A Happy Ending [Short Story]

Everyone loves a happy ending. But at the end of the day, it's you who choose how your happy ending is going to be, as Sudha did in this story.

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Everyone loves a happy ending. But at the end of the day, it’s you who choose what your happy ending is going to be, as Sudha did in this story.

Sudha had come a long way from being the scared little girl from Jajjhar, Haryana who ran away from home at the age of fifteen. Born in the district famous for female infanticide, her being alive till the age of fifteen was nothing short of a miracle created by her mother’s unending love and efforts. Everyone was so sure that she would be forced to marry the 32-year-old sarpanch that day. Again it was her mother who paying heed to her dreams and will to live, helped her to run away. In 1984 when she accomplished that, people said that it was her Happy Ending.

Sudha came to Mumbai on a train her mother put her on. “Go, live your dream”, those were her mother’s last words to her. When they waved goodbye, they knew that they would never hear from each other again. She reached Mumbai and her mother’s cousin sister picked her up at the station as she was told by her mother. Anju Maasi worked as a domestic helper in the house of a famous social worker. With her help, Sudha finished her schooling and, moved to college. When she finished her studies, she had an MBA.

She got a job in a company and worked really hard. She met her husband Vikas, at work. They fell in love and got married and were blessed with two beautiful daughters whom they brought up with lots of love and care. She did not stop working, her family was supportive of her decisions. And today was a big day for Sudha. She was being promoted to be the COO of her company.

The Banquet Hall  was full of thousands of people who had all come to hear the first ever Woman COO in the history of their company talk. Sudha stepped up to the mike, and looked around at the audience; her family was there, Anju maasi and her benefactor too had made it despite ill health. “When in 1984, I ran away from Jajjhar, everyone who I met told me that I had my happy ending. I had escaped from hell, what more could a person in my place ask for? I could not accept that as my ending, happy or sad. I remembered my mother’s struggles to keep me alive every day, she gave me the power to dream, and from that I created my own dreams.”

“I had to fulfill them isn’t it? Only when I fulfilled my dreams would Ma’s sacrifices been worth it. Anju Maasi and Taai gave my dreams wings, and Vikas was a part of my dream too.When I was told that I was being promoted to  the position of COO – my dreams were almost fulfilled. There was still a small part of it that remained.” Vikas, got up at this point and opened the door and went out.

The door re-opened, everyone turned around and the saw an old woman being led in by Vikas.

The door re-opened, everyone turned around and they saw an old woman being led in by Vikas. Sudha walked down the stage and escorted that lady up, made her stand next to her while she began to speak again, “See friends, I wished that day my mother sat me on the train; that she should witness my dreams being fulfilled. That was when I would have everything. It was hard to find the woman, who thirty years ago had set me a sail in search of my dreams, the woman who told me that I would never see her again. But I dreamt it differently and here she is today, Khushi Devi my Ma. And this moment, here, now, today is my Happy Ending.”

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A happy family image via Shutterstock

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About the Author

Jaibala Rao

Jaibala Rao is a Writer and a Poet whose life revolves around the people she loves, her family, her friends and her toddler. She says that words define her, and writing and reading compete to read more...

6 Posts | 44,047 Views

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