"Please hurry up, Anirudh. It's already ten past eight. We need to reach there before nine thirty. So many arrangements have to be made for the puja and Momma is all alone there. How will she manage everything? I had promised her that I would be there to help her and that all the arrangements would be done much before Pujari uncle arrives", Sunanda said, as she walked into the room.
"Yes, honey, I am almost done. Just one more slide and my presentation will be over. I will email it to Mr. Sharma and that will be it. We shall then immediately leave for Cuttack," replied Anirudh.
"Aahh, I have been hearing this since the last half an hour or so", shrugging her shoulders, Sunanda huffed off.
"Papa, Papa, see, I have got ready all by myself. Let's now get going, I am dying to meet grandma, it's been months since I met her," said Chintu excitedly, as he came running into the room.
"Yes, beta, but give me a few minutes, let me complete this work first. After that, we will all leave for grandma's house right away," replied Anirudh, even as he was typing notes into his slide.
"But Papa, how can you be working on a Sunday? Isn't Sunday a holiday? Shouldn't your office be closed today?", asked the baffled child.
"Sssshh, Chintu, don't you see that Papa is busy, we will surely go to grandma's house but work is even more important". Anirudh's mild admonishment made Chintu somewhat dejected and he quietly left for the TV room.
Just then Anirudh's cell phone rang. It was his boss, Mr Sharma.
"Yes, sir," answered Anirudh, "yeah, the presentation is almost complete, I will be emailing it to you very soon".
Suddenly his face turned pale. "But sir, I was actually about to leave with my wife and son to my parent's place in a few minutes. We have a puja there", said Anirudh.
His boss said something from the other side and Anirudh could only reply with, "Okay, sir, I will personally go and meet Mr. Sinha and will hand over the presentation DVD".
After ending the call as he turned around, Anirudh found Sunanda standing behind him. She had anxiety written all over her face. Her worst fears had come true. This is not the first time that her husband had prioritized his work over his family. She had sort of already read what was coming her way.
"I am sorry, Honey. I will have to go and hand over this presentation DVD to Mr. Sinha. He is a very important client of ours, so my boss wants me to go and meet him personally. My boss has promised that if we can work out this deal with Mr. Sinha, he would promote me to the post of Manager and that would mean a salary raise! I can't let go of this chance, Sumi. So I won't be able to go with you to Cuttack this time. But you can take the car and of course Chintu is there to give you company. And please tell Mummy not to feel sad and that I will be visiting her very soon, as soon as this project gets completed. Okay, I should leave for the meeting now. You guys enjoy the trip". Saying this, Anirudh left for the meeting.
His meeting with his client was successful. Mr. Sinha was very impressed with his presentation. Anirudh's boss too was very pleased with his work and so promised him a promotion. After his meeting got over, obviously Anirudh was on cloud nine and wanted to share the news with his wife and son. So he rushed back home but in the excitement, he had forgotten that they had left for Cuttack in the morning itself. Thus he found only a stinging loneliness at his home. There were no sounds of giggles or laughters of Chintu to greet him, nor were his yells of Papa. All that were present were an eerie silence and an uneasiness. As he passed by the kitchen, he started missing Sunanda even more. Suddenly memories of their old days of togetherness came flooding back, how upon returning home from office, he would quietly slip into the kitchen and drape his arms around Sunanda's midriff from behind and then would give a peck on her cheeks. He started to realize how he had become cold over time, that somewhere down the line while running after professional success, he had been neglecting the very people who loved him the most. He wasn't spending enough time with those very people for whom he was working so hard. For the next few minutes, as he stood in the dining hall staring forlornly at the empty rooms, he was overcome by a terrifying sense of loneliness. He could take it no more. He had understood his mistake. Cuttack, his parents' place was a good two hours drive from there but it didn't matter to him now. Immediately he set out for Cuttack to be with his family.
Not only were his wife and son very happy to see him there but his mother too was very ecstatic to see her son after so many days. She gave him a very loving embrace. Anirudh had been postponing his visit to meet his own mother since many months owing to his job commitments. But this time he wanted to make amends. He had realized that his real happiness was with his family. He too lend his hand in making arrangements for the evening's puja. While he and Chintu got busy decorating the house with mango leaves and marigold garlands, Sunanda drew various motifs and rangolis at the puja mandap. Meanwhile Anirudh's mother had already got busy in preparing his favourite sweets and other delectable dishes of his liking. The enticing smells wafting from the kitchen brought back the warm childhood memories for him, how he used to enjoy the delectable delights that his mother used to cook for him. As evening set in, the priest arrived and the puja too was performed. Thereafter they all sat together and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. Indeed a family that dines together stays together. The dinner was followed by heartfelt conversations. Even as they were conversing, Anirudh snuggled up to his mummy, like a little baby, just like he used to do when he was a child while she caressed his hair. The world seems such a safe place when you are in your mother's lap. No wonder Anirudh had a very happy time with his family that day. It's only by spending some quality time with your family and loved ones do you create memories and Anirudh was surely taking back plenty of good memories to Puri. He had such a memorable day at Cuttack.
Indeed money can’t buy you happiness. But spending time with the ones you love definitely can. We often tend to take our families for granted and neglect them. We don't spend enough time with them. Sometimes we fail to see the value of togetherness. One may slog all his life and earn lots of money but all those material wealth would mean nothing if he or she had no one to share love.
Nothing compares to the joy we feel when we spend time with our loved ones. It's the company of our loved ones that grants us the real happiness.
