by
husband Praveen. She decides to give him an unexpected visit. Little does she know that her journey
will end in havoc to her life. 19 years later, Grishma’s daughter Jyothi, longing for her father’s love and
support, determines to search for him, despite her mother’s strong protests. Will Praveen accept her as
his daughter?
Cherished
Excerpt:
As soon as the bell rang Jyothi became nervous. All this time
it seemed an eternity before she could meet her father in person, but now when the time has really
arrived she was not sure about her feelings. Was she afraid of meeting the unseen father for
the first time? Was she eager to meet him now? Was she angry with him for leaving her alone with her
mother, all these years? Unknowingly, her eyes brimmed with tears.
She walked with Vidya and Meena to the gate. She could hear her heart
beating fast. She spotted a new handsome face behind the gate, a few feet away, standing alone from
the crowd – a tall figure, with a smile, holding a Reader’s Digest in hand, and looking at her.
“My baby!” he whispered, at the moment their eyes locked. All her fears
vanished. Like a magnet Jyothi ran to him and said, ‘Papa’ and clung to his extended arms as though
she was a little girl who was running away to a safer place to hide. For a moment, she forgot about the
surroundings, and tears rolled down her cheeks. After a minute or two, she recomposed and
released herself from his embrace. Her father wiped away her tears as her friends still watched
the emotional scene and wiped their tears of joy. She never thought she could run to him with
absolutely no hesitation. The other girls of the College also wondered at this unusual happening
in front of the College gate.
Jyothi had hundreds of questions to ask her father, which she
had been preparing for a long time to ask him. However, now it seemed there was no need for words to
communicate with him at least for a while, standing with the man whom she couldn’t call Dad all these
years, and whom she secretly loved and worshipped.
As though as a second thought, she smiled at her friends whom she had
left ignored for a while in the presence of her long lost father. “Papa, meet my friends Vidya and Meena.
They’re my best mates, who had always assured me that I’d be able to meet you one day,” she proudly
turned to her father.
“Hello children,” he gazed at them with a smile.
“We’re glad that Jyothi has got her father now,’ said Meena.
About the Author:
Born and brought up in Kerala, Lakshmi Menon, after her primary education, moved to Karnataka
where she did her graduation(BA) and courses in Journalism and Creative Writing. Even
while working with a prestigious medical institution, she continued her passion of writing on her
free time. Her short stories, articles, children’s stories and travel articles have appeared in magazines,
newspapers, anthologies and on the internet. She has authored a novel The Second Choice and
few children’s books. In Malayalam too, she has written a serial novel and a few short stories.
Travelled widely and settled in Bangalore, Lakshmi is the Founder and Editor of the popular
eMagazine Induswomanwriting.com, which showcases the work of both the amateur and
published writers.
Connect with the Author:
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