A girl in the dark world

#3 Home

I started walking slowly towards the entrance of the ashram. The days i lived here cannot be explained by words... But to mean it.. It was my HOME. It is still the same place where i belong.

The ashram had a huge compound wall on either side of the entrance gate, which always made me feel like i am greeted with the words..."come dear, it's your home". The last time I visited the ashram, it was dull with paints peeled off everywhere losing its shine. Now i could see a bright coloured building which is still old to everyone. The name of the ashram was written in a new style on a thick board above one of the compound wall. "OMG this is so amazing" i exclaimed.

The security gaurd at the gate was staring at me and walked towards me to ask "what do you want madam?". Is he questioning me? How come he can ask this to me? I became furious but gave a sarcastic smile and said "i am the daughter of this home" :-D

The guard was confused by my answer..i was enjoying that and felt as if i am the owner of the ashram ^_^. "Madam are you the daughter of Seetha ma?" askd the guard. Mansi NO...!! This is not good i told myself and explained the guard that i am one among the people who lost her family and was brought up by this home. The security guard felt bad and asked sorry as if he did some mistake. "No.. i should only feel sorry for playing with your questions. Hereafter you can see me more often here" i smiled.

Seetha ma..the most important person of my life, the one who takes care of all the people in the ashram. Everyone used to call her as "ma" because she served as a mother to the people in need ;)

The gaurd asked me to get inside and meet her at the office. The ashram had a small office to greet someone who are distantly related to the people living in the ashram. When i was a kid Seetha ma used to take me along with her to the office and take care of me.

Now i had several thoughts in my mind...how will seetha ma react on seeing me? Will she scold me for not visiting her for months? Or Will she greet me with happy tears? Well, let's see. I stepped inside the office room and to my dismay the room was dull with no lights on. Seetha ma wasn't there at the office. I loojed around with amazement to see how everything has changed over time :) And should i beleive what i just saw? There was a photo frame hanging on one side of the wall with a picture of me hugging seetha ma :') Tears rolled. The photograph was taken the last time i visited the ashram (1 year back). It was a memory and i didn't expect it would be framed.

"Someone is visiting me after an year" said a grin voice from behind distracting my stare at the photograph. I turned back and saw the angry face starring at me. I ran towards her sceeaming "Maaaa". I was so happy to see her and bent down to get her blessings. She smiled and blessed me with a birthday wish. How will she forget my birthday when she was the one who made the day to be called so?.

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Well, you might have a thought why Mansi should stay in a hostel and why she visits the ashram only once a year?

Mansi is now 20 years old. She has completed B.Com at Women's Christian College in chennai. Now she got a job in Bangalore and shifted to a hostel few days back. But she used to visit the ashram sometime every year.