***** Chapter 1 Our story starts with Deepa, a modern 40 year old MILF living in Mumbai. Of course 'MILF' isn't a term Deepa is familiar with nor has ever encountered.
Indeed, as modern as Deepa likes to think of herself, she's actually lived a rather traditional life by most standards. She married at 19 to Anup, the wealthy son of an Industrialist. She spent the next 3 years as a loving and traditional wife with her loving and traditional husband. She attended the usual high class social events and rubbed shoulders with the Indian elite but her life was mostly at home, attending to the domestic issues – many of which were undertaken by the several staff in her and her husbands employ.
At 21, bored of life at home watching far too many 'stories' on satellite TV Deepa took on the job of teaching at the nearby grammar school, mostly after encouragement from Anup. Deepa's teaching career didn't last long however as only 6 months into her tenure she found herself receiving the news from her doctor that her extensive bouts of sickness were because she was pregnant. Subsequent scans showed an overjoyed Anup and Deepa that they were to expect a son.
Indeed several months later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom they named Kiran after Anup's grandfather. It was of course a very joyous occasion for all the family who would visit regularly and shower both Deepa and her son with affection.
Deepa spent the next 5 years in marital and domestic bliss. Playing the loving and caring wife to her husband and the loving and caring mother to her son. Deepa was thankful for the blessed life she had received. Unfortunately, Deepa's world was soon to turn upside down as on one fateful day she was called to the hospital to identify a the body of her husband. Unbeknownst to Deepa, Anup had become embroiled in shady deals with Mumbai's criminal underworld and had paid the price for double crossing a rather vengeful and vindictive gangster.
Deepa and her son Kiran were quickly taken into protective custody. With the help of her family's extensive connections she was re-homed in a new downtown apartment and her old identity scrubbed from existence. From now on, she and her son would adopt new names and live a new life, limiting contact as much as possible to family and friends.
Deepa spent the first few months in a depressive rut. Servants took care of the domestic duties leaving her nothing to do but mope around the house thinking about Anup. Kiran was taken away to boarding school after her mother-in-law accused her of being overprotective.
It was only when Kiran turned 16 that Kiran was to return to his mother. By this time Deepa had become a weak shadow of her former self. Forced to rebuild her life from the ground up, she was no longer the vibrant youthful woman she used to be.
Deepa and Kiran spent the next 2 years sharing their lives with each other, reaffirming their bonds. It was wonderful for Deepa to finally have a son back home with her. She regretted not being able to watch him grow, feeling like only a spectator who would visit him at specific times during the academic calendar. Now he was a young man at home whom she enjoyed attending to.
Eventually, it was time for Kiran to attend college, Deepa knew this meant that he was to be leaving her again. She put on a brave face for her son and tried her best to be enthusiastic for this new part of his life but inside she was broken.
Thankfully, this time around She and Kiran would be able to stay in contact better through emails, letters, and phone calls. The last of which they did almost daily even if just to say hello.
Deepa, found a renewed enthusiasm in her work as an auditor. She was praised highly by her bosses and commanded a lot of respect from her fellow employees. As the only woman in a male dominated office this gave her confidence a tremendous boost to have succeeded despite the social limitations imposed on her gender.
Moreso, she was especially pleased that her career success was not due to anything but her will, ambition, dedication and skill. She had seen many other young Indian girls join the company and progress fast in the hierarchy only to hear on the grapevine that this was only by submitting to the lewd demands of some of the male bosses.
Deepa had also received her share of suggestions, some more explicit than others. But she had always refused point blank, unwilling to devalue herself in such a way regardless of the consequences.
At 40 now, she would never attract the kind of attention some of the younger women did, neither did she want it. Yet still she would catch the interested smile from her male co-workers, some as much as half her age.
Deepa simply was not interested in that kind of attention anymore. As far as she was concerned Anup was the only man she had ever loved, nobody could ever replace him. She satisfied herself with the thought of devoting the rest of her life to taking care of Kiran and looked forward longingly to when he would return back home.
