Rohan, a young introvert guy in his late twenties was very excited that day. He was kind of a person who usually didn't like to go out and would rather prefer to stay in his shell, confined within his self restricted boundaries at his home. However, he was very excited since last night as he was going to see his niece after a long time.
He missed her last birthday and couldn't even visit her during Diwali even though his sister kept insisting to come home. Early morning he packed his bag before going to office. He had bought few toys for his niece to play with and took it to office from where he had to go directly to railway station to catch his train.
It was around 3:30 when he left from office. He would have missed the train on any other day but the train was already running 1 hour late. He stepped inside the cab he had called in for dropping him to station and eased himself.
"Jeena yha marna yha.. iske siwa jana kha..." one of his favourite song rang in his phone. He slipped his hand inside the pocket and took out his phone. "Hello, mummy" he answered "yes, say".
"Where are you? Why are you not picking up the call?" his mother seemed concerned.
"Where should I be? I told you, I am going to Kanchan's home and on my way to railway station," he answered in his natural rude tone.
Startled at the rude reply of her beloved son, her mother said, "I know that. It's already 4:00 pm and you are still on your way. What if you will miss your train? Can't you leave at time? Why do you always get late?"
Rohan quickly replied, "Why do you worry so much all the time? I am not a kid anymore. I know how to do things. Don't you tell me every now and then, what to do and what to not."
Hurt by his rudeness, mother disconnected the phone. She had never imagined that the same boy for whom she faced all the adversaries of life to make him successful would treat her this way one day. She promised herself not to call him again. But as they say, no matter how much rude you are or how much mistakes one makes, the mother can't be upset with her children for long.
She called him again to enquire if he had caught the train but he didn't answered at first. When she didn't get any return call for next five minutes, she got very tensed for his well being. She kept calling him again and again. She was getting more and more restless, her heartbeats seemed to be in a sprint. In a span of hardly 10 odd mins, she had called for almost 50 times.
Rohan, at the other hand, waiting in queue at the station entrance had no idea what his mother was going through. Annoyed at the repetitive calls he had put his phone on silent mode. It was only after boarding the train, he put his luggage in shelf above, eased himself, took out his phone and rang back her number.
"Yes, why do you get so worried mom? I have reached and caught the train in time. Look it's hardly been half an hour and you have called around 100 of times." He said to her in a comparative softer tone. She, still struggling to slow down her beats, angry with him at the same time for not answering calls said, "You will never understand me. You just keep hurting me this way or that way. The time when you will have your own children, I will see and then ask you the same question. You think I.........." she couldn't continue further.
"Sir, wake up. We have reached the station. Hurry up else you will miss the train" cab driver shook him.
"What? Where am I? I am still in cab, for how long have I been asleep." He said struggling to gain his consciousness.
"Sir, it's been half an hour since we were stuck in this traffic jam. I guess you fell asleep and had a dream", the driver replied.
He stepped outside cab and rushed towards the entrance. He took out his phone to check if there was any call from anyone. There were no calls, no messages apart from few ad-promos from telemarketing companies. As the excerpts from his latest (last) conversation with his mother kept flashing in his mind, he realized it's been almost 3 months since her mother left her for good. There was going to be no repeated calls, no irritating pampering from his mother anymore. People would be around him; his family, his friends, his colleagues all are going to be with him at one or other point of time but there would be no divine thing like motherly love and care.
As he sat on his train birth, he took out his phone once again and kept staring at its blank screen. He just wished that it's screen flashes again with his mother number. All his life so far, when she was around him he used to be irritated with little things. He did had love for her mother but didn't had the guts to express her. Somewhere deep in his heart he used to understood why his mother does things she does but it's the fact that he used to get irritated with all the pampering and care she did for him. Now when she was not around him anymore he wished for all those things once again and to tell her how much he loved her. He wished he get one more call, just one more call.......................
