Here your update:::::
I wake up earlier than Maa today. She comes downstairs only after I have eaten my breakfast that Sheela didi had prepared for me.
"Good morning Maa, how come you are not ready yet, you are usually gone by this time, do you have a night shift today?"
"Good morning bacha. Actually no, but I will go a little late today. I will go get ready in some time. I want you to get ready and come with me as well. Sheela didi has to go out later. Okay?"
I nod and rush into the room to get ready and maa joins me to get dressed as well.
"But what will I do all alone in your clinic maa, you will be so busy, wouldn't you? Won't I get bored?"
maa does not answer and simply tells me to get in the car quickly.
As maa drives, I see her taking a different route than that of her clinic. After a long time her car finally stops outside a huge entrance with a banner that says- "Welcome to the Adventure Park of your dreams!"
I cannot believe my eyes. Is this even real? maa has never even taken me out to a restaurant and today she is taking me to an Adventure park. Has she come to meet someone here or is she even my maa or someone else? I stare thunderstruck at her only to see her having a wide grin on her face.
We both get out of the car. I am still too shocked to ask her or tell her anything. maa excitedly buys two tickets for us and then she asks me, "are you ready to have the most fun adventure of your life Ruhi?"
I get so excited that I simply start shouting and jumping with joy. Some people around me even turn around and grin as they see me turn mad with excitement and happiness.
We first go into the bumper cars, then we ride on trampolines, mini quads, pedal Go-Karts, inflatable bouncers and even go on a huge roller coaster ride. We play mini golf and many other games. We take a lot of pictures with Winnie the pooh, Harry Potter characters and even a frozen Olaf was there. maa does not hesitate at all to have a lot of fun with me today. She even jumps into a huge pool of balls faster than me. At last, we end our adventure in the horror room where we laugh more rather than getting scared.
For the first time in my life I have so much fun and also see maa laugh and enjoy so much with me. I wonder what made her open up so much today. She feels like a changed woman, a changed maa.
The following week maa goes to work for only three days. We go to watch a movie, to painting classes and even swimming lessons that maa has previously abstained me from attending alone.
My birthday is approaching in a few days and I am very excited by thinking that this time maa will definitely plan something big for me. Previously, we only cut a small cake or sometimes maa is just busy in her clinic.
Some days before my birthday maa tells me, "I am so sorry Ruh, but it will be difficult for me to stay at home on Thursday. I got a lot of appointments lined up that day. What about you come and stay with me in the clinic and I'll see if I can finish a little earlier and we can go out if I am not too tired."
I sadly nod. This birthday is going to be so boring as well. A whole day in the clinic, where maa stays inside her cabin for most of the time and I can simply read books or magazines sitting there all alone.
…
"Hi Ruhi, good morning bacha. I hope you slept well. Happy Birthday to you my bacha. maa loves you so much. Thank you for coming in my life and making it better and so special. I only hope that you get all the happiness, good health and success in the world. May god bless you."
This is the most beautiful wish I ever got from her. She leaves a gentle kiss on my forehead and I hug her tightly. She tells me to freshen up and wear the new green outfit that she has bought for me today. We drive to her clinic and all of her colleagues start wishing me happy birthday and thankfully they did not let me sit all alone this time. I have a lot of fun with them and maa only gets out of her cabin at four after staying inside it for the whole day. She looks exhausted and upon asking I tell her that I want to go home because maa definitely needs to take some rest.
After some twenty minutes, we reach into a pitch dark house and when maa switches on the light, I hear – "Happy birthday Ruhi!"
I am flabbergasted. All my classmates, all my friends, the neighbors, the aunties are here and I smile the widest when I see Raman Sir approaching me, "Happy Birthday Princess", he says and leaves a kiss on my forehead, the same way maa did in the morning.
How did maa manage to do all this by staying at her clinic for so long? Was she actually in her cabin since the morning or was she preparing all this for me here?
Before I can ask her anything, she is already gone in the kitchen with Sheela didi and some other aunties and teachers to help serve us snacks. Even Rajat Sir goes to help her. All my friends start wishing me and giving me gifts. Even before cutting the cake, I had gifts piling up in the corner of the room.
I am beyond thrilled to see a huge red velvet cake sitting on the middle of the table. Everyone start singing Happy Birthday while clapping and the cake tastes even more delicious than it looks. It is so yummy.
The gifts keep on increasing and increasing and we take a lot of pictures with everyone.
Finally at 10:30, the hall is almost empty. Only some neighbors and Rajat Sir are left. After the neighbors leave even I start to help maa quickly clean up. Raman Sir says that he wants to stay here and help with the chores so that maa does not have to do every thing alone.
By 11:30 everything is almost done. Rajat Sir tells Ruhi that he has to leave now. But when I move the curtains to look down, I see that it has been raining heavily since a few hours already because water has started to accumulate in the parking lot.
"Rajat Sir, why don't you stay up here until the rain calms? It will be difficult for you to reach downstairs or go home in this weather."
"Are you sure, I can try to manage and wouldn't you want some rest after this tiring day?"
"No it is okay Rajat Sir, I do not feel sleepy at all and maa is used to staying up late. Please stay until the weather is clear and safe", Ruhi tells him.
"Okay then."
Ruhi jumps with excitement.
