The Golden Salamander

Pratik grew up listening to the torn tales of his grandfather. His father worshipped the legacy their ancestors have instilled in them. Taking care of the family orchard had been a perpetual practice. Sober and somber but senile, orchard. The orchard was situated in the family farmhouse in a solitary village in Haryana. Harshad decided to take his family [wife and his son - Pratik] to the orchard this summer. Pratik had already invited his friends, Nakul and Shreya, to accompany him. 

While making rounded balls of dough, freshly prepared by Shreya's grandmother for the fish, Shreya kept on dropping the pale droplets of food in the river that meandered like a serpent. Nakul was stringing his toy guitar while harmonizing with the 'swoosh' of the Tyres as they rode across the shimmery river, emerald and antique.  

Shobha was opening the tiffin in which she had packed food as there would be no rest house on the route that stretched across 8 hours. The Savoury scent of the mango pickle made everyone drool. Rajan, the family house help, helped her roll potato mash in the puris and serving it to the kids.  

Harshad was taking it all in and was drowned in the sweet memories of the past. The scent of mustard and wet soil embarked a trail of all forgotten images that were buried somewhere in his mind. A grin got carved in his face while his hair, which was fewer than the day he jumped on the bus to Delhi, fluttered like feathers.  

Harshad got all the kids together and while he hugged the 7-year-old Pratik and kissed his forehead, he told them about yet another tale.  

"My father said that a majestic golden salamander was summoned by our ancestors during a holy procession to guard the orchard. Land, as you know, was the most precious asset earlier, it gave food and shelter. ‘Mother’ is what my father called it. I always wondered where that golden salamander is and how it looks, but to no avail. I was told that it was our ancestors’ good deeds that that divine figure came to earth. They said its body shines like pure gold, it is delicate and strong. It is Mother nature herself, reincarnated in a form of a salamander. The more you look at it the less pacified you are. The most beautiful thing in the universe. The salamander wanders around the orchard in the night and lives in the wet soil. The salamander arrived on the condition that the pristine beauty and rawness of the orchard may never be touched. 'Let the land be forbidden,' said my grandfather. One day...” 

"Can we see divine figures?" Asked Pratik innocently while playing with 'woody' 

"Our human eyes cannot see such divine figures!" 

"Why?" asked curious Shreya 

"I don't know!" Answered Harshad while giving them candies 

“Then what is the point of summoning them?” Nakul too opined 

Harshad gave up on the impatient kids and asked them to play at the backseat of the Mini-Bus 

Shobha brought him and herself some lunch and giggled at the failed attempt of Harshad.  

"They are too young to understand the meaning of these things, do not worry!" 

"Yeah, they are not going to remember this, while the time ravages the pall of reality, they will grow up thinking this is all a dream" 

Harshad laid his head on Shobha's shoulder and kept on thinking of the last day he spent at the farmhouse. 

*** 

He was 8 years old and was very excited to leave for Delhi. His mother told him it was a trip and he got elated. But he never knew that it was his last time there as a resident. The night before he was to leave, he saw a faint light filtering on the porch. The door was ajar, to his surprise, because they kept it locked due to the wild animals. He followed the light and felt as if he was floating, nearing the laburnum standing in the midst, he saw the flowers all yellow and bright. Creeping out of the flowers rose a bright and shiny golden salamander, it was not regular, it had a feathery plumage that was dripping glitters, on his head. He could see it coming towards it. Beutiful and tranquil. He stood there gaping the striking elegance of the creature. The salamander bowed his head and Harshad followed.  

"I will miss you!" it said 

"Is it a dream?" 

"I don't know, honey, it might be!" It said in a mellifluous and enchanting voice, unforgettable and resonating in the void of the night 

"You are the golden salamander, right?" 

"Yes, I am!" 

"Do you know me?" 

"Yes, I know your entire family" 

"How is Grandma?" 

"She is happy and with the god, she is going to wait a little until she comes back in a body!" 

"Really?" 

"Yes, she will come back as your son" 

"After I get married?" 

"We will see that later" 

"Can I go sleep now; mom will be angry If I am fussy tomorrow!" 

"OfCourse honey, but will you do one thing for me?" it chuckled 

"Yes" 

"Do come here with your son, later!" 

"I will" 

Harshad woke up the next day. He was in his bed, but the visage of the majestic deity still enchanted him. 

"Come on Harshad, we must leave!" called his father 

His grandfather came and picked him up and got him ready and then they left. Harshad thought it was a dream and forgot about it later. 

*** 

But the previous month he was looking for some pictures in the album. While he turned the pages the old pictures set in black and white, kept on unfolding. Then came the wedding pictures and finally the picture of Pratik's first birthday. Harshad was about to turn the page, but some golden glitter poured out of the partition of the page, Harshad touched it and tranced back to the memory of the golden salamander. He closed the album and saw Pratik playing in the garden, the aroma of the food his grandmother used to make overwhelmed his mind and Harshad started weeping. He took the picture of his grandmother out and kissed it.  

To this day Harshad doesn't know how much of it was truth and how much of it was fantasy. But the fact that the golden salamander would be waiting for him in the orchard made him poignant and he felt thankful for the watchful eyes of his ancestors who worked so hard to pave a future in which their successors would hopefully populate, fearless and proud. To the proud fathers and mothers in heaven, he waved a kiss and closed his eyes, while listening to the fleeting sound of the kids playing and Shobha's fingers caressing his hair. The lustrous golden light of the setting sun covered his eyes akin to his grandmother, taking away all the pain that had been extemporized, putting him to sleep.