As far as
his sight could go..there was nothing but a drought..
A drought of
what he assumed was his life .Meaningless ,without any motive ,living without a
reason. Just plain survival .Every day was a battle ,a battle with his own
self.. a battle with the rest of the world..a battle that he knew would never
end .But he also knew, that he had to fight for every second that came his way
,struggle for every breath .Being born into this world and then getting
abandoned just like that ,is one of the worst things that could happen to
anyone .It is like planting a flower which u recently bought from the nearby
nursery, and crushing it the next moment without giving any thought to how it
would have adorned your garden .Ajay had eventually learned it and accepted the
fact that fairy tales only existed in books..Peter Pan was just a creation of
J.M.Barrie, and there were no fairy god"mothers" in the real world.
It was one
of those days when he had had nothing to eat..the kind woman who lived around
the corner ,and used to offer food to him..not because of pity ,but more
because, she saw in him his dead son who had died when he was 6, was out of
town ..and there was no one else in this world who would empathize with
him..take pity on him for any reason...
When the
hunger was unbearable ,Ajay had to put his guard down .He went out, searching
for something on which he could lay his hands on .He didn't mind stealing
,snatching or any of those things that this society frowned upon .For him there
were no rules ,this society never took to him and he never took to the rules of
this society.
At a
distance he saw the local chat shop .He had stolen from that place a
couple of times before ,got caught once too ,but with no other alternative
,Ajay decided to go for the kill .He had to do it .The hunger was driving him
crazy . The expression, helplessness was
mocking him, and was gleefully resting on his face. He was too proud to
ask someone for something ,so stealing was the only option left for him .He
went slyly around the corner to the backside of the shop where there was a tiny
window..he checked..there was no one looking behind..he extended his hand to
get anything he could reach for .Bulls eye it was for him..managed to reach to
a packet of bread .And slowly and steadily he tried to withdraw his hand with
the packet still in his hand..
one of the
customers noticed it..she yelled.."chor..!!!"..the chatwala
turned back..saw the hand withdrawing and disappearing ..his servant ventured
out of the shop and went towards the direction where he had seen the little boy
disappear ."The boy has not learnt anything from the last beating
",he mumbled under his breath .With rage in his disgusted eyes ,the
servant strolled the dirty road ,he looked everywhere but couldn't find the boy
.Finally after an hour of searching he gave up.
Ajay was
hiding in the basement of a nearby building..from there he could see the
servant retrieving back to the shop .It was time for him to go back to his
abode and enjoy his meal for the day. A hard earned or rather well earned meal
,or so he thought .He had hardly started his walk back to his shack ,his
home ,that a boy about his age came like a lightning from nowhere and snatched
the bread packet from his hands and started running .Ajay being more agile and
a natural sprinter ,without wasting any moment chased him, pinned him down and snatched the packet back from him .He was
about to hit the boy when that boy pleaded and begged. He told him that he was
an orphan and had had nothing to eat that day .The intense hunger had resulted
in him snatching the packet from Ajay..
Ajay could
see his reflection in that boy .He held back his blow ,still in mid air..inches
from touching that boy's face .He felt sorry for that boy and without caring
much and saying much he offered half of the bread loafs ,took the boy back to
his shack and asked him to stay with him henceforth.
Minutes
before sleeping Ajay had these thoughts.. he wasn't alone in this world .There
were others like him too..and in even worse conditions .He thanked god for more
reasons than one - in spite of being an orphan there was this lady who took
care of him ,all his limbs were still intact and he was able to do some work
every now and then and stayed afloat..and finally for providing him a friend
and making him experience a new feeling of friendship..he wasn't alone in this
battle of his..no one ever is .Sooner or later you always find someone to bear
and share your burdens and make this world a slightly better place to live in
.For Ajay clouds had finally started to take varied shapes..and finally the
drought was beginning to end.
This short story has been contributed by Varun Dhingra, PGDM 2012-14 student at SPJIMR
