The big gift

Little Smriti was thrilled beyond words when her aunt gave her that gift. It was long, and was wrapped in the most beautiful wrapper she had ever seen. The wrapper had pictures of balloons, angels, teddy bears and candies on it. It was colourful and even glittered at some places. Adding to Smriti’s delight was the beautiful, soft, pink satin ribbon that held the wrapper.

She felt her hands shivering with excitement as she held the gift. Why, it was the BIGGEST gift she had ever received so far!

She let out a wide grin and looked at her aunt.
“Thank you, aunty!”
She looked at her mother. Mother was smiling.
“Can I open it now, ma?” she asked.
“Of course, dear. Keep it in the prayer room, thank God for a minute and then open it” said mom.

Smriti’s grin lessened a little. This meant a delay in seeing what the gift was. Her three-year old mind could never understand why she had to thank God, keep new things in the prayer room before using them, et al. Anyways, she had to do it because otherwise ma would get angry.
She hurried into the prayer room. She would place the gift on the platform where pictures of all sorts of Gods were kept. She carefully cleared that place off flowers, ‘kolams’ made in white powder and incense dust so that the wrapper wouldn’t get dirty.

“Thank you God!” she smiled.
Whew, finally a minute over.
She took the gift and sat down. She cautiously untied the ribbons and removed the wrapper, taking care not a speck of it got lost. She folded the wrapper neatly and kept it aside. After all, it was a memorable one – it wrapped her best gift!
She opened the box, all excited.
She gasped.
There, inside, were many shining, tiny, train coaches and an engine. And a red track for the train to run on.

She quickly assembled the tracks and fixed the train. She fondly looked at the whole set, flowing in admiration. Yes, it was her best gift. She should thank aunt once more.
She put the train inside and ran out, clutching just the red track to show her mother how quickly she had assembled it.

She stopped short at the door.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
There was a much bigger gift in the hall, for her baby sister! Her mother was all smiles, telling her aunt how much she had wanted to buy this for the baby, as she opened the package.
A torrent of anger raged within little Smriti. She hardened her grip on the little red track in her hand. This anger had to get out very soon, somehow, immediately.

She summoned all her might and flung the red track out into the hall. It broke into pieces. Every head in the hall turned and looked at her with shock and disbelief.
Smriti ran inside and shut the door, tears streaming down her face.