We were moving house. I was the one appointed to unpack the tall cupboards and the stout trunks. Although the eyes were fixed on the cartons filling up, my mind was still hooked to the two days old incident. I had been accused of never having cried before my parents whenever I had left for my out stationed hostel.

The situation worsened when I back answered my parents saying that even they had never expressed that they loved me! Of course, how do I know that some one cared for me,whether its parents or anyone else around? I was unstoppable then. On and on I went counting on my matured age and excellent grades. Lastly I had warned them not to couple their parenthood with their bugging attitude! After having quoted the dictionary definition of parenthood I had walked off...

Two days had slipped but absolutely without a word on the argument. But seconds before I could cheer myself up for being that “outright”, my fingers touched a piece of velvet. Even before I could give a thought, than I pulled out a few tightly knotted laces of all colors.With raised eyebrows, my eyes fell on a two inch long rubber arm and finally there she was.

The sight of my one time favourite fourteen year old bald doll was more than enough to push me to the floor. Thud!! I dropped with the gifts I did not even remember... Little cards made out of ruled pages went flying past my face which I had once upon a time prepared to present on Diwali. I was almost done with emptying the trunk, when I realised there was still a leather pouch to be removed. Unzipping it I found it filled with hundreds of bits of paper with the quote “We are sorry. We scolded you today!” I would have cried a million times, but not a tear had escaped my eyes then! Motionless, I must have sat there for hours together. too heavy to be lifted, my feet barely took me towards the lorry waiting for the cupboards. Numb all over, I could only hear a known pair of voice say “We are sorry, please forgive us”. What more? I wailed out and sobbed like a little school girl who wanted to stay at home.

“I have always felt like crying when you were not around...” was all I could say in between sobs...