When Life Comes a Full Circle

Year 1993

Subhadra geared up as she sighted the local train coming in. People backed out on the platform as the train chugged in and came to a grinding halt with its wheels making a screeching sound. Like ants that spill out from an ant hill, people tumbled out from each of the compartments. They knew better not to delay, lest they should get shoved into the depths of the compartment from the pressure of the onboarding passengers rushing in. On the tracks of Mumbai local trains, seconds were the units of measure.

Subhadra carried her 3 year old Prekhsa as she got into the compartment. Thankfully, she was in the front and the crowd carried her into the depths of the bogie. Once she realized she was safely in, she looked at her and whispered “It’s over. We are safe.”

One of the ladies on the seat offered to take Preksha into her lap.

“Would you like to sit with Aunty Prekhsu?“ Subhadra asked her daughter.

Prekhsa started to cry in answer hugging her mother even more tightly. “Okay, okay. You don’t have to. Now stop crying.” Subhadra said trying to hush her daughter.

“She is scared to let go of you. Come, why don’t you take my seat?” the lady said with a smile.

“No, no. It’s okay. You please sit.” Subhadra said.

“My station will come soon. You both sit” the lady said getting up from her seat.

Subhadra thanked the lady and squeezed herself into the space left behind by her. “Say, thank you Aunty.” She goaded her daughter settled in her lap. Preksha turned her face away defiantly.

“She is feeling sleepy and not in the mood” Subhadra said almost apologetically to the lady who stood closeby.

“Children can be moody. Especially the ones in today’s world. What’s her name?” the lady asked.

“Prekhsa.”

“Lovely name. Bye Preksha.” The lady waved at the child. Subhadra took Preksha’s right hand and waved it towards the lady. Preksha pulled her hand away and tried to bury her face in the folds of her mother’s clothes.

“Thank you once again.” Subhadra said slightly embarrassed with her daughter’s non-cooperative behavior.

Year 2017

Subhadra was in awe of what she saw. Wherever she turned, she saw skyscrapers. The entire skyline was full of those tall, majestic buildings, each one with its own unique design. “Who says concrete jungle cannot be beautiful?” she thought as she continued to stare at them.

Lost in thoughts that she was, she didn’t realize Preksha had gone far ahead. Subhadra panicked when she failed to see her daughter anywhere. As she looked around trying to make sense of where she was, she saw Preksha hurrying back towards her “You have to walk fast Momma. I don’t want you to get lost here.”

“Even I don’t want that” Subhadra thought to herself as she started walking fast. As they turned a few blocks, Preksha stopped dead in her tracks and said “Let’s walk slow for the next two blocks. I don’t want you to miss the view.”

Looking around her, Subhadra was dumbstruck. The place suddenly came alive with illumination. Those LED lights glowing with psychedelic colours and with colourful advertisements flashing across those huge bill boards, it was a mesmerizing sight. 

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Preksha asked with a smile.

“It’s so magnificent.” Subhadra said.

“That’s why Times Square is so popular. I wanted you to see its beauty in the night.”

As they were strolling around, it started to drizzle. “This is yet another beauty of this place. It starts to rain without any notice.” Preksha laughed helping Subhadra adjust the hoody of her windsheeter properly over her head.

That evening before starting from home, it was Preksha who insisted that Subhadra be dressed warm, warning her about the cold that would hit her on the streets of New York in the evening at that time of the year, though it would be peak summer back home in India.

Preksha pointed out the landmark buildings on the Time Square, including the one right in the middle where she worked. Subhadra’s heart swell with pride as she thought literally as well as figuratively how far her daughter had come in life mostly all by herself.

On the way back home, Preksha warned her mother that the trains might be crowded a bit. When Subhadra said “not like the ones in Mumbai, I hope”.

“Oh, no Momma. Not like those.”

“You remember you used to ask me when I mentioned train travel – which one are we going in, the standing one, the sitting one or the sleeping one? If I answered the standing one, you would make a face at me, but the minute I mentioned the sleeping one, your face would break into a broad smile.” Subhadra said reminiscing.

“Oh, I used to love those long train journeys, but I dreaded those Mumbai locals. Now am traveling by local trains for work, just the way you did. How about that?” Preksha asked with that mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“I guess life goes on in circles” Subhadra said trying to keep pace with her daughter.

“It sure does Momma.”

As Preksha made Subhadra sit in a vacant seat, a tense Subhadra tried keeping an eye on her daughter as the distance between them grew due to the greater number of incoming traffic into the compartment. That’s when she realized how her two year old daughter must have felt all those years ago.

“Here I am – a grown up woman, knowing the language and carrying a mobile phone. If I end up feeling like this, what about a three year old kid?” Subhadra surmised.

Looking across at her daughter standing tall and confident so far away from her roots, Subhadra realized life does come a full circle, often with role reversals.

This true story with changed names is submitted in celebration of Daughter’s Day on 26 September, 2021.