Near death experience...

Little girl is now three and a half years old. And mom took her to her uncle’s place (nearby village) where she grew up. The house is so big that it takes almost 15 mins to locate anyone in there. Mom busy with her routine family story about in-laws, co-sisters blah blah….all crap. (Even today I feel its crap don’t know whether am I the same little girl). I was busy playing with my good old friends and cousins. We decided to play “Hide and Seek”. Game has begun. All five of us (Shivu, Suvarna, Veena, Aparna and me) were hiding in all different places. Madhu was denner, means she has to search for other five.
All of us got into different secret places, 2 in store house, one in God’s house, one ran to first floor and I hiding in cattle shed.

The moment we got caught, used to scream like hell. Mom and aunt got peeved off, coz they were getting diverted from their James bond story like what next. We got three to four warnings and one or two slaps to end the game. Nobody cried coz we enjoyed a lot. After everyone left I was asked to wash my hands to have food.

Mom was still busy with her never ending story and I got into bathroom. The water container (rectangular cement container for storing water. you will find in every house of rural India) too was big enough for anyone to get drown, almost 5 feet deep. I was helping myself to get some water. I could get only half a mug, and then I lifted my little foot and was able get to another half a mug. When I tried again I fell into it. To my luck on the other part even Mom’s story got over and she was looking for me. She became panicky and everyone started searching in different parts of the house store house, bed room, God’s house, first floor, terrace and every other place possible. Mom stood still in hall thinking about where I must be? For a moment there was pin drop silence and mom could clearly hear the dubu dubu sound from bath room. She came running. I was lying in there. She became numb seeing me drown, couldn’t scream, couldn’t cry, ask someone for help, nobody around her!!!!. Then she made her mind and lifted me up with her trembling hands. I almost drank 2 to 3 liters of water. Everyone in shock, Mom failed to hold back her tears; it just couldn’t stop flowing on her cheeks. The moment my maternal uncles arrived, they pressed hard on my stomach and made all efforts remove water. At last I was able to breathe.

When I opened my eyes, I was in mom’s lap and I saw 10 to 15 around me standing still. I felt the tear of mom on my cheeks and I was in her arms, holding me tightly with a great sense of losing her incredible love.