As the sun descended into the western horizon started the faint sounds across the flat. Sounds of footsteps, door knobs turning and conversation of people coming from all the vacant rooms of the flat. Radhika looked at the old pendulum clock hanging on the wall of her room. She had been a widow for over a decade. This antique clock was one of the few articles that her husband was very fond of. The time was 6 PM and it was getting dark.


Next to the clock was a photograph of Radhika’s son Alok, his wife Shruti and their daughter Yana standing outside Alok’s newly inaugurated bookshop at Mall Road. This was back in 2007, when all was well. Now it was February 2010 and Alok was not there.

Radhika did not want to think about the past. There was something else that was making her uneasy now.


Late as usual! Yana must be the only child stranded at the playschool once again with no one to pick her up, thought Radhika while she relaxed on her rocking chair.


“You get late everyday, why don’t you allow me to pick Yana from playschool while you are at work?” Radhika had asked her daughter-in-law about six months back.


“Mummyji! You have a heart problem.I cannot sit peacefully in office if you were walking around on the streets even if it were to pick up Yana. I would prefer doing it by myself, even if it gets a bit late,” Shruti had told assertively back then.


That was it, Radhika never discussed this topic with Shruti again.

As it became darker the noises of creaking doors, whispers and footsteps intensified around the flat. Then the lock of the main door turned.Radhika knew that the mother and child were back. Shruti sat on the sofa in the hall tearing envelopes and reading the mails she had collected from the letterbox. Little Yana ran into the master bedroom shouting the alphabets she had learnt at playschool. Radhika got up from the rocking chair and walked slowly from her room to the master bedroom.


“My little princess Yana, How was your day today?” asked Radhika.

Yana laughed, ran to her toy box, picked up the football from it and kicked it in Radhika’s direction. Radhika ducked a little and the football passed her by.

“You naughty girl, I am not going to give you any white chocolate ever,” said Radhika. Yana smiled as she looked outside the window.


Pacing slowly Radhika walked towards the hall, making up her mind to confront her daughter-in-law for once.


“I need to talk to you about something. It is not about all the weird noises coming from all around the flat. That I am fed up of repeating. Actually I am getting used to it now. What is bothering me is something else,” Radhika said while Shruti glanced sideways and continued looking at her credit card statement.


“I bet Yana feels horrible every time she is left stranded at the playschool because you are late from work. Imagine what it would be to sit for such a long time and watching other kids getting picked up by their parents or caretakers.”


Shruti continued looking at her credit card bill.

“Are you listening to me? Either I will go to the playschool or let us hire someone to do that job. I need a solution to this. For once, I will not allow you to enforce your will,’’ Radhika was getting agitated.


Shruti crumpled the credit card statement in anger and threw it to the corner of the room. “Godammit! When will I get some peace of mind.”


Radhika decided it was futile. She was now used to this inconsequential existence; of being ignored and not being heard. Things had gone from bad to worse after Alok left. His bookshop had made losses from the very beginning. He had borrowed heavily from the creditors for this business venture.Then the ripples of the economic slowdown reached India. These creditors had chased, threatened and harassed him. After months of humiliation he had finally decided that he could take it anymore. Where was he? Was he alive? Nobody had answers to these questions. The final sentence of his last letter clearly stated what he truly wished.


'Mummy and Shruti,I will not be around but you both watch over my little baby. Take care of her and bring her up well. Tell my princess Yana everyday that her Papa loved her.'


Lost in the past, Radhika walked slowly to her bedroom and looked at the mirror fixed on wardrobe. There was nobody in the room, not even her.


After Alok left, Radhika who was already ailing with a weak heart sunk into immense grief. She could not survive for long. Radhika had died peacefully in her sleep, about two months after Alok went missing. Now everyday she waited impatiently in his flat in the evening for Shruti and Yana to return.They did not see her, hear her or speak to her but that did not bother Radhika. She was doing what her beloved son had asked her to do. She was watching over little Yana.

(From the author of the psycological thriller ‘The Dead Woman Writing’ and the National Bestseller ‘Chandragupta’ )