How today changes

It all struck me suddenly today when I overheard my parents talking about Lakshmi, our maid. She has been with us for two years now and she and her son are almost like our family members now. Lakshmi didi is the most talkative lady I have ever seen or heard. She can talk continuously for ages and ages. Many a times I could see my mom taking advantage of that. Didi would be so engrossed in talking that she would forget that she is mopping the same place for the past 13 minutes and the floor would end up sparkling clean. My mom also found a mate in Lakshmi as after coming to Hyderabad she has become quite lonely. Being a homemaker she doesn't require to go out quite often and also my apartment residents like being to themselves. People hardly visit each other here. My neighbor next door has never visited us since three years and the vice versa. So my mom used to thoroughly enjoy Didi speak though she never admitted it. Lakshmi would speak about all sorts of things. She would bring gossip about our whole colony, speak about her good old days in Saharanpur and tell mom all the problems she is facing in life.

One fine day she came and informed mom that she admitted her son Shubham to an English medium school. I was a bit surprised as I didn't quite expect her to send him to such a school as she as well her husband both are more or less illiterates. She requested mom to stitch the school badge on his uniform. So thus he started attending school. When initially he found it a bit difficult to catch up with his studies mom volunteered to teach him for free. From that day onwards he came home for tution regularly. Mom really did a good job as Shubham stood first in his class too. Then after almost a year we went to our hometown Guwahati during our summer vacation. When we came back the next day I was shocked when I heard that her husband left off without notice one night. How could he do that? Though I was never much fond of Didi, thoughts of all kind started gushing into my mind. He left behind his wife and 5 year old son and also took away all their savings. I understood what didi was going through that day. The days after that made me a lot more empathetic towards her and her plight. Mom started feeding Shubham his evening meal in our house. Lakshmi didi started getting used to this kind of a life and then suddenly came her husband out from nowhere. It seems he went to Nepal for a few days.

Now he tells that he is leaving to Qatar in search of a job and is going to keep didi and Shubham in Nepal with her in-laws. Didi doesn't want to go but she knows it will be hard for her to keep going with the amount of money she gets every month. Things are bad. they are leaving during dushera. Hope things become alright. Hope Shubham studies well and grows up to be someone who will take care of his mother. Till then we can only hope for the best.