Unheard Cries

The door creaked open. She stood at the entrance with her hands tightly clenched to her suitcase. Stepping inside, she could hear the loud thud from her high heeled shoes echoing in the house. The atmosphere was moist and dusty after all the house had been closed for more than ten years. The walls no longer showcased her amma’s paintings. Yes, the paintings which her amma took hours to paint. Every afternoon she was seen at the balcony with her hair plaited back tightly, lots of poster paint bottles kept opened around her, her duppata tied around her waist, sleeves folded up and with a brush in her hand she would go on painting with utter concentration, dipping the paint brush in a bowl of water every now and then.

The windows unprotected from the curtains couldn’t stop the bright morning light from entering the house. The house, though small, was spacious enough for the threesome. They were a happy family of three, baba, amma and daughter. Just like every other fairytale they believed in a happy ending. A life lived happily ever after. Where, the daughter will one day meet her prince charming, or in the language of her parents, her ‘shehzaada’.

She walked towards the kitchen and was filled with the memories of her amma working in the kitchen. The sounds of her amma’s gold bangles clinking together, the clattering of the dishes when they were being washed, the continuous stirring of the spoons in the cooking pots and the strong aroma of the Pakistani spices mixed together to form a curry. It was a daily routine which was performed with no complaints or taunts but with sweet sounds of her amma humming.

Walking further she entered the only bedroom in the house but this time an empty room. It once accommodated the bed, the tables, the cupboards and her favourite cartoon posters on the wall. The curtain was specifically selected as baby pink for their princess who was fond of every shade of pink. The dressing table had no cosmetics over it but rather cute and tall candy dolls. Some were dark pink, some shocking pink, and some in peach colour.

It was an averagely perfect life. They were a family who lived in harmony. But then something happened which brought about a drastic change in each of their life. It was the day when their daughter had turned twenty. The little home was decorated like every birthday with balloons and ribbons. The dining table was moved in the middle of the drawing room. At the centre of the table, there was a small one pound strawberry cake displaying her pet name as, ‘HAPPY B’DAY MUNNI’. Just like every year, only a few very close relatives were invited as the house couldn’t have accommodated a large number of people.

The time was running out. It was already ten in the evening. Her amma and baba were constantly trying her number but unfortunately the cell phone was switched off. With each ticking of the clock, they grew more and more worried. The guests were getting bored and various questions were arising which further worried them. It was getting late and without demanding for any food the guests were already leaving.

Finally at midnight the door bell was heard. Her amma quickly said a thankful prayer with tearful eyes and a relieved heart. They rush towards the door and both amma and baba were happy to believe that their daughter had finally reached home safely.

But little did they know that the person who was waiting on the other side of the door wasn’t their daughter but a messenger. Baba opened the door and saw a tall young man. The man was unrecognizable until he took the name of the company where their daughter worked. This further worried her amma and baba. The man handed them an envelope and left.

Inside the envelope there was a message which changed the life of the threesome completely,

Dear Amma & Baba,

I’m sure as always you would have done a wonderful arrangement for my birthday and I’m sorry for all the discomfort I caused you for not showing up. But I can’t help. I need to be something, to let the world know about me and to reach the sky. You have to understand that I’m 20 right now and old enough to make my own decisions. I don’t enjoy getting pampered anymore. I want to be independent.

This is why I have decided to join my old friend Kazim in his tour to Singapore. He said he knows a lot of people there who could provide me with a job with a very high pay and I can live a very luxurious life in there. Please forgive me but I had to take this step in order to explore my talents.

Take cares.

Love,

Amma & Baba’s Munni.

Her amma and baba were shattered. Their lifelong hard work on bringing up their daughter, nurturing her with utmost care and providing her with the best source of education had all being wasted today. They will not be able to look into people’s eyes anymore.

Time slowly passed by and she was reaching the heights. Fame was under her feet and she had become a renowned business woman. Ten years had passed since she had left her home sweet home.  It was now time to surprise her amma and baba. She had tried contacting them many times but they never answered her call or text messages probably because they were too angry by her. But now when they will see her, their hearts will surely melt and they will forgive her.

