Being Eggless...

 Fire in the mountain, run, run

Fire in the mountain, run, run

Fire in the mountain, run, run

Fire in the mountain, run, run

Constantly repeating those lines again and again in chorus made our tongues dry and yearn for a sip of water. Yet, no one wanted to move away from the circle and miss the fun.

"Can we go to drink some water?" Anu pleaded.

"Yes, we will run and drink and return in the next five minutes." The circle dissolved into a straight line that ran towards home to drink water.

Summer holidays are the time to rejoice your freedom. Exams written, schools closed, children find extra time to play and play and play forever till their mothers yell calling them inside and have the dinner.

The mill was literally silent on a Sunday. The entire place without the sound of machines gave the children a chance to be on their own. After returning from a short trip to the nearby Palani hills, eight of them gathered together and started playing some games.

The horizons of the Sirumalai hills looked bright at that night.

"Hi, look there, forest fire” A voice screamed with excitement.

"Today we learned forest fires. Our teacher explained everything in detail." Anu explained with her eyes sprinkling with excitement. 

"Forest fires during summer are dangerous. Grass fires are the most dangerous." 

The next five minutes were spent in silence every one looking at the bright flames that flickered at a distance. 

Anu ran and brought her latest binoculars that she bought on her recent visit to the Palani hills. 

They took turns to watch the fire through the binoculars. Though they could not feel the extreme heat of the leaping tongues of fire that grew with every blow of the heavy wind, they understood how dangerous forest fires would be. 

Anu remembered their conversation on the way to the hills while trekking along with her colleagues. Though Anu in her mid-fifties wanted desperately to join her young colleagues in the trekking trip that was arranged to celebrate Women's Day, she could not join them. 

Some of her friends commented what an old owl could do among young people and why she wanted to spoil their merriment. This disheartened her to give a lame excuse for not joining them. But destiny worked on the other way.  

One day on the way to her office, she met one of her old friends who asked her if she could accompany her to a famous temple near the location where her young colleagues planned to go for trekking. Anu accepted her request immediately as she also needed a break from the routine work.  

Anu and her friend left Chennai by bus and reached the place at dawn. After visiting the temple, they went to a nearby hotel to have their lunch. To her surprise, she met the entire gang from her office. 

"What a surprise! Mam! You are here!" 

"We were told you could not join us” Anu kept smiling for all their questions. She explained that it was not planned earlier but she would be happy to be there with them. 

"I could not accompany you, but could wish luck on your trekking." Anu had to leave along with her friend to Chennai. 

There is always danger in that which appears to be extremely beautiful. Dangers lurk along with it and only sharp intuition could find them out. 

Anu felt some uneasiness around the air when her colleagues waved her good bye.  

"I may not see them again" the sudden overpowering thought gripped her brain cells. Her hands shivered and legs felt weak. 

*****

It was too hot on that afternoon. On their way back to their place of stay, Anu dozed off. She had a dream that shook her from sleep. 

"Mam, please save us” The warm afternoon air vibrated with the screaming pleas from those who were engulfed in the fire. 

It is real hell on Earth. The extremely hot tongues of fire climbed greedily eating away whatever it could find on its way. Be it a dry twig or a grass or a leaf. Even trees fresh with thick foliage could not escape from the fiery tongues of fire. 

The smell of charred bodies made her think about the days of her childhood. She remembered how she sat near her dad who after plucking all the feathers on the hen showed it on the fire to get rid of small stubs of hair. He rolled the chicken this way and that way taking care not to get the chicken gets charred. Then with a knife he slit the chicken open and started to clean it. 

******

Waiting at the mortuary, Anu could not erase those images of chicken being rolled above the slow fire. She vaguely remembered her pre-university zoology practical classes, when they dissected frogs and cockroaches. 

Usually, the zoology practical class happened on Wednesdays just before the lunch time. Ana’s stomach churned and a splashing headache hit her. Until she had her lunch, the headache spoilt her moods and she preferred to be alone than with her classmates.

****

 “Stay quiet.” She removed the covering lid on the metal bushel. The metal bushel half filled with sand and revealed a brooding hen sitting on a clutch of eggs; the eggs protectively covered by her wings.   

“Where are the eggs?”  

“They are here.” She lifted the one of the wings and showed the eggs under the hen. 

“When will the chicks come out?” 

“In another ten days. But you should not disturb the eggs often.” 

“Why. I want to hold the eggs for a while on my hand. Shall I?” Anu asked. 

“No, then the chicks will not grow properly.” 

“Bring that small container with water and leave it inside the bushel. The hen may need water to drink.” 

They all stood silent until the hen drank some water without changing her position. 

After she placed lid on the bushel, they went to the garden to play hide and seek. 

Before leaving the place, they spent some time watching the brooding hen. The hen rarely came out of the bushel. 

Sometimes it slowly changed places of the eggs, so that the eggs will receive heat uniformly, and it will definitely hatch after 21 days and no egg will go waste. 

One day while Anu was playing in front of her house, her dad called her. He took an egg from the bushel and placed it near Ana’s ear. 

“Can you hear the chick?” Anu could hear the soft tap of a chick inside the egg. 

“Yes.” She beamed with a smile. 

“In one or two days chicks will hatch.” 

“Shall I hold the chick then?” 

“Sure. But you have to wait.” 

Next day morning when Anu peeped through the lid, she heard the soft sound of a chick. She screamed in excitement and called everyone at home. 

When they counted the number of chicks, they found one egg remained. Anu felt sad when she threw that unhitched egg away.   

When the shell of the egg broke, it splashed on the ground, and a nauseating smell spread from the remains of dark liquid and a lump of tissues. 

*** 

It was a night mare for Anu to be there in the hospital visiting her young colleagues who suffered burns in varied degrees. 

Unfortunately, very few can escape from the fire with minimum wounds. The nauseating smell of burned tissues and the medication made her feel dizzy and heart-broken. 

One of her young colleagues, Saranya, in spite of pain called her near.

"Mam, I need a help from you." 

Though the doctors warned her not to hold the burn injured girl's hands, she could not resist. Anu could feel the skin peel under her touch. 

"I want to do donate." Anu looked at her with disbelief. 

"I want to donate my eggs." The answer shocked her. 

"You will be back to normal. Don't talk nonsense." 

Saranya had been married for six months, and they planned to start their family soon along with their foreign assignment at one of the Gulf countries. 

"Stop talking like that. Vicar is waiting for you." She consoled her. 

"Hmm. I don't know what happened to him. So far, he has not come to see me."  

"He is there in the other room. He will come and see you once the doctors allow him to see you." 

Saranya smiled at her. "Let him come, but before that will you please ask the doctors over there about this. No one is ready to answer my request. I don't want to die before doing this." 

"There will be so many procedures and it may take time." 

"Yes, I want that to happen now. Please convince the doctors and get it done." 

***

 "Leaving behind in this world one's identify is what everyone wishes to do." Every woman born in this world will want to be a mother. Some exceptional persons may be there. Yet, no one could deny this basic right of a woman. 

Though married for more than ten years, Anu did not get that opportunity to become a mother and have her own child.  

This incident provided her an opportunity to be so. When she spoke about this to her husband, he bluntly refused and didn't want to give her the permission to go ahead. 

Days unfolded into various visits to the labs and scan centers. Wherever Anu has to go, she went alone. Her husband bluntly refused to accompany her. Frequent quarrels between them made her decide not to talk about that anymore with him. 

Anu deprived of eggs could not conceive and her husband's ego prevented her from trying new methods.