A mother, a daughter and a puppy

AMMACHI’S day started and ended with Kuttu near her. Kuttu was the puppy that the mother had rescued from the drainage and kept as her pet giving utmost love and care. It was the puppy that filled the gap created by her daughter between her occasional visits.

For Ammachi, this puppy was like a son or a grandson. Whenever the daughter came she would pat him affectionately. Kuttu also liked her as she was Ammachi's daughter. One day the daughter asked her mother: "Ammachi shall I take Kuttu to my home?"

"Do you have the time to look after Kuttu?" Ammachi asked.

"I shall manage it. My children are also very fond of Kuttu," she said.

Ammachi looked at Kuttu's face. He shook his head in the negative.

"Can't you take it when you come next?" Ammachi asked.

"As today I came in the car it will not be a problem to take him now."

Ammachi is accustomed to giving away whatever the daughter demanded.

"You may take him if you want. Whenever you feel like not keeping him with you, you may return him promptly," Ammachi said this much in support of Kuttu. 

The daughter agreed. Kuttu was taken inside the car. Ammachi looked at Kuttu in the car.

Kuttu ran out of the car disengaging the chain from the daughter's hand and came near Ammachi wagging its tail vigorously. 

Ammachi kissed him affectionately and put him back into the car consoling him with some good words. The car moved forward. The daughter bade goodbye to Ammachi. Kuttu kept looking at Ammachi through the rear window of the car.

Even after the car disappeared from her sight, Ammachi stood there for some time staring into oblivion. Then she walked back slowly into the house. Her eyes were overflowing. But the daughter had no inkling that she was snatching away from her the last bond of her mother's happiness.

(Translation of Dr Jacob Samson's Malayalam article "Ammayum makalum oru pattikku ariyum" by Eapen Chacko)