Money Order of Son

"O Mother, here is the money order of your son." The postman gave a thousand rupees to the old woman. The old woman took her glasses off and looked at the postman. With shining smile, she said, "O Postman, please call my son. I want to talk to him for a minute." The postman tried to avoid and said, "Please do not ask me this every time while receiving the money order. I do not have so much time and have to deliver many posts to others."

The old woman insisted, "It is just a matter of a minute son, please call my son." The postman dialed a number on his mobile and gave it to the old woman, "You just do not agree, please talk quickly, it costs me to pay for the calls." The old woman took the mobile and within a minute gave the mobile back after disconnecting the call. Her wrinkled face was filled with a broad smile. The postman gave the thousand rupees to her, "Please count it properly. It should be ten notes of hundred rupees each."

The old woman took the money, counted it and asked the postman to stop. The postman showed a little frustration and said, "I am getting late, please allow me to leave now." The old woman took a note of hundred rupee and gave it to postman. The postman was surprised and said, "Why this?" The old woman said, "You are calling my son from your mobile from so many months while delivering the money order. It must have costed you money. I am just giving that money." The postman tried to avoid the woman, but the woman persisted. After giving him money, the old woman went inside her house.

The postman walked just a few steps when someone patted on his shoulder. It was Ram Pravesh, the owner of mobile shop. The postman asked, "Mr. Ram, you were at your shop few minutes ago, what are you doing here now?" Ram said, "I wanted to meet you. From last few months, you are giving thousand rupees from your pocket to the old woman and also giving me money for talking to her pretending to be her son. Why are you doing this?"

The postman was visibly shocked and replied, "Her son went to some foreign nation to do some job. Every month he used to send money order of thousand rupees to her. Every month, I called his son and she used to talk with him. One day, I received a letter of her son's friend. Her son died due to the infection of ongoing pandemic. I could not collect the courage of delivering the letter to her. She used to wait for her son's money order every month and used to get very happy after talking to her son. I started giving a thousand rupees from my salary and requested you to pretend as her son over phone call."

Ram was stunned listening all this. He then asked, "But how long would you continue giving her money?"

The postman replied, "Till the time we both are alive, I would continue. I am not giving her the money. In her face, I could see my mother. I also used to send a thousand rupees to my mother every month. By giving money to her, I feel I am still giving money to my mother. Around the time she lost her son, I also lost my mother due to pandemic."