***** Chapter 2 The phone rang and Deepa picked up knowing it would be her beloved son Kiran. He called usually around this time and today was no different.
"Hi mom". Kiran sounded happy as ever Deepa's spirits were always uplifted as soon as she would hear his voice. "Haloo beta, how are you". Deepa's soft warm accented English floated along the line to greet her son.
They talked in a mixture of English and Hindi as was now common in the Indian middle classes. Choosing to talk English when discussing anything other than every day domesticity and commonality.
"i got a present for you mom" Kiran said, his excitement palpable on the phone line.
"what is it?" she asked, curious.
Kiran told her about the web cam he'd bought her and enthusiastically talked about how it would be great now because they could chat on the computer and see each other at the same time. Deepa could not help but get carried away in her sons excitement. What a wonderful thought. Currently the only time she saw anything of him was when he'd send pictures over email. Kiran had already posted the web cam to her but it would be a few days before she'd receive it – they'd have to be content with phone until then.
After an anxious couple of days, Deepa was beaming when the package eventually arrived. She called Kiran straight away and practically begged him to explain how to connect it and use it. Unfortunately Kiran was just on his way to lectures but he promised he would return to his dorm room straight after and talk her through it.
Deepa excitedly agreed and did her best to pass the time. Out of curiosity she considered connecting up the equipment herself and found that it wasn't difficult at all. Deepa was no technology whiz, but anyone living the in modern times and using computers on a daily basis eventually learned how to plug in a USB device and install software.
The camera worked first time and Deepa was pleased when a picture of herself appeared in a small window on her desktop. With a little playing with the settings she managed to make the screen bigger, correct the brightness and record a few funny clips of her making faces at the camera.
Connecting to Kiran's computer however was something she had no idea about and contented herself with at least getting this far. She would proudly tell Kiran how his mother was now a dab hand at 'compootars'
It wasn't long till Kiran did call back and listened to his mother proudly exhort her computer skills. He laughed along with his mother's childishness as he began to get the software setup for their computers to communicate.
The first few attempts failed miserably and after around half an our Deepa could sense her son's frustration at not getting the thing to work. As luck would have it, it was actually Deepa who finally made a few changes to an interesting looking 'network configuration' panel of settings that the images of each of them appeared on the other's screen.
Deepa clapped in excitement and giggled as she told her son she could see him. Her heart fluttered as she could actually see a moving image of her handsome son and no longer static attachments to his emails.
They satisfied themselves with talking on the phone for now as they sound function still wasn't working on the web cams. It was only after a few more attempts over the next few days that they finally managed to get the sound working as well.
Finally mother and son could sit at their computer terminals and talk endlessly and see the nuances of each others facial expressions.
It was in one of these conversations where Deepa conveyed her disappointment at her Son's appearance.
"You could have made an effort betah, you look so scruffy" she joked.
"what? Comon mom it's just you"
"huh? Just me??" Deepa was taken aback and mocked offense at her son.
"sorry, sorry mom, I mean.. its just that I'm just at home, its not like I'm going out anywhere" Kiran tried to recover from his gaffe. He knew is mother wasn't really bothered by his comment but she could still be a little oversensitive at times.
"Still betah, a little effort wouldn't go amiss. Perhaps comb your hair? Put a little effort into your appearance? Not for me betah, for yourself. You look so scruffy!" Deepa wasn't angry at all and smiled as she nagged him in her motherly tone.
Kiran scratched his head. "the messy look is IN now mom. You're so 20th century you wouldn't know style if it knocked over your morning coffee"
This comment did annoy Deepa and if it had been anyone other than her son she'd have been more than a little upset.
"I'll have you know I'm completely clued up on what the style is now young man. You're not so 'modarn' that you can fool your mother that easily.." though she smiled as she spoke, Kiran could sense her annoyance.
Even when Deepa was mad she found it very hard to show it to Kiran.
