Panchayat Office

“HELLO EVERYONE, THIS IS FROM PANCHAYAT OFFICE,” the blaring noise came from the speakers which kept on the back seat of the yellow auto. A man was about forty years, sweating in front of the mic as the sun was hammering down on the earth with ravenous rays. He was sitting inside the auto and the driver was slowly steering down on the muddy streets which were filled with black stagnated water everywhere. You could see the flies buzzing around in the air and some of them were laying small and invincible eggs in the murky water to create their next generation which might become more powerful to combat with the people living here. But none of the children who were playing behind this deadly scene was aware of it. They wore knee length loose trousers, but it stained with the filthy mud. Their faces were smeared with blackness as if they had worked in the mine field, only their teeth were white and it revealed how dirty the other parts of the children had become. You could see their bones in the back and also you even count it exactly. There was not a single child who looked healthier and stronger. None. But they were happy to play cricket here. They had a wooden bat, which was broader than the bat Rohit Sharma used to play. This bat sparkled with many stickers, MRF, REEBOK, and NIKE, from top to bottom you couldn’t find an inch of empty space in it. Three guys were hooting when one fellow hit the ball into the stagnant water. The green tennis ball becomes blackish. You could sniff the musty smell out of it. But the fielder didn’t hesitate even for a second to go there and pick up this ball with his hand. That too right hand. The swarm of flies whizzed past him. He then bounced the blackish ball on the ground to remove the dirt from it. The ball kissed on the ground several times as the murky water sprayed each time he hit to make it dry.

“That’s enough, give the ball to me,” the bowler was asking him hurriedly.

The fielder beckoned his hand to make him wait. But the bowler was desperate enough to take the wicket of the batsman who was furious in scoring runs. He had already scored forty five out of twenty balls. Nothing fancy, but their excitement showed how much they were involved in the game.

The auto slowly came through this street; the man who was holding mic in his hand started preaching about how to ensure the cleanliness.

The auto wobbled slightly. He spoke, “Many people are affected by waterborne diseases. We should take precautions to avoid the water stagnation in front of our houses. We should keep clean our streets. It should be mosquito free.” When he said and turned his head, he was shocked to see the boy fiddling with the dirty ball. His eyeballs turned greyish blue on seeing this. His throat choked and he couldn’t speak any more. He halted for a few seconds to realize what was happening. He felt like he should get down and talk with the boys and advise them about how to safely play the cricket game. The boys were hardly studying in the sixth standard.

His belly swelled when he said to the driver, “Murthy, stop here a minute. I will come back in a minute.”

The driver did what he said. The auto purred before it was halted with a jerk.

The man got down with a wave of hesitation, but he was glad to help the young lads. He walked down a few steps and stopped in front of the boy who was wiping the ball on his trousers, and it turned like the black rag which used for lifting the dishes in the kitchen.

“Boy, what are you doing?” the man, Ganesh said.

The boy tossed an irritating face as if he was disturbed while doing the meditation, and said, “I am removing the stain from the ball. It should shine like a diamond, otherwise we can’t take wickets,” he spit on his index finger and applied it on the ball like an ointment and started rubbing on his trousers again. On seeing this, the man’s heart jumped out to his eyes as he stared at him with shivering limbs.

“You shouldn’t supposed to do this,” Ganesh said with a stuttering voice, his cheeks were flicking in and out. He didn’t yet come out of the shock that this boy wasn’t afraid of doing anything. But Ganesh could see that he was playing with the live wires. He knew how dangerous it was to lick the dirty finger and wipe the ball. He felt like vomiting when he had seen the boy licking his finger with his tongue and started wiping again. It is unnecessary to comment that the boy didn’t even give a respect to the big fellow who was standing before him.

The bowler cooed from the stumps to toss the ball to him, “Still how long you need to polish the ball, eh? Toss the ball immediately, you stupid.”

“Wait, there is still some stain on it,” the fielder said as started rubbing furiously on the right side of his trousers which was dragging down and pulled up. You could see the local branded brief on his waist. It looked like his trousers would pop down at any time. But he didn’t worry a bit about it. All his concentration was on the ball.

