CHANDRESH KUMAR CHHATALANI
Translated from the Original Hindi by
He almost ran towards his sick father’s bed. While passing through the people, he heard a whisper, “Look! Now he has come from abroad. Money is more important than his father to him.”
He stepped forward unnoticed, saw that his father, lying on the bed, was now emaciated. His facial wrinkles had increased a lot in ten years, and his yellow eyes were sinking into the sockets. He looked towards the doctor standing there; the doctor shook his head.
Tears welled up in his eyes; he sat on the bed and took his father’ s hand. The bruises of his father were still visible in his thin and soft hands. Today, he had slipped down the stairs while getting his fee deposited on his final warning from college. He looked at his father and said, “Papa, nothing will happen to you….”
His father smiled lightly upon seeing him, pointing with his head and calling him to his side. When he bowed, the father said in a soft voice, “Let me raise my head, once.”
He carefully placed his father’ s head in his lap. His father smiled once again; this time, the smile was deeper, his face was filled with satisfaction, and he took a deep breath and closed his eyes forever.
He could not take the sight of his father’ s face. After looking for a few moments, he suddenly remembered that his father was lying on his lap for the first time.
-0-Dr Kanwar Dinesh Singh,Poet. Storyteller. Critic. Translator English/Hindi)
Associate Professor of English & Editor: Hyphen
Email: kanwardineshsingh@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 94186 26090
