Time flies....

... He walked down the lane hastily. Approached the impasse, stopped and looked at the sky; disappointed. Then he looked at his watch and heaved a sigh.

It was 4 in the morning. Thee sun was not out yet. It was still dark. He rested his arm on a stone protruding out of the wall. He jingled the coins in his pocket with other hand.

He remembered his 2 days old daughter. He remembered how she was crying and the neighbour lady had said, " She must be hungry."

Two days ago, he was blessed with a daughter. Everybody told him that she was beautiful just like her mother. He was too scared to take her into his arms for the first time. He was afraid that he might hurt the feeble.

He was very angry with his wife. "Why did she have to leave? Why couldn't she live more and help him bring up their daughter? What would he do now? How will he manage?".

The sun was out. People were out. World was back to life again. He looked at the shop. It was closed. He took out the coins and started counting, tossing from one hand to other. He stared at the coins and clenched his fist tight enough to get good hold of coins. He stood there drenched in thoughts.

The clatter of the shutters dragged him out of his thoughts. He ran towards the shop, gesturing the cars to stop and let him go. He stepped into the shop and looked around. There were sweets, cookies, bread.

The shopkeeper smiled and asked, "Good morning, Sir. What do you want?". He looked at the shopkeeper and turned back to see if there was anybody behind him.

"Me?", he asked, "I want food for my daughter."

"Oh, for the daughter. Take some jalebis. Girls like jalebis.", said the shopkeeper.

"No. No, not jalebis. Something healthy and clean". He looked around again. Lost for a while, checked every counter well and then asked, "How much for a single piece of bread?", pointing towards the bread.

Shopkeeper asked, "Single piece?".

"Yes. A single piece.", he replied.

The shopkeeper gave him a stern look. He went to the store room, brought two loaved of bread and handed over to him. "Take this and go away".

"I have these eight 1 rupee coins", he started counting the coins again.

"No. No. You don't need to pay for this. Just go away and let me work.", said the shopkeeper shoving him away.
He thanked the shopkeeper and left.

He walked back to the house. The baby was lying there, still crying. He went to her and whispered, "Abbu got food. Don't cry." He took the bread out of his pocket and looked. He didn't know what to do with this bread. He was clueless.

He had always wanted a daughter but his wife wanted their first child to be a son. They would fight over ig and then leave all upto fate.

"Could she have survived if it was a boy? Did she leave because we fought? Did she leave because her wish was not fulfilled.", he thought.

How could he think so?, he slammed himself. He was lucky to have a beautiful daughter, beautiful and tender like a rose. She was his only family now.

He went to the kitchen, took a bowl, put some water in it and soaked the bread. The bread was soft now. He mashed it well and tried to feed the baby. It didn't work. "What? You don't want bread? What do you want then?"

----------x----------x----------x----------

"Abbu, your tea." said the girl in a very soft and sweet voice.

"Hmmm", he woke up from his trail of thoughts, "keep it there."

He was sitting there in his chair, gray and wrinkled. He was old now. He looked at his daughter. She had grown up into a beautiful young girl. Her eyes were most pretty. She was very caring and her Abbu's favorite.

"I am leaving for the college. Your breakfast is ready and set on the table. Have it on time.", she said and disappeared from his sight.

He sat there thinking to himself- How Time flies!