Sometimes we think we are Doing our Best, but is it enough?

Janki came home from work; she stood at her front door and rang the doorbell. But no one came to open the door. She lived with her husband, Suresh and daughter Chitra. She waited for a while and then walked over to the garage and found it empty. "Oh!" she exclaimed . "they haven't returned from work."

Janki left for work at the brink of the day, but Suresh and Chitra went much later, and as Chitra and Suresh worked in the same vicinity, they always left for work together and got back together too. Janki walked back to the front door as she dug out her keys from her handbag. She unlocked the house and walked in, thinking, "wonder what's holding them. They should have been home by now." 

She dug into her handbag again to get her phone as she walked into the house. She was rarely alone in the house. Every morning when she left for home, both Suresh and Chitra used to be at home, and when she got back from work, she would walk into the smell of freshly brewed coffee that Suresh had made for her as he waited for her to get back home.

She missed them and was plagued by negative thoughts, "what's keeping them? I must call them," she said, frowning. She quickly looked up Chitra's number and thought to call her instead of Suresh. "He might be driving," she thought. Chitra took her call on the third ring and said, "hello, Mom?"

"Chitty, why aren't you'll home? Is something wrong?" Janki asked, concerned. "No, Mom, all is well; the car has broken down, and Suresh oversees its repairs. We should be home soon. But you don't wait for us. Have dinner and sleep; we may take a while. You need to be up early for work tomorrow morning." Chitra said almost too quickly.

Something disturbed Janki, "Is Chitra hiding something from me?" she asked herself. Much had changed recently. Chitra had started calling Suresh by name, and when Janki had corrected her, Chitra had refused to call him 'uncle' as she had done in the past. "He is more than a friend to me; he is not my dad. I feel more of a connection when I call him Suresh." Chitra had claimed. 

Janki had taken up the matter with Suresh, for which he replied. "oh, that does not matter; it's not like I fathered her. If she is comfortable calling me by my name." Janki was grateful that Suresh was not offended and let the matter pass. 

Janki was only 22 when her husband (Chitra's dad) passed away. Chitra was still in her womb and would never know her dad. A few months after her husband's death, Janika delivered a beautiful daughter, Chitra. 

When Chitra was three months old, Janiki's mother-in-law Sushila came to her and told her. "I know you are worried about our financial situation, and neither of us would like to depend on someone else for our needs. You and Mahesh (Janiki's first husband) previously worked abroad. That's why we are comfortable today. But now you have Chitra, and our expenses will grow over the years. What is the point of staying here and wasting away? Mahesh is gone; he is not coming back. He is dead. But you are alive, you are young, and you have a life. Go back abroad and earn your living." Sushila saw her daughter-in-law's eyes filled with tears. 

She moved closer to her and hugged her, and said, " You must move on, go abroad. You know the place you have friends there." And then she said, "And you have been more than a daughter to me and the best to Mahesh. Go back abroad, and start afresh if you find someone to love."

Janki spoke through her tears, "what about Chitra." Sushila said, "Leave her with me, and I will take care of her." Soon Janki worked on leaving her hometown and moving to a foreign country for better prospects. Leaving Chitra was the most challenging thing to do, but she was comforted by Sushila being there to look after her. Janki had called her employer, whom she worked for before her marriage, and he was happy to have her back to work for him. The day Chitra was four months old, Janki relocated to a foreign country to work and provide for her family.

When Chitra was three years old, Janaki met Suresh, and they liked each other. They soon became friends, and one day Suresh popped the question. They lived together from then on but never married. Janki continued to fund her family and came back to visit her mother-in-law and daughter every year, and Suresh continued to support her in every way he could, and yes, Janki started living again.

When Chitra was eighteen years old, she expressed her wish to come and live with her mother. Janki's mother-in-law had just passed away, and Janki was only happy to take Chitra with her; all three have lived together since then. 

Janki smiled, thinking of all that had happened in her life. She was happy that all had changed for the best. She lay down to sleep that night; she was tired and quickly fell asleep. She woke up the following day with a start. She saw that Suresh was not on the bed and rushed out to look for him, but both Suresh and Chitra had not returned yet. 

Janaki panicked; what could have happened to them? She tried calling them but couldn't get through. She opened the cupboard and checked for her documents and, to her utter shock, saw that Chitra's and Suresh's passport was missing. Suresh's workplace told her that he had resigned and that yesterday was his last working day. "Where are they?" Janki cried out aloud but received no answer.

Janaki went to her bank only to find that her bank account had been wiped clean. She was walking out of the bank when her phone buzzed. The message was from Chitra, and this is what she said. "Don't look for us. Suresh and I are together, and we are far away from you. Whenever I tried to get close to you, he was in between us. Now that I have taken him from you, you are alone, and you will know what I felt for so many years!"

My Thoughts

We parents feel we must sacrifice and give it all to our children, but do we give them what they need most? They need our presence more than anything money can buy.