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Bidding Goodbye to one’s
Child Author: Subbulakshmi
Abstract by: Subbulakshmi /300 / 20 June 2006
Abstract type: Abstract
The wedding was over and the last guests had left. We were home once again, after seeing off our beloved daughter Tara and her husband at the airport. Her radiant face and preoccupation with what was going to happen next seemed to cut us off from her. The flight was announced and Tara gave me a quick, tight hug.
Tara’s anguished cry of, “Dad, I really love you,” as she hugged him, betrayed the pangs of separation that she felt.
“I can’t bear the emptiness. I’ll go to Ash’s
house and return only late at night. Mom, don’t bother to keep dinner for me,” announced my son Krish, banging the door shut as he went out.
Shyam, my better half in every way, and me, drifted from room to room like two lost souls.
The whole house, with its bright colours and personal touches given by our two children, seemed to cry out, oh what happy times those were! When we came to the
study lined with books my husband pulled out at random books belonging to our daughter. His hands lingered on the fly leaf where his child’s name was written and he touched it lovingly.
I moved on. Her room was left in perfect order --- the bed neatly made and favourite soft toys propped on scatter cushions. The study table was bare except for the lamp which cast a soft glow.
Too much of neatness! my mind objected. Rather give me the disarray that speaks of my beloved child’s presence everywhere. The loneliness that pervaded the house, its silence, was this the beginning of what
people referred to as the empty nest syndrome? my heart cried out in pain.
Shyam had come in search of me, His voice brought me back to the present. “Come Subbu, let us go out somewhere for dinner. I must have some people around me.” I could detect the break in his voice and felt comforted at the thought that he shared my feelings.