After-School Confusion

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It was 4:05 pm.


The school premises that depicted a sacred silence some time back were suddenly abuzz with a clamour of excited voices as children rushed out to head back home.

The little girl was standing near the gate, her hand on the straps of her schoolbag. After a long day, her hair was slightly disheveled and the black ribbons that had now become loose, clung to her two plaits for life.

"Driver anna(brother) forgot to pick me up in the morning and it had gotten so late. If not for that note Amma had sent , that silly teacher would have made me stand out of the class!" she thought.

"Hey !" she heard her classmate Maya’s voice. Maya also happened to be her next-door neighbor.

"My mom asked me to pick you up in our cycle-rickshaw" she said.

"Your mom?" the little girl responded in a perplexed tone.

"Yeah, she asked us to bring you along on our way home"

"B…But my mom did not say anything to me"

"Hey, Your mother was the one who told my mother to fetch you as well"

"Mother Promise?"

"Yes! Mother promise" and Maya placed her hand on her head to swear in the name of her mother.

That was the most supreme of the oaths in their class, Father Promise and God Promise following closely behind.

"Okay" the little girl  replied and climbed on to the rickshaw with some hesitation. She kept looking around to reassure herself that driver anna had not come.

As the rickshaw moved along, she started enjoying the ride. She had never been in one before and travelling like that through the town was so exciting.

The children soon broke into a medley of childish music. Ba Ba Black Sheep transitioned into Bollywood music in a few minutes. The driver slowly pedaled along, amused by the cacophony of their voices.

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Devi was reading the latest edition of Mangai.(a Tamil magazine). She glanced at the clock. It was 4:30.

" Hope that driver went to pick her up on time! " she mused. Her husband was out of station. As always he had arranged for his driver to drop their daughter in school, in the morning and to fetch her back. The driver in question had totally forgotten in the morning and it had been a real hassle getting her daughter to school on time.

Then the telephone rang, its tone piercing the tranquillity of the evening.

" Hello, this is the principal of St Joseph’s convent. I have your driver here with me. He has come to pick your daughter up. Apparently he could not find her anywhere and so he went to the class teacher who in turn came to me. We have looked for her in the playground as well as the usual places where the children wait. My staff are still looking for her here. Please don’t panic. I am sure she is fine. I just wanted to check with you if you have made any other arrangements for her"

"No ma’m, she was supposed to come back with the driver"

"Oh, ok. She should be around here somewhere. You know these kids. I will call you back in some time once we figure out where she is. Please don’t worry"

And they hung up.

"Don’t worry? How can I not worry?"  Devi thought.

A million thoughts flooded her mind. "She normally does not go anywhere and always waits at the usual place"

She went and stood outside looking anxiously at the road that stretched in front of her, chanting all the slokas(hymns/divine chants) she could remember in her mind.

She thought of trying to reach her husband but decided to wait for a while rather than plunging him into panic as well.
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The rickshaw dropped Vineetha first.

As they pedaled away, the little girl said “Her mummy is so pretty”

“My mom says its all make-up” said Kavya.

“Really? Its not nice to put make up !. My mom says its not good for our skin”

Soon, they came to Kavya’s house.

Now it was just her, Maya and Maya’s little sister.

“Kavya’s house is so big”

“Yes and she has three dogs, two white and one black. The white ones are po..po”

"Pomeranian?"

"Yeah Right!They look so cute"

“Thats so cool. I like cats better. My mom can look at new born kittens and say if it’s a boy-kitten or a girl-kitten you know?”

Lost in the stories, about their little world, the friends moved towards home.

As they neared the house, the little girl decided that she would scream “Mummy!”

When she did scream Mummy, she saw mummy’s face full of worry, anxiety and tension almost in tears.

Devi heaved a huge sigh of relief on seeing her daughter’s face. She quickly called up the principal to inform her of her daughter’s safe return.

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This happened more than two decades ago and I was the little girl , that time around six years of age.

My friend’s mother had observed that our driver had forgotten to pick me up in the morning.

A good-natured soul that she was, she had told her daughter “Maya, You bring Jayashree along with you in the cycle-rickshaw, if her driver does not come in the evening".

My darling friend was also just six, so the second part of the sentence i.e. the if clause did not get registered in her mind. Her mission for the day given by mommy was to bring Jayashree along in the evening which she did promptly, just adding the extra part that the request came from my mother.

Then I could not understand why my mother was so anxious and worried. Now being a mother myself, I am able to clearly picture the turmoil my mother would have been in for that half an hour when I was so-called missing.

Every parent undergoes a lot of hardships and challenges in raising his/her kids.

My parents channeled all their effort and energy to give me and my younger brother, a happy life and to realize our small wishes as well as our big ambitions.

My mother has been a great friend and a wonderful guide in my life. She can read me like a book and a few words from her will usually take my confidence level to great heights. She has had her share of ups and downs in life and I admire her and look up to her for many a thing.

I dedicate this post to my lovely amma and I salute all the wonderful women out there beautifully essaying their role as mothers. Not just us the human mothers...the entire motherhood in nature - the cats holding its kittens by its neck, the deer helping its fawn on its feet, the hens giving warmth to its chicks, the linoess teaching its cub to hunt and the list goes on....

‘Happy Mother’s Day’

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