A Short Story

He woke up at 8:30 AM with a sudden bang of the shutting main door of his 2 room standalone house. Once again his mom had left for the office leaving him wondering alone. He remembered the faded sound of his mother screaming ... "Rahul get up.. you've to go to school, you've to show the assignments, Mr. Bhusan had called up this morning".

It was difficult for him now to give himself a push to get ready for school. He sat still on the edge of the bed looking at the cloudy sky. It was windy outside; the trees by the side of the road were making cracking sound with the blowing wind giving a feeling as if trees would fall any minute. From the window he could see the long array of coconut trees running parallel between the road and a wide sewerage. He wondered where does this sewerage start and where it goes. There was a rumor that government is taking initiative in changing the filthy, stinky sewerage to a clean water canal which should be used as one of the tourism attractions. But with the passing days, rumor what it stands for lost in air. Now they are constructing metro bridge, possibly a metro station on top of this sewerage. He's seen the sewerage and the coconut trees as long as he remembers. He felt very connected with the place, even with the sewerage, as he's grown up with them. There was a distant sound coming from the farther end of the road…the drilling sound from the metro construction site. These days, he was happy to see the construction happening, big drilling machines, so many people working wearing colorful helmets. In heart, he hated being alone, the crowd at the construction site made him happy and cheerful. Whenever he walked the road crossing the site, he always thought that he'll become an Architect some day. And that thought brought smile to his small round lips. Nights were no more dark, it was good to see the road flooded with the flashing big yellow halogen lights. The trees looked very beautiful when the lights fell on them, changing the hardly visible dark green color to radiating greenish yellow. It ran through his mind how he loves colors, how he wants to paint everything he imagines. He smiled as he moved his head a little to his right to see if the water bottle was still there. Last night his mom asked to get the bottle filled up while going to bed. He sipped some water gulped it down his throat. Wind was becoming stronger with every passing minute. He felt a little concerned, but shrugged the next moment. He thought of the last Sunday, the site was empty. He wondered why these guys didn’t work on Sunday, was it a holiday for them like his school was always off on Sundays. He pondered over this a while and then his thought drifted.

It was 15 minutes past 9 in the morning now. The wind was slowing down; a little sunshine could be seen behind the trees. A rickshaw passed by on the street. A bunch of hospitality services’ students dressed in white shirt and knee dip skirts rushed laughing and chattering loudly. Suddenly Mr. Bhusan ran through his mind… Ohh … I’ll have to go. He got up… snailed lazily towards the Bathroom Basin. He brushed his teeth hastily, took bath and went straight to the Dining Hall table where his mom had kept the food. It was baked bread and butter for breakfast. He wasn’t feeling hungry, somehow swallowed the bread down his throat. He was all alone in the house; there was a weird quietness as if the silence had the noise. He felt uneasy. He hurriedly finished his breakfast, took his school bag on his back and came out. He saw the neighbor girl looking at him. He snarled, doesn’t she have to go to school.
Sun was brighter now… he was feeling discomfort from the heat and humidity. He had just celebrated his 8th birthday last week. All his friends gathered for the party. He remembered how mom had arranged everything so good for the party. Everybody had loved the food and the decoration. But he didn’t like Shyam fighting with his own sister. He remembered how he had to call Uncle John to resolve the fight and how Shyam’s sister had thanked him for taking control of this. His thoughts again drifted as a Ford-Figo went by swiftly. He wondered if they have produced only one color car … Parrot Green… he remembered from the frequent advertisements on TV.
The sound of the drilling machine was getting louder as he walked close to the site. Very large yellow and black colored machines with tank wheels rolled nearby. It was very fascinating for his little imaginative mind. There were workers all around in yellow and red helmets. As he moved ahead along the road… many trees were fallen on the road. He felt sad. These trees had become part of his life. Every morning he took the shades to walk down the road, now they are being removed for the metro station construction. He felt tizzy for a moment. He kept looking at the fallen trees with his sad eyes as he walked along the road. Many lamp posts were also broken. It seemed it was a big storm last night, but he knew it’s the humans’ apathy and indifference that’s responsible for the destruction of nature and he also knew that a day will come when nature will destroy the whole species. He had seen many Hollywood movies on natural disaster and how humans lay helpless. Most part of the road was dug up and it was filled with dirt and sand. It was very tough even to walk by.
The traffic was smooth now after the construction of a flyover near Wipro. On the flyover Cars were speeding … screeching and halting sounds could be heard from farther corner. Big hordes were stretched across the turning… it read ‘Find solace in the divine relaxation… intoxicate yourself at Vedic Village’. He wondered how everything had become a money making business venture. In this fast paced life, overly populated metro place, providing a service to relax had to be a good business.

To be continued...