Ganesh didn’t know how to advice this kid. His thoughts wandered. If there was an elder fellow, he would have easily conveyed his thoughts. But he found it difficult to speak to this little boy, and at the same time he was angry.

“Hey, I am talking to you only,” he snapped.

“What?” the boy tossed the ball to the bowler and looked at his eyes as if he was going to punch on his face. His fisted hand was charging forward. You could see his long hair was shaking precariously on his head.

“You guys shouldn’t play in the dirty places,” Ganesh said, but slowly this time. There was fear stood in his eyes, his quivering voice conveyed this tragedy. But his legs and hands were firm and not shaking a little bit.

“Who said this is a dirty place, huh? We are playing here from the age of two. If you keep talking like this I will call my grandmother to pull your hair, mind it?” the boy said. He stretched his left hand and asked him to go aside as the bowler was running on the street to hurtle the ball towards the batsman.

Ganesh felt his heart was oscillating wildly inside his chest, like he had felt some wild storm would pass him now. But he was still not in the mood to take the defeat. He was on the purpose since he came here to spread the awareness about diseases. He wasn’t going to give it up easily.

“Boy, it is not advisable to play near the stagnated places,” he said and pointed his finger at the pool of black water swarmed with mosquitoes, which were buzzing and drifting in the air up and down. Two mosquitoes ran past in front of his face as if he came to destroy their peace. You could hear the slow hum of their vehemence.

“We know about it. You don’t have to say anything. Can you take care of your work?” the boy said. His eyes on the ball, which was knocked ferociously by the batsman, it was coming towards him in the air.

“Child, I am doing my work only,” Ganesh said in a fatherly voice, like the reverend father in the churches. He moved little further and stood in front of the boy now. The ball was reaching this place and the boy had to catch it. His teammates were screaming at him to take the catch.

“Jagdeesh catch it, catch it, catch it,” there were four voices coming simultaneously in a screeching form.

The boy moved hither and thither because Ganesh was blocking him and threw some advices at him.

“Move aside, move aside,” the boy said to him, but Ganesh wasn’t budging. He was on the mission and he was not aware that the ball was coming towards this boy. Even if he knew, he didn’t bother about it anyway.

“Are you gonna move, or I should kick on your ass,” the boy yelled, his eyes wandering to meet the ball, but he was impassive at this effort. His every movement was blocked by Ganesh uproariously. His young nerves were stifling and flexing now.

Not to be surprised, the boy collided with Ganesh and both of them fell on the road. His teammates were coming towards him as if they wanted to break his legs for not catching the ball.

Ganesh stood up and helped the boy to stand with difficulty. They had almost escaped by a narrow inch. If they had fallen on the other side, Ganesh would have bathed in the murky water for sure. He breathed relaxingly as his eyes fell on it, but his relaxation evaporated when he had seen the four little boys stood before him now.

“What’s going on here?” the tall boy, who was the bowler, said.

The fielder who negotiated with Ganesh initially said, “This man is talking some nonsense. Because of him only I lost the catch.”

“Who are you, man?” the captain of this boys’ team stormed in.

Ganesh’s eyelids opened fully as he said, “I am from Panchayat Office. I came here to spread the awareness about water borne diseases. But on seeing you guys playing amidst the water stagnation, I came down to talk about the consequences of this deadly adventure. Actually I was telling this guy not to wipe his fingers on the ball which fell on this dirty water, but he didn’t take my words.”

There was a chorus of laughter.

But the captain wasn’t happy with this fellow at all. He was steaming with anger and cocked his eyes at him and said, “You spoilt our sports. You intervened with our powerful playing. You crackpot. You shouldn’t hang on here giving preaches. Look out for some temples or churches to give your nonsense chattering, okay?” he blurted out.

