Wednesday 17 February 2010
Manoj was a teacher in a small village in Mumbai. Despite his meager earnings he educated his son Ram who was equal to the task by performing extremely well in his studies. Aiming for highest qualification in Computer Science, Ram stood first in school followed by a top 10 rank in entrance exam of Indian Institute of Technology.
Yearning for recognition, after Completing B.Tech with top honours, Ram got an Offer from the top university in USA for doing his masters with full scholarship and he sought his father’s consent. Considering the enormous opportunities it provided, Manoj reluctantly agreed to send him abroad.
Completing MS in Computer Science Ram got a job as research executive in a software company. He wrote about this offer to his dad, His parents were expecting to spending their last few years of life with their son in Mumbai and the thought of further delay pained them. Nevertheless the news that Ram was coming to Mumbai for Diwali, a fortnight later, offered some solace to the elderly couple.
On this pretext Manoj wanted to get his son married during the visit so that Ram could take his wife with him to USA. Manoj’s friend Rakesh met him in the market and informed him that he was looking for a suitable boy for his daughter Shreya, who had completed her medical degree. Manoj shared the information about his son with Rakesh, who was keen to get his daughter married to Ram.
Upon his return from market Manoj informed his wife about the offer and said that he had invited Rakesh and his daughter to come home for Diwali, when they can meet Ram also. Ram arrived from USA and was told about the proposal to marry Shreya .
Nevertheless his mother was not happy because Ram would be leaving with Shreya to USA after marriage. Shreya and her father spent Diwali with the Manojs and Ram gave his consent to marry Shreya.
To complete various formalities that remained to be done , Ram was running around. He had to tie up some loose ends for his Job. He returned one evening yelling, “Mom I have made all the arrangements for the Job and it is just the Marriage that we should take care of.”
Reacting slowly his mother asked him when he was planning to leave for USA with Shreya. Ram winked at her and asked , “Mom do you feel you had enough and want me to leave soon !!”.With tears streaming down her face she started crying. Ram hurriedly apologized to her , “Mom I was just kidding, don’t I know how much you love me,”
Yet she was not consoled. He then made his parents sit comfortably and started saying. “Mom I am not going anywhere leaving you and Papa. Technology has improved so much that Location is no more a constraint for business. I have made arrangements to work from Mumbai and send the software abroad.”. His Mom leapt with Joy and hugged Ram and Shreya.
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Labels: Short Story
2 Comments:
What a great way to convey the feelings of large number of parents who send their children abroad for studies!Quite moving. Keep it up Saras.Good luck.