The Real Kind

She's been here in this place for more than a year.

The giant tree which used to give her shade has been cut down for timber.

Her mind wishes to move to a better place but her body is not okay with it. She can hardly stand up nowadays.

No matter how hot it is, the linted woollen scarf never comes off. Maybe that is what protects her from the scorching sun.

She was abandoned by her own sons and daughters but still she prays for them everyday. Oh! Mother's love.

She neither stretches her arms out for the alms nor does utter a word to the passers by.

A very few among the many come forward and offer her something. She happily smiles and thanks those kind hearts.

But for the past few weeks, it has been very different. Food has become so important to her now that, she begs to everyone who come across.

On that day, the sun was at its best. It was so hot that, if one pours a cup of water from the third floor, it would vaporize before it hits the ground.

Yet there she was, along the roadside, directly under the sun, looking for her fortune.

People rarely came out of their homes that day. She had to starve.

The second day was even hotter. Candles, if placed outside would melt before they are lit. And the starvation continued.

The third day was comparatively cooler but she hardly received any alms. People just ignored her and she really could not bear it. She looked up at the sky and started weeping.

A little kid who works in the coal mines was on his way home from the bread store. He saw her and stopped by to give a few slices of bread from the only loaf he had.

Her eyes were brightly lit after seeing those bread slices. It was her first food in three days.

She thanked the boy and the Almighty for it. She grabbed those slices in her hand and crawled towards the gunny bag on her left.

Out of that bag, came four little puppies, craving for the bread. A truck ran over their mother a few weeks ago.

When thousands of people die everyday in road accidents, nobody is bothered about a dog and its family right?

Since then, she takes care of those puppies and makes sure that they are never hungry.

She knows that she will starve to death but she wont give up on her life that easy until those puppies grow older enough to find their own food.

So, when the pups filled their stomachs with bread, she filled hers with happiness.