Ganesh felt like beat him for not respecting him at all. But he controlled his anger because he knew if he even touched these boys with his finger, their parents would come screeching at him. He had so many ugly experiences early on. But he didn’t mind it. To be frank, he was a biology professor in the Chennai Bharath University. He was doing this job as a social service to bring a healthy environment. He had a vision to ignite the young minds and transform them as the strong pillars of our country. He knew if the young guns had understood the implications of what he was suggesting, it would be easier to destroy the life threatening diseases from such places. He wasn’t going to give up his mission unless until he had seen at least a single boy who maintains the place around his home cleanly and protects himself and his family from any pernicious illness contracting them. He was waiting for this to happen desperately. God, will his noble vision become true?

“But, don’t you think, what you do is wrong?” Ganesh asked genuinely.

“Noooooooooooooooooo,” the young lads screamed wildly and pushed him towards the auto, which was purring readily. The driver didn’t want to enter his nose into this fight. He knew how powerful these kids were.

On hearing these clamorous voices, the elder people came out from their huts. First came out an elderly man with a walking-stick and followed by a sunken cheeked woman, who was about to die in a couple of weeks. But she didn’t have any supporting stick in her hand despite she was wobbling back and forth. Also came a few broad chested men and their wives on their way to witness this fight.

“Who are you?” the man who didn’t wear shirt but only lungi said in a burly tone.

There was a slight itching formed under his groin to Ganesh. He swallowed a thick lump down his throat and said, “See you shouldn’t leak the water like this. You should use proper sewage tanks to store the waste water and remove it appropriately. If you leave the dirty water on the roads, your children’s health will be ruined. Not only their health, but yours also. So, be cautious about it and don’t commit such mistakes again.”

“What?” the other man who wore a white shirt and folded his veshti above his knees like a jockey brief, barked.

“Yes, sir,” Ganesh said automatically. He didn’t have to use the word sir, but on seeing his whiskers rise and fall, he couldn’t avoid addressing him that way. “I am talking for your goodness only. If you neglect it, your kids might suffer from various diseases like cholera, malaria, typhoid. So please keep the place safe and don’t run the murky water freely on the streets. It’s my humble request,” he almost tried to fold his hands before him, but at the last moment he felt it wasn’t required. However he was willing to even fall on their feet if they were still stubborn about what they were doing was right. You couldn’t quite see a person like him in our country often. How many professors are willing to make such efforts to bring change, eh? Lots of them prefer staying inside the air-conditioned glass walls and preach the subjects. But here a man of commitment and perseverance was showing some grit to contribute for the country he is living in. Don’t you think he scores for what he was doing? But he wasn’t doing such noble acts to attract the fame or something. He was simply doing it for the sake of well being of others surrounded him.

“Fuck off, don’t stay here a second. I will slay you right away,” the man who didn’t wear shirt said.

The old man’s left leg wasn’t standing firmly when he tried to say something, “Thisss is ourrr areaaa, you can’t do any shittttt abouuuuttttt ittttt,” he said. His teeth were jammed when he uttered the last few words.

The small boys were enjoying this scene on seeing Ganesh stumble and he didn’t know what to talk next. Particularly, the fielder, who took the ball from the filthy water, was swaying with enormous happiness to see the battered Ganesh. The auto driver felt like banging on his head for wasting time here. He felt it was impossible to bring change. He wanted to cuss the professor for spending time here extravagantly and helplessly. That too he couldn’t guess how these people going to harm him. He wondered if the professor would come out of this street without any red marks on his face. He can only pray for him.

Ganesh pulled a few pamphlets from his shirt pocket and showed them how the mosquito could kill a person with its sting (Proboscis?) just like that. Also told them how dreadful these swarming flies are and how many people had died due to lack of awareness. You could see he was sweating hard to make them understand. His blue shirt on his back was plastered to his skin. He smelled of sweat and also the red mud stuck on his pants on the back, but he couldn’t find time to wipe it yet.

“Please sir, try to understand me. I am talking about our well being only. If you take what I am saying seriously, then everyone would become free of deadly diseases. It gives us an opportunity to eradicate the evil forces which often came in the form of flies. I know you are in the same page with me, am I right?” Ganesh said, his vocal cords trembled for a few seconds before he swallowed an apple size lump down his throat.

“No,” he got a blurted response from the old woman.

