A Smile That Shall Last Forever
People say, HOME is where the heart is. But for me, my HOME is where my MOTHER is. No family is complete without a mother who takes care of everybody around. She brings in life and I truly believe that when she is happy, the family is happy.
This story relates to year 2009 when I was awarded a National Award for Children’s Creativity and Inventiveness- IGNITE-2009. The award was not a very big deal for me, but the smile which this achievement brought to my mother’s face was indeed precious. It had been a long time since I saw her smiling and when she did, I was more than happy for being the reason behind that smile. I was felicitated by the Missile Man, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. To stand with him amongst a huge crowd was in itself a proud moment for me and had won me everything.
Although I was notorious, I never disobeyed my mother. She was the one who would always make me laugh even when I didn’t want to smile. We were a happy family then. But good people are not meant to stay forever. My life had just started and she was diagnosed with cancer. I did not know if I could ever save her but I had an urge to help her fight. I would always see her running up the stairs to get the wet clothes hung outside, when it started raining. She managed to hold all of us together when she herself was in pain. I then decided to be her support. I could never have taken her place but I knew I could lessen her worries. After a lot of thoughts, I invented a machine that could prevent clothes from getting wet in rains. When I explained her how that machine would be of use to her, she was struck in awe. She would laugh and tell me that I wouldn’t have to marry if I design devices like this.
This invention of mine won me an award mentioned above. When I exhibited my model to Dr. Kalam, he was highly impressed and his comment left me laughing: “It is nice to see that students like you are making devices for the use of bachelors like us. You are giving us reasons not to marry.” By then, my mother was hospitalized and I couldn’t wait to share this ecstasy with her. I could not visit her for I was in Ahmadabad waiting to receive my award and She was in Vellore , battling with life. As soon as I called her up telling the entire story, she laughed like crazy and probably the last time that she laughed her heart out. This wasn’t a very regular phenomena in our family and so seeing her smile was something we hadn’t seen for ages. That day and her smile changed my way of looking at life. I could not make her stay with me but her smile would remain for an eternity.