amma - schoolsonline | creating opportunity...
TRANSCRIPT
“Amma* No! Honestly I do not like it here. Hyderabad is so lifeless. There’s no fun stuff here, no beaches, no lakes, nothing interesting to do… and you expect me to live here?” I started my day yelling at amma.
But honestly living in a place like this is not easy. Chennai is wonderful, it’s where I spent all my life and five months back I was told to shift. The unfair part is I have to stay here with my mom while akka* gets to stay in Chennai with appa*. I have always had fights with akka. In fact, we don’t converse, we fight.
I continued “Amma, listen Chennai is everything I ever wanted and everything I want now.”
Amma gave me a sarcastic look, and she began “Are you done drama queen? Now, can I speak? ”I nodded. “Let me tell you a story about a girl. She was turning four and her parents wanted to do something special for her birthday. They held two birthday parties. One with friends, the other with orphans. This girl had a blast and she enjoyed with those orphans who she never met before as much as she had fun with her friends. This little girl was you. You are not born to belong to a place. Nobody belongs anywhere. As kids, we are so pure and innocent that we mould ourselves effortlessly out of love. You still have the innocence in you.”
My blood started boiling and I screamed, ”Oh wow! So now instead of comforting me you are telling me to be someone I am not? Yeah totally! How come I have to adjust here while akka gets what she wants? Nobody even asked me if I was fine with moving! Of course, she gets the first priority always.”
Suddenly amma burst out crying. I wondered “Was I too harsh?” and tried to console her. I tried to tell her I never meant to hurt her and was presenting my viewpoint.
She wiped her tears, sniffed and moaned, ”It’s not your fault. There is something appa and I have been hiding from you. We have not shifted here because of my job”. She sobbed “We shifted because akka has cancer and your studies may get affected. Anyways we’ll leave for Chennai tomorrow itself.”
I was shocked, lifeless and dumb struck. I cried all night.
We reached Chennai and headed to the hospital. I saw akka, she lost all her beautiful hair. She still looked pretty though. I tried my best to keep her happy and spend all the time I could with her. We laughed, we spoke. She left us within a few weeks... I regret not spending time with her and not expressing my love for akka.
Chennai was the place I loved only because appa, akka, my friends and my relatives were there not because of the beach, not because of the size and not because of the lake. The essence of belonging is love and that starts with people.
*Amma-‐ mother,*Akka-‐ elder sister,*Appa-‐father