New Leaf

Standing at her window, she was looking at the trees of the adjacent garden. Some of them had reached the height of the window and some were even taller. Till a few days ago, they all were adorned with a lot of green leaves. Lots of birds had their nests on the branches. Their chirping filled the nearby atmosphere with the music of their love for life. Life is an invaluable gift of nature to all the living beings whether it be insects, birds, animals or humans themselves. Why don't humans understand this simple rule of nature? Why aren't they sensitive towards life? Why don't they love it? Why did her own very life lose those sweet green leaves of love like the almost- dry branches of the trees? Perhaps she had found a comparison of life in those dried-up branches.

" Jyoti... Jyoti...Come down immediately. Come and see who has come. "

As usual, she came out of her thought and found her feet slowly moving downstairs. Avinash had a newspaper in his hand and was going through it sitting on a plastic chair in the verandah.

Hearing her footsteps, he quickly stood up leaving the chair for her. The newspaper was still in his hand. As she sat down on the chair, Avinash put the newspaper on her hand and indicated the lines which were underlined in red.

She went through them.

"I knew it'd happen, but... cannot we stop it?

Did you meet Mr Thakur? What did he say?"

In one breath, she asked so many questions.

"Yes, I met him in his office. He said that on the next hearing, that is on the 16th of the month, he'd anyhow receive the custody of the child. "

A faint smile curled in the corner of her lips.

16th November came, and Jyoti got the custody of her child on a condition that Mukesh could meet his child every Sunday in the park near his in-law's house. That day, she saw him in the court during the hearing of her case. He looked weaker than before. Though she had seen him cry several times before, yet his today's cry hugging Aditya after the court's order melted her heart a little. It proved that still there was a twinge of love for him in his heart. She knew that he loved Aditya more than anything else in the world, and now his life would be very difficult for him. Aditya also loved his father in the same way. He had lived with his father for six years and was very happy with him, but the court's order broke his heart. His cry rent the air but failed to rent the hearts.

In some corner of her heart, Jyoti knew the truth that Mukesh was not wrong. If that fateful day he had not come in time and held Aditya, he would have fallen down from the roof of their house. He had not expected such negligence from her, and in a sudden burst of anger, he gave her a powerful slap on her face. The next morning, without saying anything she left the house. In the beginning, Mukesh thought that her anger would subside in a few days and she'd return her home soon, but days passed and she didn't return. She applied to the court for a divorce. Then only Mukesh learnt about her sinister plan. She divorced him, but he was not ready to leave his son. She spent lots of money and finally received the custody of her son.

Jyoti could not sleep that night properly. She got up early the next morning and like an automatic machine got ready for a new journey. She picked up Aditya and arrived at her in-law's house. She found Mukesh was lying on a coy in the courtyard. She put Aditya near him and before Mukesh could understand anything she tore the divorce papers into pieces and threw it away. Mukesh embraced her.

Next time when she visited her father's house, the new leaves had come on the trees and birds were again chirping hovering over their nestlings.