The burly man sans shirt, discussed with the old woman and stared at him brutishly as said, “Don’t hang on here. We don’t like you. I mean we don’t like what the fuck you brought to us. So, can you?” he stretched his right hand towards the auto, which was thrumming slowly as the engine was still on. The driver knew this professor had to stay out of this business and pack his butt on the back seat now. He wished this man would understand the situation better than him.

There was a giggle from the fielder, who was very much interested to see this big fellow struggle in front of him.

“But………..” Ganesh said as his legs were tied to the ground firmly. He wasn’t willing to get out of this place until he had seen the change through his eyes. At least a small change like shaking their heads would give some harmony to his soul for preaching them such a long time.

“Will you shut up? Hey, if you speak one more word, I am really gonna knock your head down for sure,” the burly fellow who had shirt and big whiskers said. “See, we are born to live like this only. Nobody had questioned us before. But you…..such an ugly fellow commenting about our way of living, eh? If I see your face again in this area, we won’t talk but will show you some action movies. You know what I mean? This is your last chance to return home without losing some vital parts from your body. Or do you want to see an action sequence unfold now?” he cocked his side whiskers with an angry glare. Ganesh’s heart churned and rattled for a few seconds like an old engine which didn’t have oil to function smoothly.

Ganesh ducked down his head and took deep breathing before he looked at the children, “Boys, at least you try to………” there was a bang on his head. He wheeled back. He knew someone had hit him from the front. But who was he? He didn’t have any idea about it. He didn’t lose his balance eventually. The bare chested fellow had done this, because you could see the trivial smile flickered on his eyes. His index finger and middle finger rubbed on his left cheek as he threw a look of mockery at him.

“How dare you to talk with our children without our permission, eh? Do you think you are Mahatma Gandhi to bring changes in our country? You can’t even pluck our hair, mind it. I think you came here to brainwash our kids to kidnap, isn’t?” the bare chested fellow said.

“No sir, I didn’t…..I didn’t come for it. Believe my words, I came here to talk about the stagnation of water in the area,” Ganesh said. He was fumbling to get the words out of his mouth. It was hard to find a word, as if he was learning the language for the first time.

There was a slap across his right cheek. This time it came from the other burly fellow. Ganesh hadn’t least expected this, but he was miserable and didn’t even know if he should react to this situation with his fists. No, he wasn’t going to do this. Revenge wasn’t in his blood at all. He always threw a welcome face when he had faced trials like this. But he worried because of these illiterate people. He felt like crying, his eyelids shook in pain but he didn’t shed a tear. He tried to swallow a lump, but couldn’t. His Adam apple moved high and low slowly as he looked at them with his moaning eyes. The auto driver felt bad about him, his feet didn’t stay on the auto anymore. He came out and scrambled down to help him.

“Don’t beat, please leave him. It’s his mistake to come and preach for your well being in the slums,” the driver said in a mocking way.

But they didn’t react harshly. They gazed at him instead.

“Do you have any sense to bring such an idiot here?” the old woman said in a shaky voice.

“Sorry, we don’t come this way again,” the driver said. He looked at the professor with his beseeching eyes to get the hell out of here. Ganesh was helpless and didn’t have courage to initiate his mission again. He thought he had lost the battle. He felt ashamed, but he still grieved for their innocence. He only prayed God would help them to understand what he was trying to explain to them. His face faded as if he had lost all the colors in it, he still didn’t want to move an inch without convincing them. But his instincts said it was waste of his energy to try once again. He finally convinced himself that he had to depart from here without satisfaction. His stomach rumbled since he didn’t even eat breakfast. The driver had asked him to eat something before doing such stunts, but he vehemently refused in the morning. Ganesh finally gave up and started walking towards the auto without wanting to show his face to them. You could see embarrassment smeared on his face. The driver followed him immediately. The small kids started hooting again to play the cricket. Particularly the fielder boy who took ball from the stale water, pumped in the air as if the team India had won the match against Pakistan in the world cup final. Even the remaining kids were jostled on the street and took their fielding positions to continue the game from where they had left earlier. The old woman and old man mumbled for a few seconds with the burly fellows before they had gone to their shelters.

