"Being a mother is learning about the strengths
you didn't know you had and dealing with fears
you didn't know existed." - Linda Wooten
As he finally got to remove the dirty napkin
tied around his face, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Three years had passed since he last saw his
own house. He missed the earthy smell of his
backyard, but he missed his mom's food the
most. As his father greeted him with an
emotional hug, his mother stood at a distance
with moist eyes. She couldn't believe how much
her little one had grown in just three years. The
three years in which he became a man. To many,
he had lost his innocence ages ago.
He was Rakesh, the juvenile that was involved
in the gruesome rape and murder of Nirbhaya.
His father went all out in the last three years to
tell anyone that raised a finger on his son that
he was absolutely innocent and that his 16 year
old son could never be a part of such a crime.
His parents were forced to be underground
and stay away from the spotlight as the police
didn't want any sort of mob justice to ruin peace
and harmony in the jurisdiction.
Rakesh couldnt wait to hug his mom, the one
person that he loved with all his heart. As he
went towards her, she greeted him with a teeka
and fed him a little piece of his favourite
dessert, gulab jamun.
"I was sick and tired of eating the crappy food
there, Maa, I craved for this gulab jamun!"
His mom was surprised by how different her
son sounded. Flashes of memories of how cutely
naughty Rakesh was as a kid kept coming in
front of her eyes.
"Please serve us some food, I am feeling so
hungry after ages!" - said the father emphatically.
The three of them ate their food in peace, quietly
absorbing the joy of eating food together after
these long, painful years.
"Maa, I want to sleep on your lap."
His teary eyed mother nodded softly and took
him to his room. As his mother placed his head
on her lap and played with his hair, countless
memories of the troubles that his parents went
through to build the house from brick to brick
came back to him. He was more than glad that
he could now sleep in peace on his comfortable
bed as opposed to the noisy uneven bed that he tried to sleep on since the last three years.
"Rakesh, you know..I have been saving up for a gift that I wanted to give you as soon as you would return home. You've grown up to be handsome man, a handsome pathetic man. For me you grew up the day you told the media that you have no remorse." - said his mom with bloodshot red eyes as she took out a dagger that was under his bed. The remorse that she had for giving birth to a devil, made up for the lack of remorse within him.
As Rakesh tried to get up, she covered his mouth and stabbed his heart and made sure the dagger went in as deeply as it could. Despite his mouth being covered, his terrifying scream reached the living room in which his father was taking a nap.
He ran towards Rakesh's room only to see him lying in his mother's lap in a pool of blood while she played with his hair.
"He was our son! How could you do this?!" - screamed the father.
"She was someone's daughter too." - whispered the mother.
