May 10, 2008

Alizeh was a sensible and a sober girl. She was the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Sheikh. Since her mother was also working and couldn’t give much time to her Alizeh preferred her secret diary over her mother and used to write in it at times when her heart felt heavy with strong emotions.

One day it so happened that Alizeh had gone to her friend’s house. Mrs Sheikh being at home thought of cleaning her daughter’s room. As she did so, she saw Alizeh’s secret diary. The offer was so tempting that she decided to have a glimpse over it. As she started flipping the pages, Mrs Sheikh’s eyes rested upon a page which was all soggy and wet with tear drops. It seemed that Alizeh had just written this fresh piece. It said:

                                                                                                                                                         O6/05/2007

Dear Diary,

Today I am going to tell you a very horrible truth. I happened to know it yesterday when I heard my mother talking to my aunt about my real father. Yes! The father with whom I spent every second of joy or sorrow, on whose shoulder I used to shed my tears on every occasion of defeat or failure, has no blood relation with me. My real father died years before, when I was only two months old, in a horrendous car accident. My mother was left back as a widow while I became an orphan. Very soon my mother married another man who subsequently became my foster father.

Dear Diary, I am not as thunderstruck at this news as I am to know that my mother had concealed the truth from me. After all this is about my own father and I have a right to know everything that happened. I had never expected my mother to hide the reality. Well, if she thinks that I am not as mature or I would take this to my heart and never recover from this blow of sorrow, then she is probably wrong. This is because at this moment I am more disappointed and angry at my mother. I have never been able to understand why elders always underestimate the younger ones.

I wish my real father would have been here. Anyway… I have to go to my friend’s place now. See ya… bubyee.

As Mrs Sheikh finished reading the page, she was totally dumbfounded. As sympathy clouded over her thinking, she began to regret. She wanted her daughter to come as quickly as possible so that she could explain the whole scenario.

Since it was already getting late, Mrs Sheikh got panicky. Suddenly the phone shrilled out just then and she got a terrible news. Her daughter just had had an accident and she had been admitted to the hospital. Mrs Sheikh scurried quickly and found her daughter in a deplorable state. However, the doctors confirmed that the patient’s condition was not very critical and she may go home in two, three days’ time.

As Alizeh gained consciousness, her mother went and greeted her. She apologised for concealing everything about her real father from her. That day Mrs Sheikh promised Alizeh that she would give more time to her and insisted Alizeh to promise her that she would always share her feelings with her mother and not that diary.

Today Alizeh is still steadfast in her promise. She reads her diary about those moments when she was too lonely and had only her prestigious diary as a friend. However, things have rather changed and her mother is now her best friend. She shares all her feelings with her and decides to tell those children who prefer diaries rather than mothers that diaries indeed do not have those sympathising and consoling nature which a mother possesses. Hence, this makes a mother a far better friend than a diary.