પંથનાં Panthnaan (One's Own)

સાંજ પડે છે; બધાં પ્રાણી ચરીને પોતપોતાના ઢાળિયા તરફ પાછાં વળે છે.

Evening descends. The village cattle, having grazed all day, now turn back towards their own sheds. Each animal recognises its home, its pen, and goes straight to stand there. The air is full of the feeling of returning, of reaching home.

બધાં પ્રાણી ઘેર પહોંચ્યાં, પણ પોતાનો દીકરો ન આવતાં ડોશી ચિંતામાં પડે છે.

Watching all these animals return, the old woman's eyes turn again and again to the road. She has but one worry - all have reached their homes, but why has her own son not come back yet? Amid all who have come home, one corner stays empty, and the mother's heart grows restless.

અબોલ પશુ પણ ઘેર પાછું વળે, તો પોતાનો દીકરો કેમ ન વળે? - એ વેદના.

A painful thought rises in the old woman's mind - even speechless cattle, at dusk, recognise their home and return; then why does an understanding human, her own son, not come home? This very contrast deepens the mother's anguish.

ડોશીના ગળે ડૂમો ભરાય છે, એ બોલી શકતી નથી - એ મૌન જ બધું કહી દે છે.

The old woman tries to put her anguish into words, but a lump rises in her throat and she cannot speak further. This very unfinished sentence speaks loudest - a mother's love for her child and the pain of waiting find complete expression in silence, without a single word.