A slip in pocket & mother’s love

It was 1994, when mobile phones were still a luxury for the common man. At 19, I had just started my first job in a reputed school in Panchkula and used to commute daily from Rajpura by bus. One day, I suddenly vomited blood. In those days, without Google to check symptoms and relying only on what films and television showed, my mind immediately jumped to the worst — I was convinced I had blood cancer.

However, I did not share this fear with my parents, knowing well the burden of our financial condition. Instead, I quietly slipped a piece of paper with my complete address into my pocket, in case I collapsed and never returned home.

But mothers have a way of seeing through their children. Mine caught hold of my worry and took me straight to the Government TB Hospital. Fifteen anxious days later, I walked back home — not with cancer, but with renewed health and a heart full of gratitude.

Even today, I remember that bus ride, that folded slip in my pocket, and the courage of my mother who turned my imagined ending into a fresh beginning.

Vipin Kumar, Rajpura