As the story goes

Here,we publish some of the best entries.

Janki was to die alone. That was fated. When she slipped and broke her leg one afternoon as it rained and little water pools had formed in her backyard,and the din of the rain had drowned her pleas for help. She had waited,writhing in pain,shouting,and then lay there for a long time,just watching the skies,in pain. When they found her,she was unconscious. Her daughter,too weak to carry her old mother to the government hospital,ran outside,her feet creating chaos in the little perfect pools,sending the waves into anarchy,crying out for help.

Neighbours came and they rushed her to the hospital. Janki’s fractured leg was bandaged but then she had broken her back,too. So her son was called from where he lived a perfect life with his family,a life of affluence,away from the misery and the responsibilities. A reputed surgeon,he was now being called to save his mother. But lying in her sick bed,Janki wondered if he would come…

* His entire life — from childhood to fatherhood — flashed through her mind like a medley of moving images. What struck her was that there was not a single incident that could have explained the distance that separated them. Yet they lived on different continents,in opposite time zones. Her little boy had grown up so much that she could only hope that he would come…she could not call or ask or demand it of him…

Eight thousand miles away,nestled in his comfortable apartment in New York,he read his sister’s e-mail. Of course he could perform the surgery. But that would mean missing the WHO conference,for which he had worked so hard. A faint shadow of doubt crossed his face as he remembered her,before the stock expression of fake calm returned. The decision had been made. He would send the money. The doctors in India were competent enough,he thought.
Varun Dhingra,XII-D
Apeejay School,Pitampura

* All through her life,she had struggled to fulfill her children’s needs. Whenever she saw a longing…a realised gap amid desire and attainment in her children’s eyes,she felt her heart crack inside. She tried to fulfill the lacuna in them,with her love. But how far could it satiate them?

She had made every effort to send her son to skies in success. He was a doctor now. Her own son. A doctor. But would he come? He may have chanced to forget his mother in the rush of life. But not now. Not this moment. He will come. In the paranoia,she smiled.

Eight hours passed. For the umpteenth time,she turned her face towards the half-open door. But he was not there. She closed her eyes. The earnest wait and the paranoia swallowed her. A pang of paroxysm. And death had the better of her.
Avantika Kaushik,XII-A
Guru Nanak Public School,
Pitampura

* She remembered the times she looked after him when he had had fever,she didn’t sleep all night till his temperature came down. The time when she had forced him to join a medical college and used all her savings to send him abroad to complete his medical studies. She succeeded in her ambition of making him one of the top surgeons in his field.

But it appeared that in the race to succeed,he had forgotten his mother and her lifelong struggle. He had become engrossed in his work in the USA. His last visit had been 12 years ago. “India has nothing to offer me”,he would say. He would send her presents,but he was never there when she needed him the most.

She looked at her daughter sitting beside her. Janki could not stop the thoughts that came flooding in. “She had never made any demands,had always been uncomplaining and was ever present and ready to help. Yet all the time I had taken her for granted,even ignored her while I lavished all my love and affection on my son.”

She resolved then and there not to wish for her son’s return and instead spend her last days in her daughter’s company.
Aditi Balakrishna,X-D
The Mother’s International School,Aurobindo Marg

* She thought about her past and her son. After a few days,Janki got to know that her son was no more in this world. Janki and her daughter got in depression. The surgeon asked for a huge sum for the operation. Janki’s daughter worked as a maid to collect money for the operation. She,however,didn’t let her mother know about this. After several days,Janki was asked to leave the hospital as she was not able to pay the huge amount. Her daughter,even after working so hard,couldn’t collect money for the operation and soon Janki died.
Geetika Setia,V-B
St Paul’s School,Safadarjung Enclave

* Sanjay,Janki’s son,stared blankly from the window. He had performed the operation the very night he came and Janki would gain consciousness later. His flight was due in two hours. Now that he was done with the operation,he wondered what made him come back.

He remembered how everything was going fine and he was hired by a US company. His mother refused,saying he was an Indian and must serve his own country. Besides,she dreaded the idea of living alone in her old age. He fought for three days and on the fourth day left for the USA vowing never to return.

But when after seven years,he got the letter telling him of his mother’s condition,he left for India the very same day.

He loved his mother but he could no longer live in India and she would not go to the US. The battle would remain eternal…
Khushboo Khatra,IX-B
New State Academy School,Pitampura

* Vinay just received a phone call from his town saying his mother had slipped and fractured her backbone. Her surgery would require a specialist,and doctors had given up all hope. Vinay knew that he had to be there. He remembered that his mother was the person who encouraged him the most. He faced many difficulties on his way but somehow managed to reach the hospital. As he entered the hospital,his heart pounded.

He saw his mother,old and covered in bandages,lying with an expression of deep agony on her face. He went and sat down beside her. She clasped his hand. He said he would take care of his little sister and she,his mother,would be okay.

Tears started welling in his eyes as Janki quietly passed away.
Aparna Thomas,XII-A
Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya,KG Marg

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