Happy Valentine's Day

The scent of the sandal incense sticks left no corner of their house untouched by its warmth. It made them feel at home. It made home smell like home. Anushree's elder daughter was dressing up for school while reciting a poem for an inter-school competition, determined to win this time. She packed three loaves of bread and butter for lunch and kissed her good luck. Her husband, no matter how early he woke up, was always late for work. Half eating his breakfast, he rushed to catch the last bus just in time. She waved him a quick goodbye. She always postulated, if a person leaves home with a smile, he comes back with a wider one. Her mother never let her father leave home without a hug which matured into a formal one over the years, yet never was the ritual broken.

Her younger daughter was still in bed. She hugged her in her sleep and tried to cuddle off her morning weariness. Surprisingly enough, she hugged her back. She had named her daughter after her grandmother. She wished her a happy morning in a singsong voice. A couple of minutes later, her little girl got out of bed and switched on the TV. Watching Uncle Scrooge dive into his ocean of coins elated her. Anushree folded her quilt and shouted 'Do I have to tell you to brush your teeth everyday ?'. She scorned her way to the bathroom and lazily scrubbed her teeth. She cleaned herself up and a splash of water removed the last traces of sleep and pillow marks from her face.

Browsing through the channels now and eagerly waiting for her chocolate milk, she came across the new Vodafone ad that claimed to have special caller tunes and greetings for some day that started with a V and had an unexpectedly long spelling. She couldn't pronounce it and blamed the ad for being too small for her to grasp the pronunciation properly. She changed the channel and found the same mention there too. And  then, another one. She baby-stepped into the kitchen and asked Ma about this special day that was supposed to be occurring tomorrow. She wanted to make all the necessary arrangements before her friends, if the said day was so important.

Anushree was bewildered. She hadn't practiced an answer to this question of her influential 9 year old. She wanted to keep her girls away from this day, as far away as possible. She picked her up, made her sit on the kitchen slab and went back to chopping carrots for the mix-vegetables she was cooking for lunch. After a lot of probing and stubborn insistence, Anushree struggled to pick up the right words. 'You know I love your Father, right ?' She nodded in happy approval and smiled. Anushree could spot her missing milk-tooth. 'Well, it is a special day where I let him know that in words'. Her daughter mouthed Ohhh and slid back to the floor. Her frock frolicked with every step she took, apparently in amusement of this newly found special information about tomorrow.

'Where are my oil pastels Ma ?' She demanded with urgent patience. They were kept in the third drawer of her cupboard and Anushree found them for her.

The next morning, Anushree found a red-bordered page peeking out from under her daughter's pillow. It looked like a page from her maths notebook because of the tiny translucent grey squares all over it. She picked it up, it looked like a card with little flowers and leaves sprinkled unevenly all over it. She opened it and her face broke into a million smiles. Very carefully, she shoved it back in and waited for the precious moment when her daughter would give it to her.

The card read -

Happy Special Day, Ma.
I want to let you know in words that I love you very much.


It was the most beautiful Valentine's gift she had anticipated in years.