Mom's Secret

    “What’s this?” I got something which was neatly packed in a beautiful piece of cloth. We are cleaning the home and found it.

   “Open it,” my brother said and I did. I found a diary in it and we both looked at each other. He came to my side and took it from my hands. We opened it together only to get the shock of our life.

   “What we are seeing is true, right? Or we are in any dream?” Bhai questioned. I pinched him hard to make him believe that we are in the reality and not in any dream. He glared at me and I kept my tongue out teasing him.

   “What might be this diary about?” Bhai mumbled the exact words which are in my heart. I shrugged my shoulders and we both concluded to open it and check it.

   “Close the door until we read this,” Bhai suggested and I closed it. We opened the diary and started reading it.

  “Hi, how are you? Todaay I am so happy. Do you know why? I got 1st prize in the poetry recitation competition that was held at my school. The fun is we have to write our own poetry and then recite it. I decided to write a poem on Hard work using my imagination. I am penning down my poem here so I can read it whenever I want.

“The days without food,

The nights without sleep,

The pockets without money,

Life without respect.

The pages you turned,

The resumes you threw,

The corporations you visited,

The dreams you dreamed.

The insults you bore,

The scoldings you got,

The suggestions you heard,

The glares you avoided.

The frustration you possess,

The bitterness you got,

The despairs you went,

The outrage you handled.

The days you cried,

The days you gave up,

The days you failed,

The days you are demotivated.

The hard work you did,

The challenge you accepted,

The thorns you walked through,

The pain you bore. 

The goal you reached,

The dream you dreamt of,

Success in your hands,

The hard work pays off.”

  I got 1st prize for this and I am happy. I want to share thighs happiness with my parents but my father wasn’t at home. He didn’t come back from his work. I waited for him and I don’t even know when I slept. The next day before I woke up my parents left for their work. I can’t even blame them for this because if they don’t go to work then we won’t have food to eat as we are a poor family. I decided to say it to them in the evening after coming back from school. I got freshened up and went to have my breakfast. There was a bowl of white rice and buttermilk by its side along with an onion. I had my breakfast and then went to school. 

  That day went by flying in the clouds with my imagination of my parent's reactions. I went back home jumping like a deer and the minute I reached home there are so many people standing there. When I went inside I have seen my mother who was crying silently sitting at the side and my father was looking pale. He was wrapped in a white cloth and there was a diya lighting near his head. My father is no more. I collapsed there and started crying asking him to wake up as there is something that I wanted to share with him so he can feel happy. As much as I requested he didn’t wake up and in front of my eyes, everything was done. They said my father had a heart attack and because of no treatment available in our village, he expired. I couldn’t take it and decided to become a doctor so I can help my village.

  After his death, everything changed and our lives became so hard to live also. I am studying in the 7th class. My mother’s brother got me a match and asked my mom to agree to that proposal.

  “Mama, I want to study. I want to become a doctor and help our village. Please, mama, I don’t want to get married,” I requested my mama.

  “Do you know what you are talking about? If you want to be a doctor then we have to get Lakhs of money and from where will you get it?” He questioned.

   “I will get a free seat mama,” I answered. Somewhere hoping that he will understand me and says that he will help me as he is rich enough. My mama has properties that were given by my grandfather. My mom says that before I was born we also have property but my father's friends cheated on him as he trusted them so much and my dad was an uneducated person. That’s the main reason my dad always said to me to study with concentration.

  “Free seat? Stop daydreaming and yes, one more thing the groom is not an educated person so he doesn’t want to get married to a person who is educated. So, it will be good if you both hide it. Sister, think properly if you agree to her marriage then after her marriage, I will take you along with me and you can stay with us without any problem,” my mama concluded. My mind stopped at his words that he will look over my mother if I get married so without wasting any second I agreed to the marriage. Within a week's gap, I got married. 

  I can say my husband is not a bad person he loves me and takes care of me. He even agreed to get my mother to stay with us as she doesn’t have anyone else except me but she denied saying she can’t stay at her daughter’s in-law's house. The only thing he doesn’t like to hear is that I studied. He knows that I studied only till 5th. Slowly I got habituated to it and stopped thinking about it. Soon, I got pregnant and was blessed with a baby boy. I wanted to write something about my experience after I have seen my son.

 The moment I got to know he is my womb,

The moment I got to know that a little life is going on inside me,

The moment I felt his movements and kicks,

The movement I went through the labor pains,

The first moment I held him in my arms,

The first moment of his smile,

The first moment he recognised me as his mother,

The first touch, first smile, first teeth, first step, 

The first time he called me Amma...

Everything is a first experience for me and I bet nothing is more valuable than this first experience in my life...

My first experience is my wonderful experience even though I am a mother of two kids my elder son is the best experience for me.”

  I was born with a daughter later. The days started passing without my knowledge and now my children grew up and they always insult me that I don’t have an education and I don’t know anything about it. Whenever I hear those words I feel sad as they don’t know about my story. I just give a small smile to them as I can’t scold them or see them sad.

  Uff, I finally wrote all my story in this as my old papers are getting torn I want to write everything in one place so I can read it later. 

   See you diary for now. If I have time again then I will come to you only if no one is at home as I don’t want my husband to know about this.”