"Rajat Sir, why don't we go and play Ludo in my room, I got a big Ludo set as a gift today."
"Sure Ruhi. Tell your mother to join us as well."
We go into Ruhi's room and start arranging a spot on the bed for us to play the game.
During the game, Ruhi asks Rajat Sir, "Sir, what gift did you give me today, I haven't seen your name any gift box yet."
"Actually Ruhi, I have not given you a gift yet. I didn't get a lot of time to go out today so I grabbed whatever I could and brought it for you. See there's a red bag on the sofa there, your gift is in it. It is a very small gift, forgive me Ruhi, I'll buy a bigger gift for you some other day."
Ruhi opens the paper bag and tears the gift wrap around a medium sized rectangle. When she pulls it out, I find that it is a photo frame. Ruhi excitedly rushes to come and show me it.
It is a picture of Ruhi and her Rajat Sir the day of their cooking competition, both are wearing a chef's hat and are looking at each other while laughing.
Ruhi runs to hug her teacher, "Rajat Sir, this is an excellent gift. I really really love it. It is not a small gift at all, it's the most special gift that I received after maa's birthday party."
"Ruhi. I am in your house and playing Ludo with you at midnight, please do not call me Rajat Sir now. I am your teacher only in school. Here you can call me Rajat Uncle. I get so tired hearing Sir Sir all the time already."
We all laugh and Ruhi says, "okay Rajat Uncle".
"Hey Ruhi, and you still haven't told your maa what gift you want for your birthday", I tell her.
"Oh yes maa. I forgot. But I will not ask for it now. On my birthday I want you to promise me that you will try to give me whatever I ask you. Anything I ask you."
"Okay Ruhi. Anything for my bacha today. I promise, I will give you whatever you ask me. By the way let me go and prepare some coffee for you. I'll be back in some time."
We spend over an hour playing the game and laughing and talking with each other. At last, around 2 o'clock, the weather actually cleared up. Rajat Sir and I put Ruhi to sleep in her bed before both of us head downstairs to leave him.
"Thank you so much for the help and coming to the party Rajat Sir.
"Please you also don't call me Rajar Sir now. Please call me Rajat. Actually thanks to you for inviting me to the party and letting me stay here until the rain stops."
"That is totally fine Rajat. Actually, I wanted to thank you for something else as well. I thought a lot about what you told me about me and Ruhi some time back and I decided that there is no past or anything that can stop me from loving my daughter. Thank you, you made me realize what I was missing out from."
"I realized that much earlier. Both you and Ruhi are glowing. I did not do anything great Purvi. I just made you realize what you already knew but hid it from yourself. I told you, you are an amazing mother."
"Thank you so much."
And unconsciously I find myself leaning my cheeks towards him. He gets confounded by my impulsive act but he hesitantly places a kiss on both of my cheeks before saying goodbye to me and getting in his car.
What did I just do? Why did I do that?
Why do I always get so affected by him and his words? Why?
…
The next day, I decide to take a day off because I still feel a little tired from yesterday's activities. The Ludo set is still spread on the floor and I find Ruhi staring at it when I enter the room to wake her up.
"Good morning Ruhi, I hope you slept well", I tell her while planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
"You know maa, I never ever asked you for anything previously. I never ever asked you for anything."
"Yes beta, I know. Is something wrong? What do you want to ask about? Say, maa will answer it for you."
maa, I know you love me so much and I love you so much too. You have never made me feel alone or sad any day but I always feel that there is something missing. There is a sort of emptiness and loneliness around, don't you feel it sometimes too maa?"
I raise my eyes to look at her but I immediately lower them. I cannot look at my daughter echoing what I always feared to think and talk about. The void and the loneliness that she is speaking about are the realities that I have till now tried to bury in my heart so that Ruhi never sees it, but today, she –
"maa, I do not know if you will feel angry about it or not, but for the first time ever, I did not feel the loneliness and the emptiness yesterday maa. I felt complete. Our house felt complete. Our family felt complete."
Suddenly, I realize where Ruhi's thoughts might be sprouting from. Yesterday-family-Rajat…
"maa, I never asked you anything about my father. But yesterday, I felt like I also have a father-like all my friends, a father who plays with me, who cares about me, who loves me, and makes you happy maa. And even if not as my father maa, maybe he can be included as a member in our small family."
I see Ruhi raise her eyes and closely stare at something in front of her. I follow her gaze and see her looking at- the gift that Rajat gave to her yesterday and a smile forms on my lips. Both of them seem to be so happy in each other's presence, they actually do seem to be- father and…
"maa, can he be my father? If not, can he come and stay with us, as a family maa? Please Maa, I never asked you for anything and yesterday you even promised that you will give me whatever I ask you for. Please maa, bring Rajat uncle here for me, for us, please."
Ruhi starts crying but I simply rush out of the room without saying anything to her. Does Ruhi even know what she is asking me for?
I know nothing about him except for that he is Ruhi's teacher. How will I be able to ask him for such a thing? How?
I rapidly get dressed and reach the clinic. Once inside my cabin, I do something that I cannot even believe that I would ever do- I dial his number.
Thank you Kanika,Shweta03,Ruby,RK sweety,Guest,Gowthami, Guest for your reviews ...
Guest::sorry dost for the late update ...actually mera phone kharap tha toh story update nehi kar payi...