“What happened, little girl?” a voice approached the quiet little girl who sat there in a corner at the entrance of the temple. She cried as if there was no one to wipe her tears.

Looking up in the direction of the voice, she found a young girl of around 19 standing behind her. She wore a black wrap dress and held a box of sweets. Her hands were decorated with a bracelet of artificial black pearls and the diamond-embedded golden heart in her neck looked elegant despite being delicate. The metal ear cuffs looked just perfect with her collarbone-length midnight-brown colored braided hair. Her pleasing smile with just a perfect stroke of confidence adorned her beauty. Her voice seemed divine with a unique blend of friendliness and concern, along with a strong emotion of boldness.

“Hello, little princess! Please don’t cry. I will help you.”

Trying to control her tears, the little girl said in a suppressed voice, “You cannot help me. Even God cannot help me!”

The teenage girl sat down beside the weeping kid and looking into her eyes, she said, “Yes. It is possible that God cannot help you. Maybe that is why he sent me to bring a smile on your face!”

Hearing this, the little one started crying again, more intensely this time.

“Shh…look at me,” the elder one said as she lifted the younger one’s face and tried to calm her down. Wiping her tears from her face, she said, “Look in my eyes and answer me. Will crying solve your problem? Then even I will cry to help you!”

“No.”

“See. We are sitting here in the temple. Where everyone comes and shares their problems with the almighty. So, come on. Let us even try to do the same. Maybe we might get help.”

“No. God cannot help me."

“Little princess…”

“My name is Anamika.”

“Okayyy…Anamika. Believe me. If God doesn’t help you, I will.”

Anamika passes a smile to the girl who is trying hard to convince her to be positive and have faith in her!

“Come on. Get up. We will offer these sweets to God, and then I will take you for a ride.”

Obeying her, Anamika gets up. They enter the temple to worship the idol. Joining her hands tightly, Anamika whispers, “I am still angry with you, okay. I came here just because didi told me. I don’t know why you punished me so badly. I did not even steal chocolate from the fridge. I even watered the plants on time and completed my homework all by myself. Still, you did this to me! But I thank you for sending this ‘good didi’ to me.”

Hearing her innocent words, the ‘good didi’ looked at Anamika and smiled. She put her hand over Anamika’s head, trying to assure her that God will answer her prayers.

Anamika looked up, and her smiling face conveyed her emotion of gratitude.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes, didi. But before that…”

“Before that?”

“Can I get that sweet, please?”

She opened the box of sweets with a smile and said, “Take as much as you want.”

“Thank you,” Anamika said as she picked up a big piece of milk cake.

They came out of the temple, and put their footwear on.

“My car is parked there. Come on. Let’s go for a ride.”

“Didi, will you leave me in the middle of the road?”

“No, my dear. Why do you think so?”

“Okay, then. I will come with you.”

After walking for a minute, they reach beside a black Mercedes CDI.

“What happened, didi? Why did you stop?”

“To get inside the car, Anamika.”

“Is this your car?”

“Yes. This is my car. Why? What happened?”

“Nothing”

They get into the car and leave for a ride.

“What is your name, didi?”

“If I have no name, what would you call me?”

“Angel didi.”

This brings a smile on her face. Okay then. You are my princess, and I am your Angel didi. Is that okay?”

“Okay”

Anamika finally looked happy as they traveled across the dusty roads bordered by tall trees in the lush green meadows spread across miles. The cool breeze kissed her face that was lit up bright due to the rays of the shining sun.

“Where are we going, didi?”

“I am taking you to a vineyard. We will go there and sit for a while, and then leave for home with a bottle of grape juice. You will love it. And yes…we will also click lots of pictures together. Will you be my model?”

“Oh, wow! I will definitely be your model. I just love posing for pictures and also clicking pictures of nature. And will there be lots of grapes and raisins there?”

“Yes, my dear. You can have as many as you want. No one will stop you.”

“And what if the farmer uncle catches us?”

