Abundance Scarcity

Abundance Scarcity
Neeta’s mom waved her goodbye as she left for a party. Neeta was crying inconsolably and her mother instructed sternly, “Be good, stay with ayahamma, and stop being a cry-baby ”. Neeta bawled as she hated to be left with the ayahamma.
Neeta was a nine-year-old kid of parents who had money in abundance and could afford goodies for her but ran short of “Time” – the most valuable thing- for her. Neeta spent a part of her day in the school and most of the time at home with her ayahamma. Ayahamma used to pick her up from school but Nita wished her mother would come to pick her up at least for some of the days. Though the ayah was good , Nita longed to be with her parents. She missed them, their presence, and emotional support. She wished to share her day with them but used to fall asleep by the time her parents got home. Mornings were busy and there was just enough time to get ready and go to school. Come evening and Neeta’s parents were busy with their respective schedules. Her father would be in one of his meetings and her mother socializing.
Neeta’s teachers advised her parents to pay enough attention to her and her academics as her grades were slipping and they appointed a tutor to take care of that. They felt that their duty was done and though Neeta made progress in her academics, the distance between her and her parents grew. Neeta wished to spend time with her mother, she wished her mother would sit next to her, talk to her, do her hair and tell her about herself. Whenever Neeta tried, she would get a stock reply from her,” Go and play or watch TV”. Whenever Neeta’s friends would ask about her parents she found that she knew very little about them and she felt that she and her parents were actually strangers. She knew more about the Ayahamma and her daughter than she knew about her parents. Seema, Ayahamma’s daughter who was as old as Neeta and would come and play with her after school. Seema would wish she were rich, have as many toys and dresses as Neeta had and could attend an upscale convent school and often tell her mother about these. Neeta’s Ayahamma would draw her close then and talk to her affectionately-something Neeta would give worlds for. Though there was abundance of money, wealth and materialistic things but there was a scarcity of love in her life. Seema would , however, brush off her mother’s words and sit in a corner and sulk.
Strange are the ways of fate and life. One never really values the blessings one has. On one hand was a girl who had everything money could buy and yet she yearned for her mother’s presence and her time and on the other hand there was this girl who would rather be rich and enjoy the materialistic pleasures that money could buy and couldn’t care less for the time her mother spent with her.