"I've annoyed you haven't I mom?"
"It's OK betah, you haven't annoyed me." Deepa thought for a moment. ".. but I DO know what the fashion is right now, I see it in Mumbai every morning I go to work!" she added.
"Of course you do mom. It's just that you're outfit says otherwise" Kiran teased his mother.
"chaur! What's wrong with what I'm wearing" Deepa looked at her outfit and back at the screen in confusion. Her son was giggling into his web cam.
"it's just a little 'mumsy'. You know, domesticated..." Kiran replied playfully.
"well I'm your mother so it should be mumsy. And what's wrong with being domesticated?" she replied.
"I'll tell you what mom, I'll put an effort into my appearance as long as you do too."
Deepa was confused. In what way had she not made any effort on her appearance? She'd showered after coming back from work, and changed into one of her every day salwar kameez suits. What else would or should she be wearing if not this? She'd certainly done more than Kiran obviously had – the cheek of the boy!
"You, mister, are still in your chadees and vest, YOU definitely need to sort yourself out. I don't understand why you think I do? What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Kiran was not embarrassed at all to be on web cam in nothing but his vest and underpants. And though it was a little embarrassing for Deepa to see him like that at first, she'd become used to his sloppiness and no longer complained. "well perhaps you could wear something a little smarter – not one of your everyday home kaprah. Something you might go out in?"
Deepa though for a moment what he could mean. "But betah, the only time I go out is when I go to work – do you mean log on in my work clothes?"
"Errm, no not work clothes. Don't you have anything else? Just something that looks, you know, nice"
Deepa still had no clue what it is she could wear.
After finishing their conversation Deepa began going through her clothes to find something to wear for tomorrow's chat. It was then that she realized how abysmally poor her wardrobe was. She had plenty of sarees and kameezes but nothing that looked 'nice'. Everything was plain if not dowdy.
Only her work clothes looked presentable. She had a collection of white blouses and long skirts, none of which interested her that much.
She made her mind up to by a nice saree for herself tomorrow before she got home. As much a treat for herself as to keep up her side of the agreement she had made with Kiran.
**** Chapter 3 The next day, Deepa left work early to do some shopping. She treated herself so little it was wonderful to be out and browsing through the fashion stores.
Unfortunately too much of the styles seemed geared to women half her age. Many things were either too revealing or too tight fitting. She tried on a few tops in the changing rooms and felt depressed when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Retail therapy was supposed to excite a woman rather than make her depressed about her appearance. She eventually settled for a saree in one of the boutiques her female coworkers told her about.
Once Deepa got home she realized that her new saree wasn't all that different from her other ones. She resigned herself to wearing it anyway for today's web cam session with her son. Hopefully she wouldn't have to work too hard persuading him it was in fact new and therefore she had in fact made the effort. She wondered to herself whether Kiran, on the other hand, would even remember the agreement and shook her head, smiling to herself.
After Deepa sat down at her computer and fired up the web cam software, Kiran's connection request came through with a big green signal as it usually did. Without hesitation she clicked the accept button.
Deepa burst out laughing when the image of her son appeared on the her desktop. Kiran was wearing a white shirt with black bow tie. His hair was slicked back and he was clean shaven. He grinned at her with bright white teeth.
"Well you certainly made the effort. I actually thought you'd forget" she giggled into her mic.
"yes, well at least one of us did" Kiran relied, arching his brow at the image he was seeing of his mother.
"I knew you'd say that. For your information this is a new saree that I bought just today, just for this occasion."
"hmmnn well, I'll have to take your word for it, mom, you never lie to me. But, you might as well have saved you money and worn one of the ones you already have, I mean it looks no different."
"i know betah. I tried, really. It looked so nice in the shop but when I got home I realized it's just like all the others. Maybe your right, maybe I don't have an eye for fashion at all" she pursed her lips and shrugged at her son.