At three o’clock in the early morning, the fielder boy Jagdeesh woke up from his sleepiness. His stomach was groaning and twisting suddenly, the pain was ridiculous and made him feel like cut open his stomach and see what was inside. He felt like something big had been living inside his body, maybe it was a monster or ghost. He wasn’t sure. He was crying now, holding his two hands on his stomach and rubbing it awkwardly. He was sitting on the kora grass mat, his spine was bending low and high, he couldn’t sit on the floor calmly even for a second, his tender feet was curling and uncurling as he raised up and down with a brewing pain. He had felt the Yama was close to him, waiting to embrace him. He stood now and jogging around the sleeping mat as if the pregnant kangaroo would jog on the fields. He wanted to stop this wrenching and squeezing pain, if he knew from where this pain was emanating, he would have ripped off it. But he didn’t know why and from where this mob of pain was shooting up. He felt alone. His throbbing cry didn’t reach his parents who were sleeping next to him on the other sleeping mat. He felt like jumping on his father to wake him up, but he wasn’t relented to create such a tormenting upset to him. Instead, he jogged close to his father and tickled his arms and tried to get his attention. But it didn’t end up in success. His father was blowing air through his huge nose, with a hard and echoing sound. His whiskers were taunting and stretching and flexing on his each breath. His mother wasn’t at all in the world, she was swimming in her sweet dreams, smiling and gleaming in her sleep. For a second this boy mistook she woke up, but he fainted to know the truth that his mother didn’t stir at all.

“Mom and Dad, somebody help me from this stomach cramp,” he bellowed in a thick voice. His face was sweating like anything. He felt dizzy too. He realized his limbs becoming weak and the energy in his body drained like a sucking battery. His bowl was getting loose now, and he wanted to discharge it immediately, otherwise his condition become worse. He hastened to the backyard to remove the crap from his body. It was eerie dark outside, not an ounce of whiteness he could see there. The moon wasn’t there in the sky, it was Amavasya, no moon day. He could only here somewhere a fox was screaming lowly. He felt the soft mud under his feet when he had run to the secluded spot near the long casuarina tree which was his favorite destination for such a mission. He didn’t even notice he had walked over the mushy shit he had done yesterday. But he smelt the stink came from his feet. He didn’t bother about it, because the nagging pain in his stomach was bitterest than that. He freed his system as his eyes rolled in and out as if he had done the handshake with his thing. His stomach cooed now warmly. He felt he was better and thought the ridiculous pain won’t knock at him again. He stood up and wiped his small ass with the leaves before he walked down with enormous relaxation to his house. On the middle of the way he purred. It was continuous but not long though. He thought it was some gas inside the intestines causing this disturbance. But he was wrong. His stomach trembled and jolted furiously once again. He felt the leakage in his trousers. He had felt wetness on his upper legs. He scurried down with his tender feet which slapped on the earth in a strange way like an athlete. He had gone to the same secluded spot again and achieved his purpose before he was even ready for it. This time he knew it was watery from the way he did it. He took a deep breath. He felt it was full of shit. He wanted to go back home immediately after washing his ass. He stood up and caught the tree with his hands as if he had met his closest friend after returning from the foreign land. He felt like sleeping there. His eyes were drowsing faster. He felt all energy was wiped out of his body. He felt like he had suddenly lost ten kg and his arms had gone weak and thin. His limbs were quivering seldom though. His breath was smothering but he knew his lungs didn’t lose the courage from swallowing oxygen and the circulation of blood wasn’t stopped yet. His heart was still pumping at the healthy rate. But he wanted to rest badly. He let free the tree and walked down slowly. He didn’t jog down anymore, because he knew he wasn’t able to do this. He coughed. He felt his tongue dry up and there were itches forming in the deep part of his throat. He coughed again. There came some coppery liquid out of his throat. What was this shit? He asked himself. It was leaking at the left corner of his pulpy lips. He didn’t want to name it. He thought it was some splashing spit. But he was wrong. He wanted to go inside home and see it in the light, as he now walked down with crawling legs. It was like he was pulling some twigs with a strenuous effort. What the fuck happening to me? he cursed himself. He came inside home. His parents’ sleepiness was still intact. They slept like they didn’t wake up even if the burglars come and steal some money in the house. He walked to the small room, where the almira was kept and a small mirror was hanging on the wall just behind it. The boy looked at his face, it was sunken and he lost most of the flesh in it. Actually he was a bubbly boy. He couldn’t identify himself now. It looked like someone was standing in the name of him. He even frightened to see his face in the mirror. He jerked back. His stomach groaned once, twice, thrice. He knew what was coming. He felt like doing that shitty thing here. He felt like he didn’t have the strength to go backyard, worse he didn’t even feel like washing. But he didn’t give up. He had walked down with tired limbs to the backyard but not to his favorite spot this time. He had done it just close to his house, where the open (at top) bathroom was erected with thatches. He had an urge to clean himself, he tried to enter the bathroom but he had fallen before he placed his feet inside it. The whole weight of his body dropped down with a thud. Not a single soul there to help him. A blob of blood rushed out of his throat and fell on the ground. He couldn’t open his eyes anymore. He felt his eyelids were weighing like lifting a twenty five kg water-can. But he was still breathing, but he had to fight for it. He didn’t even hike up his trousers, which was down to his shanks now. There was a slow but hissing noise issued from his throat as he laid there. The cells in his body were slumbering.

