Memories....

Sitting inside a four walled Box
we look, we see, we stare
People pass by, things move on
You wonder if you still care

She had spent seventy years of her life running behind this elusive wonder called life. She always strived to be the best in every role she had ever adorned, be it a daughter, a wife, a daughter-in-law or a mother. Not one wrong step, not one error in judgment, nothing against the family values, she had been pretty much the embodiment of virtues that youngsters are made to look up to.... yet here she was, all alone, in this white washed room, totally devoid of color and happiness, WAITING.....

"Madam, your son has come to see you"

"I will be there in a minute", she said.

"Hi ma, hope you are doing fine. How are things going on here? if they are not taking care of you well, we can always shift you to another place... it will be done as per your wish", her son stated.

"It's ok. I'm fine. You don't have to go through any extra ounce of trouble on my behalf", she replied, with an undercurrent of mockery in her voice.

Their meeting ended in about half an hour after which her son had to rush to the office. This was not new to her as she encountered the very same experience once every month. Somehow it did not matter to her anymore.

As she sat on one edge of the bed, she was reminded of the first time she had climbed on her neighbor's tree to eat the raw mango, the first time their family had a group photograph taken using the old daguerreotype, the first time she had confided into her mother after having stolen something, the first time she had fallen in love but had to give up in order to marry the guy her parents had chosen, the first time she carried her son in her arms, the first time she had dropped him at school and felt the pangs of separation....

There she stopped, how the cycle of life reinvents itself....

What a double edged sword memories can be! They bring back the days, yet they cannot bring back time. They bring back the voices and shadows, yet they cannot bring the people. They make you smile and cry all at the very same instant. They take you on a time travel, yet they deem you powerless to alter anything. There were still questions ringing in her head....

Does order exist in chaos?
Does chaos exist in order?
Is time absolute?
Is time relative?
Is there an ending?
Was there a beginning?

You wonder, you question, you ponder,
you think, you reason, you chase…
may be we like mysteries in life,
may be that’s why they are still questions....