The Memory

By Bandaru Vaathsalya Sree

Leela was struggling her way in the attic of her house. She very well remembers her mother placing two large boxes of her dolls, photos and other stuff in a corner five years ago. After all the pushing and pulling of large boxes and unusable stuff, she paved a path to pull her treasure.

Leela had managed to get two days off from her busy schedule. She decided to revisit all those days when she was a free bird and had a million memories. She brought the boxes and her doll house down to her room. After some dusting, she eagerly sat down opened the first box and closing her eyes, she pulled the first thing that touched her fingers.

It was an old album. Leela and her friend Tina had made it themselves. Oh the pleasure of looking at some things and realizing that we made all by ourselves. It was clearly visible in her eyes. The first picture the album contained was the photograph of its creators posing in classical costumes. Leela and Tina first met in a classical dance class when they were ten. From there started their 24 carat friendship. Till their colleges, they never left each other’s side.

The next photograph showed two tiny hands saying “Hello Friend!” On the mere sight of it, her mind ran back in time only to stop on the morning of her 12th birthday, when she still lay on her bed. Her mother came to wake her up. She pulled the curtains letting the sunlight in and called out to her-

“Leela! Get up! What kind of girl wakes up late on her birthday? Leela! I said get up.”

Leela lazily groaned and said, “What kind of mother irritates her daughter to wake early on her special day, mummy?”

“You have a present. I’m sure you do not want to miss it!” This was enough to convince the birthday girl to wake up. As she opened her eyes, she could see two palms so close to her face that she couldn’t lift her head up. On the right palm, it was written ‘Hello’ and on the other, it was written ‘Friend!’

“Tina!” cried out Leela out of excitement. It was Tina who stayed the night in her house without her knowledge only to surprise her friend the next morning.

Leela’s lips curled up at the edges as she remembered it. There is no denying that the smile had prevailed as she recollected all her childhood memories.

By Bandaru Vaathsalya Sree