Once upon a time, there was a prostitute.

She was not one always. Once she was a wife, a mother and a daughter-in-law.

Her in-laws tried burning her, but she escaped and went to her poor parents. They had nothing to offer. Helpless, she went back to her husband.

One chilling night, they beat her badly and threw her out of the house. They denied the baby earlier, but when she kept holding on, they threw the baby too with her. She was left all alone with a small child.

It was so cold outside. Streets froze, dogs barked and she struggled.

Next morning, when they tried looking for her, she was nowhere. Considering her dead, they stopped the search and returned home.

The lady travelled whole night and came to some other town. Perhaps it was the only thing she could do to beat the chilling cold.

Once, she came to the new town, she tried finding work for a living. She worked as maid in a house for some time. Each time she would start cleaning the room, her son would cry. She had to leave the cleaning and feed her. Soon, they threw her out

A crying child irritates, unless it is yours.

She tried searching for some other work, but luck did not favour her

She tried each and everything. But when her child became weak, she had no choice left. She started selling her body.

And thus a prostitute was born.

She would sleep with numerous men in the dark of the nights. Did exactly what they said. Once done, she would run for her child, feed him, kiss him, and would play with him.

Sometimes, in the middle of night, her child would cry. She begged her customers to let her go. Some accepted, while others refused.

This went on for years. Her son grew older with time, and the lady weaker.

The lady always knew the value of education. Had she been educated, she wouldn't have to do this flesh trading. She put her son in a local school. Her son was good at studies. He always scored good marks. She never went to his school. Neither could she read his results. She trusted her son.

One day, a boy got to know about his mother in flesh trading.

'Son of a prostitute’, they started calling him the very next day

He ignored all of them.

But with time, he got to know the reality. It was one such cruel truth that shattered him.

'Son of a prostitute,' these words now started to irk him. Each time he would enter the class, the same thing would repeat. His marks deteriorated.

An intense hatred grew in him for his mother, the lady who had her son as her only wealth.

One afternoon, while he was returning to his hut, someone said the same thing. He was burning with anger, humiliation, both at the same time. When he entered the hut, the lady, now gone weak, was preparing his meal. He kept quiet.

The Mother realized something unpleasant. She went to her son, rubbed his hairs gently, and said, "Sweet rice is waiting for you, my dear son".

The boy, who was trying to control his anger, burst out and said, " You filthy prostitute, stay away from me."

He suddenly realized he should not have said that, but those remarks from his friends just got to his nerves. Oh, how pathetic life had become for him!

The lady didn't say a word. Frozen as ice, she kept sitting in one corner and the sweet rice kept burning on the flames.

It had been two days since they talked to each other. The hut seemed a grave with two corpse buried in it.

The next day, when the lady wake up, she couldn't find her son around. A mother's heart got restless. She looked for her in every street. This time, she even went to his school, herface covered with her saree.

She asked a few young boys about her son, but he was nowhere around. She did all she could. She was breaking, losing hope. She sat at the entrance for hours waiting for him. In the evening, when he did not come, she headed towards her hut.

She hoped that her son would be home when she reached the hut.

Once she couldn't find him, her hope shattered. She panicked and sat in a corner. All silent.

On the other side, her son moved to some other town. The lady was getting weaker day by day. Each evening she would prepare the sweet rice and wait for her son to come. On finding him nowhere, she would serve the poor children around.

Years went on like this. The lady, now an old woman, had become too weak, She stopped cooking the sweet rice.

Her son, now a young man, was working hard in the town. He got a job in a warehouse, and married a girl he fell in love with. He remembered his mother once in a while. He never mentioned anything about his mother to his wife. When she asked, he said that he only had a relative in the next town. His heart trembled each time he said this.

One evening, when he returned from work, his wife told him that there was a robbery a few days back in the town where his relative lived.

He was worried and immediately left for his home town. The only thing he wished now was to see his mother alive.

After a journey of few hours, he reached there. It was evening by now. He recognized the hut very well from a great distance. Nothing had changed. It was all same. He even found his school bag hung on the rope. The bag was tethered now. On entering the hut, when he couldn't find the old woman, he got restless.

He ran to a blind woman whom he believed would have information about his mother. The blind woman sat on a cot as he entered. When he inquired, the woman told him that she died fighting dacoits a week ago. They asked her to produce ornaments, but she denied. They killed her brutally. It was one elder person in the town who arranged for her funeral. Then she gave him a golden ring stating that the demised woman had a wish. She had told her if someone came from the nearby town to see her, she should give this ring to him.

He took the ring in hand and looked at it carefully. It was the same ring that her mother would tease him with. She said that on the day of his marriage, she would give this ring to his wife.

He sat for a long time outside his hut. It was all dark by now. A few children played outside. After some time theirmothers came and took them home. And he kept sitting, all alone, watching them go.

There was nothing left for him in this town. He moved towards the town where his wife lived. On the way he found a woman carrying a baby in her lap. She looked nervous. She came close to him. Within a minute, he realized that she was a prostitute. He looked at the child in her lap. He slept carelessly. This young man didn't touch her. How could he!

He just gave her some money and said, '' Your son might miss the funeral. I know one such unfortunate lady who died this way.''

His heart sobbed. With each step he took, hatred dissolved and love appeared, immense love for his mother.

Tired, he reached home the next morning. His wife was waiting for him. She asked of the well being of his relative.

He couldn't answer her. Just gave that ring to her and said,

''Keep it with you. The most pious lady wore it once.''