THE EYES THAT NEVER SMILED AGA

2008 NOVEMBER 8TH:

It is half past 5 and the sun was slowly drowning into the arms of the clouds. 'She should've been home already, what is taking her more time?' Sudha thought to herself, looking at the clock hanging on the yellow walls in their living room. Right below the clock, hangs a black bordered glass photo frame of a little girl smiling holding a brown teddy. Her face was fair with bright and big brown eyes, filled with the sparkle of a starry night in them. She has a beautiful and innocent smile which can enlighten a dull day. Sudha was now staring at the little girl in the picture, with a dull face searching for the light.

Suddenly there is a sound at the main door and when she rushed to the door, she finds a little girl Pari, holding a bird. Pari is 9 year old and is the only child of Sudha and Ravi. Taking the school bag off the shoulders of her daughter, Sudha with an angry face asks Pari "Do u even know how scared I was? I told you to come home straight after your school" Then Pari with her innocent gaze showing the small bird in her hand answers "I found this bird, Maa. See. But it is injured. It got stucked between the branches of the garden trees of our school" she pauses "Maa. See. It is moving" and then smiles with a satisfaction on her face that she saved a life. Her captivating smile dragged the anger away from Sudha's face and slowly her lips curled upwards. With a calm tone and crinkled eyes Sudha said "Okay. Let's treat this bird first and eat yummy fruits".

2013 AUGUST 20TH:

The rain is pouring heavily as if the clouds were shedding tears. It is 5 o'clock in the evening. Sudha and Ravi are sitting in front of the television watching a program with their enthusiastic eyes wide opened. It is a cultural fest live program from Mary International School auditorium. "Now the prizes to the top 3 students who won in the ART competition will be given and others will be getting a participation certificate. So I request the top fifteen students mentioned before to come and stand near the stage while I also request our Chairman Mr. Pankaj Kumar sir to handover the prizes to the winners" the announcer spoke from the podium. "Ravi it's the art competition. Our Pari must be there. Why is the camera not showing the students?" Sudha asked Ravi anxiously. Ravi was so busy watching the program that he didn't answer Sudha. "The First prize goes to M. Sulaghna of 11th standard" the announcer announced and the girl came smiling. Sudha was little disappointed but then she again cheered up herself that there are two more winners. "And the second prize goes to K. Pari of 9th standard" soon she announced, a girl with 2 braids and lovely eyes came on to the stage smiling. It was Pari. Sudha and Ravi screamed out of happiness. Sudha almost got tears in her eyes. "That's my daughter. I already know that she would win" Ravi cried out of pleasure. Sudha smiled staring at Pari who was descending the stage. Both Ravi and Sudha hugged each other happily and their faces were glowing with pride.

2015 FEBRUARY 2ND:

The clock ticked 7 in the evening. But the striking of the clock was not audible to Sudha, the only thing that was taking the stride was, the SILENCE. Sudha's heart was racing as if she is running a marathon. She was looking at the clock for the second time but this time her eyes met with the picture of Pari right below the clock. She was wondering how time flies that her daughter is already 16. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the sound at the main door. But soon she noticed, there was a tap on her shoulder and she turned her head to her left and saw beautiful eyes of her young daughter. Looking again at her daughters smile, Sudha's heart was so relieved that she almost forgot that she was angry at Pari for being late. But still hiding her slow smile she asked with a vexed voice "Do you even know how scared I was? I told you to come home before 6:30. These days are not good for a girl to stay outdoors after 6. And I was..." cutting her, Pari spoke with a relaxed tone "Maa RELAX, I got late, so I called papa and he came to pick me. See!" she raised her eyebrows and pointed her eyes to her left and there, Ravi was sitting opposite to Sudha smiling at her. Ravi is 41 years old and works as a lecturer. Sudha was surprised looking at Ravi who entered the living room without her knowing. "Sudha Why do you always get worried over little things? Our daughter is no more a little girl. she is grown up now." Now shifting his gaze from Sudha to his daughter, "Sudha is same from that time when I first met her" Ravi said, "She always used to get tensed over small things and I think that's why she has more hair loss" and laughed. Sudha narrowed her gaze and asked "Oh really! Haven't you noticed your bald head?" with this the three of them laughed out loud.

