Origin of an unending stream

Terrified by the anger in her mother’s face, the girl ran to the courtyard. Her stomach was still trying to call her attention with small sounds as she was hungry. She hated her disobedient stomach who does not understand that the fruits and sweets stored in the fridge are not for her. Sickened by that truth, she ran out of the house where nobody will listen her crying. As always, she ran towards the steps that led the way to the pond. She wanted to scream to the world that ‘I am hungry’, but she didn't. Instead she sobbed without producing sound. Though, she didn't make noise, all the small fishes and tadpoles gathered at the side of the pond to see whether she is alright or not. The small movements in the water invited her eyes to the water, where she could see the image of full moon in it. The sight of the moon appeared in the pond seemed to be blurred. The tears that bristled from her eyes made the image vaguer and she tried to wipe her face to dry the tears, so that she can see the reflection of the moon clearly. Sooner she wanted to remove water from her eyes; it became wet as she couldn't control the flow of her tears. ‘You are a thief’, these words were repeatedly echoing in her eyes in her mother’s voice.

After a long hour of clock time, she could feel that the pain and sorrow she had were not concentrated as it was. The tears that flew from her eyes diluted her grief and now she looked at the moon. The moon was looking at her with a smiling face. Looking at the moon, she saw several black spots in that beautiful smiling face. She imagined it could be the marks of tears that flew from the eyes of the moon. She wanted to return the smile to the moon as she always used with all the smiling faces, but this time she was not successful. The fishes and tadpoles in the pond seemed to be relaxed a bit as she was returning to normal and stopped crying. The meeting seemed to be dispersed from one side of the step and they started moving around the pond. Some of them tried to dance in the water for entertaining her as they always used to be, but she was looking at the moon. Yet they didn't leave her alone and waited for her to leave the steps. They were confused as she continued to sit there as it was getting late night.

Being a six year old girl, the full moon was not a routine sight for her. The sights such as full moon and the lights of airplanes in the sky still amused her with the same intensity of her watching a long train and serene paddy fields. The terms sea and beach were still remained as only information and her most cherished desire was to rest on the white sand of the beach looking at the beauty of the blue sky and the lustrous moon. She envied to her friends who were blessed to enjoy this beautiful experience. Listening to the words of her friends, she always wished to see the full moon to relish its stunning appearance, but today when her imagery became real, she was crying. Looking at the moon, she sensed a feeling of consolation. The moon seemed to ask her the reason for her tears. In fact she wanted to share her pain to somebody who can console her heart and without thinking much she decided to share her story with the moon. While looking at the bright face of the moon, she felt it as if it is someone really close to her heart and she called the circle shaped entity as uncle moon.

Dear uncle moon, I am a six year old girl. I am the only daughter of a big family; I am loved by everyone in this house except my mother. I have two brothers and a large number of cousins, all are boys.  Though, I don’t know the exact reasons I was denied mother’s milk from the very first day of my arrival on earth. I was thrown to this pond when I was 7 months old by my own mother. Since that day, all the fishes and tadpoles love me a lot and they cannot see me crying. My mother always used to feed my brothers with the best food, in front of me, while I was given food with the house maid. Today, being hungry I tried to eat a banana from the fruit box. For taking a very small banana, my mother slapped me at my face and called me ‘the thief’. She made me return that banana and was given to my brother who threw it to the waste basket. Dear uncle moon, I am hungry…I am very hungry…I want to eat something. I have seen my mother loving my brothers. I also have seen my aunts loving my cousins. All my friends, though girls are blessed with the unconditional love of their mothers. Why not me? Why am I being sidelined? What is my mistake? Am I a sinner? I love her very much, but she hates my love.

My mother wants me to study and take care of her when I grow up….even I want to do it, but to grow up; I need her love as a plant needs water and manure to grow. I am being denied both…..Oh my dear uncle moon….What should I do…..Listening at the depth of her pain, the moon concealed its face behind the clouds that passed. It could not hear her words anymore. Looking at the sky, she couldn't spot the exact place of the moon, but there was light in the sky. She looked at the pond. The blurred light of the sky showed its reflection in the water. Comforted by the presence of the moon, she stepped down to the water and walked slowly to the center of the pond to reach the place where she saw the image of the moon. Suddenly the moon appeared again and she was quick to reach it….The image of the moon seen in the water didn't have any black spots in it. Now she was sure that moon is very happy to receive her as its own. The fishes and tadpoles were also very happy to receive their beloved as their own forever. Next evening, there was a celebration in the pond hosted by the fishes and the tadpoles with the girl as their chief guest. All of them were happy and the moon was smiling from the sky with its refection taking part on the celebration. The water drops in the pond was sprinkled around with the enthusiastic movements of the fishes, when a stream of warm water was still flowing from the eyes of a woman who loved the girl very much.