The Scar

By Viral Murudkar

Alisha sat in front of a bunch of reporters nervous, yet confidently. Next to her sat her 12 year old son, Yash. He was scared, yet with Alisha, he felt safe.

"Madam, tell us how the society first reacted when you adopted Yash." asked a female reporter.

Alisha smiled while she looked at Yash. He gave her a smile as well. They both started having flashbacks of when they first met.When I first met Yash, he was 10-yrs-old. His parents had hired me as his babysitter, because they were very busy to look after him." She said.

When Alisha had was 24 years old, she had to work hard because she needed to collect money for the treatment of her mother. In her family, her father passed away and when she was young. Her mother worked hard to let her children have a better life. But she only allowed Alisha's elder brother Akbar to study, because she believed that Alisha would eventually be married away. But Akbar left his mother and sister and start a new family on his own.Now it was only her and her sick mother. She was currently working as a waitress, a babysitter and a cleaner to earn money so that she pay for her mother's treatment.

When Alisha was introduced to Yash as his new babysitter, he did not like her. He would act very annoyed, agitated, angry and disrespectfully towards her. Alisha knew that he was a troubled kid, therefore she would try her best to be calm and friendly around him. She never knew why he was acting so secretive and unfriendly with her. She always got a sence that he was hurt and sad in some way. She tried to help him open up about his feelings, yet he would just keep quiet. She also tried to talk to his parents about his secretive nature. But they just told her that they would look into it. The very next day, she noticed that Yash was very quiet and hardly did anything except sit in his room. Alisha went inside the room where he was curled up inside his bed. "Hey buddy. Do you want to go to the garden to play with your friends?" she asked, yet he kept quiet.

"Hey, did anything happen?" still he did not answer. "Do you want to talk about something?" she asked again. But then she stopped when She noticed that he was sobbing inside his blanket.

She said "Hey, why are you crying?" then paused as she took the blanket from him. She got a full away view of his face and saw that his forehead had a bandage on it. The she continued in shock, "Oh my god! How did you get hurt. Did someone do something? Did someone at school try to hurt you?" Yash replied sobbing," Go away. I do not want to talk about it."" He said as he pushed Alisha on the ground. "It is all because of you. I hate you." he said pointing at Alisha.

"What did I do?" she asked in horror. He pulled the blanket over his head and threw a pencilstand on her face. Alisha yelled at him, because a rounder hurt her neck, but he did not bother to even look at her.

The Scar By Viral Murudkar Page 1 of 3

When his parents returned home, Aishg and Yash were waiting for them at the door. "Was he a good kid today??" asked his mother. Alisha looked at him. His eyes looked innocent. He was scared that she would tell about his misbehaviour to his parents. "He is always a good kid, mam." she said and smiled at her boss. His mother did not fail to notice the scar on her neck and knew she was lying.

In the next few days, she noticed Yash being more and more nice with her. Then one day, while he was playing, she noticed a few circular burnings marks on his hand. She asked about it to him, but he stayed quiet. She knew that his parents were hiding something. But this was proof that her suspicion was right . Yash slowly started to talk to her after her act of kindness. She did not tell on him and earned his trust. After this they became very close to each other. She asked him about the circular burns again, but this time, he was ready to tell her about everything.

Yash was an orphan. He shifted from house to house before he came to this neighbourhood. He said that he had shifted atleast 14 houses before this one. The government used to pay his foster parents to look after him. A lot of foster parents used to mistreat him. The family which he was currently in was a rich family. They agreed to become his foster parents to have good publication and the money that the government gave them to look after him. But they were

very harsh with him. They used to hurt him mentally and physically so that they could discipline him.

"When you told my foster parents about my nature," he paused as tears filled his eyes. He then continued, "My foster father lit up a cigarette and took my hand forcefully. He intensionally burned my hand. I cried and cried and begged him to let go of me. My foster mother just sat there and stared at me saying that this was the only way to discipline me. Then eventually he thew me and I got hurt on my forehead."

He started crying uncontrollably. Alisha couldn't help but cry herself. She hugged him and this was the first time he hugged her back.

"Please don't tell them about this." he cried.

"That's it. You will not stay in this house for another minute." she said. She pittied his condition after all he was just 10-yrs-old.His parents car pulled over and his parents came inside. "I am taking Yash with me.He will not stay here for another second." She yelled. He had packed his bag and was behind her. His mother reached for his hand. But Alisha stepped in her way. She gave her a death stare and said, "Don't even try. I know what you two do to this poor child. How could you! He is just a child" she screamed at them.

She took him away and stormed to her house. Her mother was in the hospital. She took Yash to her room and said, "Don't worry. I will not let them hurt you anymore. I will not let anyone else take you away and hurt you like that. Tell me, would like to stay with me?" she asked.

Yash started crying again and ran towards her and hugged her. He said in a sobbing voice," Always." The both hugged each other.

The Scar By Viral Murudkar Page 2 of 3

"Tell us mam, tell us-" screamed the reporters is what happened after that?" "Well after that I called child service and told them about everything. Since I was turning 25-yrs -old in a few days, they allowed us to start the adoption procedure. They allowed him to live with me because the single parent adoption law had just been passed. Even if there were a lot of problems, we faced it together and we started to live together." said Alisha holding Yash's hand.

"You said you faced a lot of problems? What problems did you face?" asked another reporter.

She smiled and said, "There was the typical Indian stereotype that it was a taboo for an unmarried women like me to have a child. Then there was my mother who did not like the idea very much. The people had a lot of opinions to share. Then there were lot of documents. I filled at least 30 documents as far as I remember. Every person who saw us together would ask about his father and we both needed to keep on telling them that he did not have one."

Then the reporters asked Yash, "Was the adoption difficult for you too!"

The 12-yr-old looked at his mother and then in a calm and confident way said, "Well it was difficult for me in the foster homes. But with Alisha, it was alway simple. In the beginning it was a little bit hard , but then everything got simpler. She would always make me feel safer, even when everyone questioned her and her character. But she always had an assuring smile and a heart full of kindness. It is because of her that more and more kids like me are getting a better home to live in. Many single parents are open to adopting kids because of her campain. It is because that of her that I and many other children are safe." Then the mother and son hugged.

"Our story started with a scar that united us and reminded us that every problem has a solution that we all need to look for. That is all for today. Thank you everyone and have a nice day" she said and thanked everyone who came.

By Viral Murudkar