A second chance

A second chance

“You did not change much.” I smiled at her.

“Is it so? You’ve changed a lot!” she was giggling.

I am sure what she meant. I do not have an answer for that. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all?” And the mirror frustrates me utterly.

“Now tell me, how are you?” She asked the question, softly.

I thought for a second. I am not sure about the definition of happiness. I heard a joke the other day. A woman is complaining to the doctor, “I have four children and my husband does not love me!” The doctor lowered his voice and asked her,” Just think about the situation if he loved you, then?” The woman thought and fainted out.

“I am doing fine, Alhamdulillah (All praises are due to Allah)”, I replied.

She paused for a second. Her voice seemed different. “You will be well if Allah is pleased with you and then? What will happen otherwise?”

“What do you mean to say?” I was puzzled.

“If He is not happy with you, will you not be happy?” She was kind of agitated. She was looking straight at my eyes.

I could have referred a scholar’s name to her. I could have sent a religious video clip to her cell phone. Instead I told her something different.

“Don’t your parents love you? You will be happy without them also!”

Something got off track tremendously. We wrapped up shortly after.

“What was her name?” my husband was asking me.

I did not feel like giving an answer. What is in a name, anyway! Instead I asked him a question enthusiastically.

“Did you see the artwork of Dhruv?”

“Which artwork?”

“A green leaf with sunlight reflected on it. Did you like it?”

“I told you many times, I am not a fan of abstraction or artwork. Didn’t I?”

Yes, he did, indeed.

I was fascinated about the conceptual forms of a creative mind. I saw a movie where in a remote village a teacher was lecturing the students. He was holding his hands through the greenery to fetch the color green; he was touching the blue sky to fetch the color blue. Something tremendously deep yet so simple and vivid!

I wanted to thrive as writer. But artwork to me, seemed just like the Dhruv’s painting. A softer morning light on a green leaf. Scorching heat might lead it to another destiny.

Dhruv is growing older. He has a lot of questions for his father, not for me. Day after day, it is going something way beyond the norm.

“You both need to shut up”, he got frustrated the other day.

I want him to be happy. I want him to be normal. I want him to draw sunlight on a green leaf. I want him to touch the sky and fetch the color blue, for him and for me.

This is a story of a second chance for me and Dhruv; and for my rebellious friend.

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