Swastika Mukherjee

It was month of December.....shivering cold all over north India. Although mamma always keeps all the toiletry much away from me, but on that day I could catch hold of my father's kits bag. Taken out everything immediately and found a full pack of Nivea body cream.


Before anybody noticed me, I was proud to finish the whole pack and could able to apply cream throughout my body including the jackets, Sweaters and Shocks!

Just yesterday dada has undergone bypass heart surgery. I came to Kolkata for that reason with my parents.

And today everybody was busy as dada was still on ventilation. As usual I was staying at my favorite place in Kolkata.......Chotodidun's house.

While taking breakfast, I thought why everybody sits in chair and keep the plate on table. Let me explore the possibility of sitting on the table and eat.

It was a glass top. I just took my second leg off the ground to sit properly on the table. And the table tilted down. The glass broken into pieces and I dropped on the sharp edges of scattered glass pieces.

I hurt myself at all possible places of my body but the one in the left hand was quite major. Baba took me off the glasses immediately. I was crying in the lap of my father.

Streams of blood was coming down. Baba & me both were completely red by the time Abhra mama & Subhra mama took us to Appollo Hospital. The doctor aunty did the dressing and told it needs to be stitched but the Operation theater was available only by afternoon.

Chotodidun advised us to rush to her brother Dr. Arun Chakraborty. Doctor dadu took me immediately to the operation theater. Mamma was asked to come inside to hold me while stitching.

I shouted like anything. and cried a lot. But all the nurse aunties and mamma were holding me too tight to get relieved. Doctor dadu did all the ten stitches neatly and put the bandage.

I still have the cut mark in my left hand.........like a question mark.

Mamma always says that I can use sindur only after marriage. And also I may play sindur on Durga puja only if I am married. But I was planning for long to understand actually what happens if I play right now at the age of two!



And fortunately I got a chance in Kolkata at Didun's house during Narayan Puja. I played a lot and enjoyed enough........Nothing happened!!!.... except some slaps from mamma.