Eunoia
Three days back, I received a basket on my front door with a note on it. The basket had a silky white cloth spread on it, and a note kept under a red tulip, written, "By your side" on it. The basket had nothing, but these two. The neighbouring kids were playing and opposite to our house was the flower market, so it was difficult to know who got it, moreover, I didn't care. I took the basket in and placed the flower in water.
At first, I thought it was the neighbourhood kids playing pranks until a week later a box arrived with a similar tulip.
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My name is Maya A, 26 years old, a high school graduate forced to be a waitress at a nearby restaurant for a living. I ran away from my house 7 years ago due to financial problems. After my father's business fell, our family was on the streets. My parents didn't get any permanent job, so they did all kinds of chores for a living.
All those years growing up I saw how hard they worked, yet not getting enough to feed me and my younger sisters nor themselves. Hard work wasn't paid off, at least not for us.
Me and my siblings, Sangeetha and Sruthi 6 years younger to me, did our schooling at a nearby school.
Just as I finished high school, all I wanted to do was to reduce the pressure on my parents. I couldn't afford to go to college, so instead with my parents, I started doing random jobs and started earning.
I started painting houses, babysitting, sold lottery tickets and even been a maid at a few houses. Whatever I earned was saved, not a penny spent. After struggling for a year and a half, I left home packing the only 3 clothing I own, and half of my savings, leaving the rest for my sisters. I felt really bad about leaving them and giving them only half what I earned, but I had to go a long way. I never thought even for a second how harder life was going to be.
At present, I live in a rented two-storey house with only three rooms to be precise, including a bathroom, as this was the only house I could afford at the moment. The front door opens into a kitchen joined with the main hall and a small bathroom at a side next to stairs leading into a bedroom. The total area was not more than 5 cents.
16 days later after I moved into this house, Varna, another waitress at the restaurant I worked, sharing a similar fate, also moved in with me. Varna was a lot like me, dark-skinned, curly hairs except she was skinnier and shorter than I was. To be honest, I am quite relieved as a bit of pressure was uprooted on me; I just have to pay half of my house bills. Varna was an 18-year-old teenager, who ran away from her house because of her abusive father and careless mother. She had bruises all over her body and only half sight on her left eye. That day, after hearing her life story, I promised myself that like my little sister, I am gonna take care of her. Moreover, she did remind me of my sisters a lot.
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Usually, tulip means love, but now, we were scared. It was Gui who opened the box. Like we see in movies, we were startled by our thoughts. A bomb or a toxic gas trigger or something terrible. And what was it? Was it nothing but a prank by the neighbourhood kids? Turns out it was another old steel box. The stickers and rust on the box made it obvious that it was really old and archaic. Gui took the box from me. She opened it without giving any thoughts. What we found inside were memories.
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Shortly after Varna, Gui came along. Gui was a 23-year-old chef at the restaurant and a half Tamilian girl.
Gui was good at programming and came from a wealthy family, although due to her family pressure, she didn't take engineering. Her family believed that engineering is only for boys and girls are meant to be in the kitchen. Just as she completed her hotel management course, Gui spend half a year as an intern under the senior chef at this hotel and got a job here itself. Gui was good at what she was doing, although it never made her satisfied or happy. Also, she was a nature lover introvert. Thus we started growing our garden on the terrace. The community center provided us with seeds and grow bags. The garden wasn't much, but it was enough for us. Tomatoes, beans, peas, chilies, bitter gourd, okra and spinach were grown, guess it was more than enough. The major bummer for us was the bugs and crickets, but worse was the water supply. There was no water availability other than on the ground floor. So we had to carry water to the top in our buckets and bottles.
All the three of us held on to each other and soon enough the so-called, "Best Friends". And in this small house, we made our haven.
After a few days, on a beautiful Sunday morning, I woke up late and saw others were fast asleep. For us, the previous day was stressful. As I was brushing, I noticed that my eyes were still puffy and my nose, red. Varna had a fever two days back, maybe I caught it as she got relieved from it. I walked to the front door to get the morning newspaper. To my surprise, we received more than just a paper today.
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RAJA. The box had written saying, RAJA. At first, we were confused but not until we got an old black and white photo. The photo was half torn, fragile and taped back together, yet carefully preserved. Memories of four friends were preserved. The photo showed four teenagers near a school. In a corner, the year, 1974, was written, maybe when these kids kept their belongings in it. There were other photos of the children and their little memories including an erase, a toy, a dried-up tulip flower and a pencil with their names carved on it; Ravi, Anandan, Jagath, Ajayan. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was a lot for them.
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I had the least interest in keeping the things and Varna wanted the things to be delivered to the owners. But the problem arose when we realised we had no contact or knowledge about any of them. Gui contacted the owner of the house and collected the information about other residents who lived before us. But it was of no use.
Within a week, by some of our friends and we came to know about the school and their teachers. We were surprised yet happy at how one the principal lived in the next town.
