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‘Is your daddy not going to come this year too?’ Koyal heard a girl ask Mansha and Koyal froze. The little ones, they can be the meanest sometimes, she thought ruefully.
‘He might come,’ ventured Mansha bravely, ‘but he is a very busy doctor, you see.’
When Mansha turned and looked at Koyal, Koyal could easily see how difficult this was for her. Koyal kept an eye on the little girl the whole evening, and when most of the girls had left and the party was almost over, Koyal saw her sitting quietly on the stairs, her face resting in her hands, the little face sad and the usually happy eyes empty. Without another word, Koyal stepped forward and pulled the girl in a tight embrace.
‘Are you okay, darling?’ Koyal asked.
Mansha shook her head.
‘Are you upset because of what your friend just asked you?’
Mansha shook her head.
‘Then?’ Koyal asked, surprised.
Mansha looked around and fiddled with her hand. That she wanted to say something was as obvious as was her unease about saying it.
‘Go on,’ Koyal gently prodded and walked with her into the hallway so that it would just be the two of them. From the corner of her eye she could see Surya Aunty’s eyes follow them.
‘Just us here, Mansha – you can tell me whatever is going on in your mind,’ Koyal nudged gently.
Mnasha fiddled with her dress and then looked up at Koyal, her large eyes filled with tears.
Why I am letting myself get so involved in this girl’s emotions, Koyal thought angrily, helplessly.
‘I don’t remember,’ Mansha whispered.
What? ‘Remember what?’
‘Her,’ Mansha said.
‘Who, darling?’
Mansha pointed a finger at Nili’s portrait hanging in the hallway. ‘Mummy,’ she said.
Koyal froze. ‘You don’t remember your mummy?’
‘No,’ said Mansha. ‘What if…’ and here both Mansha’s voice and Koyal’s heart broke, ‘she has also forgotten me?’
Oh, you poor little girl! ‘Mothers never forget their babies, no matter how many years pass or how many decades.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘My mummy died five years back and I know she hasn’t forgotten me.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Who else do you think sent you in my life? To brighten it all up, make me laugh and smile?’
Mansha looked at her friend and smiled. ‘Then maybe, my mummy sent you?’
Koyal shrugged.
‘Maybe your mummy spoke to my mummy in heaven and they both sent us to each other?’
‘That’s a definite possibility,’ Koyal said, grinning.
‘Maybe our mummies are friends too,’ Mansha chirped, excited.
