad, father asked her the reason. She wept and told the sad story of untimely death of her family.


He said “Child everything happens for a reason and is destined. This is lord’s wish. Accept everything that you get either good or bad as the divine’s blessing. There must be definitely good in store for you”. After spending a few hours at church Sakura was relieved. She became positive and slowly started overcoming her depression. Prayer gave her strength and she remembered all the good times. The incident had earlier affected her studies also but slowly she concentrated and excelled. She thanked god for everything every day and graduated with good grades. She also got a job at the world’s best design centre of software. She had overcome her pain, loneliness by studying hard, doing good deeds and positive thinking. Her attitude changed her way of living and she fell in love with Ito Kobayashi from Japan who was always by her side. The void inside her slowly faded away as moments of love came into her life.


She concluded

 “Life is a journey,

Comprising of good and bad times,

After every night comes a day,

However difficult times are,

Attitude and gratitude changes it,

Live every moment with bliss,

As it will never come again,

Treasure all memories,

Love all and serve all,

Do good and leave a footprint behind,

So that the world remembers you,

For all the good deeds”!!



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