The new year surprise

"Shreya and Priya are going to love these chocolate biscuits," thought Sudha as she picked up the packet of biscuits from her table and headed towards the washroom. Her friend who had returned from the US had brought the biscuits from there. It was new year in another two days and she looked forward to gift these biscuits to her 9 and 7 year old as a new year present.

As she drove back home, she imagined the excitement on her daughter's faces as she told them about the surprise that she had got them. She smiled to herself as she imagined her girls' squeals and "wow!s" when she presented the biscuits to them.

She parked her car in the appartment parking and felt for the pink coloured plastic biscuit box on the next seat. To her disappointment, it was not there. Had it fallen from the seat? she thought as she began searching for it frantically under the seat.

She remembered then! She had left it in the wash room! She stamped her foot mentally. But she recovered immediately. There was one more day for the new year and she could get the box from the security of her company the next day, she thought to herself.

The next day, the first thing she did when she entered her office was to check with the security if anybody had reported anything. The security manager replied in a negative but he promised to check and assured her that if she had left the box in the rest room, she would definitely get it back.

That day when she went out for lunch, one of the security guys came to her. With a wide smile on his face, he told her that her pink biscuit box has been found and she could collect it from the security office. Why did the smile look a little forced? why did the guy look a little scared ? she thought. But she shrugged the thought aside - there were other things she could rejoice about. The biscuit box had been found !

She rushed to the security office to collect the box. But to her surprise it was empty. She was too stunned to think or say anything for a moment. She thought about the joy and excitement that she had imagined with her daughters. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she wordlessly walked out of the security office and went to her seat for some quiet time with herself.

"Did you collect your box,madam?" she heard the afternoon security gaurd ask her with a mischievous guilty curious look on his face as she left for home that evening. She did not know what to say. But she managed to conceal her upset and smiled back a yes.

She went to a bakery and bought a few coconut biscuits of various shapes and sizes. With a broad smile she gifted the new year gift to her daughters. Both Shreya and Priya sqealed and jumped just as she had imagined. They danced in excitement and gave her an extra hug that evening. Her daughters feasting on her biscuits managed to bring a smile on her face. She relaxed for a while and sat with the evening newspaper absentmindedly. Her thoughts drifted to the stolen biscuits - but this time she did not know what to think.

The next morning she knew what she had to do. She went to the admin manager of her group and asked her to send out a box of buscuits to all the admin and support staff of her department. She said she would sponsor it.

She thought of all the children in all the homes of these support staff feasting and enjoying the various kinds of biscuits she had sponsored. She thought of all the excitement, love, hope and freshness this new year would bring in those homes. She then went back to her seat with a smile on her face.