An Afternoon with Sahil

FICTION

Continued from last edition 

"You have given them opportunities to do so. Thus, you are not only harming yourself by your activities, you are encouraging them in thieving and being dishonest."

''Tulika, imperfections are an innate trait of human beings and to be able to cope with those imperfections make us perfect in due course. Listen, whatever is gone is gone, you better let not Papa know anything about today's event."

Hugging me tightly and planting a deep kiss on my forehead Tulika went out.

I thought to myself -I must change myself. I mustn't mix up with Sahil so intimately. God forbid, if I face a weird situation for Sahil, there will be no place to hide my face….

I rose from the bed and came out to the adjacent balcony. In a blink of an eye the sky was covered with thick layers of cloud. It indicated a rain soon. Denying the invading clouds, a couple of stars shone here and there in the sky.

The soothing raindrops carressed my face and eyelids. In no time the rain turned to a squall. Closing my eyes, I began to feel the raindrops in me. If I could drench a little in this shower!

''Didi, someone has come seeking you? I was so buried in my own thoughts that I was shocked to hear her voice.''

''Me?''

''Yes.''

''You may be mistaken; they must have come looking for Sir. Go and tell them that he has not turned up yet.''

''I've told them that; but they insisted on meeting you.''

I changed my clothes and descended down the stairs. As I walked down the stairs, I thought of who might have come looking for me in this gusty gale.

Out in the porch Sahil and his mother were waiting. I felt ill at ease seeing them. They were wet through. A pungent smell polluted the environment.

''Why are you here at this odd hour? How did you find out my home? Weren't you supposed to go for Delhi today''-I asked everything in one breath.

''Well baideo. Let me clear everything. We were not aware of the drama his father was plotting. He arranged to sell Sahil to someone and liedto us that he would send him to work at a doctor's house in Delhi.''

"How do you know that?"

"While packing our belongings I heard his father talking to someone in a whispering tone. Anticipating something fishy, I eavesdropped on the conversation. He would hand over the boy in the next station and report to us that he was lost in the crowd."

"What rubbish!"

"Can a father strike such a brutal deal? Is he a father or a butcher?"

Looking here and there, with much hesitation she whispered, "He is not the biological father of Sahil."

"How Strange?" I jumped like a man whipped hard.

"Baideo, if you permit, I want to explain a little bit. We had been four and half years married then. We stayed in a factory provided house where we are presently living. The other part of the house was vacant then. One evening a newly married couple entered there as the man had joined the factory for construction work. The Hindi speaking man, who is a skilled labourer from Bihar had come to work in the brick kilns. The woman along with him was an Assamese girl of the neighbouring village. She had eloped with him that very night. Before completion of the year the woman gave birth to a baby boy. After two and a half months, suddenly the man died in a truck accident. His wife lived there for two and a half years with this little boy, struggling hard for survival. One day she went out for shopping leaving the boy in my custody with a promise to come back soon. It was late at night that I realized that she had gone forever. She never turned up. Since then, I have brought him up as my own child.''

It was raining cats and dogs outside. Nothing was audible. If it had not been raining everyone could have heard the fluttering of my heart beating like drums.

"Baideo" breaking the silence she calls. "Your care and concern have made him confident that you could be the best shelter for him."

I felt on edge at her words.

"Baideo, if you don't mind, please let him live here with you all. He would be the best help for household chores and later when he grows up, you may train him up as you wish.''

Tulika went inside slamming the door with a big bang.

Then only did I know that Tulikahad witnessed the whole incident.

"It's not on," I said

I was quite at a loss and felt neck deep in water.

Without realising the situation the woman blabbered — "He is a good boy, see if you train him, he would be a good driver in time."

Then she hugged him tightly, patted him on his head, kissed him on his cheeks and went out repeating the same. In the glint of the street lamp, I glimpsed the same fathomless love like Mahadev on his face. What a hypnotising attraction!

There was incessant rain pouring outside. In darkness the raindrops glittered like cascades. I believed Atonu would not disagree with me at this point. But I feared Tulika and Tonoy.

Would they?

I felt as I was in the middle of a vast sea, stranded. Will this storm that has turned my life upside down ever blow over? My cry for succour came back to me like boomerang.

If I want to reach the shore, I would have to swim all my might or I would drown and die. Would this boy be able to lead me ashore as his name suggested.

By: Nilakshi Dutta

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