The Woman He Loved
The Woman He Loved
Radha was a single parent right from the time she conceived Sachin.
During her college days she had a romantic fling with the captain of the
basketball team. After many intimate encounters, she finally conceived a child.
This is where the problems began as she had to soon drop out of college because
of her health condition. She expected her boyfriend to do the same. However,
afraid to take up the responsibility of parenthood, Sachin’s father left Radha
to fend for herself and the child.
Radha was soon left alone as her parents also disowned her
after hearing about what had happened in college. Due to her medical condition,
Radha found it quite difficult to find a job in order some money for her
living. Nevertheless, Radha bore up all these difficulties out of love for her
son. After much struggle, Radha managed to get a job at the Gujarat State Road
Transport Corporation as a bus conductor.
Even after giving birth to Sachin, Radha continued to work
hard to sustain them both. She would take Sachin on her work journeys while he
was still an infant. The long stop-overs at various stations gave her enough
time to feed her son. During the hot summer months, as the clouds cleared and
the sun gave off its scorching heat, she would keep her son cool by fanning him
with a hand-held fan that she had once bought for herself. She would always
carry a large tumbler with water which she would share along with her son.
Not knowing his father from birth, Sachin was very fond of
his mother. He used to enjoy the various games that they would play on the bus.
No matter what work shift his mother had games were a must on all bus rides. At
times he did notice the exhausted face of his mother, but it would all be
forgotten with all the fun he had on the bus.
The first day at school was a heart-aching experience for the
two but especially for Sachin as he would miss out on most of the fun on the
bus. However, he slowly got used to it, but he continued to eagerly wait for
school to get over so that he could enjoy the rest of the day on the bus along
with his mother. Despite having a considerable number of friends at school, Sachin
knew that his new that his on true friend was his mother.
As time passed by, this mother son bonding grew even stronger
Radha was ready to sacrifice everything for her son. Despite her busy work
schedule as a bus conductor, she always seemed to have the energy to play with
and listen to her son. From dishing out tickets to passengers to entertaining
her over-energetic son, Radha would get drained of all her energy. But at the
end of the day she remained contented with the day’s work. She wanted her son
to experience the love and care of a mother and a father, and as long as this
was fulfilled, she knew that she had done her duty as a single-parent.
Sachin, on the other hand, never really understood the amount
of sacrifices his mother had to make for him. There were times when she had to
skip her meals so that her son could be well fed. Other times she had to give
up her few hours of sleep to take care of him when he was sick. Nevertheless,
Sachin always considered his mother as ‘The Supermom’. She was his hero, the
one he respected, admired and looked up to. The woman he first loved was the one who had
made numerous sacrifices so that he could live a good life.
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