The Unwanted Girl

There is a hustle and bustle at home with friends and neighbors pouring in to greet her. The phones ring endlessly and she literally switches between her telephone and her cell phone to accept greetings from all her well wishers. The list of names of callers lying beside the phone is getting longer every passing minute. She just relishes the idea of jotting down the name of every well-wisher calling her on her birthday each year. She will never be satisfied till the number of callers in the list crosses the number of years she has lived. And today, she is celebrating her golden day as she attains 50 years of age.

She was born to a middle class couple from Mumbai in the mid 1950s. Her mother welcomed her into this world with tears of sorrow, for she was not the son her mother had desired. Being the eldest child in the next generation of her family, her birth was celebrated with great enthusiasm by all the other members of her family. A few days later, she was christened after a goddess of well-being by her grandmother. She was the apple of their eyes. Her father felt blessed to have a sweet little daughter like her.

As she grew up, the pattering of her feet brought joy to the whole family. Her grandparents ensured that she lived the life of a princess. But her mother could never show an ounce of love to her. Slowly this resentment took a physical form with her mother thrashing the helpless child to relieve herself of her frustrations. People consoled and counseled but it failed to change the numbing brutality the child suffered. She never really got a chance to share a special mother-daughter bonding.

Her father became her friend, guide and philosopher. She was always surrounded by her gang of friends wherever she would go. Friends and relatives just adored her. She was an athlete and an excellent student at her school. All along she craved for some tender words of love from her mother. A life full of success and achievement is futile without an appreciation and shower of affection from one's mother.

As she turned into a fine young lady, she found her own ways to overcome her sorrow of physical and mental torture. At college, she found some dearest of dear friends with whom she pledged lifelong friendship. As the knit of their friendship grew stronger, one friend casually remarked how lucky she was to live like a princess. All she could say was "Indeed!". She lived in hopes that life would change one day for better.

She was married in due course to a young bachelor who promised her a brighter future. There were several ups and downs in their lives but they vowed to face them with strength. His kindness and support brought fresh hope to her life. The birth of her daughter - the 'wanted' girl turned her life a full circle. She vowed to shower all her love on her baby and shared a magical relation with her. She says that no matter what her true age is, she will always be as old as her daughter. She was five when her daughter was five years old, she was a teenager when her daughter was 16 and she was her daughter's sole confidante when her daughter fell in love. She cried as a baby when her daughter got married and immigrated abroad to start her new life.

I wondered how she lived a motherless life. All she said was that she always saw the glass half full. She believes in God and trusted him to turn her life better some day. She laughs and says, "God will never keep you unhappy all your life. If you have had a sad childhood, he will make sure that your future shall be a happy one. My daughter helped me overcome the sorrow of my past. With her I have shared all special moments that I myself craved for as a child. And now, my daughter behaves like a mother I always craved to have".

Our conversation suddenly gets interrupted as a loud English number starts playing on her cell phone. She springs up with a sudden glow on her face. It doesn't take long for me to guess who the caller is. It's her daughter on Caller no. 50.