The gift of life #FlashFiction #WriteBravely

Posted in Aks Corner, family, Flash Fiction, Micro Blog, Micro Fiction, Micro Tales, Write Tribe

Little Tanvi was in awe of the palatial house. The first time she visited , she was barely 6. Clutching her mother’s saree, she tiptoed around.

Mai (mother) worked as a maid, cleaning and scrubbing the floors till they shone bright. Every week she polished the silver ware till it gleamed. She took Tanvi along once and the little girl wanted to come each day. What she loved most were those curvy stairs. She loved standing at the top and watch the winding stairs below.

Above all, she loved the library where Tauji kept so many books- stories of different lands, people, mystical creatures, he had them all. Seeing her interest in books he encouraged her to read. She would spend hours burying herself in a book at the library. Her happiness knew no bounds. A whole new world had opened up for her.

Time passed and she grew up and so did her love for books.

Tauji had a cardiac arrest and passed away suddenly one night. The family was in shock.

The library was kept closed and her mother forbade her from asking anything to the grieving family.

Tanvi missed Tauji who was like a godfather to her but she missed her beloved books even more. Life felt listless without them.

The next day when she visited the house with her mother, hoping that the library would be open, she was shocked to see all the books had disappeared. She knew no one else read in the family except Tauji who was now no more. She couldn’t ask anyone, she was but the maid’s daughter.

Silently she went home, shedding tears.

She entered her backyard and her mouth dropped open. A truck full of books was waiting there. All the books from Tauji’s library had been sent here. In his will he had bequeathed his entire library to her. Her joy knew no bounds.

Her mother looked at the books smiling- “its nice to see that you will never be unhappy now but we have one tiny problem. Where do we fit so many books in our tiny home?”

 

I am participating in the Write Tribe Festival of Words 2018

WRITE-TRIBE-FESTIVAL-OF-WORDS-JUNE-2018

Published by Akshata Ram

Chartered Accountant, Story Teller, Dreamer, Voracious Reader, Blogger, Mommy to a little munchkin, Shopaholic, Day Dreamer.Passionate about my career in the corporate world and aspire to break the glass ceiling, at the same time nurture my passion for writing. My niche area is short stories, I also write on parenting, sexism, life's experiences, micro blogs and flash fiction. I have won the best Parenting blog post at mycity4kids.com the largest parenting website in India, 4 times and several of my posts have been published in the #MostPopular category on this site garnering millions of views. I also write on Bonobology, Rivo Kids, Women's Web and Youth Ki Awaaz. My blog has been chosen as the Top Indian Blogs for the years 2018-2019,2020 by TopIndianBlogs website and found a place in the prestigious Top 22 Indian Literary Blogs in 2020 @TopIndianBlogs.

51 thoughts on “The gift of life #FlashFiction #WriteBravely”

  3. One of the most beautiful gifts that one could ever give to a child is the joy of reading…and I loved how beautifully you’ve penned this tale, Akshata. The blend of sorrow and happiness so suggestive of life itself made this story touch my heart.

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  4. I wish I had a Tauji who left books for me. My Dad inherited almost 3000 books from someone but due to space constraint, we managed to keep only 100 and donated the rest to our neighbourhood library.

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  12. I remember jumping with joy every single time I got a book as a gift. Till date my family thinks it is safer to ask which book is next on my reading list and purchase that for me instead of gifting me anything else. I intend to have a small library of my own someday that will be my gift to my son. Beautiful story Akshata. Strangely, one of the characters also addresses his mother as Mai in my story today.

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