The Children went Missing!!

It was about nine in the morning, my sister-in-law brought two steaming plates of Maggie noodles and asked me to call the children, my older daughter and my elder brother’s daughter. They are of the same age and are inseparable when we visit. They both had gotten up a bit early that day and were playing in our neighbor’s garden. Since my neighbor was having some construction work going on, there was a heap of sand in their garden where the children enjoyed playing. It was their favorite place to play. I went to fetch them and to my surprise my neighbor said that they had left a while ago. “They didn’t even open the gate, they climbed over the wall and jumped out” she smiled. Ok, they are a bit of a tomboy I agree. Not really anxious, I thought they might be at another neighbor’s house.

“Arjun!! Did the kids come to play with Arjun” I asked Arjun’s dad. “No, they haven’t come here” he said. He also suggested a few more houses in the neighborhood where they could be playing. “Arjun, why don’t you go to Shilu and Sabari’s house and check.” The little boy ran to the third house on the street. His dad also started knocking on another neighbour’s door to ask. I was getting anxious by now. My husband also joined me in the search and started knocking on every house on the street. Seeing us scream out the children’s names many of our neighbors started coming out to enquire what happened and one neighbor who was getting his bike out to go to the church said that he would check the entire neighborhood.

In one of the houses I went, a little girl said “Aunty, I saw them going this way a little while ago.” I turned to look in that direction. The road was perpendicular to our street and it was a complete mess with a large hole dug right in the middle of the road, mud all around it, with a pathetic excuse of a danger signal, a broken red tape, lying on the ground. The entire length of the road had patches of muddy puddles. There was a pack of stray dogs running around. There was no sign of the kids. I heart was beating so wildly by now that it almost seemed to deafen me. My eyes burned with tears. My mind was working hard to block out any horrible thought from occurring. I looked at my husband at the other end of our street. He was turning into another street and walking hurriedly. I raced across the road and stood at the corner and saw him returning with both girls. Relief washed over me. The whole ordeal was over in less than 10 minutes, but it felt like ages.


By the look on their faces I knew they had already been scolded, but that hardly did anything for me. I tried to be calm in front of all the neighbors who were retreating into their homes. I was only calm till I got them into the house.


Once inside, I started yelling at them, not that the 6 year olds would have understood much, but it was a way of relieving myself of the fear I had felt on the street. “Do you know that there is a big hole in the road filled with water? What if you had fallen into it? There are so many stray dogs on the street, what if they had chased you? There could be so many bad guys who could have hurt you, and what with all the lorries and cars on the road? You both are never to step out of this compound without informing me. Do you understand!!” This went on for about 10 minutes before I could really get a grip.

An hour later my dad returned from his badminton game and seeing the kids with long faces asked what had happened. I told him and he called the girls and asked them very calmly why they went. “We went to pluck flowers Thatha. We wanted to decorate our entrance gate with beautiful flowers and there were no flowers here.” “From now on tell amma or patti where you are going so that they will not worry, ok?” The kids nodded and smiled. It made me feel bad. They are so innocent; unaware of the dangers of the world, but it is my responsibility to protect them. I really envied the way my father had been calm in dealing with the situation. Maybe because it was already over and the kids were safe or maybe he would have been calm even if he had been there at that time. I am sure it comes with age. Because, I have seen the same man as mad as a wild elephant 25 years ago when my brothers, I, and my cousins had gone to the park without informing. Boy was he mad!! I was terrified by his voice. He had yelled at us for what seemed like hours, but nothing registered. I just knew not to go anywhere without telling mom. Now I know that he was not angry. He had been just as terrified as I was an hour ago. Terrified that something bad might happen to his innocent children, terrified of the perils of the world. I hope my children do understand someday that I was not mad at them but I was terrified to the core for them.

 

Dear Hopes,

Thank you for being the first to drop in with a fb. I truely pray no one ever has to describe such a situation. It was hardly 10 mins and they were hardly 5 houses away, nonetheless it was terrifying.

Akila

 

Dear Coffeelover,

Dear god, your parents must have be so so worried, and to be calling the police... I just can't imagine their state of mind, and you were peacefully asleep all that while under a cot!! We can smile at the memory now, but it must have been so terrifying for your parents at that moment.

Oh yeah... I did like the little yellow and pink flowers they had collected, they were beautiful!!

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Akila

 

Dear Sarsan,

So true, situations like these makes us understanding our parents better. The flowers were wonderful dear. Thank you.


Akila