TereBin 2

I Missed you !

Meesam woke up with a pout on her little face. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, she could see her mother standing near the window, she beamed at her and called her "Mama", Meerub rushed to Meesam and attended to her.

After getting done with the morning routine, Meesam started to look around the room, she took the tour of the whole room and the adjoining sitting room, but when she couldn't find Murtasim, she asked her mother in her small voice,
"Baba?"

Meerub, who was busy arranging toys in the room, turned to her with a gentle smile. "Meesam, Baba has gone to the village."

Meesam, who did not understand what village is, thought that baba is gone. She has started to enjoy Murtasim being around, she didn't like the idea of him gone, her lower lip quivered, and her eyes welled up with tears. "I want baba."

Meerub walked over and scooped Meesam up int her arms. "I know, sweetheart. Baba will be back soon. But you know what? How about we do something special? Let's make a beautiful drawing for baba after breakfast, and surprise him when he comes back."

Meesam's eyes brightened a little through her tears. "Drawing?"

"Yes!" Meerub said, her voice filled with enthusiasm.

"We'll use all the colorful crayons and paper we have, and we'll make a picture that baba will love."

Meesam's frown turned into a hesitant smile. "Okay."

After getting done with breakfast Meetub and Meesam sat down at the small table; crayons scattered around them. Meerub picked up a crayon and began to draw a bright sun in the corner of the paper. Meesam watched with fascination, her tiny hand grabbing a crayon as well.

"Look, Meesam," Meerub said, pointing at the paper.

"I drew the sun. How about you draw some flowers?"

Meesam nodded and made a few squiggles on the paper. "Flowers!"

"That's right! You're doing great," Meerub encouraged her.

As Meesam continued to create her masterpiece, she seemed to forget about her sadness for a while. She giggled as she made colorful marks on the paper, her imagination running wild. Meerub joined in, drawing animals and trees, making the paper come to life with vibrant hues.

After a while, Meesam leaned back with a contented sigh. "Done!"

Meerub looked at the paper, now filled with a mishmash of colors and shapes, and smiled warmly.

"It's beautiful, Meesam. Baba will love it."

They came outside to have lunch with everyone, and on the table, Meesam, being the chattery girl she is, started talking to Maa Begum (her grandmother), telling her all about the drawing she had made to give her Baba.

Very maturely, in her broken vocabulary she told her grandma that her baba will be back by evening and then she will give this to him.

MaaBegum was so happy to see Murtasim's daughter becoming fond of him. She didn't realize that what she would say next can create trouble. She looked at Meerub and said.

"Murtasim se baat hoyee thee, Woh aaj nahi aye ga .... , how sakta hai ho Woh kaam kar wa raha hai woh kuch din tak chale, tau woh shayed kuch din baad aye ga."