He was always with her. In spirit. Radhika felt that no matter what the hardship, she just had to remind herself of Ayush. She always wore the bracelet her brother had so lovingly put around her wrist on one Raksha Bandhan day. The moment was so vivid in her memory. It had now become a natural part of her hands. As a habit, she touched the little silver stars that hung from the graceful ornament, and it gave her strength. I’m not trying to create a fairy tale where the possibility of the bracelet’s inherent magical powers could be a fantasized reality. But I do tend to believe, that the workings of our minds, are no less than magic.
Yet again, Radhika faced a situation which she felt she could not possibly face without her brother. Her loving brother. Whom she doted on unconditionally. He was her pillar of strength. The determination in his eyes was usually enough to assure her that things would be okay. But he was not with her today. Radhika was expecting a baby. Her delivery was expected to be hard. She had planned that Ayush would be by her side in Kolkata, on this day. But Covid didn’t seem to care much about people’s plans. What could Ayush do, sitting in the far end of Canada? As she sweated and struggled with labor pain on the lonesome hospital bed, she touched the stars on her bracelet. In her stress, she had not played with it, the way she was used to doing now and again. It felt familiar. She could feel her brother’s touch, his determination, and his loving eyes telling her that she was going to be fine. She had faith in him. Just the way she had faith in his gift of love that she never took off her delicate hands. And they say that faith can move mountains. Well, it did. In no time, it was all over, and Radhika felt that Ayush didn’t leave her side at all.
What we can do with a little faith and a little something to hold on to! I do believe in magic. It’s not just a thing in fairy tales.
Written by Nupur Agarwal Chamaria, a passionate writer and a creative thinker. Nupur’s ‘kagaz aur kalam’ with a cup of hot ‘chai’, brews the magic she creates with her beautiful writing. Stay tuned for more of her pieces, and if you too can’t wait to see what else she has in store or want to just say a hello, reach out to her on nupur.chamaria@gmail.com.