There was power-cut in the home. The transformer was blown somewhere. The first person stirred in the house was his mother, whose dreams were snapped half-way. She rubbed her neck which stained with sweat, as if she had walked down under the blistering sun for a few miles. Her eyes were turned to see her son. She wasn’t shocked when she hadn’t seen her son Jagdeesh there. She thought he had gone to the kitchen to drink water. But she didn’t hear any vessel sound come from there. Her heart was suddenly beating faster.

“Jagdeesh, are you there?” she said, as stretched her neck.

There wasn’t any reply.

She stood up angrily. She walked down to the kitchen and sent glances around the room.

“Jagdeesh? Jagdeesh?” she said and came and stopped in the kitchen. It was dark in there, she turned on the switch and a bright yellow bulb glowed. She was surprised, but still didn’t feel like there was something amiss. But she wanted to inform her husband about it.

She went to the backyard and called her son’s name with a yelping noise. Though boy could hear it, his body didn’t help his senses to wake up. For him the call was issued from the light years. It was just a speck of muffled voice for him now. Now, her mother’s heart was racing furiously. She felt her chest was swelling and thickening as well. The cramping pain stood on her eyes as she called his name again in vain. She rushed back inside and shook her husband. He didn’t stir at the first attempt. But he stirred at the second attempt.

He opened his eyes slowly and barked, “What?”

“Jagdeesh isn’t in home,” she said as tears ran down her cheeks.

He thought she still didn’t come out of her sleepiness, “He would be here only. Go and search properly.”

“No, I had seen in the kitchen and backyard. But he is not there at all. I don’t know what happened to him,” she said. She didn’t feel like explaining it. Her heartbeat was pounding harder insider her chest. She wanted to scream her son’s name again and again. She thought her son was close to her. Yes, her inner voice was speaking to her. But she didn’t have any clue about him.

The burly fellow, her husband took a deep breath. He stood up as tied his white veshti around his waist and scrambled down to look for his son. They first stopped by the small room where the almira was placed. The circular yellow bulb was turned on here. Laxmi tucked her husband’s hand and gave him a shaky look and apprehended about what’s coming next?

“See, he is here only,” the burly fellow said and looked at his wife, who was still biting her soul to know the truth, “I think he turned on this light to search something here. Maybe he wanted to look at the new dress we had brought him for Pongal festival. Hey Jagdeesh, I know you are here only. Come out now.” His eyes ran to and fro as if his son would suddenly pop out from the Almira.

They didn’t speak for a few long seconds, until they realized he wasn’t there at all.

“No, he is not here,” her wife screamed now with heavy eyes. “Let’s go and see somewhere. Shall I call brother Bhuvan to find our son?”