Laughing at this innocent question of Anamika, she said, “Don’t worry. That uncle works for me. He won’t tell you anything.”

“Works for you? It means you are the boss?”

“Yes. I am the owner of that vineyard. I often go there whenever I feel that God has punished me even when I did not make any mistake.”

“Didi, despite being so young, how are you so rich? You have such a huge car. You also own a vineyard! Does it all belong to your father?”

“No, Anamika. All of it is earned by me and solely belongs to me.” Before Anamika could interrogate further, she continued, “Okayyy…we have reached our destination. I’ll get down and open the door for you. Wait a minute.”

As she opens the door for her, Anamika thanks her and gets down. All that she could see around her was nothing but multiple rows of vines, mostly of grapes and raisins. The order in which they were planted was just perfect. Anamika just stood still without uttering a single word. She could just feel the green fields welcoming her to lie down there without any stress or worries.

“What happened, princess?”

She said nothing and headed on to enter the vineyard. On reaching near the plantation area, she looked back as if seeking permission to pluck the juicy violet fruit of the grape plant. Her ‘Angel didi’ came to her, and lifting her, helped her to get the best fruit of the plant.

Trying to encourage Anamika, she said, “Get some for me too!”

And with a broad smile on her face, Anamika tried her best to pluck as many grapes as her soft little hands could manage to store. She planted a kiss on her princess’s forehead as she put her down.

“Come with me. We will go and wash them. Then you can eat them with pleasure.”

As they head towards the tap, the inquisitive one again continues with her interrogation, “So didi, does this vineyard really belong to you?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“You have such best things! You would never have been sad, right?”

“You wash these grapes first. Then I will answer all your questions as we go and sit near the pond.”

“Oh, wow! Pond!”

“Yes, pond. Pond with ducks and little ducklings just like you…Also, there is another small pond with lots of blue and white and pink…”

“Lotuses?!”

“Yes,” she answered with a loving smile.

Anamika follows her ‘Angel didi’ to the pond. On reaching there, she again gets driven to a sense of unconsciousness as she could not believe the scene in front of her eyes. She runs to the pond to see the little ducklings as they follow their mother. She stands there and watches the ducks and fishes without even blinking her eyes.

“Do you like it?”

“This is so beautiful, didi!”

Sitting down near the pond, the elder one points towards a wooden box, and says, “There is food for these ducks and fishes in that box. You could feed them if you wish to.”

Anamika runs towards the box to grab the food to feed the creatures. On reaching there, she realizes that her hands were already full with grapes, which she had almost forgotten about. She looks at her Angel didi, and she signals her to hand them to her. Thus, she rushes back and hands over all the 12 of the grapes that occupied her little hands entirely, to her didi. Again, with the same enthusiasm, she reaches to the wooden box and gets the food to feed the ducks and fishes as if she had accomplished an enormous mission.

“Come, little ducklings, I have food for you.”

Even after half an hour of feeding those creatures, she did not seem tired or bored. She chatted continuously with the ducklings and the catfish as if they understood all her emotions.

“My dear little duckling, your grapes are waiting for you too!”

Finally, at the fourth attempt of the young lady trying to call Anamika, she decides to go and sit beside her but still couldn’t control her emotions which were clearly evident as she smiled lovingly at the ducks in the pond.

“Okay, now Anamika will have her food. Come on, open your mouth.”

She feeds her with the grapes that she had been holding for the last 45 minutes.

“These are so sweet and juicy!”

“Just like you?”

Anamika smiles on hearing the compliment.

“We still need to see the lotus pond, didi…And I am already exhausted!”

“Okay then, let’s go to the lotus pond…You can’t get tired so soon! We still have to take lots of pictures too!”

“Oh, yes. Come, didi. Let’s go fast. I’m strong. I still have 2kg of energy left.”

This childish statement makes the mature one smile.

She takes her to the lotus pond where Anamika goes crazy, seeing so many colorful lotuses. Also, she poses for pictures like a model!

