LAILA- My Fairytale Princess

As a kid, I was extremely fond of visiting the babies in the neonatal ICU (NICU). I wasn't allowed inside obviously, but through the glass in the children ward , i'd stare at the little somethings for hours at end. Every time i stopped to look at them , the nurse on duty would swing a cot beside me. Through the corner of my eye, I'd look at the inhabitant of the cot- a beautiful girl- her complexion as white as milk, and rose lips; her soft brown locks would rest loosely on her pink cheeks- and if ever i looked at her directly-she'd break into this million dollar smile and her green eyes would twinkle bright as she smiled- she was pristine- my fairytale princess..


The shy girl that I was , I never really spoke to her, until Aunty Rahil introduced me to her one day.. "Baby Laila" she said..
"Arabic ? " i asked
"Whatever."
I stood there puzzled for a while. Aunty explained Laila knows 3 diff languages- Arabic, English , Filipino .. and she even understands Hindi.I stood their awestruck.
Over the next few days , i started visiting the children's ward more often-less to see the nicu babies, more to meet my new pal Laila. There wasn't a moment her smile would fade.. I started talking to her, taught her my name. She was probably a year older to me, but she was so small, n delicate, n skinny..laila never stood up.
Just out of curiosity i asked laila one day, "Laila, phen anta baba, mama" (Laila, where r ur parents?). For the first time in all those days , her smile was subdued.. n softly she whispered - "Laila don know baba mama" ... through the gap in the cot's railings i gave princess my hand.......


It was only years later I was told Laila lost her parents - her dad,a Saudi national n mum an Egyptian- shortly after she was born,in an accident. Laila survived,but was crippled for life. She was now taken care by the Filipino, Indian and Saudi nurses at the hospital. That was her home, and we were family..

I've lost touch with Laila, and the nurses at hospital.. I wish I knew how Laila is, where she is now...She was the happiest girl I'd ever met despite all that she'd lost.. I really miss seeing her, miss telling her, "I'll be Laila's mama".. we love you Laila, wherever you are. God bless you hunnie..

Its my life...

Plugging in the car keys, ignition on, she decided to drive herself to the mall, unaccompanied- cellphone switched off-no cranky bosses to be answerable to, no household responsibilities, no gossipy girlfriends, no protective boyfriend. It had been long, days, maybe months since she'd lived her carefree, child like self. Today she was going to do just that.
Pulling herself a cart, she walked through the aisles of the mall.
Toothpaste-she'd been using gumcare for the last,hmm.. year ??!!.. no, today she grabbed one of her favourite bubblegum flavoured liquid toothpaste. Detergent, hmm no..reminds her of all the laundry she had to get delivered. Room freshener, no, deodorant, soap, shampoo, conditioner, none.. Bubble bath, yes.. the one with the free rubber duckie..
Chocolate- hershey's kisses her favourite, popped a packet into the cart, no.. remimded her of her ex- Harshit.. always brought her one of those when they met.. hershey's kisses back into the rack.. suddenly she didn't feel like buying chocolates.
Milk- skimmed, toned, double toned, naaah... its all she'd been living on since she grew up to be the anorexic teenager she once was.. today it was Banana Milk she went for.. papa loved buying them for her, till she started refusing them when she turned 15.. juices, cheese, energy drinks, nopes, none..
Lipsticks, glosses, kohl, eye-liners .. none.. she wasn't in the mood of anything that made her feel artificial. besides, she was tired of always having to look good.. look good for work, look good for guests, look good for peers, look good for her boy.. today she just wanted to be herself.. simple, sweet, maybe not even beautiful, but then she loved herself the way she was.. all she dropped into the cart was a pedicure kit; her nails really needed some filing, no enamel again.
Brick game.. it'd been ages since she last played tetrix. The mobile games were fine, but for the moment she really wanted her favorite uncomplicated, zero frills kiddie game..
Swinging back the shopping cart , making her way past the toy section, the cosmetic section, food and drink, chocolates, the bakery, household utilities, walked to the counter queue awaiting her turn.. staring pointlessly into her cart, amused with her purchases. She rested her cart on the counter belt, while the saleswoman billed the items one by one.A second later she found herself running back to the chocolates section, grabbed herself a jumbo pack of "hershey's kisses", hurried way past the crowd and tossed the packet in front of the saleswoman, with a funny happy feeling.
As she walked out towards the parking, fumbling for the keys in her over-sized bag, all the way smiling n humming to herself, she realised it wasn't her life she had been living for all these days..it was boss', n mama's, n carol's, n harshit's life she was leading.. this very second, she had taken back her life into her own hands.Today, chocolates meant chocolates, not harshit.. who was harshit anyway? She loved chocolates, not harshit..



The smallest fantasies in life sometimes give way to the biggest realizations.
Introspection isn't a bad idea after all.