"to be honest I wasn't expecting you to buy anything. When I said make an effort I was just meaning wearing one of your nice sarees."
"I don't have any nice sarees, that's just the point. In fact I don't really have any nice clothes at all. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and pathetic!" Deepa smiled unconvincingly "i went through my drawers yesterday and couldn't find anything!"
"really? I thought women were supposed to love their clothes? And loved shopping for more of them? I expected you to have stacks and stacks of clothes. Surely there must be something nice in all of that?"
"well, the truth is your dowdy mother has never been all that much bothered with appearances and as such has a very small and manageable wardrobe."
"come on mom, you're not dowdy, though it sounds like you could definitely do with a new wardrobe"
"I'm just so terrible at buying clothes, everything I looked at in the shops just looked like it was made for ladies much younger than me." Deepa paused "fashion isn't for old buddhies like me."
"Mom stop that, you are NOT an old buddhie and I refuse to accept there was nothing you could find."
Deepa didn't mention that she tried on a few clothes but hated the image of herself she saw in the mirror. Her body seemed to bulge in peculiar places and the tops just didn't seem to fit right.
As close as Deepa was to Kiran and as playful as their conversations were with each other, she'd never discussed her body with him, nor had he raised the topic – why would he? It was simply not one of those things a mother talked about with her son.
Kiran thought for a moment "I'll buy you something."
"HAHA YOU?? you've turned up in a black bow tie, I think that qualifies you even less than me in terms of fashion sense, don't you think?" Deepa laughed heartily, Kiran joined her.
"Yes but what you don't know is that under this desk I'm still wearing Chaddees. HAH! So I think that evens this out a little at my end!"
Deepa laughed till her tummy hurt. Her son was always so delightfully amusing and never failed to make the sun shine in her life. For a moment she just gazed lovingly at his image on the screen until Kiran eventually broke her serendipity.
"seriously though mom, I'll buy something nice yeah? You wont regret it."
"betah don't be silly, save your money. I don't know why you're insisting on my dressing up to talk to you anyways."
"Don't worry about money – I don't." Kiran was well aware of his enormous trust fund and inheritance.
"OK, get me something nice. Nothing too expensive OK?" Deepa smiled.
"Nothing too expensive." Kiran repeated back to her. "In fact I think they sell jute sacks in one of the warehouses in town."
"chaur!" Deepa giggled. Chiding him with no real sign of annoyance.
They talked for a while longer before Kiran eventually ended the call saying he had plans to hang out with his friends. Before he signing off he repeated his promise of buying her a nice outfit and said he'd have it sent to her soon.
**** Chapter 4 When a package arrived for Deepa several days later she had all but forgotten what it was. Confused, she opened the carefully wrapped item and found a beautiful yellow chiffon saree inside. With it was a heart warming note reading simply "For my delightful mom." As Deepa read on realized that her son simply couldn't miss an opportunity for a joke as the note then read, " - a jute sack."
Deepa smiled to herself and felt tears well in her eyes. Her son had always showered her with compliments and told her she was beautiful. And at the same time always kept her cheery, even when everything else in her life was so dull and depressing.
She took out the saree and examined its exquisite embroidery. The fabric was light and soft against her skin. It was clearly expensive and she made a mental note of yet again warning her son not to waste is money. But she couldn't deny that receiving something like this made her feel special. She felt like she was the center of someone's universe and felt pride for her son.
She tried the saree on and looked herself up and down in the mirror. Sarees have a way of concealing the body's unsightly bulges – if worn correctly. She felt pretty in the mirror and enjoyed the way the fabric felt against her soft skin. She would never have picked out this saree for herself and had to admit that her son certainly had an eye for good clothing.
Later that day, she beamed proudly at her web cam when her son eventually cam on line.
"Wow mom, that saree looks amazing. Has mine arrived yet?" Kiran asked.
Deepa looked quizzically at her son.
"What? isn't this the one you sent me??"
