Ramesh Batra  Translated from the Original Hindi by Kanwar Dinesh Singh

 The daughter-in-law took the telegram addressed to her father-in-law and read it.

The telegram informed that their son, a valiant soldier, fought bravely and departed this life . . . he became a martyr for the country.

“Hope everything’s all right, bahu!” Her illiterate father-in-law asked, “What does it read?”

“As usual, he writes that even this time he will not be able to come home during these days.” “Didn’t he write anything else?” The mother-in-law also stepped forward.  “He writes―We are winning. Hopefully the war will end soon. . .”  “What does he write for you?” The mother-in-law teased her. “Nothing,” saying this, as if she blushed, she ran towards her room.  Today, the daughter-in-law closed the door of the room in the same way as her ‘soldier’ always did. When she turned, her eyes were wet. She looked at everything in the room as if she was seeing all that for the first time. . . What things were no longer needed. . . Thinking of that her eyes stuck on the gun hanging on the wall in front of the bed. She stared at it for a few moments. Then she took the gun off the wall. After cleaning it well, she moved towards the wardrobe. Opening the wardrobe, she took out a small briefcase. She took off her attire and put it in the briefcase and wore the dress in which the soldier had seen her for the first time. Dressed gracefully, she lifted the gun from the bed. Then she lay down on the bed and laid the gun on her side and kissing it over and over again, fell asleep.

-0-Dr Kanwar Dinesh Singh

Associate Professor of English

#3, Cecil Quarters, Chaura Maidan, Shimla: 171004 HP

Email: kanardineshsingh@gmail.com

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