The father who became a star
Munna quietly climbed the stairs of his house leading to the terrace. It was a one-storied house that overlooked a jogger's park. Munna wore a sullen look. He did not recollect the last time that he had played with his friends in the neighborhood. His mother had warned him not to step out of the house without a face mask. Munna’s only solace was the time that he spent in the terrace in the evenings staring at the sky.
Munna was a student studying in Class IV. He lived with his parents in this home. Everything was fine until a few months ago. Their world turned upside down. His father, a health care official in a private hospital, had succumbed to the deadly pandemic.
Munna did not even get to see his father when the latter passed away. The fear of the virus seemed to have gripped the whole world.
Munna was devastated and so was his mother. Since he was close to his father, Munna often wondered why his father never returned from office like he usually did. He did meet a few of his neighbourhood uncles and aunties who visited their home to console his mother. But Munna was too young to understand what was happening around him.
He began pestering his mother seeking the whereabouts of his father. His mother did not know how to communicate to her son about the fact that he would never see his father again. Munna was used to listening to stories from his father every night before he went to sleep. Now Munna was terribly missing his father. He was peeved and upset that his mother wasn’t answering his question.
One night Munna refused to have dinner insisting that he would have dinner only if he was informed of his father’s whereabouts. Munna’s mother thawed and told him, “ Listen Munna… Your father has traveled to the sky to be with the stars…He will take some more years to come back. There are two ways that you can reach out to your father. You can write letters to him and I will give those letters to the postman uncle. But the letters may take months to reach your father. An easier way to communicate with him is to talk to him every night by going to the terrace. Your father is busy during the day but he loves you so much that he will definitely visit you every night. You can talk to him, but don’t expect him to reply or respond to you…You are a good boy, right?” she warmly hugged the child.
Convinced by his mother’s reasoning, Munna had since then developed the habit of spending time in the terrace all by himself waiting for his father to appear on the horizon. Slowly he drew comfort from the fact that he could at least talk to his father though he could not see him. Munna’s mother was smart enough to divert his attention and distract him with other activities on no moon days. A few weeks ago, Munna’s mother had taken up employment with an e-pharmacy store. Her work kept her engaged throughout the day.
Day after day, Munna regaled his father with tales of what he learnt in the online class during the day, the story books that he received as gifts, the television show that he watched in the evening and other activities that subsumed him. He talked nineteen to the dozen. His father’s physical absence had failed to deter Munna from continuing his daily monologue with his father. It was firmly entrenched in the young child’s mind that his father had turned into a star and that only a one-way communication with his father was possible.
A few days later, it was a no moon night again. Munna’s mother was engrossed in preparing dinner after a hard day’s work. As usual, Munna reached the terrace to converse with his father. The sky was pitch-dark. Munna tried searching for his father in the sky. He wished to share the good news with his father that he had scored full marks in his mathematics test. But his father couldn’t be found on the sky.
It was dark everywhere. But Munna was never afraid of darkness. He had started enjoying the solitude. Munna waited and waited. But there was no sight of his father! Munna felt tears welling up his cheeks. He heard his mother calling him, “ Munna, it is time to have dinner. Please step down fast” she pleaded with him.
Thoroughly exasperated, Munna stared at the sky.. “Father, where are you? I have been waiting for you since so long. I scored full marks in the mathematics test today! But you are nowhere to be seen. I won’t have dinner if I don’t see you today” Munna spoke in a stern tone though his voice had turned squeaky due to the anxiety caused by his father’s absence. He closed his eyes for a moment and began praying silently.
When he opened his eyes, he saw his father (star) shining brightly on the sky. A smile erupted on the child’s face and he squealed in joy. Munna was mistaken. His father really loved him! Here he was – ready to listen to Munna’s banter.
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