“Wait……..” he said and turned his feet towards the backyard. He didn’t have interest to search in the home, he was sure he had gone out. To meet his friends in the night? he was not sure about it. But there was a strange thought poked into his mind. He scurried down with his vigorous feet movements, his heartbeat was thudding like an alarm on his ears. The flesh of his torso was tossing high and low as he ran now. He had crossed the kitchen and the back door of the house. His head almost bumped above the door frame, but he had lowered his head at the last second. His wife followed him with frightful tears which chased her. It was dark outside, they couldn’t see anything. It was dark everywhere. They didn’t have installed light in the bathroom yet. They always used torchlight if they desperately need light in the night. They were standing close to the bathroom, but couldn’t see their son was lying at the foot of it. The trees were hissing as the strong wind gushed now. The low moaning voice of her son was suppressed. Jagdeesh’s face was stuck with mud as he laid down there. If his father had moved back his feet an inch he would have touched his tender toes, but he didn’t.

“It is dark here. Get the torch light,” he said to his wife, who immediately rushed to bring it for him.

The burly fellow slowly moved forward as he heard the leaves rustling in the trees. He thought his son would have come to pee. He knew what his favorite place was. He folded his veshti firmly and tread down slowly. The howling wind was settled now. As he stepped close to the casuarina tree, his feet was wet with something sticky, he thought it was the water leaked from the bathroom. No, it smelt bad and unpleasant. He even wanted to close his nose.

“Jagdesssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,”his wife was screaming now. The torchlight was pouring beams on his body.

There was a grip of terror clumped his spine as he turned on hearing his wife’s whimpering noise. He knew there was something horrific incident happened. He didn’t want to guess it. He only prayed the Lord Ganesha would save his son. He wheeled towards the bathroom. He could clearly see his wife’s head now. She knelt down and hitting her forehead with her hands. The torchlight was thrown on the ground, but the beams were pouring towards her son. Her husband didn’t run and didn’t panic, but walked down slowly as if he was debating whether he should go or not. But when he had seen the shacks of his son without any movements on the ground, he started running down furiously and stood there in a swooping moment. His eyes turned the size of eggs on seeing his son’s body. A bout of wreaking pain beat him. He collapsed upside down.

“What happened?” he asked faintly to his wife.

She didn’t have energy to respond him, but lifted her head to see him.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” the tears searing her sockets as she said.

The first thing he did was checking his pulse. He heard his son’s heartbeat, but it was weak. Maybe his heart was trying to give up.

He tossed his son on his left shoulder and rushed to the primary health care center in the town. There was no auto, he used his TVS bike instead and his wife sat on the pillion by holding her son on the lap. It took them twenty minutes to reach there. The winding paths and lack of street lights on the roads made it difficult. They didn’t have money to go to the private hospital, which was in the middle of the way. His wife was telling him to go there, and she was even ready to sell her Thali (mangalsutra) to save his son. But her husband wasn’t interested in it. He thought his son would be saved anyhow. But tears appeared in his eyes for the first time. He didn’t even shed tears when he had seen his wife suffering while she delivered his son. He didn’t even cry when his father died in a car accident four years ago. But he cried now. First time in his life, he was praying while driving the bike. He prayed and prayed. He wondered if God was taking revenge on him for attacking the person who had visited today and gave instructions to them about how to lead a hygienic life. He felt like beating himself now. But he still didn’t understand what made that his son has suddenly fallen ill. He thought he didn’t eat well in the night. But why should the blood come out of his mouth? He had no answer for it. He had to ask all these questions with the doctor.

When they reached the primary health center, he didn’t know where to take his son. There were three buildings, but where to go? Luckily a nurse came out to check if there was any patient outside. He rushed to the center building where there was a signboard hung on outside, and it said EMERGENCY. He was aware of this word. He knew he had reached the right place. You could also see one ambulance was standing close to the front gate with 108 written in bold letters. But there was no driver inside. Maybe he had gone to drink a cup of tea since it was cold there.

The nurse startled on seeing them rushing towards her with a small boy on his father’s shoulder. She wasn’t much experienced, but a bright scholar and finished her nursing course a few months back.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Don’t know. My son is unconscious. There is blood from his mouth,” Laxmi said in a shivering voice.

