The old lady

"I see an old and thin lady every morning coming out of her home to clean an old maruti car lying in the parking opposite to that home. The tyres of car are flat and mirrors are cracked and broken" I told my mom as I came back from walk. My mom kept mum.

Again after few days I told mom about her, "a lady goes to parking lot from her home every morning to clean a car which seems to be lying there for eternity".

"Do you want to know the real story? ", this time my mom replied.

" That lady is more than 80 years old. She is the owner of that house and she lives alone", mom replied.

"But what about that car?" I was curious.

"This car belongs to her son. Her son died due to heart attack 12 years ago. People took her son to hospital where he took his last breath. This lady still thinks that his son will comeback one day. So she keeps that car clean. Her son was going through depression and he was separated from his wife" Mom replied.

"The story came in newspaper few months back. The neighbors serve food to that lady daily. She owns that house, but is always waiting for her son" Mom continued.

I was numb hearing it. Life is a myth. Even if you own a big house, even if you have money in your accounts, it doesn't guarantee happiness.

It brings shiver down my spine when I think myself in her shoes. There is no bigger grief than this. She is waiting for her dead son since the last 12 years living alone in a house.

We plan for future, we fight on trival issues, but the fact is, we never know which will be our last breath. We curse our lives at times, not knowing that it can get worse.

Whenever I move in front of that house I look at the maruti lying there. I think what that lady must be doing right now.

She is counting her last breaths, but a hope that her son would come back must have kept her alive. The hope that will never get fulfilled. Sometimes there cant be bigger tragedy than life.