My wife called, 'How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come
here & make your darling daughter eat her food?’
I tossed the paper away & rushed to the scene.
My only daughter, Sindu, looked frightened; tears were welling up in her
eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd rice.
Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age.
I cleared my throat & picked up the bowl. 'Sindu darling, why don't you
take a few mouthful of this curd rice? Just for Dad's sake dear.
Sindu softened a bit & wiped her tears with the back of her hands. 'Ok,
Dad.. I will eat - not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this.
But, you should...' Sindu hesitated. 'Dad, if I eat this entire curd
rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?'
'Promise'. I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with
mine, & clinched the deal. Now I became a bit anxious.
'Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!' was her demand.
'Atrocious!' shouted my wife, 'A girl child having her head shaved off?
Impossible!' 'Never in our family!' My mother rasped. 'She has been
watching too much of TV. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with this
TV programs!'
'Sindu, darling, why don't you ask for something else? We’ll be sad
seeing you with a clean-shaven head.' 'Please, Sindu, why don't you try
to understand our feelings?' I tried to plead with her.
'Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice'. Sindu
was in tears. '& you promised to grant me whatever I ask for.
Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the
story of King Harishchandra, its moral that we should honor our promises
no matter what?'
With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face & her eyes looked big
& beautiful.
On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch
my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around &
waved.
I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car &
shouted, 'Sinduja, please wait for me!'
What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. 'May be, that is the
in-stuff', I thought.
'Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!' Without introducing
herself, a lady got out of the car, & continued, 'that boy who is walking
along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from...
leukemia'.
She paused to muffle her sobs. 'Harish could not attend the school for
the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects
of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the
unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates. Sinduja visited him
last week & promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue.
But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of
my son!
Sir, you & your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your
daughter..'
I stood transfixed & then, I wept. 'My little Angel, you are teaching me
how selfless real love is!'
“The happiest people are not those who live on their own terms…………but are
those who change their terms for the ones whom they love..
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