The nurse immediately asked them to place her son on the stretcher which was laid close to the entrance. He placed his son. The nurse wheeled the boy inside. She didn’t check his pulse or anything. But she knew the senior doctor was inside. She will take care of him.

He breathed fully when he saw a couple of doctors stirred from their chairs on hearing the stretcher’s screeching sound. Both were ladies, about forty plus. One lady’s hair was thinning at the front to grey shades. But she looked fatter than the other lady, whose face had shown some weariness. Maybe this lady didn’t have sleep as she continued to do night shifts for the last three months.

The nurse immediately brought the drip bottles and connected the heartbeat analyzing machine with the boy. The pulse raising and falling could be seen now. The lady, whose hair was thinning, put on her goggles and checked the boy’s eyes to know if he had enough blood to stay normal. The other lady rubbed his both hands and tried to bring warmth to his body. But there was no shuffling motion from him. The boy still lay down unconsciously. A shuddering fear sneaked into his mom, who was already holding the tip of her sari to her mouth and started weeping. But the doctors didn’t ask them to go and wait outside because they had to ask some questions.

“Nurse, wipe the blood out of his mouth,” the lady who showed weariness, said.

Now the thinning hair doctor noticed the bad smell and her eyes slowly fell on his legs which stained with yellowish green.

“Did he develop stomach trouble?” she asked.

“No, he was doing good until he slept with us,” his mother said in a choking voice, “ but in the middle of night we found him in the bathroom, fallen down.”

The doctor took a deep breath and looked at the other doctor who said, “I think his food became poisonous. Shall we flush everything out from his stomach?”

There was a gas leaking sound, followed by the boy’s body heaved up and down. His trousers drenched with watery shit again. It was crawling down to his knees and soaked the white sheet on the bed. But the boy didn’t stir at all. He was only breathing harder and harder as if he was going to leave the earth at any moment.

“I think he is serious. It looks like he got cholera or something?” the doctor who had withered face, said.

The other doctor bobbed her head and thought for a second what should be done.

“Shall we give the dose of tetracycline? I don’t think there is another option to save this kid,” she said.

There was a weak nod from the withered doctor as she gasped and said, “Yeah.”

The boy’s father and mother couldn’t understand what they were talking. All they wanted was to save their kid. His wife cried on seeing her son’s unstirred face. If there was nobody she would have wept by laying her hands over his chest.

The goggled doctor said to his father, “See, your son has contracted cholera and his body is very weak after he had gone five to six times…………..you know what I mean,” she said as the burly fellow lowered his head. “This disease has become common with the kids living in the slum areas, particularly close to the place where the stagnated water swarmed with flies. Like Cooum River and other dirty places. I think you are already aware that the Government is taking precautions to remove such calamity. But despite their efforts, people are still not aware of the impact.”

The each word from the doctor was a like a thorn that pricked his heart. Worse, he couldn’t even lift his head due to guiltiness. He knew the mistake was on his side. He felt like crying and falling on the feet of the man who had come to their place like a God in the morning, to save their lives. If he had heard his words and took precaution, his son would have been sleeping peacefully in the home alongside him. He felt like slapping himself in front of everyone. First time he realized that how much he had hurt the educated person who had come to show how to lead a healthy life. He knew even the Almighty Lord won’t save him for this offense. Because of his vain pride he had put his son in jeopardy. Even the doctors didn’t know if his son would be alive. But they were hoping for the best. They were doing their job righteously.

“I am sorry, doctor. This all has happened because of me,” he said and started crying like a baby.

Before the doctors reacted to his meaty cry, the boy’s health worsened. His mouth drew in and out as if he had got paralysis and his arms and legs were jerking to and fro without any control. The withered doctor was about to give the injection, but his condition became very serious. She stopped from injecting. She knew it was difficult to give injection now. Within a couple of seconds, there wasn’t a movement in his body. Everything stopped. Yes, everything, including his heartbeat. The boy was dead just because he had neglected the cleanliness. His mother tossed herself on him and wept and wept.