I Want You to Have a Good Time

I got up with a heavy heart. It was my first birthday without mom. It was a month since I had heard that beloved voice, “Baby, take care. Look at me, learn from me, take care of your health. ..Learn from me….”

She would be the first one to wish me on my birthday, exactly at midnight, jerking me from sleep with that happy, vibrant voice of hers, “Happy birthday, Baby. What are your plans for the day? Do wear something new today. Get a new sari or a new kurta….”

“Mom, you are going to wear this kurta today, when we go out at night …and yes do behave properly there….do not eavesdrop on peoples’ conversation , for your stories .”
It was my daughter who had breezed into the room holding aloft a flamboyant kurta and a plate of garlic bread.

“This kurta? Don’t you think it is too bright?”

“Nothing is good, bad or bright, only thinking makes it so.”Hurling this profundity at me , along with the kurta, and keeping the plate on the bed, she was out of the room, and into her room , to talk to her friends, I thought.

But no, she was back in no time.
With a pancake this time.

Before I could close the mouth which had fallen open at the sight of so many unexpected delicacies, she was again out of the room, and into it again with a plate of pasta.
In short, she plied me with eatables of all shades, of all flavours and consistencies.

She was out again, only to be back again with a leftover piece of cake from the midnight birthday feast.

“Thanks for pampering me such a lot.” I said, almost on the verge of tears.

“Mom, learn from me, I want you to take care of your health, learn from me.” Had my mom suddenly started speaking through my daughter? Before I could almost start believing this, she popped the cake piece into her mouth, and polished off the delicacies she had supposedly prepared for me, in one go.

I had not touched a single delicacy.

“Do not think, I will do it every day. And my birthday, is just round the corner, I hope to be paid back in the same coin.” She was out of the room, throwing a flying kiss at me and a smile, which, to me appeared schizophrenic- split between an angelic and a devilish one.
But whatever her intentions, the morning which, for me had begun on a sad note, had succeeded in bringing a big Cheshire cat grin on my face.

“After all, your birthday does not come every day, happy birthday. I want you to have a good time.” She was back in the room to hurl this Parthian shot at me, suffixed with a wicked grin.

As she left the room, I furtively bent down to salvage my fallen jaw from the ground.
No, she did not turn back to see me stooping so low.

Pic courtesy: Pixabay.com

More poems in New Year 2016 Literature Special

Oh Calcutta! – By Sufia Khatoon

Horizons – By Ipsita Ganguli

Poetry – By Gauri Dixit

Kadambari – By Dr Ampat Koshy

To Chiyo – By Joanna Sarah Koshy

Silverfish – By Dr Amit Shankar Saha

The Screen – By Daipayan Nair

Unearthing Life – By Anand Sehgal

Reminiscences – By Mallika Bhaumik

Talk of Shades – By Ananya Chatterjee

Short Stories in New Year 2016 Literature Special

Noelle – By Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario

The Price of the Fumes: A Short Story – By Fatima Afshan