TEN RUPEE COIN

The Woman Who Carried the Past to Space.

- B.N. BHARATH

“I wish I could have taken this ten rupee coin also with me,” Nandini said to herself.

Her eyes misted as she remembered that Nagesh always had that coin in his possession. She had to stay in the space center's simulating room for the last two weeks as a precursor to moving to space in the next few days.

It is everybody's dream to travel to the moon in a spacecraft. The very thought of going to another world itself was exciting. She was really happy to leave home and travel. Daughter Pooja, studying in high school, was in a girls’ hostel. Her husband, anyway, was just a husband, for namesake! Although they appeared to be husband and wife to the outer world, no intimacy had grown between them in the past ten years. She let out a sigh.

She was being trained to stay in an artificial atmosphere for several days because she had to travel to space in a spacecraft. As it was a new experience, she was really thrilled. Some old thoughts were reminisced during the breaks.

Nandini had just completed her engineering degree when she married Nagesh. When Pooja was a small baby, they were travelling to Wayanad in a taxi. Then an unfortunate but avoidable accident occurred due to the carelessness of the driver. Nandini and Pooja, who were sitting in the back seat, sustained minor injuries. Nagesh, who was sitting next to the driver in the front seat, sustained a serious head injury and finally breathed his last in the ICU.

It was a big shock for Nandini. A whole life was ahead. There was a very big responsibility of giving a good education to their daughter, as a single parent. After lots of effort, Nandini got a compassionate appointment in the same government space agency where Nagesh was working.