She made a wish

She was five when Athamma told her about kingfishers

And how they are messengers of the wish granting factory

That was in a faraway land but would always find time

To make her wishes come true

So she waited and waited, hoping to see a kingfisher take flight

Because a wish made at that exact moment was guaranteed to

Reach the factory and the kind factory-workers

But not a single kingfisher budged from the power cables while she watched

She was eight when she was told about birthday wishes

The cake was a butter cake; too hard, too stale

No icing on it to hide its dark brown, burnt face

On it, in the middle, a white candle

Not the thin, striped ones usually on birthday cakes

But thick and heavy, saved for power cuts

And she was told to secretly make a wish

Right as she blew away the flame

And as she cut the cake with the same knife used to cut vegetables

She made a second wish hoping her first would come true

She was thirteen when she was told about eyelashes

And even though the kingfisher and birthday candles had failed her

She still had hope in the way only the desperate can have

And so her eyes lit when he held the eyelash on his finger

After it had gently landed on her cheek

Closing her eyes, she made a wish

And hoped this time the factory would receive it

And then she felt his lips on hers

And she surrendered knowing her wishes won’t be heard

She was eighteen when she was told of the fortune

Brought to her by her little bundle of joy

As she lay on the dirty hospital bed

They asked her to think of a name for her child

She was too young to know any better

And even though every inch of her body still ached

She saw all the wishes that could be granted

Through the tiny baby in her arms

And when the wishes went ungranted

She blamed her baby’s loud wails that may have silenced them

She was twenty six when she was given the coin

It was made the same year as she was born

She hid it in a rose pink handkerchief

Tucked into the blouse she wore

And prayed she didn’t lose it somehow

Whenever she wanted something to believe in

Whenever she couldn’t love her child enough

She touched the coin hidden in her blouse

So close to her heart, so close, yet so far

She was thirty two when he told her about rainbows

As they watched a film on the old television

In a hotel room that didn’t cost too much

His clothes on the floor, hers folded on a chair

She felt his hand comb through her hair

And then continue its journey down her back

He told her to make a wish

But she reminded him the rainbow wasn’t real

Nothing is, he said and smiled

And then pushed her onto the bed again

She was forty four when she noticed the time was 11.11

And she remembered to make a wish

So she closed her eyes, feeling like a child

Giggled even, as she made her wish

Her daughter interrupted her before she could finish

And so she knew that wish wouldn’t come true either

Taking her grandson from his mother’s arms

She walked to the kitchen to feed him some rice

And just as she wondered if wishes ever come true

She felt her grandson’s teeth cut through her skin

A sigh from the wish granting factory, maybe

She thought as she nursed her wound

She was fifty nine when she was told about the full moon

It was Vesak, she remembered

He was almost still a child

He didn’t even notice her

She lay on the cool cement pavement

Hoping the police wouldn’t chase her away

People with ice cream cones in there hands

Walked away from the annual dansala

He held hands with a pretty girl his age

Said to her, ‘make a wish’

And she told him her only wish had come true

Smiling shyly at him

And as they walked away from her

She looked up at the golden moon

Her eyes too weak to see the hare living on it

And she wished a wish so small

Not even the gods could hear it

She was sixty seven when they took her

To the well that was believed to have magical powers

Make a wish and have it come true

The man selling tickets priced at twenty rupees told her

Crushing her ticket in her hand, she walked up to the small well

Pushing through the people around it, she peered in to see the dark black water

Closing her eyes for a moment

She whispered to the well her wish

But it didn’t seem to hear her

Amid all the wish-makers around it

She was seventy two and in pain

She could see the sky through the open windows

A cool wind blew in, making her shiver

But she didn’t have the strength to pull the bed sheet closer

A young man in a white uniform

Came to close the window near her

She lifted her arm to stop him but he only saw her

After the window was shut and curtains drawn

Were you looking at the night sky?

He asked, and she nodded the faintest nod

But smiled her last smile when he said

Wishing upon the stars perhaps

But what’s the use if no one listens?