She kept knocking on the doors in search of her mother. “Mother, it’s me, your daughter… I know you would be here.” She kept running from door to door, only to find strangers—someone like her mother, who patted her head, held her hands, and consoled her.

Some women hugged her, some gave her food, some water, some even did her hair, some gave her new clothes, and some asked about her favorite things, while others inquired about her childhood.

Inconsolable, she wept even more as she walked out of these strangers’ houses; she was reminded of her mother when those strangers treated her with love and care.

Walking across a narrow lane between houses, she thought, “Even my mother would have given me all I asked for and all that I didn’t. She had to just look me in the eye, and she would know what I wanted. Oh! I miss her so much. Why did she leave me?” By this time, word had spread about this girl in search of her mother.

Touched by the story, women stepped out from their homes and stood outside; some sat at the entrance of their homes, while others walked on the veranda, putting their little ones to sleep.

As she cautiously walked across, pausing for a while in front of each house, she was greeted with warm smiles from the women who were heartened and anxious to see the girl.

The tired girl reached the last block of unvisited homes; she looked through her watery eyes one by one, paused, and stared at all the women who were at their doorstep.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but in despair. She reached the last home in the block only to find it closed and dark from inside.

By now, the tired girl didn’t bother to knock and thought to herself, “My mother can’t be in there; if she were here, she would have opened that door and run out to hug me and kiss me on my head.”

The tired girl walked back through the deserted lanes and never looked back. She recalled all those lovely moments she had with all those women who were strangers to her but gave her so much love that now overshadowed the search for her mother, at least for now.

And as she walked away, the home that she had missed lit up from inside; if she were there, she could hear a lady cry. It was her mother crying just like her in despair.

She wiped away her tears and thought, “I would have hugged and kissed my loving daughter only if she had knocked on my door.”

And the little girl walked on, thinking, “Now with so much love around me, do I really need a mother?”