2017 DECEMBER 13TH:

'The number you are calling is currently switched off. Please try after sometime' the phone spoke again. Hearing this again and again Sudha was shaking, trying not to shake. Already scary thoughts started haunting Sudha, since she saw the news of a girl who went missing on her way to home, the day before yesterday. She can't help herself not to think about those circumstances, as her mind was chanting the word MISSING again and again, while the heart was almost popping out of her chest beating fast. She once again saw the clock hanging to the wall; it was still the same, 7:53pm. Now Sudha thought for a second, took a long breath and started dialing to the number on the screen of her mobile again, Calling PARI it showed. Beep…Beep…..Beep…. the call didn't connect and then the screen got back showing her call logs. Now Sudha was losing courage while she dialed another number from the few call logs she had, Calling RAVI, the screen showed. The other side of the call spoke after three rings "Hello! Sudha it will take me an hour more to come home. Don't worry I'm in my…" cutting his sentence Sudha spoke in a worried tone "It is already eight but Pari didn't arrive home yet. I'm so scared Ravi, and her phone is switched off too". Ravi spoke with convincing voice "Sudha! Don't worry she would have been to her friend's house or may be they have an extra class. Don't worry, I'll call to sookthi's father, okay?" Then Sudha with a dull voice asked "Sookthi? Oh her classmate? I hope Pari is with her. Ravi, if you talk to them ask Pari to call me" Ravi agreed and hung up. Right after he hung up she once again called Pari, with a hope that her phone might be available or she might lift the call. But disappointment took its pace when she heard the same voice saying it is switched off.

She lifted her head up saw the clock but not the time as her eyes were locked on the picture of Pari right below the clock. The more she stared at the picture, the more her heart desperately wanted to see the face of her daughter and hear her voice again. While she was distrait with her thoughts her phone rang and it was from an unknown person. Her hand was shaking like a leaf. She prayed god that this call shouldn't bring her any bad news. She accumulated her courage to lift the call. Soon she picked the call, the other side spoke – "Hello! Maa! Can you hear me?" Tears rolled down her cheeks, she was unable to control them. It was like a dream to her. The Voice of Pari brought back the life to Sudha. While Pari spoke again – "Maa! Can you hear me?" Sudha quickly wiped her tears, cleared her throat and said "Yes! Yes, I can hear you. WHERE ARE YOU PARI? What  happened to your phone? Do you even know how scared I was?" Pari went on "Maa sorry. Actually a guest lecturer visited our college today and took a class for us, about art and career in it. I and Sookthi liked it and signed up our names for his class. So we will be having an extra class every Wednesday starting from today for two months. I was soo excited that I forgot to tell you before the class and my phone got dead before I could tell you right after the class. Sorry Maa, and don't worry I'm coming home along with sookthi and her mom." Sudha's heart was now a bit calm and she said "Atleast you should have called me. Okay. Come home fast and take care of you" Pari said before hanging up  "okay. Bye. I love you" and the call was disconnected. Sudha thanked god for not giving her any bad news and took many long breaths to calm herself.

2017 DECEMBER 20TH:

It was half past 8 in the morning. "Maa you remember right? Today is Wednesday and we will be having our extra class" said Pari, while eating her breakfast. "Oh yes, I remember. You will come along with your friend or you will wait for papa?" asked Sudha with a soft voice. Pari replied "I will call papa and ask him to pick me up"

 Sudha handed over the packed tiffin box to Pari and while taking it, Pari gave a quick peck on her cheek and left in a hurry saying "Bye Maa. I love you". Sudha smiled and shouted "take care" and watched her daughter, while Pari left the home with her college bag.

The clock strikes once, twice, thrice……. and for the eighth time in the evening. Sudha was chopping onions when she heard a familiar sound at the main door. At the first sound itself she recognized it as Pari. She gave a call from the kitchen still chopping the onions "Pari is that you? Go wash up first, until i cook this meal" She took a pause "Pari?" There was no answer but a knock, from the other side. She found that strange so she stopped chopping and walked to the main door asking "Who is that?"

Strangely there were three policemen standing at the doorstep. When Sudha went near them, the guy in the middle said "Mam. We are from Hari nagar police station" Sudha then asked in a surprised and frightened tone "But what brought you here, sir?" The guy standing on her left side answered "Actually its about your…."

They took Sudha to a shabby place. It was already half past eight by the time they arrived at that location. The car stopped. Sudha opened the door and got down from her seat. There is a nip in the air. There were already some people gathered around that place. The officers made a way for Sudha to walk to the front, moving the people to the sides. Sudha took the slow and heavy steps and stopped. There, was a girl lying stiff on the ground. She has big beautiful eyes, but it looked like those eyes could never smile again. Never again.