The 10th of December. A cold winter night. I sat on my rocking chair with a cup of hot coffee. The winter had been very severe this time. Temperature went as below as 10 degree and it was getting unbearably cold. I covered myself from head to toe to make myself comfortable against the strong winter winds that had started blowing. Mom was in the kitchen, preparing for dinner and dad hadn’t reached home yet. Being the CEO of a big MNC, it was nothing unusual on his part in reaching home late, at around 10:30 everyday. As our car enters our campus and dad blows the horn, I run out of the house and welcome him with a big hug, everyday. I have been doing this for the last three years and now it has become a sort of a habit for me rather than a kind attitude!
The clock struck 9:30 and mom was ready with the dishes. A strong aroma came floating in the air and I couldn’t wait for another second to get up and rush to her and give her a lovely kiss and say to her,” Mom, you are the best mom in this world!” After a long time, say after two months, she had prepared chicken biriyani and this was something very special for me. Mom’s chicken biriyani was simply delicious! One would just go licking one’s fingers even after emptying the whole plate!
Soon it was 10 o’clock and as time was flying faster, I could hardly keep my feet on the ground. My spirit went very high and I couldn’t hide my excitement because it was dad’s birthday today. Mom and I had planned to celebrate this occasion in a very homely manner. A hearty dinner and that’s all!We knew that dad would be very tired by the time he was home but still expected that he would spare the time as we wished to because birthdays come only once in a year and so why not have some family party?!
It was 10:30 sharp and dad was about to reach home. I hurried to my room and took out his birthday gift; it was beautifully wrapped in blue coloured paper as blue was his favourite colour.Inside, there was a hand made birthday card with some attractive drawings of cute little teddy bears and a diary which I had bought with the money from my own savings.It was nothing special but was surely meant to be the symbol of a daughter’s love for her dad.On the top of the wrapping paper, I pasted a wishing card and penned down the following words in black ink—
“To the dearest and the most handsome man I have ever known…
Dad, wish you a very happy 50th birthday! Love you…
Yours little daughter,
Zara ^ ^”
After that, I combed my hair neatly and made a single ponytail tied with a white ribbon which dad gave me on Daughters’ Day. Taking the gift in my hand, I moved out of my room and went to the door.Slowly, I opened it and found dad right there in front of me, standing in a very graceful way.’ Happy Birthday, Dad!’, saying this, I gave him a very warm hug and brought out the gift to him.”Thankyou, my little angel…”, dad said and we both made our way into the house together. Dad soon freshened himself up and finally it was time for filling up our hungry stomachs!Mom made the table and I helped her in bringing the bowls and glasses and bottles of water.Dad played the music system and Beethoven’s 5th symphony came floating in the air.We three sat together and relished each and every dish that mom had prepared so dearly.There were French fries, chicken koftas, veg manchurian, fried rice and the very special chicken biriyani.It was a really hearty dinner which we enjoyed a lot.
This was followed by clearing the table.I helped mom in washing the dishes and keeping them in the right place.Within 15 minutes, we finished up the kitchen chores !Mom wished to play our old piano. None but only she could make out much of the music from it.She and I led the little choir …
“The Milky Way…
Upon the heaven…
He’s waiting just for you…
And Mr. Moon, he came by… to say goodbye to you….”
Time to go to bed…
Mom and dad kissed me goodnight…
Gracious day!