Keepsake

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A few days back ago I lost my watch which was a gift from husband. We were attending a wedding of one of his staff members and after coming home, I noticed that the watch didn't adorn my left wrist anymore. I felt bad that something given with such love and affection was lost in the milieu.

It took me back to the early 80s' when I wore my first watch. A thin black strapped HMT watch gifted by my father for securing 1st rank in Class VI. I wore that watch with great pride. Within a few years, I lost my father. It was on my wrist when I wrote my board exams. I felt it carried his blessings. That watch remained with me for many years. It would stop working in between so I would get it repaired and wear it again. In those days I don't think many of us wore automatic watches. We had to manually wound it to fix the time.

There are a few things which we cannot hold in our hands forever. Time is one of them. The watch met its fate in 2004. I was on a picnic with my grad students and my teenage daughter too accompanied me on the trip. She was wearing the watch. We were picnicking on the beach. Daughter also splashed in the water with my students. When they came on the shore, I noticed that the watch was missing. The waters of the Bay of Bengal washed away my memories while my cheeks smeared with salty pools. My heart was literally broken. Maybe it was his way of saying..live your life beta, don't live in the past. Time to move on and accept fate with a bright smile. That is life.