CINNAMON LOVE

Mama was laying out the cups for the evening tea when I remembered I’d left the main gate opened’ , she shouted. "the snacks are ready" and her voice reached 

every corner of the house .I always wondered how she managed to shout soo loud , whilst I was occupied with that thought ,

she slapped me and said 

"bring Amma from her room" , I flounced to Amma's room and heard her saying "Raja ji ayenge raja ji ayenge", as a 6 year old i was petrified by her condition

and what else do you expect from a kid of this age ,nevertheless I gained courage and interrupted her chant and asked her to come with me .The old lady rose up slowly and peculiarly as if she was sitting with someone , soon she scouled at me and made the "hmm" sound , I called this expression "THE LOOK"

which she gave me when she wanted me to touch someone's feet , muddled by her actions I asked her " but amma no one is here", with greater intensity of "THE LOOK".

She said , "can't you see Mantri ji standing here , you notorious boy ,have you lost your values, we should be thankful to him for arranging my meeting with 

Raja ji, and you on the other hand are being a shameless monkey"

 before she could tear me into pieces, Appa came and saved me from the humiliation, I ran out of the room crying, and could not hear anything Appa said to her, 

 after a while they both came to the courtyard for the tea,Amma was on cloud nine, as she told everyone about the setting with the mantri, i couldn't understand any of it , but I was happy for her 

 Appa told me that she has alzimer , and is left with only few days, so i could figure out about the mantri story

  

Inquisitive about her longing for the Raja , I asked her about it, she was glad to see that i wanted to know about him, she lifted me up softly and rested me on her lap and said 

" I used to work as a street sweeper at the main street of the town , everyday the king with his two sons would 

come out of the castle for the morning ride in there carriage, I forcefully took the morning shift just to see the prince , but sadly I never could , once I saw his jaw tho and i jumped out of joy , everyday I would rehearse my lines and play scenarios in my head about us both, I was devasted when I got to know about his marriage

, and I was happy on his accession,

 we have lived every moment together ,yet soo far, all my youth I have waited for the moment to come in which 

the prince would come out of his carriage to meet me, but now , that moment is here ,you see Krishnan, I'll meet my king tomorrow ,I'll meet my...."

she was shutdown by Appa , he said " Amma ,you'll meet the king tomorrow , you need to be fresh and healthy so you should go and sleep"

agreeing with him , she went to sleep , as soon as she left ,

tears dropped down of mama's eyes, she cried a lot that day,

My adamant and emotional mind made a plan , I asked Appa to talk to the Rama bhaiya and arrange for an artist clothed as a king ,and we briefed him about the description 

of the king that Amma gave us , we fixed a spot that was beneath the banyan tree ,at the city hall ,

the next day Amma got up early and started decorating herself for the date , I and Appa had mixed feelings of guilt and joy , suddenly a news came

 that the king's carriage is coming to town and I was relieved, as this would make Amma believe more on our story but i was scared that , what if the actor and the king meet , what will happen then ,neglecting the risk

  

 I and Appa dropped her to the city hall , and came home 

 we were constantly biting our nails as we knew the risk we took, after an hour or two Amma came back she looked very happy and eager to tell us about the meeting

 she said "what a magnificent character he is, soo charming that i could not concentrate on the conversation" for the whole day she talked about the meeting 

 she didn't even stop while eating , I was happy to see her dream come true , her last longing.

 

The next morning , Rama bhaiya crossed path with us at the market appa thanked him for sending the actor, listening to this Rama bhaiya looked confused , 

he said "I didn't send any actor isn't he not suppose to be meeting with Amma tomorrow?", we ran as fast as we could to our house , we had questions , a lot of them

and as we enter our house, we heard Mama crying , I couldn't understand her situation , so I asked her and said "what happed ma" to which she replied

" she's no more , she left us .....she left us after the fulfilment of her dream"