“So, are we done now? Shall we leave?”

“Yes. But will you bring me here again?”

“Whenever you want to come, we will come here. I promise. Wait a minute. I’ll get our grape juice.”

After getting the bottle of grape juice, she holds Anamika’s hand as they head back to the car. Anamika gets in with a feeling of satisfaction. The ‘Angel didi’ feels happy to have been able to bring a smile on the face of her ‘princess.’ On their way back, she feels a bit unusual as she sees her chatterbox shut down. Anamika hadn’t spoken even a single word for the last 10 minutes. When she turns to her left to find out what was it that made the little inquisitive kid so silent, she discovers that Anamika was fast asleep. The brimming innocence on her face justified all the emotions that she had been bearing. Moreover, she looked even more beautiful as she slept.

“Finally, we have reached, home sweet home…Ohh no! She is sleeping. I must speak softly.”

She gets down from the car. Opens the door of Anamika’s side, unlocks her seatbelt, and lifts her to take her into the house. Anamika seems so comfortable in her arms as if she is her own sister or maybe even more than that!

Entering the house, she makes her lie down in the bedroom on the first floor and covers her with a light soft blanket so that she does not feel cold due to the temperature of the air conditioner. She then goes downstairs to prepare dinner.

“What would she like? I’ll cook pasta for her. I hope she will like it.”

She cooks various dishes like pasta carbonara, baked pasta, ravioli with coconut milk and lemongrass, lasagne, and many more. She was so happy to have Anamika with her that she poured in a lot of love and affection in all that she cooked specially for Anamika.

Meanwhile, Anamika wakes up and is a bit astonished to see her surroundings. She gets confused about how did she land on a bed from the car! She gets down from the bed, opens the door, and gets even more surprised at seeing the huge house where she stood. As soon as she heard someone muttering, she hurried downstairs. She followed the sweet voice and landed in the kitchen.

“Didi…where are we?”

“This is my house, my dear.”

“Are you a queen? I have seen such big houses only in movies.”

“Is it? Then okay…I am the queen, and you are the princess. What say?”

Anamika laughs on hearing this.

“Oh, wow, didi! So many dishes! Did you cook all of these? Can I have them?”

With hundreds of mixed emotions of happiness and nervousness, the teenage girl lifts Anamika and makes her sit over the kitchen counter. Taking Anamika’s hands in hers, she says, “My little princess, all of these dishes are prepared specially for you. You can have them till you get satisfied with all your heart.”

“What! All this is just for me?! But why?”

“I’ll tell you why. Whenever someone makes us feel happy or special, what do we do? We thank them from the bottom of our hearts. We do every small thing to express our feeling of gratitude. And today, you have given me that happiness. You made me feel so special when you called me ‘Angel didi.’ I live alone in this house, but I never feel sad or lonely. But today, you made me realize that I did not feel sad because I never knew what did being happy feel like. I never felt lonely because I never knew the meaning of companionship. First time in my life, I am afraid to lose someone, I am scared to let you go. I don’t know till when I will have the pleasure of having you in front of my eyes. I just want to do every small thing for you. I want to make a memory in every moment that I spend with you, memories that will last forever in my heart, and memories that will cherish my soul and encourage me to be happy with everything I have…”

Her eyes were sparkling with tears before she could complete her last sentence. She was genuinely spellbound and overwhelmed with happiness to have Anamika with her.

Anamika’s little hands reached out to wife the tears on her face. She did not know how to react, but all that she knew was that she wanted her ‘Angel didi’ to smile forever.

“Please don’t cry, Angel didi. In the morning, you wiped my tears and told me not to cry, and now you are only crying. Crying won’t solve any problem. I’m there with you. We will solve everything together…”

Before Anamika could complete her statement, her ‘Angel didi’ hugged her tightly.

“I love you, Anamika.”

“I love you too, my angel, Maya didi.”

YES. That was what the National Level Cooking Competition Winner Certificate on the shelf read…