Tara
was throwing a tantrum. She refused to have food. She spit, she cried, she hit
at her mother. However the mother in Reena was not ready to give up. Finally
when all her efforts failed, she used her ‘Brahmastra.’ The ‘ Brahmastra’ was a joke in the neighbourhood. Gama the vagabond though harmless was a
nightmare as far as the tiny-tots were concerned. His unkempt look, fiery eyes
sent a chill down their spine. For all his looks, Gama was actually a loving
person. He loved children, but his looks scared them away. However, he was a hit among the street
dogs. They loved Gama; they played with
him, slept with him, stood guard on him.
Looking
at Baby Tara, Reena suddenly exclaimed, “Look Gama is here.” The mouth opened suddenly and there went down
a ball of rice mixed with curd. Ball after ball of rice went down the throat in
quick succession and before Reena realized it, the plate was clean and empty.
Reena felt a pang of guilt, guilt at having to tell a lie to make Tara eat,
guilt at having to portray Gama as a demon come to harm Tara if she did not
eat, guilt at having instilled a fear in the little babe. But then what could
she do?
Sweet
slumber overpowered Baby Tara. She
slowly drifted into deep sleep.
Image courtesy of Mantas Ruzveltas at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Four
houses down the lane –
All
hell was loose. Vani was screaming at the top of her voice. Varun was bathed in
mud. He was least bothered about his
mother’s ‘tantrum.’ Varun was thoroughly enjoying his mud bath. Even the stick
in Vani’s hand did not affect Varun. Vani was at her wit’s end. Exhausted, she
was on the verge of tears. What if Rajeev reached home now and saw the boy in
this shape? What if her mother-in-law decided to pay them a surprise visit? She
knew what to expect. The boy would get a taste of Rajeev’s hand. Her MIL would
start off counting her ‘minuses.’ Vani could not bear both. Suddenly she saw a
figure in the distance coming down the road. She called out to Varun, “Look
Gama is here.” Varun sprinted to the tap and started flushing down the mud
from his body. Vani silently thanked Gama.
The
shopping mall-
Neha
was having a tough time. Little Priya had taken fancy to a doll house. But Neha
could ill afford it. She tried to reason with Neha. She offered to buy her a
Barbie instead. But Neha was a born fighter. She was not one to give up easily.
She started to yell at the top of her voice. Heads turned. One or two tried to
cajol Neha. Some passed by making a comment on the inability of young mothers to
reign in their young ones. A girl offered Neha a ‘Five star’. Priya started to
feel her heart sink. Neha’s health did not permit her to cry endlessly. She
would start suffocating in a few minutes. Suddenly she saw of a vagabond on the
road opposite the Mall. She cried out, “Look Gama is here.” The name
acted like a switch. She forgot the doll house; she only wished to be in her
mother’s arms. She ran to Neha, embraced her in a tight hug, eyes closed. Priya
forgot the vagabond.
The
slum on the outskirts of the town-
Children
were playing a game of “Pittu.” Suddenly, the ball flew high hitting Akash on
the head. All the children ran to him. A brawl started between the two teams.
It looked as though blood would spill on the street. Suddenly from nowhere
appeared a vagabond. “Look Gama is here” so saying, little Shikha ran up
to him. He dug into his pockets and brought out a handful of cheap jelly
sweets. The brawl broke. Hell broke loose around the vagabond. Everyone wanted
to make sure they got their share of the sweet that Gama had so lovingly
brought for them. They showered him with kisses. Gama smiled flashing broken
teeth. His day was made.
This
time we had to write a post in which one sentence was to be repeated at least
thrice.
Thank you for walking in. By the way don’t forget to leave your footprints in the form of comments and suggestions.
Your words mean a lot to me.
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