THE MOST PRECIOUS THING ON EARTH

Mohan said, his voice cracking ‘I will miss you so, my little bears’.

Ram and Shyam were in the edge of tears. The doctors asked them to stop keeping hope.

‘Don’t pa. Don’t say that.’ said Ram. ‘You will live. You will live pa!’

Mohan smiled ‘I am too a doctor Ram. I know who survives and who don’t.’

Shyam’s voice was barely audible ‘I will miss you all too pa!’

Mohan gave a false laugh ‘Maybe I should stop calling you both bears. Do bears cry, huh?’

Shyam’s tears at last escaped his dungeon like eyes.

Mohan was suddenly serious ‘I need to tell you one thing.’ He started to cough uncontrollably.

‘Anything you want to tell can wait till tomorrow.’ said Ram. ‘Take rest.’

Mohan, again, gave a false smile ‘I am grateful to be alive today. I won’t ask god for another. See, I have a treasure in the attic. A chest where my most precious thing is kept. It can be yours if you find it.’

‘What?’ asked Shyam. 

‘Yes. There you would find.....’ Mohan heart rate increased rapidly.

‘Doctor! Doctor!’ screamed Ram.

The doctor ran to the room and forced Ram and Shyam to get out.

‘Dad!’

After few days, the brothers found themselves mourning. It was Mohan’s funeral’s day. All the rituals had been done.

‘You know what.’ said Shyam between his sobs. ‘I think we should find the chest.’

‘Why?’ asked Ram, tear stained.

‘It might be important.’ said Shyam. ‘About our Mother.’

Ram and Shyam’s mother died when they were very young. Ram, being elder, helped his father to take care of Shyam.

‘You find it.’ said Ram.

Soon, Shyam ran into the attic. There, a chest was partially hidden beneath the old, tatty and long-forgotten blankets. He pushed them aside. A key was already fixed into the socket. He opened the chest and gasped.

Ram stood up when the priest came. 

The priest entrusted him an earthen pot. ‘It is the ashes of your father. Immerse it in Ganges. Your father would definitely find peace as he was a good person in heart and saved a lot of lives.’

At the same time Shyam came running from the stairs. ‘Ram! Ram!’

‘What happened?’ asked Ram, amazed.

‘You ought to see it.’ said Shyam.

‘What?’

‘The contents of the chest.’

Soon Ran was staring the insides of the chest.

There was a letter.

‘Read it.’ said Shyam.

Ram opened the letter and read it aloud.

Dear Ram and Shyam,

My bears. My precious bears. I don’t know when you are going to read this letter but one thing is for sure. You will always be my small kids. Even when I am gone, I am sure that I will keep living within you in your hearts. I will never leave you alone. Because it was you both who never left me when I was mourning for your mother. You did not lose hope and leave me when I lost my job. You never left me when I was earning meagre amount of money to support three of us. You made a promise to me that you both would never leave me and you never left. Now, I am going to make a promise. I will never ever leave you even if you want me to get out of your life. Never. Ever.

Yours ever loving father,

Mohan.

Then the brothers realised what was the most precious thing on Earth. It was love.