The Locked Door 1

Disclaimer: This post is not against the working women

It was the last 30 minutes in school for that day and he knew he had to walk back home and face a locked door. He was in his sixth standard and it was a totally different phase for him. His mom was working in a bank and returned home only by 6pm. Nihar reached home by 3pm. As he was the only son he expected his mother to be waiting near the door to see her son come back home from school. He never wanted school to get over. He just wanted to be at school.

The bell rang. It was 2:45. In another 15 minutes he would reach home. He knocked on the neighbour’s door, took the keys, unloceked and got in. The food was waiting for him. He removed his uniform, sat on a dining table, meant to be for a family, all alone. He switched on the TV and watched SWAT KATS which was his form of entertainment during lunch. He kept the plate in the sink and slid into his room to unpack his school bag. He started getting ready for his tuitions. At 6pm he hands over the keys back to the neighbor and rushes for his classes.

 “Had lunch?” his mom asked when they meet at the gate.

“Yes, I’m late, see you at 9,” he replies hurriedly. He leaves his building whilst his mom enters.

He never really spoke with anyone at his tuition classes. He reaches home at around 9:15. His dad is immersed in the newspaper and his mom is busy cooking. Well he has dinner with his family together but his dad has a tiring look on his face and his mom just goes and sits on the floor under the fan. He really wonders as to why both of his parents have to work when his dad is earning good enough.

Probably he thought a lot. Nihar was just 10. Over the years he completed his schooling in the same locked door  phase. He kept the door of his room always closed. That room was a vault of all his memories. He never wanted any of those to sneak out.

The closed door was his best friend followed by loneliness and SWAT KATS.

He kept distance from his parents. His life evolved just inside his room. It was really tough for him to make friends while in college as well. He actually found it uncomfortable. He had rather built a cocoon for himself. He used to bunk college to come home and watch television. He avoided going out with his parents. He had a bunch of childhood friends. The talks mostly included about sports, films, etc. He didn’t have the courage to open up in front of anyone. He had a couple of friends he could rely on but he never tried to come out of his cocoon.

Well his parents started seeing the ignorance their son had towards him. During the second year of his graduation he was taken to a psychologist. He opened up. He had a lot of one to one sessions with the doctor. He stopped lying to his parents. Nihar improved.

He still hasn’t opened up. But he has managed to break a major part of the cocoon. He earlier didn’t care about the existence of his parents.

Now he somewhat did.

He started speaking with his parents. He started mingling with his graduation friends. He never asked as to why his mother worked because he had won an elocution completion in school during his 10^th standard. The topic was ‘The Working Woman.’

Nihar is now into his third year graduation. He has dreams. He now tries to talk.

Well parents work, not knowing the fact that school time is the age when children need them the most. Especially a mother. See them come home. See them remove their shoes. See them throw their socks. See them sit on the sofa and tell how their day was while removing the bags in that childish style. Innocence at its best. Who wants to miss that? If you still want to work then you have no right to complain when your kids have no time for you once they find a job. Newspaper isn’t the only medium of news for the dads. It obviously gives you news from around the world but don’t you want to know as to what happened in your child’s little world. The school. Its way better than the stuff in the newspaper. Go speak with your kids and make them celebrate their childhood and keep showering them with all the love and affection they need.

Nihar now sits with his mom on the floor under the fan for dinner. His dad joins in as well.................

 P.S. To be continued.