Dearest Mumma,
A lot of people have been writing really nice things about you. Words failed me completely till now. It's after a week that I am writing to you because I need to pen these things to be able to breathe better.
It has been 7 days since you went away.
Since then, 70,000 people have tweeted about you, including Shah Rukh Khan.
Since then, I have spoken to 700 people who have told me in 7000 ways of how
they will now see you through my smile. Since then, I have shed more than 7
million tears; sometimes to overcome the unbearable pain of facing the reality
that I will never hear you again or have your hand lovingly caress my cheeks
and look at me lovingly; sometimes through smiles, remembering all the
goofiness we have enjoyed together and some of your solo antics.
In the course of the last 7 days, I have
had panic attacks, sleepless nights and day-long sleeping sessions. I have
binge-watched comic shows in an attempt to laugh without guilt. I have also sat
with a Harry Potter book for hours trying to find solace. Completely out of
character, I have gone on walks in an attempt to tire myself out before bedtime
so that the images of your last days in the hospital would stay at bay. I have
succeeded in some ways but I have a long way to go in others.
Even as I type this, I know when I share it
on my blog and then the link of the post to Twitter and Facebook, yours will
not be the first comment, RT, heart or like to the post. I know you won’t call
me to tell me to stop crying and to assure that everything will work out for
the best. I know you won’t tell me to come and meet you over the weekend and
hug away all my worries. I know it all but I still hope against hope that I
will get the notifications that always made me smile earlier and the phone
calls that made the world better.
Friends have been calling me to check on
me. But never again will I pick up the phone and say, ‘haan, mumma’ and never
again will you reply, ‘haan beta’. Vivek
remembers this part of our daily video calls punctually at 8:30 pm everyday
since you left.
Vivek is constantly on high alert trying
his best to be strong for me. But he misses you a lot too. He has the right
idea of coping with the loss though. He has decided that we will try our best
to go through life thinking at each crossroad ‘what would Aruna P. Khot do in
this situation’. In the last 7 days he has picked up after himself without a
reminder from me. He has praised SRK thousands of times. I think he has already
started implementing the new life philosophy. I hope you saw all this and
smiled at us.
You know I am a crier. The frequency of
tears is reducing gradually. But I can’t promise that the floodgates will close
completely anytime soon.
Mumma, I really miss you!
