KHARKHIV TO POLAND

Evan stumbled at entering just Natta's house. All devastated. A rose coloured baby shoe with lace for a tiny foot, tooth bite marks on a piece of chocolate, few bespattered toys. These are the precious possessions of Uliya, the five-year-old younger sister of Natalia. After their papa joined the army, mom went upstairs to make petrol bombs out of unused glass bottles. She is also absconded. During wartime, no one searches for another for a long time or mourns over. All are occupied by their own security.

Now Natta and Uliya are missing from the bunker. Not even at home. Where are they? No escape from dhoodom, dhoodom sound of canons, clack! clack!! from rifles. So also snowstorms hitting harder along with other unnatural calamities. Oxygen content in Kharkiv air has gone down. The atmosphere of gunpowder, smoke, and shoots everywhere. The heart-rending last ritual scenes of thousands of soldiers. Eerier, decomposed bodies, and congestion of roads by the accumulation of trash. Kharkiv is burning. The fire brigade is overwhelmed to extinguish the fire.

Evan was hiding in an underground bunker. Order from the nation to all men, from 18 years of age to 45 must join the defence force. The enemy force is knocking at the door.

Eighteenth spring has just touched Evan. Brit de canon, whistling sound of the incoming artillery, an iron-rubbing scream of the flamboyant tanks, and uproar of majestic fighter jets have scared Evan. The commanding officer inspecting the bunkers has ordered others to join the army, sparing him.

Relaxed Evan hurtled to Natta. She is his buddy. Now she is sweet fifteen with chubby smiles and dancing eyes. When the spring season comes here, the snow melted in the warm heat of sunlight, birds flocked kissing their beaks on the vast field of sunflowers extending to the horizon. They brought their chicks to teach them the art of flights and to pick grains on the green wavy field of wheat and oats. Then Natta’s golden hair looked more golden, slender hands more playful, lots of rainbows in her deep blue eyes. They go to church together from childhood, play in the snow, and compete to excel to make the 'snow man’. Sometimes they also delve to collect grains under ice carpet. Like a squirrel, Natta's sharp fingers and nails could dig ice fields to discover sunflower seeds. She wins and Evan loses.

Foreign friends in Evan’s college return back to their countries. During these disastrous days in the country, why should someone stick to risking his life? The citizens of Ukraine would defend their country. Auspicious time to sacrifice to go to paradise. The public does not understand the complexity of politics or diplomacy. On the chessboard of pride and ambition, they are small pawns only. The time has arrived to take up arms. This is the truth for them.

Evan suggested Natta go to Poland by train. Friendly country Poland has opened its corridor to Ukrainians. Twelve hundred kilometers of rail track. A journey of five hours. On the other side of the border, the world is safe and the sky is peaceful.

"-No! I shall not go anywhere. My home, my country, and you. I shall not leave. Is it not better to die at the bullet, on my country than to lose the love of dears, the agony of being away from my birthplace, the insult of spending life as a refugee? Instead of food, give me some rifles and bombs. At least I can injure an enemy soldier before I succumb." Natta spoke with conviction.

Evan knows the desperation of the situation. A few days back, he had given Natta a part of his food, wheat powder and vapid loaves of bread, he received. Ulia cannot tolerate hunger. Till the time, the food has not arrived. Towering ablaze in the warehouse. The baking factory is shattered. On the road the march of the platoon of enemy soldiers. Clack! Clack!! rifle's violence. So food, water, medicine, etc. essential items could not reach them.

Natta does not know the disaster of war, calamities of hunger during the war, that he has experienced a few moments before, inside the bunker. He ate putrefied bread from the pocket of a dead old man, so skinny in famish. No one is attempting to take out his dead body, rather people were covering his dead body with ice. If the war continues for a longer period, probably the peckish mass shall consume his flesh. After three days’ even, putrid food is not in their luck. Around the dead body of the old man, the famished human beings had supported their heads with their hands in desperation as if they want to keep their heads aloft in any condition, or is it desperation of the vanquished? No one has touched them till time. From a quadrupled animal to be a man, many millennia have passed. Within four days of hunger, the man cannot be floundered to that animal so easily.

The national invoking, ‘it is not only to win for the nation or the country, but also uphold the dignity and security of your mom, wife, beloved, and daughters. To give security to the nation, the youth must take up arms.

In stuttering gaits, Evan came to send Natta and Ulia safe to the station to reach Poland from Kharkiv. Vacant home and bunker! Are they been forced to go to the station or Natta has changed her resolution in the eleventh hour? Evan ran straight towards the station. For temporary ceasefire, the silence of the mouth of the canons. Only shoots in the air. Running on snow with torn rubber shoes, his feet shredded. The station is not far off.

Last spring Natta told Evan-'When spring shall break here, I shall reveal something. ‘She looked at Evan from the angle of her eyes and giggled.

Evan would request Natta to tell the revelation. Probably that spring shall not come in my life. I would give the cross on his neck as a gift that his mother had offered in blessing at the time of her rise to paradise.

The uncontrollable crowd in the station. Within the crowd, inside the bogie, Ulia was in the lap of Natta. Natta’s beautiful pair of bluish eyes were looking pale and her eyes were searching repeatedly for someone. Evan tried enough to enter into the bogie. It was too congested to support further addition. Someone hit him firmly on his back and he fell down. Being ravenous for the last 3 days, he was too feeble to cry. He murmured, 'Ulia! when you grow younger, take care of your sister. Remind her, that someone has returned to the sphere of gunpowder to free their country.

The time flew over the ceasefire and the train peaked up speed from Kharkiv to Poland.

Evan was returning to the war camp in hobbling steps.

From the sky, the pieces of flesh and splintered wings of the doves were plummeting.