The Beginning
With umbrella tucked under his left arm, Ratanbabu,65, carefully averted a muddy puddle and managed to reach the gate of his one storey house at Jodhpurpark. "Buses are so crowded these days.", he muttered. Keeping his black umbrella carefully in one corner of his drawing room, he yelled "Kanai! Kanai!"...."What a troublesome kid! A man needs his tea! I think I'll send him off and hire someone else." Splashing water several times on his face, Ratanbabu looked at the mirror and stared blankly. He thought of the empty mailbox on his gate. It's been 2 years since Ratanbabu had heard from his son Ranjan. Ranjan...his own flesh and blood! "I'll be back soon Baba...don't worry! And don't forget to collect 5000 rupees from the bank!"", Ranju had said suitcase in hand....Ranjan had been as good as his word...Every month 5000 rupees would appear in Ratanbabu's bank account. 5000 rupees. F-i-v-e t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d r-u-p-e-e-s....Ratanbabu thought slowly....suddenly everything looked blurred...Ratanbabu blinked, trying to look at the clock through his curtain of tears...It was five in the evening..."Dadu cha khaabe?" said a panting Kanai, 12, bare bodied, kite and thread in hand...."About time! Well I am going for a walk at the lake!"...Ratanbabu once again picked up his umbrella and headed for the lake...he took a deep breath and exhaled completely...he did it once again...1,2,3,4,5....he counted when he inhaled....1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10....he counted when he exhaled....he smiled...."give more, take less"...that's what the instructor at the laughing club had said while teaching breathing exercises..."funny"...he thought..." the maximum you can fill your lungs with is actually less than the maximum they can give out"...and he smiled again...he sat on the bench and looked at the silent lake...a soft wind was blowing and that created tiny ripples on the water...the leaves rustled gently....a mother swan was teaching its young one how to fly....she flew once and encircled the lake completely and landed beside the young bird...the young one fluttered its wings in excitement but failed to take off....the mother once again took a graceful flight and smoothly landed beside its baby....this time her left wing touched and stroked the head of its child...." Baba! This bike sucks! I fell for the fifth time!" ..."You can do it son...just keep trying..." After repeated trials, the baby bird finally took off to take a circle around the lake and landed beside its mother ."Look Baba! I can ride my bike now!" Then both birds took off together and flew in a beautiful duet several times .... the mother swallow landed and let the child fly...it looked back at her and cawed....it made its way from tree to tree...joined other young birds and flew towards the setting sun....meanwhile the sky had merged into a gorgeous shade of orange and red....a lone swallow flew and encircled the lake while a soft orange halo was created by the setting sun above it....a smile toyed on Ratanbabu's lips....he looked up at the sky...it was a brilliant red now..clearly reminding him of a bright and sunny tomorrow.
posted by Poulami Bhattacharya at 10:33 PM
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