Under the Mango Tree

Every evening, just as the sun dipped behind the hills and painted the sky in shades of amber and gold, little Ayaan would tug at his grandmother's sari and whisper, “Dadi, can we go under the mango tree?”

Their tree stood like a watchful guardian in the middle of the courtyard—its thick roots clawed into the earth, branches drooping with age, and leaves that whispered with the wind. It was where Dadi told her stories.

Not the kind found in books, but the kind that lived in memory. Softly spoken, gently told, like secrets the earth once heard and never repeated.

Dadi would spread out her old, faded shawl under the tree, and Ayaan would curl into her lap. With the scent of ripe mangoes hanging in the air, she would begin.


---

“One day,” she said, brushing his hair back, “a young girl named Meera fell in love with a boy named Sameer. They met at a village festival right under a mango tree, much like ours.”

Ayaan’s eyes lit up.

“They were from different worlds—she, the daughter of a landowner, and he, the son of a blacksmith. But love pays no heed to class or coin. They would meet in secret, under moonlight, passing letters hidden in mango baskets.”

“What happened to them, Dadi?” he whispered.

Dadi looked up at the swaying branches and said, “They dreamed of running away. But one day, Sameer disappeared. No goodbye. No note. Just… gone.”

She sighed and smiled sadly. “Some stories end before they’re finished.”


---

Ayaan heard that tale many times. It changed subtly each evening—one day hopeful, another day tragic. But he always felt there was something Dadi wasn’t saying.

As he grew older, the visits under the tree became less frequent. School, homework, cricket with friends—they all stole time from his evenings. But Dadi never complained.

Until one monsoon, when the rains came heavy and Dadi fell ill.


---

The house smelled of turmeric and medicine. Dadi lay in bed, frail and quiet. The mango tree outside stood soaked and silent, like it knew its storyteller was fading.

Ayaan, now fifteen, sat beside her, guilt and sadness tangled in his chest.

“Dadi,” he said softly, “can you tell me Meera’s story again?”

She opened her eyes and smiled weakly. “You still remember?”

“I never forgot,” he replied.

She reached into the drawer by her bed and pulled out a small wooden box. “Then it’s time you heard the rest.”

Inside were a stack of yellowed letters, tied with a silk ribbon. The scent of old paper and dried mango leaves filled the room.

“They’re real?” Ayaan gasped.

Dadi nodded. “Meera was me. And Sameer was your grandfather.”

Ayaan's eyes widened.

“But Nana was named Yusuf!”

Dadi chuckled softly. “Yes. Yusuf married me later. But my heart… my first love… was Sameer.”

“What happened to him?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

She held his hand tightly. “My father found our letters. He forbade me from seeing Sameer again. The next morning, he was gone. I thought he’d abandoned me. But months later, I found out he’d been sent away—to work in a far-off city, away from me. I never saw him again.”

Ayaan swallowed hard. “Did you stop loving him?”

Dadi’s eyes shimmered. “Love doesn’t work that way. I loved Yusuf dearly—he gave me a good life. But there’s always a corner of my heart where Sameer still lives.”

Ayaan sat silently, the weight of generations settling on his shoulders.

“Why are you telling me this now?” he asked.

“Because stories should be told in full,” she whispered. “And because you’re old enough to know that love, regret, and memory—they shape who we are. Just like the roots of that mango tree—deep, tangled, and unseen.”


---

Dadi passed away two days later, during the early morning hours when the rain paused and the birds sang again.

The family buried her beneath the mango tree, just as she had requested.

Months later, as spring returned and mango blossoms bloomed again, Ayaan sat under the tree with the wooden box in his lap. He read every letter—Sameer’s careful handwriting, his hope, his pain, his promises. It was like discovering a side of Dadi he never knew—young, wild, deeply in love.

Then he found one final letter, dated just a week before Dadi’s death.

It was from Sameer.

> Meera,
I never stopped writing. I just didn’t know where to send the letters. Life took me away, but not my heart. I heard from a neighbor that you were unwell. If this reaches you, know that I never stopped loving you.
—S.



Ayaan stared at the letter, stunned.

On the back, in Dadi’s trembling handwriting, were the words:
“Some stories don’t end. They wait to be finished.”


---

Years later, Ayaan became a writer. His first novel was titled "Under the Mango Tree."

And every evening, he sat beneath the old tree, reading stories to his children, just like Dadi did.

Somewhere in the rustling leaves, he could still hear her voice.