A moment that could have been

My contribution to Cafe Writing - December project (Option one)

Does her effulgent smile claim that she has the whole world's happiness? One might ponder. Her glistening eyes and the joyful look on her face might reemphasize that she is the happiest person one has ever met. She is returning home with lots of stories to tell her dad. Her new friends, her class teacher, the black board and the different colour chalk pieces, the school bell, the text books and pencils - she wonders where to start. A new experience for the 3 year old, Shrishti. It's her first day at school.

Her dad, Prakash is a postman and wants the best for his daughter. Shrishti is his only source of happiness in his struggle to get ends meet. He has faced many twists and turns in his life but today, the turn he takes towards RC Road prove to be a bad twist in little Shrishti's happiness. The speeding car, with no respite for traffic signal hits his bicycle and he collapses in the middle of the road. His vision starts to blur and memories of his childhood starts to kindle. How his life was shattered after his father's death! He has to live for Shrishti. He cannot see his little daughter suffer.

Sparks of conviction and will power bring him up his feet. He gets up and looks at the world staring at him, with no one to offer him a helping hand. He has been delivering mails for so long but today, there is no one to deliver a message to the nearby clinic. With blood oozing from his left side of the face, he starts to walk. A little girl in her bicycle comes by that way. She is appalled by the observing crowd and rushes towards Prakash with her handkerchief. Some of them, clearly embarrassed offers to take him to a doctor.

Lying on the hospital bed, he prays that nothing serious has happened to himself and he can get back to work soon. He sees Shrishti standing next to the door, with tears gleaming from her eyes. She walks towards him and brushes his hair softly. The magical touch of his daughter feels a bliss to Prakash. Seeing her smiling face, he knows he is perfectly fine. "Dad, this is the picture I drew in my class today", she showed a piece of paper proudly. The happy moments are back but on a different note, those could have been stolen by the rash car driver.