Arnav knocked the door of his mother's room as he waited for her permission to enter in the room, as soon as he heard her 'come in' in low tone, he opened the door and walked towards her after closing the door behind with his leg, he sat beside his mother who looked away wiping the corner of her eyes with her duppata.
"Kya Ma! Why are you wasting your precious tears because of Mami's taunts?" Arnav said in complaining tone while holding his mother by her arm and literally forcing her to rest her head on his lap to which Ratna had no option but to give in. Arnav rubbed his hand on her arm in a consoling and affectionate manner, "You know me and Ayan put invisible cotton balls in our ears when Mami is near us, whatever comes out from her mouth doesn't reach our ears because we don't hear it.. we simply ignore it.. and you should borrow some cotton balls from us too, so that you don't get affected by her words."
"You're saying this to make me feel good.. the truth is you two hide your feelings from me, but you feel bad too," Ratna said as she looked up at him little emotional, "I've been tolerating this behavior of your Mami ever since I shifted to this house when your father left me. It wasn't easy for me to come here with three kids to raise as a divorcee, unemployed and homeless woman. I had to seek financial help from your Mama to let you and Anjali continue your studies in school and for expenses I would have with baby Ayan who was only two at that time. At that time, your Mami would taunt me every day and night that her husband is the only person who works in this house and he is feeding everyone and bearing everyone's expenses and my presence with my kids in this house is only increasing the responsibility on his shoulders. That's when tired of hearing her taunts, I strongly decided that I would do anything but get money through my hard work to raise you three. You know I walked day and night, roamed around places in search of a job, that's when I met your Ananya aunty who offered me a job in her company, SweetArt after hearing my life condition, I'll forever be grateful to Ananya for helping me in the most tough phase of my life, because of her trust in a simple housewife like me who had no work experience, I was able to earn enough money to raise my kids and even then your Mami wasn't satisfied, she always keeps looking for reasons to complain or taunt me or my kids in this house. I always try to ignore her or keep quiet whenever she does these things because I don't want your Mama to feel like he has to choose whom to support between his wife and his sister, I never wanted them to fight because of me, that's why I tolerate all this. But that doesn't make me stone hearted, I still feel hurt when she speaks about you and Ayan badly, trying to prove that my sons are ill mannered lazy boys who are good for nothing and her son is well mannered, perfect and intelligent boy. I don't say it openly to everyone neither constantly keep praising my kids, but I know my Anjali was good in her studies and today she's working as a CA in a top firm, EY, and what to say about you, you were a genius in your studies and today you're working as system analyst in a top IT firm, chalo .. Ayan might not be that good in studies, but my son is best in sports, playing video games and very active in his school activities, he might be a famous cricketer, badminton or basketball player or even a video game developer in future. And most important thing, I can proudly say that I raised you, Anjali and Ayan, gave a good education and instilled good values in the three of you..so it definitely annoys me when I hear your Mami reducing you two to good for nothing to show her son as a great person."
Arnav was hearing his mother speak her heart out while patting her head gently to calm her down, when she finished complaining about Mami's behavior, he spoke in a low soft tone, "Khair chaddo hun, mitti pao (just leave it, bury it).. Just don't pay heed to whatever rubbish Mami speaks.. you already know she's not going to change herself.. so just ignore it Ma meanwhile I'll try to accelerate our house renovation process asap so that we shift there by the end of this year."
Ratna sat straight and looked at Arnav, she smiled softly and caressed his cheek, "Na mera baccha.. There's no need for you to stress yourself with the new house renovation because of me as you need to concentrate on your office work as well. I can handle your Mami.. it's not something new.. I've been dealing with this for years now," then she started shaking her head and hit her forehead lightly while blaming herself, "See this is why I shouldn't have cried in front of you and said all of this.. now you'll start worrying about me and stress yourself with renovation work while handling your office work.. this is what I didn't want to happen.. I'm not going to share anything which makes me upset with you, Anjali and Ayan from now onwards.. you three go out of your way later to bring a smile on my face."