"No, the one I sent was green" Kiran replied straight faced "But that one's nice too. So who's your secret admirer then? They must have a real hotspot for you to have splashed out so much money on that saree. It looks very expensive!"
The grin on Kiran's face barely concealed his playful deception.
"Silly boy, I know this is the one you sent OK. And I know that because I have NO secret admirers."
Kiran laughed "OK OK, there's no fooling my super sleuth mother. But you're wrong when you say you have no admirers.""How so?" Deepa quizzed.
"I guarantee there are plenty of guys in your workplace that look at you in less than honorable ways."
"Forget them, they're just sleazy. Every morning on the commute to work I have to deal with disgusting men like that."
Kiran looked at his mothers sour expression on the phone and couldn't help but laugh. "huh! Men!" he added, playing along with her yet mocking her at the same time.
"Indeed! Except your father, he was a wonderful man."
Kiran immediately recognized the sign that his mother's attention would drift onto the topic of his dead father. The conversation would start of wistful but eventually turn depressing and end up with his mother in tears – it always did. Kiran quickly changed the topic "But I'm a man too."
"OK, you as well. You're both wonderful" Deepa smiled into the camera full of love and praise for her son.
"..and I admire you!"
"And so you should! But you're not so secret with your admiration of me, you compliment me all the time."
"indeed I do, and I'll compliment you again. Mom, you look smashing in that saree, positively smashing!"
Deepa reveled in her sons adminiration and smiled shyly at her camera. "Thank you betah."
"You look just perfect for our date."
"Date?" Deepa replied, confused.
"Yes. You're dressed. I'm dressed, even though you didn't even notice. We're both ready for our date" Kiran explained, smiling warmly into his camera.
"Silly boy, you cant date me – I'm your mother. Shouldn't you be dating girls more your age rather than old buddhies like me" Deepa played along with her son's little game.
"Yes, but I've never seen a girl 'my age' look as smashing in a see through chiffon saree like you. Positively smashing. Very sexy!" Kiran made an a-ok gesture with his fingers at the camera and grinned at her.
Deepa blushed at his reference to the chiffon saree being see through and suddenly felt very conscious of herself. Her hand quickly went to cover her abdomen, concerned that she was revealing too much to her son. She looked down and considered whether she'd made a big mistake wearing it at all.
"silly boy, maybe I should change" Deepa said, unsure of the appropriateness of her dress.
Kiran wasn't to know how the saree would finally look on her, she thought to herself. She should have been far more careful when she wore it. She should have known that it wasn't really right for a mother to dress like this in front of her son. It was simply a lapse of judgment on her part she thought to herself.
Deepa was about to get up and get changed when Kiran stopped her.
"what's the matter mom" Kiran was clearly concerned. "Did I say something."
"Don't worry beta, its nothing you said at all. You're such a darling to you mother and always have been. I've just realized I made a mistake, I'm just going to quickly get changed. Wait a minute."
"wait, wait. Get changed? Why? I don't understand. Is there something wrong with the saree? Do you not like it?"
"No betah, its lovely, really. I love it. It's very beautiful but it's really not for me. I shouldn't be wearing such things"
"why not? You look beautiful in it, why shouldn't you wear it??"
"betah you don't understand."
All the while Kiran noticed the image of his mother had changed. When he first saw her in the saree she was smiling from ear to ear, she obviously liked it. And now she looked so uncomfortable and awkward, covering her midriff with her hand as she spoke into the mic. Her shoulders were hunched and she seemed to want to curl in on herself.
"its because I said you look 'sexy' isn't it mom?" Kiran realized. He didn't share that he had intended to test the waters with that compliment.
"no it's not that. Really it's nothing you did. It's me. I'm being silly." Deepa thought for a moment "but you shouldn't use such language with your mother. You certainly should not describe her in such terms."
"but why, it's a term of endearment mom. It's the 21st century, even you're not that old fashioned."
"I know. I'm not living in a bubble young man. It's just, that's a sentiment you should be sharing with somebody else."
