Light in the Dark.

The alarm clock buzzes slowly waking me up. I push the sheets away and sit on my bed. I look to the other side and find the pillow unused sending a searing pang of pain to my heart. I fold the sheets and go to the washroom. I look in the mirror and a gruff 30-year-old man looks back.I wash my face and suddenly I hear a voice call out to me. "Aryan, come for breakfast you are going to be late. Come fast". I quickly step out of the washroom and head to the kitchen and find my wife Meera cooking aloo parathas that would send the neighbours into a frenzy. But she always cooked extra for them. She turns around, catches me staring and says "Go change now. You're going to be late again, Aryan". I turn with a smile and get dressed. As I re-enter the kitchen there are No Parathas, No Plates, and No Meera. I can't stand the sight of this, I take my bag and head for the door.

She is gone I tell myself, as I leave the building. It has been a year since Meera had passed in a car crash. But the memories still remain. I slowly make my way to the local government college where I taught. I am a professor of Economics there. As I walk towards the college, the wind blows past me and I take a deep breath, trying to refocus on the topics to be taught in class. I notice a car speed ahead; the car suddenly screeches to a halt. Two men get out off the car and they drop a small package on the road, get back into the car and drive off. I quickly hurry and see that what I assumed to be a package is in fact a little child wrapped in a blanket.The child's face is smeared with blood I quickly kneel down and check the child's pulse. She is still breathing. I notice that the child's body doesn't have any visible cuts or bruises.I infer that the blood on the child's face is not hers, but someone else's. Since it is the early hours of the morning the road is completely deserted. There is no-one nearby to ask for help.

So, I quickly take out my phone and call the police. The operator promises me that a station wagon will be there in the next 15 minutes. I take out the water bottle from my bag and wash the blood off the child's face. I do it slowly, but the child wakes up. She looks at my face and I can see fear flash through her eyes. "Hey, there," I say. She looks back into my eyes tears welling up in her eyes. "You are going to be alright. I am going to take you back home" I tell her and pick her up. She breaks into tears in my arms. As she cries I can feel her heart pound against my chest. It beats harder and harder. I hold her head tightly against my shoulder, trying to calm her down. Her heart rate begins to slow down.I wipe the tears from her face. Her big black eyes filled with sadness looks into mine I then slowly put her down on the ground and try to make her stand. But she is not able to, so I make her sit. The child is probably a year old. I wash her face, then I wipe it with my handkerchief. After I do so, she slowly raises her hands asking me to pick her up. I do so, and this time she wraps her hands tightly around my neck. I hold on to her and wait. The Police Jeep arrives after a short while. I quickly relate my story to the Inspector. He asks me to come to the station in order to file an FIR. At this point, one of the lady constables offers to take the child from me. But the child does not let go, instead, she wraps her hands more tightly around my neck. I then tell the constable that I can manage and get into the jeep.

We reach the police station, where I file the FIR. The Inspector asks me to take a seat outside his office.I sit down, at this point the child has fallen off to sleep in my arms. The constables in the station offered me a hot cup of tea and biscuits. After an hour or so, the Inspector steps out of his office and says that he has received some information which could help solve the case. He asks me to come along. As I get up to leave the Inspector looks back and tells me that it would be better if the baby stayed back. I am quite puzzled at this request, but I then decide that it is probably in the baby's best interest if she remained at the station. The female constable takes her away from me and assures me that the baby is in good hands. As she goes I feel as if the baby has taken a part of me. Even though it's just been a few hours with her, I have already got quite attached to her.

I leave the police station and get into the jeep. We drive for almost an hour until we reach a small village. Once we reach there, the Inspector asks me to get off the car. We then make our way towards a small house. A huge crowd has gathered and they surround the house, I stand back as the Inspector orders the constables to push back the crowd. As the crowds are slowly moved back I am able to see the interiors of the house. There is blood all over the walls, and I can make out the hand of a lady with a few bangles. The Inspector then moves about questioning the people living in the locality. I can't stand the sight of such a horrific scene. I move away and go to a quiet area of the village. At this point I am not able to take any more and break down into tears, I feel a hand touch my shoulder. I turn around and find Meera standing behind me, looking as radiant as ever with her long black hair flying in the wind. She looks at me sadly and says 'You need to be strong, Aryan'. I look back at her and say 'I promised to bring her back home. What am I supposed to do now?'. Meera looks at me quite calmly and says 'Do nothing for now. She is too young to understand. At this point the only thing she needs is love. Love cures everything over time'. I look away from her and say 'She can't expect that from me. I have nothing left in me. I am broken as it is'. Meera slowly holds my hand and says 'You are not broken. Instead of complaining about the situation that you are in you could use that same energy in figuring out how to get out of it. It's almost like a piece of chalk which breaks instead of worrying about the small piece of chalk that has broken you still use the chalk and the chalk still writes well. Be like the chalk, Aryan. A small piece may have broken but the story can still be written and completed with what is left'. She then places my hand on her stomach and says 'You lost one child. Don't lose another'.

I look back at her tears filling in my eyes and say 'I can't do this without you'. She smiles and says 'Who said anything about me leaving?' and gives me a wink. I hear someone scream my name loudly, I quickly turn my head to see who called me. I find a constable running towards me. The constable escorts me to the Inspector. The Inspector then informs me that the murder could be a probable case of an honour killing as the couple were of different faiths and had been disowned by their family members shortly after their marriage. The baby, however, remained unwanted by anyone. An innocent one-year-old had lost everything just because of the hurt egos of a few people. Her whole life had been thrown into chaos. "What about the girl," I asked. The Inspector looked at me and said "Well I think we will have to send her to an orphanage as both the families want nothing to do with her." "No," I said. "She will not go to an orphanage I will take care of her". The Inspector looked at me and said "Well Mr.Krishnan, are you sure about this?". "I am very sure about this" I replied. The Inspector smiled and got into the Jeep.

As we drove back to the station, the Inspector looked back at me and said "Mr. Krishnan, we do have one problem. We don't have a name for the girl?." Without a moment's hesitation, I replied: "Her name is Diya."

Once we reach back to the station, I notice Diya playing with the female constable as she looks up at me she gives me this toothless grin and raises her hands up. I slowly pick her up and as I do she holds onto me as tight as possible.

Today, 25 years later as I stand watching her getting married. As she goes around the sacred fire, she looks at me and gives me that same grin. I smile back at her. She has grown into a mature and confident young lady. I couldn't be more proud. As I stand there I feel a tap on my shoulder and I look and find Meera standing on my side. "I did well didn't I?" I whisper to her. "Oh! You did fantastic" she says smiling back at me.