    We closed the diary with tears in our eyes and with the scenes of how we are insulting her playing in front of us. We both looked at each other and decided to apologise to her. Immediately we planned a surprise for her and arranged everything for the surprise. We both saved some money that was given to us by our dad. We spoke to dad about the surprise and he agreed. I understand now why my mom always asked both of us to do medicine but Bhai had some other plans for his future so she used to say I am her only hope.

  “Are you ready?” Bhai questioned as we both entered the house.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “Mom, get ready there is some emergency. We have to leave in 20 mins,” Bhai started urging her while dragging her out of the kitchen.

  “What happened? Is everything alright? Why are you dragging me like this? First, say me where we are going?” Mom questioned.

   “We don’t have much time mom. We will let you know everything later. Please don’t ask any more questions and get ready,” Bhai answered.

   “Mom, I kept everything ready for you. Just wear them and get ready,” I added. She looked at both of us like we are ghosts and we urged her to go and get ready. She shook her head helplessly and closed the door. We both high-fived each other and Bhai asked me to get ready within 10 minutes saying he will get ready after me. I nodded my head and went to get ready. I opted for a simple pink floral churidar which was stitched by my mom and braided my hair as she loves it. I didn’t use any makeup and applied moisturizer with a simple bindi and matching bangles. I added kajal to my eyes and when I looked at myself in the mirror I was mesmerized by my looks.

   “Mom, you are right I am looking amazing in this look,” I thought to myself and walked out of the room.

   “Bhai, how am I looking?” I questioned my brother who was doing something on his mobile. Hearing my voice he looked up and said,

   “Wow, my sister is looking so pretty without any makeup. See mom is always right but you never heard her.”

   “Not from now Bhai,” I said with a smile. He returned my smile and went to get ready pinching my cheeks with love. My mom and Bhai got ready and came out at the same time. My mom’s expression seeing me was unexplainable and by seeing the happiness in her eyes I understood what I missed all these years.

   I hugged her and my Bhai also joined us for a group hug. Later, we started to our destination, We reached there in 30 minutes and we blindfolded there. Dad also reached there by that time and waiting for us. We took her to the place and opened her blindfold.

   There was confusion written on her face after seeing all the arrangements. The whole way was decorated with rose petals and at the end, there was a green grass wall with a sorry lighting frame.

 

 We both went on our knees and said,

 “We are sorry for everything mom. We have seen your diary unexpectedly and read it. Not knowing your past and talent we always insulted you but you never said anything tonus. Your smile was my strength and we too learned about it today only. We are really sorry and please forgive us, mom. We promise from today we will never ignore your words and never insult you. We will make you proud and we meant it.” 

   "Mom, this is my word to you at this moment. You will see me as a doctor and I promise to concentrate on my studies from now on," I added.

Before she could react we got another shock. My dad also went on his knees and said,

  “I am never against education but due to certain circumstances I couldn’t study and my mother used to say if my wife is educated then she won’t listen to me or hear me. So she kept the rule. Still, it’s my mistake. I failed to understand my wife and what are her likes and dislikes. From now you don’t need to hide your diary and write. You can do it openly and in front of our children, I am promising you if you still want to study or do something I will support you. Please forgive me no, no, forgive us.”

  “What all of you are doing? I am not angry with anyone of you not even on the god. It’s just I want to study but I couldn’t so I always ask my kids to study well as I always believe the properties we give or the properties they earn can be spent and taken away but the knowledge and the education can never be stolen. It's not your mistake nor have you ever failed in understanding me because I never said that I am interested in education so how would you know about it without me saying it? Anyway, I am happy that you all realized that I am only asking for you to study. Now get up and come here,” mom said with tears and we all hugged each other. 

  We don’t know what happened in the past but now we decided that my mom will complete her degree in private and if she wants to study any further she will do it and we will be with her in every step.

  My mom was the perfect example of how to smile even in the darkness and darkest phases of life. She lost her father at a very young age, her mama get her married despite her wishes, and my grandmother and father crushed all her dreams knowingly or unknowingly, we insulted her every minute. Her heart shattered into pieces every time but she never let that kill her patience or stopped her smile. She is a role model for me and my brother from now.

 

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After 8 years:

   I completed my medicine and doing as an intern under a famous doctor and from a reputed hospital. My Bhai got his dream come true and started his own start-up 2 years back. He is successful in his career now. My mom completed her degree through distance education and now getting ready to pursue her other dream of completing her Ph.D. I am going to start my own hospital in my mom's village. She doesn't about this yet as I want to surprise her tomorrow directly by taking her there. In the morning I will work in this hospital and in the evenings I work there including my weekends. As per my mom's wish, I am going to give free treatment to poor people. I am excited to see the happiness on her face tomorrow. After that event, our lives changed drastically and we have never seen sadness or a fake smile on my mother's face. My father is also so happy seeing all of us happy and he became our backbone in everything. He never felt low nor he ever got angry with mom again. In fact, he is accompanying her in everything and helps her with household chores so she can study. Our relatives who laughed at us for taking this decision to let me study at this age are now bowing in front of her and even coming to her for taking suggestions regarding their children's educations and careers. We are so proud of her and she proved once again, "AGE IS JUST A MATTER WHEN WE WANT TO DO SOMETHING WITH OUR WHOLE HEART."