Let’s explore this together

Disha was packing the lunch box as her father Aravind Rao rushed inside the kitchen. She knew her father was a stickler for punctuality, “Appa, I’ve made puliograhe (tamarind rice) for lunch today.” Aravind smiled, “So I get to eat my favorite food on my last working day.”

Fifty-five-year-old Aravind worked as a postmaster in the only post office in his town. Disha had always been her father’s pet but it was the pain and grief of losing her mother that had strengthened their bond. Disha had just turned fourteen a month before her mother passed away due to cardiac arrest.

Despite not so favorable circumstances, Disha had been a meritorious student. Aravind had always been supportive of Disha pursuing a career although his friends and relatives had pestered him to get her married after she turned eighteen. Disha not secured admission in the only Engineering college in town but was also chosen for the scholarship.

In her final year, Disha was the first student to be recruited from the campus by India’s top IT company. Her job location demanded a daily commute of two hours from her native as she was unwilling to move away from her father. Once Disha settled down in her profile, she started convincing Aravind for voluntary retirement. Her father had struggled the whole life for her betterment. Now she wanted to let him relax.

Let's explore this together
Let’s explore this together

Aravind eventually agreed and put in a request for early retirement. The acceptance had come the previous month and today was his last working day. After a warm and emotional farewell from his colleagues, Aravind returned home with a bunch of memories created over the years. Disha wasn’t home yet.

As he switched on the light, his eyes spotted the vase of fresh Dahlias on the table. He smiled. An envelope had been placed beside it. As he opened the envelope, he found a letter inside and another sealed envelope.

He started reading the letter,

Dearest Appa,

For more than one decade, you have played the role of both Amma and Appa in my life. I thank God everyday for choosing me to be your daughter. Whatever I have achieved today is because of your unwavering faith in me. 

After I started working, I often heard you talking about how you were going to be lonely after I leave the house with a new job or post marriage. But would you believe that I had kept an onsite posting at Sydney on hold for four months since I wanted you to finish the retirement formalities?

Your passport is in the sealed envelope. I hope you are not going to be mad at me for I had lied to you about the mandatory requirement of father’s passport in my company. I could have never convinced you to apply otherwise.

Now, let’s explore all four corners of the world together.

Love,

Disha

Aravind’s vision was blurred by the tears running down his cheeks as he held the sealed package close to his heart.

This is the fourth post of Bar-A-Thon Blogging Challenge (2nd to 15th July 2018) by Blog-A-Rhythm. The prompt for the day is Four corners of the world while the theme for this challenge for all the days is run/chase/dash/marathon/sprint. I have chosen to combine both the prompt and theme to come up with this piece of flash fiction.

You can read the first post here, second post here and third post here.

bar-a-thon
Bar-A-Thon 2018
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Author: Sonia Chatterjee

An alumnus of Presidency College (Kolkata), Delhi University, and XIME (Bangalore), Sonia Chatterjee holds two post-graduate degrees in Chemistry and Management and an MFA in creative writing from Writer's Village University. With eight years of experience in the banking sector as a Branch Head, she took a sabbatical from the corporate world to start her blog soniasmusings.com. Her blog consistently featured in the Top Indian Blogs list from 2019 to 2024. Her articles have been published on various digital platforms such as Women's Web, Youth Ki Awaaz, Tuck's Magazine, and Period Magazine. She was invited as a speaker at the Breaking Barriers, Kolkata 2018 event by the Women's Web, at the Women Writer’s Fest, Kolkata, 2020, and the Crime Writers Festival, Kolkata,2025. Sonia has written two detective thrillers titled ‘Deal of Death – Introducing Raya Ray’ (2019) and ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death – A Raya Ray Adventure’ (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024) and a non-fiction book on true crime titled ‘The Sanyasi Who Became a King’ (Sristhi Publishers, 2025). Her book ‘Diary, Deceit, and Death’ was shortlisted for the PVLF Awards 2024-25 in the Best Fiction Category. Sonia lives in Kolkata with her doctor husband and nine-and-a-half-year-old son.

41 thoughts on “Let’s explore this together”

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