Jan 2025
——————
“Heartiest congratulations Riya and Parth ! You have been blessed with twins!” said Dr. Agarwal ecstatically.
Riya looked at Parth.
Was it a dream?
Autumn ruled her uterus
Unable to bear the progeny
Finally…, nascent spring had kicked joyfully.
Their prayers had finally been answered.They smiled and hugged each other. They had been blessed with double rainbows in their life.
“What do you want?” Parth asked Riya when they were alone.
Riya smiled. She went to her closet and took out two pairs of shoes. Blue and Pink. The blue shoes had cheques, blue and white and there was a small football in the corner while the pink ones had butterflies.
“When did you get them ?”
“Two months ago, on my birthday. I had gone to the temple and at one of the makeshift shops near the temple I saw these. I stood there for some time, admiring their beauty. There was a placard on which it was written,” For sale: Baby shoes never worn.” I was about to leave when the shop owner (the mother ) told me ‘What I have lost will come to you. Take these. You will need them soon.”
I obeyed her. Since then I have had visions that I am running after kids in my home, a boy and a girl. And today the doctor confirmed that. I didn’t tell you because there was no science to support this. It was just a belief, a mother’s belief.
Parth was shocked to hear that.
————————————–
Sep 2025
—————–
“Riya let us sell those shoes. It is adding more to your pain” Parth requested . He was tired of seeing her in grief and tears all the time.
” I can’t ! These are the only memories I have”.Riya shouted and held the shoes as she was cradling a baby.
Parth was silent. Was there any other option?Even he was a father – where “F” stood for Family
and the remaining words when rearranged formed the word Heart. Heart which underwent the same pain and anguish but he focused on what he had, then what had been snatched.
————————————–
Oct 2025
—————–
“Mom ! Mom ! ”
Riya heard a feeble voice, distant yet clear, as if someone was calling from inside the deep waters.
“Who is this ?”
“It’s me, Aarav .!”
Riya looked at him closely. She froze. He looked like her. The same playful blue eyes, curly hair, round face, pointed nose and her affable smile ”
Tears trickled down her face incessantly. She wanted to hold him, hug him tight, kiss him but she couldn’t. Her hands passed right through.
“I am sorry son. I couldn’t save you that day. It was all my fault.”
“It was not your fault Mom !”
“It was Aarav. I was careless. I shouldn’t have gone to the market alone. It was already crowded. And then the fire alarm ..!”.
Riya started crying.
“My own womb became the graveyard for my child. I can never forgive myself.”
A brief silence followed.
“Mom, please stop feeling guilty. Even I was weak. Whenever you were angry or sad, I would feel every emotion strongly but my sister kept me safe by being near me. Her arms would be around me. She would hold my finger and say ” Don’t fear. I am here. I will protect you. But…..”
“But?”
“But that day the doctor pulled her first. I was alone, already shaking, terrified. My breathing betrayed me. And then the darkness engulfed me in its arms. I lost the war, the survival war. ”
“Aarav ! My child!”
“Mom, I know you are in pain but the brunt of that pain is being borne by my sister. I can feel it, every day. We were inseparable for nine months. We have felt each emotion together. You don’t take her in your arms, sing lullabies or tell stories. She is missing all of that. Though everyone is there, she needs a mother first. You and me have been the only one she knew till now. She has lost me and she is losing you, slowly and gradually everyday.”
Riya could feel the pain in his voice. Every word was true. The grief was a prison in which she had caged herself. She had concentrated on the one she had lost and totally neglected the blessing she had received.
“I love you Mom.
I know I will be present, forever,
In your memories
And my sister’s heart.
So love her more because a part of that love will be shared by me….forever.
Good Bye Mom!”
“Aarav ! Aarav !” Ria pleaded. “Don’t leave me,!”.
But Aarav left. She could see him walking into the infinite, wearing those blue shoes.
Riya woke up with a jolt. Nyra was asleep.Tears trickled down her face. She kissed Nyra on her forehead for the first time.
“Sorry darling. Forgive me for everything!”
She got up and kissed the blue shoes she had kept on the table. She looked at the sky. There were two rainbows. The one at the front, bright and colourful and one at the back, fading but still present. She had learnt that some memories don’t need any evidence.They can stay backstage, watching the present bloom. She took out the paper and wrote:
“For sale : baby shoes never worn .”