"if you wish, I wont say it again if you don't want me to."
"thank you... it makes me uncomfortable."
"OK, I'll just say you look smashing then and leave it at that."
"OK, I can deal with that."
"Good because I can see your tummy mom and it looks soooo sexy to me!! HAHHA" Kiran's window promptly went black and the status showed that he was disconnected.
Deepa, smiled to herself, "allways the joker she thought."
She looked once again at her midriff and thought to herself that it wasn't actually exposed so maybe she was being a little too prudish. It was a very nice saree after all and why shouldn't she wear it?
Deepa hadn't noticed how hot the room felt and then realized she was blushing. She giggled to herself at how silly she was being. A few compliments and she was blushing like a school girl. She thought about how wonderful she always felt with her son and thought about what a great husband he would be for some lucky lady one day.
**** Chapter 5 The next day Deepa was surprised to receive another package, wrapped exactly the same as the previous day's. Upon opening it she found yet another gorgeous chiffon saree, green this time.
It's design was much the same as the yellow one and looked just as great when she tried it on. As she admired her reflection she felt she looked different somehow – more vibrant.
She wondered why she hand't gone out to buy such nice sarees for herself before and why it had taken her son to do this for her. She considered wearing it outside but felt a strange sense of being unfair to her son. He had bought it for her so perhaps she should wear it for him first – that was fair after all. Worse still, he might even get upset that he wasn't the first to see her wearing it. Men can be strange about that sort of thing, she mused to herself.
Instead, Deepa switched to the yellow saree and decided she would go out. It was only after she left the apartment that she realized she had nowhere to go.
The beach was always nice and today was a very warm day. She mentally committed herself to a trip to the beach and promptly got on her way.
On leaving the apartment block she was very aware of all the male attention she was attracting and began to feel very conscious. She found her hands were jittery, constantly adjusting her saree, very aware of the leering eyes on her.
She took a taxi to the beach and spent an hour just walking along the sand. She enjoyed the sun and watching all of the families out to share the Mumbai beach front. She felt a growing confidence in herself, and scolded herself for not having the courage to dress up more often. And why she'd spent such a long time denying herself the right to look a little more pretty.
Her thoughts began to drift on to the idea of a mate and partner. Her husband Anup had died many years ago yet she had denied herself the chance to meet someone else out of a sense of loyalty to him. Surely his spirit would not want to condemn her to an entire life of solitude and loneliness?
Was it really so wrong for her to want some company?
Many men smiled at her as she walked. Mostly the sleazy grin that Mumbai men had perfected so long ago. But occasionally a handsome man would smile at her and she found herself smiling back - something she would never have done before.
She thought about going out more often. Maybe with some of the girls in her workplace. They'd given up on even inviting her long time ago after so many refusals. They'd probably be surprised if she asked to join them when they went out to a restaurant as they usually did.
Later that day, when Deepa was logging in to her computer she did it with an enthusiasm she'd not felt in along time. She was always looking forward to seeing her son of course, but today was even more special. Not only was she poised in the lovely green chiffon saree she had received from him this morning but she was also bursting to tell him about the lovely day she'd had at the beach.
As usual the first images of her son were his beaming smile.
"hello mom, wow you look gorgeous again. There must be something wrong with my monitor though cos that yellow saree looks a little green today" Kiran joked.
Deepa smiled at her son. "maybe, or maybe that green saree you said you sent finally arrived" she said playfully.
"ahh yes that must be it. Sooo... we never got to the bottom of who sent the yellow one then."
"ahh yes, did I not tell you, I have a secret admirer" Deepa smiled into the camera, enjoying her playful chat with her son.
"the swine! Dressing my mother up in sexy see-through sarees. How dare he!!"
Deepa, frowned "i thought I told you about the use of that word young man!"she cautioned.
"oh come on mom, not that again. OK OK OK.. I wont use it. I'll just think it."
"not even think it mister!"
