MILK -SUGAR -TEA

The morning sun had barely risen over the quiet village when Alekha slipped out of his house, his red cap tilted carelessly to one side, his red shirt crumpled, and his red glasses slightly crooked on his nose. The villagers had long stopped asking why he dressed like that.


He was always tight-lipped and defiant.Some said it was his way of defying the world; others said it was simply Alekha being the type of boy he had always been.


 The dusty lane leading to Batia Nana’s house was unusually crowded that day. Boys were giggling, whispering, nudging each other, and sending unsuspecting passers-by towards the courtyard. “Go, go! Today they are giving sweet tea for free!” one boy urged another, barely suppressing his laughter.

 Alekha heard, stopped dead and inquired holding his head high, "free and sweet tea without any payment...?" Nilia said,"Yes,they are offering sugar-mixed sweet, milk tea for free !"

 And that was enough.


Without thinking of anything, full of strong conviction,he followed the direction of the crowd.Alekha's curiosity was always short- lived,not bubbling like boiling milk,but getting petrified like stone.

 He reached the gate and peeped inside confidently. The courtyard looked quiet. No one seemed to be about.

He stepped in cautiously,least there should be a snake or scorpion. “Hello?” he called out gruffly. No response. He moved closer to the veranda confidently. Just then, from inside the house, a loud, furious voice came— “Who is there?!”

 Before Alekha could react, Batia Nana’s wife stormed out, her eyes blazing like fire. “You shameless boy! Why have you come here so early in the morning?” "What ? Aren't you serving sweet sugar milk tea to all and sundry for me? Why losing your temper at me like that?"


 "Who sent you here?"


 “I… Yes...! Yes....I came for my share of the sweet milk tea…” he stammered.


 “Tea? I’ll show you tea!” she shouted, grabbing a broom and charging towards him. Alekha disappeared. He ran faster than he had ever run in his life, his slippers flapping, his cap nearly flying off, his heart pounding in his chest.

The boys outside burst into laughter as they watched him sprint away like a chased bull. By the time he reached home, he was breathless, confused, but not even slightly humiliated. Later that day, he stood before Nata Sir. Nata Sir was not just a teacher; he was a force of nature. His sharp eyes could pierce through excuses, and his cane—though rarely used—was enough to inspire fear in even the bravest boys.



 “Why did you go to Batia’s house yesterday morning?” Nata Sir asked, his voice calm but heavy with suppressed rage. Alekha shifted a bit uneasily. “I heard that at Batia’s house they are giving sweet sugar tea for free! Everyone was going!”

 Nata Sir raised an eyebrow.Batia was his younger brother.


 “Did you drink tea?”

 Alekha sat stubbornly holding his head down.


 “Batia’s wife woke up! She started shouting abuse and ran after me! I ran for my life away from there!”


 Nata Sir leant back, his lips curling into a sarcastic smile. “Batia’s wife woke up?”

 “Yes!” Alekha replied eagerly. Then suddenly he paused, his face changing. “Did I make any mistakes?... Oh! I said ‘Batia’ instead of ‘Batia Nana’!”

 Nata Sir sighed deeply.

 “Do you still go to those village boys?”

 “Why not?” Alekha said innocently. “They always talk nicely! They give me laddoos, sprouts, fried and boiled peanuts, pickle to eat!”


 “Answer my question!” Nata Sir snapped. “Why did you go to Batia’s house?”


 Alekha brightened up as if remembering something important, something that happened years ago. “Yes, yes… later I came to know. Batia Na’s wife’s name is ‘Kheera’—milk. The beautiful maid working in his house is named ‘Chinu.But the village boys call her Chini Nani. You know Chini means sugar. And their new servant used to sell tea in Cuttack—people call him ‘Cha Bhai!(Tea Brother)"


 He paused dramatically. “Milk, sugar, and tea are all living in the same one house! That’s why the wicked village boys are sending strangers there to ‘drink sweet milk tea’ in Nata Nana’s house!”

 For a moment, silence hung in the air.


 Then Nata Sir closed his eyes slowly, as if trying to control a rising storm inside him. “Instead of studying,” he said, “you listen to all this nonsense!”

" Because I heard people were going there to drink sweet milk tea for free."

This is how you are wasting your valuable time.

 “No, no!” Alekha protested rigidy. “I am always copying the possible answers a lot! I keep taking notes!” “I’ve checked everything!”

 Nata Sir replied. “If you write like this, you’ll get good marks!” Alekha smiled like a miser.


 “Nani doesn’t understand anything!” he added. “She just keeps offering cannabis to a holy Baba, saying, ‘Let my Alekha pass only !’”



 Nata Sir stared at him in disbelief...! A few moments later, Nata Sir’s eyes narrowed. “I heard you brought a dog and made it sleep in your house?” Alekha’s face hardened immediately. “It rained continuously for 8–10 days,” he said bluntly. “Jilapi was shivering outside in the cold. I brought it into my room and spread a sack and a quilt over it for Jilapi. It slept comfortably.”