Gui, Varna and I packed our bags and within 3 hours of bus journey, we reached the principal's house.
Principal Govind was at his 80s. To our surprise, it was he who delivered the box and our owner was his son. Before us, it was his son who lived there and bought the house and now rent us. All those time we were searching was the former renters not realising the owner was the person we wanted. The principal told us that his son was Jagath, the third member of the RAJA and he had no idea that we were living there, not his son.
Ravi, Anandan, Jagath and Ajayan were neighbours. Except for Ravi, other's parents were not well educated, thus Govind separated them from being friends. Keeping their friendship at heart, RAJA team were inseparable. They aced studies, also to physical activities and loyalty until sir Govind got promoted to as principal and sent Jagath to another town for further studies.
The box and its items were preserved by the group members. Their principal took it from them and never returned it. Ever since Jagath never talked to him. The box was sent for forgiveness from his son, which he doesn't expect, except the box was reached to us, not him.
It sounded like an adventure and adventure it is going to be.
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With the information given by Govind sir, we sent out for a week's journey. Starting with R, Ravi.
Ravi turned out to be a professional singer. We managed to locate his house and kept a similar basket, a red tulip and a note saying RAJA and a location and time, in his front door.
Without wasting any moment, we left for A, Ajayan. Ajayan owned his own software company in the outskirts of Chennai. After two days of journey, we located his house.
Unfortunately, Ajayan caught us when we were opening the doors. Out of fear, Gui told him she wanted a job at his company. We knew she was saying to stop Varna and me from telling the truth, yet we were happy about what she asked for. Ajayan turned out to be a kind person, who after knowing Gui's computer skill offered him a job. Gui assured him that she would join them next week. It was hard for me to accept.
We kept the basket on the gate and this time, making sure Ajayan was not around. And next was J.
Talking about Jagath, we knew where he lived. J, Jagath was a great professor at a university and a motivational speaker. It was he who brought Varna out of her fears into a more positive life. Not far from Chennai, we went to his house and kept the basket.
As we had only 3 more days leave left at work, we were in a hurry to give out the last basket.
Our last basket was for A, Anandan.
We travelled towards, South of Tamil Nadu and entered a town quite familiar to me. It was my hometown for which I didn't expect a sudden return. I was nervous about meeting my family, so all I wanted was to avoid them if I am near them. We had only one day to find him as we needed a day to reach back home.
After wandering here and there, asking for directions, we reached our destination. The house was small, with a steel sheet as the roof. An old woman was stitching outside the house, with a girl helping her and a man, the girl's father, was lying on the cot. Another girl came outside and said, "Akka". The one word I haven't heard for a long time, the faces I've missed, the kind of people for whom I never came for. A drop of tear rolled through my eyes; my family.
All these days who I was searching for was right there. It took me a basket with a tulip and an old story to know what family means. Anandan was no one else but my father, Appa. Maya Anandan.
With a heavy heart, I saw my sisters doing chores instead of studying. I gave a long hug to my family and this time I took them with me to our home. Varna had a quick bond with my sisters and mother. After a day's journey, we reached our home. Our house was way too small to accommodate everyone but somehow managed it well.
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Three days later, Gui packed up her bags and quit her chef job. Gui was leaving for Chennai. After a hug, Gui bid goodbye to us. I lost a friend in her, but Varna, she lost a sister in her.
As the sun was getting low, I asked my appa to get ready, and we took off to a park a bit far. On the way, I gifted appa with the basket and I have never seen my old man smile in a long time.
Just as we reached there, appa took a sit on one of the benches and watched the kids play. I sat with him after I told Varna to look for the others. Varna went to look for them and within a few minutes, she returned. Before me, my appa saw them walk towards us. And there it was, a sparkle in his eyes. The air was cool. Varna and I witnessed a friends reunion, a family reunion, a lost family reunion, RAJA reunion after 44 years.
I haven't seen my father so happy since the birth of my sisters. Like last time, I knew I am gonna remember this day for a very long time.
A bit later, Varna and I took them to the house where Govind sir lived. Seeing them with sir, brought a small ache on my heart but more than this, my heart was filled with grace. A father-son bond was replenished, a friendship bond was recovered, a family bond was recreated. Thank you they said and this time along with me, Varna had a new point of view on life.
Ravi bought us a new house and jobs for my parents. Jagath was kind enough to take my sisters into his university for their further studies under his own expense. With a promise to pay their kindness back, Varna and I quietly departed from there.
We didn't do this for us, nor did we expect such things. These weeks somehow changed me and my perspective to the better.
Somethings are more than just gifts and some gifts are more than just things.
Some people are the proper meaning of loyalty and love. And there are people for whom no amount of words could ever describe the love you have for them.
A story by Swathi Sreesha.
P.S. to the readers; this story is a fantasy. Accept the flaws and enjoy it.
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