The flight had just landed and she was getting the memories of her childhood spent in this small town. She got into the taxi and explained the address which was still fresh in her mind as if she never left this place. When she reached her very own home, she saw the door all dusty with spider webs all over it which meant that no one lived there anymore.

She belled at the next door to find an old lady with a few silver hairs on her head. She was Mrs. Kareem, her amma’s best friend and their next door neighbour.  Without saying anything, the lady recognized her and handed her a key with an envelope and banged the door on her face.

In the letter it was written,

Munni,

We are really sorry to not able to teach you what is right and wrong. Probably our nurturing must have gone wrong somewhere that you left us deserted and with no good explanation.

Living without you wasn’t easy and soon after you left your father got ill. He died within a month and now here I’m waiting to go after him. It isn’t easy living all alone and anticipating for you to come back and hold me in your arms.

We failed to teach you the right and the wrong but I’m sure we had given you enough love which will one day bring you back to this home and so I’m leaving this key for you. Don’t think about renting a hotel room when your parents house is there to give you shelter.

Love,

Your Amma & your dead Baba.

Today she had everything, money, fame, luxuries, but unfortunately no love which is the most important element of everyone’s life. Her cries had no meaning today because for whom she was crying they were not there anymore to hear.

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Dealing With Stress and Anxiety

Have you ever suffered from constant mood swings? That one moment you are sad about every single thing happening in your life and the other you are too happy to be depressed by any bad news. Well, this usually happens when I’m anxious about something and at that moment I’m just not able to rest my mind on one particular activity or thought. This could turn out to be a very stressful situation and the whole day turns out to be a waste.

In addition to that, there are days when my temper is at its height and I’m telling off just anyone coming my way. I’m sure that you too at some point of your life must have faced such a situation. At times its quite depressing being rude and hurting people around. Specially, being a soft-hearted person, I always regret being so unpleasant. But at times it just doesn’t seems to be under my control.

So what should one do in order to save oneself from an unwanted, stressful situation like this? Well, before we get to that point, lets discuss what is behind these bad feelings. Anxiety, tension, grief, they all have one thing in common, negative energy. Yes, we are surrounded by energy which also exists within us in the form of either positive or negative energy. You must have heard of this, ‘Energy can never be created nor destroyed but could be changed from one form to another.’ Hence there is no way you can destroy this negative energy but utilize somewhere else and get rid of it.

Creative Work
Indulging yourself in some sort of creative work like painting, drawing, craftwork, writing or any other form of art work, helps to get rid of negative energy. Its my own personal experience. It’s a good way of letting out your anger, grief or anxiety. It doesn’t really matter how creative you are. Just take a paper, a pen or a paint brush and go on making what you like. Be it circles, zigzag lines or just random stuffs. Create anything you like. Your main purpose should just be to divert your mind from all sorts of negative thoughts.

Physical Activity

Another method of relieving stress is to do some sort of physical activity like walking, jogging, exercising or playing sports. Females could also go shopping. The idea behind this method is that physical activity obviously requires a lot of energy and so once you are out of this negative energy all you will do is think positive.

I would also like to mention here some other forms of physical activities, for instance, housework which could include cooking, cutting vegetable and fruits, cleaning etc. This may sound a bit awkward as to how come household work helps in relieving stress, but believe me it does.

Socialize

Interact with people specially the ones who are close to you and share your worries and fears with them. Friends or loved ones are not only to double our happy moments but also to divide sorrows. Hanging out during weekends, going to some open air places like parks, resorts, beaches rather than to malls or gaming arcades is beneficial. But this could only be useful for extroverts.

If you are an introvert and don’t enjoy sharing your thoughts with people, then you could keep a diary and write in it whenever you wish to pour out your thoughts. It will really help you a lot.

I hope the methods provided here really helps you to deal with stress and anxiety. Don’t forget to leave your comments below once you have tried any of these and let me know how far they helped you.