 Nata Sir’s expression softened for a brief second. “Good…” he said. “When it gives birth to a litter of puppies, then you’ll understand the blunder you have made!”

 Alekha shook his head vigorously. “Jilapi is not a girl .He is a boy!"


 Nata Sir waved his hand dismissively. “It will kill your cat!”


 “No,!” Alekha said firmly. “They are friends! My cat Dhooma hangs around Jilapi’s neck!”


 Nata Sir looked unconvinced.

"They play."


 Then suddenly, his sharp gaze fell on Alekha’s leg. “Why are you limping?” Alekha stiffened.He said:"A misfortune occurred....". “Yes… Pami and some other girls  played a trick on me… I couldn’t make anything out…”


 “You always eat an unknown variety of rice!” Nata Sir muttered impatiently. “Tell me what happened! Did they beat you?”


 “They didn’t beat me,” Alekha replied.


 “Then why are you limping? Speak!” Alekha looked away,adamant not to speak.


 “Throw that dog out!” Nata Sir barked suddenly.


 “It won’t go !” Alekha said helplessly.


 "Why won't it go?"



 “If I try to push it away, it gets angry, growls, and bares its teeth indignantly! It has become so used to staying inside the house!”




 Nata Sir smirked. “Just like you’ve become used to wearing the red cap, red shirt, red glasses, and sleeping on your back, upturned! So that those silly things might stay on you in place?” Alekha blinked, then smiled. “I am also always wondering exactly about the same thing Sir! Just like me, Jilapi has also become used to sleeping inside the house!”

 Nata Sir’s patience snapped.

 “Get lost! Go sleep with your dog and cat! Why are you limping? Has a frog entered your mouth?”


 Alekha remained silent.He looked absentminded.

A silence hung in the air.

Then he said,"A frog hasn't entered my mouth."

 “You nincompoop! Blockhead!” Nata Sir shouted.


“Speak! Why are you limping?” Alekha lowered his head, his lips pressed tightly together. “Have you lost your speech?"



"Say! Oh… !  why are you limping?”


 Still no answer.


 After a while,as if coming out of a distant and different world,Alekha said:"I have not lost my speech."


 Alekha stood there, stubborn, unmoving, silent as a stone. For a long moment, Nata Sir stared at him. Then, with a deep sigh, he turned away, gripping his cane. That evening, as the sky turned orange and the village settled into a quiet rhythm, Alekha sat outside his house. Jilapi lay beside him, its head resting on his lap, while Dhooma the cat curled comfortably near the dog’s head. Alekha gently stroked Jilapi’s fur. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?” he whispered. Jilapi wagged its tail softly. Alekha sighed. Earlier that day, when Pami and the other girls had called him, and he had gone without suspicion.Theey found Alekha today,on the top of the thatched house of his aunty's house.They smiled sweetly.

He refused to listen to them.They asked him many questions.He was stubborn and tight-lipped. To everybody's surprise, Alekha spoke.He said,"These monkeys are taking away all the gourds..." He was on the house top.


 "Alekha Na, you are a coward ?" Nobody expected an answer.

 But "I'm not a coward," came the sharp answer after the usual irritating gap.

 "Then jump to the ground!" The girls kept urging:"Jump to the ground!" Alekha jumped ! He sat on the ground for five minutes and signalled for water. The girls laughed—not cruelly, but carelessly. Alekha had not laughed,pretending that nothing had happened. But something had happened. Not just his leg. Something deeper. Yet he maintained his rigid inflexible silence. Because Alekha had his own strange pride.

 He could be foolish, careless, even ridiculous—but he would not complain. He would be unfazed and stubborn as usual. Inside his house, Nata Sir sat quietly, lost in thought, waiting for Alekha. He knew the boy was hiding something. But he also knew something else. Alekha was not weak. He was careless, yes. Foolish at times, certainly. Surely enough,he was always tight-lipped and indifferent.But there was a strange strength in his silence, a quiet dignity that refused to seek sympathy.

 Nata Sir sighed. “Blockhead…” he muttered softly, though there was no anger left in his voice.

 The next morning, Alekha arrived in class, still limping slightly, his red cap firmly in place. Nata Sir looked at him for a moment, then said nothing. Instead, he began teaching. And for once, Alekha listened with complete serious attention. Perhaps because of the pain. Or perhaps because, somewhere deep inside, he knew— That beneath Nata Sir’s harsh words, there was a silent fear of him. And beneath his own foolhardiness, there was a quiet resilience waiting to grow. The village carried on with its jokes, its laughter, its small cruelties, and its hidden kindnesses. And in that ordinary, imperfect world, Alekha continued to walk—climbing, laughing his own strange unique laugh, marching furiously—towards something he himself did not at all yet understand.What was really unique was his inexplicable silence or defiance or indifference.Nobody could figure out what it actually was.