"really? OK, OK. I wont even think it then. I wont in any way think of my beautiful mother, proudly posing to her son in her see through chiffon saree looking like a complete sex bomb."
Deepa tried to scold her son but only burst out laughing. She had never been able to be stern with him. Their relationship had always been too playful and trusting for that. Instead she just felt the warmth grow in her face as she blushed profusely.
"awww is my sweet mother blushing?" Kiran teased.
"chor! Making a woman of my age blush. Besharam!" Deepa replied, enjoying their banter. "why don't you find a woman your own age to tease?"
"I told you mom, none of them are as sexy as you" Kiran placed a little too much emphasis on the word sexy and didn't seem to smile very convincingly as he said it – or at least didn't say it in his usual moking tone.
Deepa found she didn't mind him using that language as much as she thought she might. Kiran always had a way of pushing the boundaries, it was just something she accepted. But the word hung in the air in a strange way.
"I had a lovely day today" Deepa finally said, breaking the awkward silence in their conversation.
"really, what did you get up to" Kiran asked.
"i went to the beach" she said, smiling broadly at him.
"great. The beach. The beach in Mumbai. The same Mumbai you live in. the same beach that is only like 15 minutes from where we live." Kiran replied sarcastically.
"hey, its a big deal for me OK. I never go out anywhere and I thought I'd treat myself to a trip to the beach. I wore that yellow saree from yesterday."
Kiran perked up a little "the one you looked sexy in yesterday?" he grinned cheekily.
Deepa rolled her eyes "yes, the one I looked... sexy... in yesterday" she smiled as she said it but felt strange uttering THAT word. She expected Kiran to say something about her using the word 'sexy' and felt strangely disappointed when he made no issue of it. She wondered whether she should make a light hearted joke about her saying something she only moments earlier scolded him for but thought better of it.
"It a shame you had to go on your own though mom. You need to make some friends." Kiran eventually said. He hadn't missed a beat when he heard his mother use the word sexy but chose not to say anything. It had slipped out of her mouth, somewhat labored and it was clear that she'd said something she wished she hadn't. And yet she seemed disappointed when he didn't make a wisecrack out of it. "I know betah, I don't really have any friends. At least none that would see the value in spending a day at the beach." Deepa thought for a moment. "To be honest, only a couple of days ago. I wouldn't have either."
"so what's changed?" Kiran asked
"I don;t know. I have, I guess. I felt so great wearing the saree I felt like going out. I felt really... confident"
"I'm happy mom, I wish I'd bought you that saree years ago. I wouldn't have had to watch you look so depressed all the time, moping around the house"
Deeper was shocked "did I really look depressed?"
"OK depressed is maybe the wrong word. You looked... you looked like there was so much more in life but you were consciously denying it to yourself. You looked like you were shutting out a happy life"
"But YOU make me happy beta, I'm happy because your in my life. I've never been unhappy knowing you're there for me"
"i know mom, I've felt nothing but joy and love from you. I don't mean that. I mean you've denied yourself happiness in other ways. Like, friends – you don;t go out socializing. Surely you'd enjoy going shopping with your girlfriends?"
Deepa laughed "i don't have any girlfriends and shopping isn't really my thing betah, remember what I said about the poor state of my wardrobe?"
Kiran smiled warmly at his mother
"you know what I mean mom. Friends"
"i know. And you're right. And I'm going to start socializing more. I'm going to join some of the girls at work when they go out to restaurants. It should be fun. Though I think these chiffon sarees you've bought for me might be a little too much for that" she smiled
"then, you'll be pleased to know there are more additions to your wardrobe on the way"
"Betah" she replied exasperated "you shouldn't be wasting you money"
"seeing you happy, and seeing the lovely change in you could never be a waste of money. Trust me."
Deepa knew she trusted him deeply and his warm smile and soft tone melted her heart. She loved him deeply. He was the perfect son. He was HER perfect son.
...to be continued