WRITERSBAY PICTURE PROMPT

The year is 1985.. the son, all of 21 years, gets a job in the Gulf. The family is overjoyed. The son starts sending money every month and slowly the financial position improves.

There would be one letter and one phone call a month exchanged. They would also come on holiday for a month once in two years and they would bring gifts for everyone. This story is of one such call from the mother to the son on his weekly holiday, friday.

Just another year!

"It was a friday morning
Phone was ringing
For me it was most exciting
My mother was the one calling

I wanted to tell her
How much I love her
I cant wait any longer
Before I can see her"

Every 1st friday the mother would go to the public booth and call her son. The conversation would last for about 10 minutes maximum.

"The phone rang as always
With her timing she would amaze
She would give details and appraise
All the troubles she had to face"

The son wanted to convey his decision to quit and come back.

"I wanted to tell her my decision
It is quite a bad condition
I have no ambition
To continue despite suffocation"

But the mother was in no mood to listen to him but instead told him to increase the money that he sends since the fees of his sister and brother have increased.

"She asked the customary questions
And asked for extra sanction
Increased fee-her clarification
Many factors in her computation"

The son decides to adjust for one more year. Every year there would be one demand or the other. Years pass by and the brother/sister continues year after year.

"I nodded in agreement,
I have patience abundant,
Requires some adjustment,
It's all about commitment!"

This is the story of many a household in the 80s and 90s. The phone was the only lifeline of communication and one had to coordinate perfectly. Since not many had the luxury of landline, they would wait in the public booth for the call.

Some may glorify the sacrifice of the brother/sister and some see it as an exploitation. It is for the reader to decide.

This is my tribute for the countless such brothers and sisters who have left their homeland and worked for the welfare of their families back home.

©ashamurali
19.10.20

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