"Eternal Love"

I remember as a kid, once someone asked me, “Who loves you more, papa or maa?” I replied, “My papa loves me more, he gives me everything that I want. He never scolds me. My maa always scolds me for everything; she denies me everything that I ask. She also beats me.”
I was a kid then. I was writing my final exams of 2nd standard. It was the last day of exam and there was a vacation of more than a month waiting for me. I remember that day; I had a smile on my face after coming out of the classroom. And all the way to home in the school bus, I planned everything that I was going to do during the vacation. I will ask papa to buy me that new T.V. video game, then I would ask papa to take me to the restaurant. And remaining days I would enjoy with my cousins at uncle’s place.
The school bus came to halt and I reached home. I opened the Iron Gate. It was a sunny day. I saw maa sitting on a stool in the verandah. She was reading some papers. I was not in talking terms with her since last two days. She scolded me last time when I asked papa to buy me the video game. But I felt sorry for her, because she was kind of sick since some days. But I didn’t want to talk to her. I decided to walk past her without saying a word. I proceeded, I climbed the stairs to the verandah and I crossed her. As I walked a few inches away from her, I heard her voice. I turned and saw maa, she was in the same posture as I used to know her, when we have a fight and I stop talking to maa, she used to call me with her arms wide open and then I forget everything that had happened. I just run towards her and hug her forgetting everything in the world.
Even that day, I saw her with her arms wide open. Without a second thought I just ran from there and fell on her lap. She hugged me tight. After a small pause, I heard her voice again. “I will buy you the video game. But you have to promise me that you shall not neglect your studies”. I noticed that it was not her usual tone. Her voice was deep. But I was happy that finally I was getting my video game.
I remember that evening my papa said to me, “Me and your mother are leaving for Chennai tomorrow for her medical checkup. So, I will keep you at your uncle’s place. It would take sometime, so you have to stay there for a month.” I was always allowed to stay at my uncle’s place for just a week, but this time I was given a month’s time. I was filled with joy. But that day, for the first time a second thought came to my mind, “My mother was sick”.
I felt gloomy and I sat on the bed. Suddenly I heard my maa’s voice again calling me. I ran to the bedroom. I saw her packing clothes in a suitcase. She saw me. I could see her eyes were watery. She gave me a packet saying, “Here is your video game. I bought it for you. But you have to remember your promise. Never ignore you studies.”
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t happy after receiving a thing of my choice. A kid has a limited thinking power, not like that of adults. I wanted to ask many things to maa but didn’t know what to say. I just took the packet and walked out of the room. I kept the packet on the table and sat in the sofa. I looked at the packet for sometime. “Why is everything so different today”, I thought to myself. My eyes rolled through the room. The atmosphere seemed alien to me.
I remember the next day, my maa showered kisses on me before my papa drove me to my uncle’s home. I kept seeing her through the window of our car. She was waving her hands at me. I kept seeing her till the last distant, then our car took a turn and she was not visible to me.
I remember, my parents used to make calls to me over phone. As soon as I heard the phone ringing, I would jump and run to answer it. Many times it was someone else on the other side. But I still wanted to hear the same voice. As time flew by, a month was over but my parents didn’t come back. I remember last time when I heard her voice, “Take care of you. And remember to study hard. You have to become a great man.”
I stopped getting calls from my parents. Everyone thought, I was a kid and wouldn’t question anything. I remember my parents came back, but after four month. I saw my papa again, and I saw my maa again. But this time she was not in the position which I longed to see. She was not sitting on a stool in the verandah in the sunshine with her arms wide open for me.
I remember how the ceremonies were carried out. I returned home with my papa. I had no one to scold me now. But I never asked anything from my father. My maa always said, “You have to be a great man.” I never opened the video game from the packet. I knew I had to study and be a great man. Sometimes I returned home from school, I gazed for a long time at the verandah standing at the Iron Gate. Then I walk towards my home. As I pass by the verandah, I close my eyes and stand still, longing to hear a voice…and my heart cries, “Why have you gone away from me. I cannot stay without you maa.” I close my eyes and lower my head. I could feel my tears dropping on the floor. Then I hear a faint voice within me…in my thoughts I could see her again, calling me with her arms wide open. I just run towards her forgetting all that had happened. I say to her, “I promise I will study maa…I won’t play video game”.
As time passed by, I have faded memories of my childhood. I realized the realities of the world. I came to know that my mother had cancer. But now I do all the things that my maa wanted me to do. I would have never given her a chance to scold me. She would have been surprised to see her boy so changed. The video game is still in the same packet. Now, if anyone would ask me, “Who loves you more, papa or maa”? I would reply “My parents loved me equally”.