The Scars ✓

Twenty Two

Vrinda was hesitant to answer this question. She felt that once this was told to her, there was no going back. She knew Kiara would never look at her grandmother the way that she looked at her now. She was also scared about the way that she would ask questions to Arjun and how he'll take it. But, somewhere she knew that if she did not tell her the truth, things would not be clear to Kiara and all her questions would remain unanswered.

She took a huge breath in and released it before beginning, "-That was because your grandmother was feeling sleepy and you started crying because you were apparently hungry. I always used to leave a bottle of milk in the refrigerator and tell her that you had to drink it at certain hours. She always gave it to you and I never had to worry about it while sitting in the office. That day, she must have gotten irritated by your crying voice so she took you in her arms and put you out, in the hot summer noon, on top of the car that was parked outside, crying, hungry and went away to sleep again! She did not bother to look back after that, once, to check of you were even there or were taken away."

Vrinda spoke all that in one breath and then carefully looked up to see the look of utter horrification on her daughter's face but continued nevertheless, even though she knew that Kiara was hurt by every word that was being spoken now. She knew she had to choose her words carefully now, in a way, that the damage can be minimum.

She thought of pausing a little now, so that she knew that they were both on the same page and that she was okay with all the information that she was being given. She wanted to give her time, here and there between this disclosure, to process all the information. She began again, "Only when I came back home in the evening around six thirty in the evening and saw you missing did I ask for you and you know what answer was I given?"

All this while Kiara looked astonishingly at her mother's face. She could not believe what she was hearing were the acts of the one person she thought she could never hate. She felt sad that unlike all her friends who were full of stories about their grandmothers, she'll never have anything to tell them, ever.

"What mom? What did she say?" asked Kiara, breaking her train of thought and asking wit bewilderment in her voice. She was stunned to listen to the words that were flowing from her mother's mouth and she almost did not want to believe them.

"She said, 'I was sleepy and Kiara was crying. I got irritated by it so I put her out on top of the car. She must be there somewhere! I got busy after that so didn't get time to go look at her after that. It hasn't been long since then, just a couple hours or more.'" Vrinda replied, looking constantly now at Kiara's face that was red with anger and her eyes now full of tears.

"What! Really mom? That's what she said? All that she said were these words? Did she not have a heart? Did she not think about what would have happened if her own daughters were kept to be toasted in the sun like that?" questioned Kiara, anger radiating off of her body.

"Yes, and that's not all-" Vrinda was about to continue when Kiara asked in a sarcastic tone,

"Oh, there's more? Awesome! I cannot wait to hear it!" Vrinda did not want to continue but now that she was half way into it, there was no going back. She had to let Kiara know that the ones closest to you, sometimes do you harm much worse and much more severely. She thought of it as giving her this life lesson that one should not trust people so easily. They may appear to be someone but turn out completely the opposite once you get to know them.

Vrinda felt pathetic telling her daughter all this, but sighed deeply and then continued, "-When I went out to check where you were, almost shouting your name on the street, I heard your voice coming from our neighbour's house. They were a fairly old couple with a son almost my age and the same neighbours that you then grew up to learn the basics of the keyboard from." Kiara went back to as far as her memory could travel at that moment and did, in fact, recollect the same couple laughing at her silly mistakes on the keyboard and her constantly wanting to play on the grand piano they had at their place.

Vrinda waved her hand in front of Kiara's face and said, "Anyway, I rushed so see if you were okay or not. Thankfully, you were absolutely okay and happily playing in their house, I felt content that at least someone in the vicinity cares for you. I picked you up from the bed and saw that your back and thighs had become red, they had been burnt by the blue metal of the car that you were kept on. I was so heartbroken to see you like that and it made me feel equally sad for the way that you were treated when you didn't deserve it. To this day, whenever I think about that moment, it shakes me to the core."

Kiara was stunned to hear all this. She got absolutely disconnected with her paternal grandmother from that day. All that she felt was an obligation to respect her because she was her grandmother and she had been taught to respect her elders, no matter what. She took Vrinda as her inspiration because she recalled that she always used to serve her, knowing that she did not deserve it.

Kiara's life was not a fairytale. She was not born with a silver spoon. She had to fight to strive in this world. The real world that she had to live in was beyond her imagination. She had to come out of her little bubble that she had been living in for a long time. She needed to know how to live well, because the world will not stop trying to beat you down.

The fickle bubble had to burst one day soon and she had to be prepared to face the reality, the truth that life is not a sugarcoated sweet. Rather it is sweet that comes in a unique flavour. One has to discover the taste by experiencing it only...

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