AZ India

F E E L A T H O M E www.azindiatimes.com PAGE - 22 Jan 2019 1-844-AZINDIA A Tale of Two Friends By Maha Yogaraj (11 Year old, 5th Grader) Once upon a time there were two friends, a bear and a butterfly. There was no two friends as close as them in the entire forest. The forest was as peaceful as the moon at night. It never rained hard and it was never too sunny as well. So you can imagine how surprised the animals were that day when it started to pour. It started as a light drizzle, something all the animals were used to. But as the day went on, the sky darkened and everyone experienced real rain. “ This must be what a hurricane is like! ’’, Bear shouted to Butterfly over the storm. “ It is like someone is wringing out the clouds! We have to find shelter .’’ The two friends frantically ran around the forest, trying to find a place to hide. “ Badger ,’’, they said “ please let us in .” No response. They looked through the window, only to find that Badger had fainted, out of fear it had seemed. They traveled to the next house. “ Rabbit ,”, they repeated “ please let us in ”. But sadly, Rabbit could not, for she herself was housing all of her bunnies. Again and again they repeated this effort, until finally Butterfly had an idea. “ Why are we asking everyone else for shelter when we could just go to my house? ” Bear looked gloomily at the forest floor, the rain hitting his fur. “ Don’t you remember, I don’t fit in your house. ” “ Oh, right .”, Butterfly said. “ Well then, why don’t we go to yours? ” Bear’s face illuminated. “ I can't believe I didn’t think of that! ” Bear and Butterfly raced to Bear’s house. “ Hurry! ”, Bear cried. They both raced for the door, but before they could reach it, a vicious blast of lightning struck Bear’s home. Bear collapsed on the floor and began to cry. “ I’m so sorry. ”, But- terfly said, trying to comfort his friend, but there was nothing he could do. Butterfly tried hoisting Bear up and just to make him feel good, Bear helped him- self up. “ We can’t afford to lose any more time .”, Bear declared. “ We have to find shelter immediately. ” They moved quickly along, until finally, they found a log big enough for Bear to fit in. They huddled in, hoping to wait out the storm. They thought they would just have to wait out the night, but it was longer than that. They waited days, or at least that’s what they thought. The sun was always obscured, so it was hard to keep track of the time. They waited and waited until one day, Butterfly said to Bear “ I’m starving. I haven’t eaten in so long. Can you please get some… ” He fell onto the floor. Bear panicked. Fear rose up inside his throat. “I have to go out there.”, he thought. He charged out. An hour or two later, Bear finally came back with some flowers, honey, and ber- ries. “ Butterfly, wake up. ” He shook his friend gently. “ What happened? ”, But- terfly asked. “ You fainted without any food, so I went out to bring you some. ” They both ate, Butterfly drinking nectar from the flowers and Bear scarfing down the honey and berries. Suddenly they heard something they hadn’t heard in days, birds singing. They stuck their heads out of their log and the sun shone on their faces. “ The storm is finally over! ”, Badger shouted in the distance. Bear and But- terfly got out of the log as all the animals cheered. “ We got through the storm! ”, Butterfly said happily. “ Yeah ,”, Bear said “ I guess we did. ” THE END Chronicles of Motherhood By Anindita Roy Biswas midastouch322@gmail.com Robert Browning aptly said- “ Motherhood: All love begins and ends there. ” Nu- merous lines are written about motherhood till date…. still it’s not overrated. This journey thrives to be each on her own - it’s serene yet overwhelming, simple yet exclusive. Yes, of course amazingly different to every mother! A little soul is born - a bundle of prayers turn into a beautiful reality. The moth- er, who is yet to succumb into the new- found feelings, starts the journey of motherhood with all vulnerability. Noth- ing can beat the peerless emotion when a mother, for the very first time, nurses her newborn. The bond which was creat- ed with the cord in womb may be cut out externally but the bond which nurtures a tiny miracle, defies everything and exists beyond time. All the long sleep- less nights, apprehensive silly fears of pristine parenthood, and abundance of sentiments fabricate the experience just like witnessing the unfolding of flower- petals. It is learning every single day. No one can teach perfect parenting. It’s all about enriching the cherub with all our inner goodness, shadowing the weak- nesses. It’s just growing with your kid every moment. The Bond Forever An artistic expression by the Author No doubt, raising a child is daunting, sometimes frightful and nerve-wrecking. I am sure, many of you will agree, it can be very intimidating as well, to feel the pressure of being a ‘Perfect’ parent. Actually we always perceive the perfect parenthood models throughout life - “ the child fully engrossed in Mom’s charm while they enjoy peacefully a storybook reading together, or watching a sport, even just carelessly cradling in each other’s arms. ” In this process, knowingly or unknowingly in our subconscious mind these picture-perfect images get so thoroughly imbibed, that we expect and try to recreate them when our own turn comes. We become a mother and all the dreamy reminiscences haunt us to put together themselves in our real life. We fail to understand mothering a young carefree spirit may not always be superbly utopian – still it is the best thing in the world . Human nature tends to be confused and flustered. Sometimes our goal clashes with our own way of executing them. We aspire to be great parents by raising a happy kid and mourn over the chaos it brought into our life. We desire and indulge, but brood over a messy room or a disorganized social life. It is always true that life won’t be same after a child. We all know that but often fail to accept. Sometimes we become too hard to ourselves. We tend to fit our life into those storybook lines which always seem to us the greatest acquisition we still aim for. As Jill Churchill once said - “ There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one. ” Mothers are expected to be superwomen – raise perfect children, be the ideal wife, keep a superbly maintained house and excel in work as well. It’s always an ever-rising pressure. Now we have to change the notion and loosen it all. It doesn’t mean they are wrong, what wrong is - that overwhelming exaggeration of motherhood. It is a bond nurtured by love and should be maintained by balance. Balance is the key word of happiness. Yes, raising a child is exhausting – no one can deny that but it can be performed in a stable manner. Learn to share respon- sibilities and take help when needed. Maintaining “alone –time” is very impor- tant. It helps to retrieve and rejuvenate ourselves – get time to self-introspect. Go for work-out in the gym, listen to music, watch a movie or just read a book, what- ever you like in this quiet hour. It rejuvenates again to gain some energy back, to make a silent prayer with inner soul. After the much-needed break you will miss the chaos back in life. Strange - isn’t it ? But yes that is how life works – It’s kind of a machine, give some precious moments of powernap and it’s back with a bang. Let yourself become a child again. You will dis- cover that the little kid in you never went away, it was there, always – just lost somewhere into the hustle and bustle of growing up. That child is innocent and atten- tion seeking. That child screams out loud while playing with the baby, laughs like a maniac while enacting foolish funny faces and when the little one tries to copy it. The house could be disheveled some- times but the relation- ship we are making with our child is of a lifetime. They will look upto us, how we react into the situation. So just let it go – all these moments are not coming back. We have to less the stress more often. Ease it out and life will eventually find its own way to be resilient and effervescent. Let go the perfect storybook mother- hood picture and enjoy the way it turns shape into your life. Parenting will never seem so easy since then. So slow down Mommy and Enjoy!!