The Paper Boat

The world is cocooned beneath the somber empyrean and the shaggy peaky mass of cotton continued the unabating downpour. The endless fall of the large glassy droplets kept drubbing the earth with all its robustness and the straggly unfurled concert proliferation of the old city turned murky with the steady intrusion of thick rain curtain. The canopy of green dispersed randomly here and there is no good for shelter anymore as the walloping of the water is stony as a bullet. The old possessor of the vegetable vendor is busy trying to keep the plastic sheet extending over the spread of his vegetables and occasionally poking a stick into the U-shaped section of the sheet to roll down the water accumulated there. There are absolutely on vehicles on the move as the fluxing water of the rain turned the road into steam.

            

Three of the five steps laying before the entrance door of Deepu’s house are now completely submerged into the muddy water and the scanty covering over the door is hardly keeping Deepu from getting wet as he is trying to float his paper boat in it. Today it is a rainy day for school. His little heart leaped a bit when his mother gave him the news waking him up late than usual. Rainy days are the happiest days. It’s a gleeful morning when you wake up just to receive the magnificent surprise of an unexpected holiday. A day between the week when you get to wake up late and do whatever you like and the best part is you don’t even have to have a fever to get the surprise. Deepu pushes the water a little with his baby palm to give his boat a start but the movement didn’t impress him at all. He splashed the water little more giving the boat a gentle blow and this time it moved a bit to the front but yet it is not enough to set the boat for a great voyage to the land where the Red Prince is engaged in a battle against the one-eyed demon and is about to free the princess who is sleeping forever under the vicious spell of him, so he gave up exhaling a good amount of air through his tiny nostrils.

                                                         The smell of frying the batter of chickpea flour in which his Mom coats different vegetables watered Deepu’s mouth and he ran to the kitchen to cling onto Mom’s neck from the back as she moves her spatula skillfully into the mustard oil turning the coated vegetables upside down again and again. The bunch of the thin gold bangles of her hand tinkled as they clink against each other delicately. Deepu inhaled the smell of the sizzling chickpea flour in one deep breath and exhaled with ahhh!! Sound from his mouth.

                 “Give me one. Give me one now”. He demanded to clasp his mother a little tighter as his eyes gazed the fluffy round balls wobbling inside the hot oil.

              “Oh!! Deepu leave me, leave me I say can’t you see how hot is the oil!!! It is dangerous to lean so close”. His mother said in a voice holding a mocking anger. You will get more than one but first, let me finish the frying. “Till then go and play”. “No I want to be here, I want to see you frying the pakodas please,” he said with a childish stubbornness. “No Deepu not here it is too dangerous hovering around the boiling oil, please go outside and play I will call you when these will be ready.” Mom said rubbing her forehead settling her forelocks with the back of her left hand.

Deepu came out of the kitchen with a grumpy face and flung his little body over the sofa where his grandfather was sitting and watching a bald headed person talking about what should or shouldn’t be done during the moon eclipse on TV. Deepu stared for a moment or two and then got impatient, “I want to watch cartoons now Dadu” he said to his grandfather in a peevish tone.

“Just 10 minutes more Deepu then I will give you the TV. It is a very important topic which Guruji is talking about please let me listen”. Deepu made a gesture of disappointment pushing his lower lip to an out turn and rolled his body on the sofa diagonally throwing his legs over the backrest. The twisting and turning kept him occupied for hardly a minute or two and then he frowned in displeasure again. Holidays are to play and enjoy especially those which are the unexpected ones but for him, it’s all boring since the morning. The gloomy sky and the endless downpour are unbearable for him, as he could do nothing fruitful with it. He jumped down the sofa and waddled to his elder sister’s room bouncing on one leg at a time. His sister was lying on the bed in a semi fowler position resting her back on the cushions placed against the headboard. Her eyes were glued on her phone screen and she was laughing and chatting with someone into it.

            “Didi play with me pleaseeee “, he requested. As he knew convincing Didi won’t be easy as always.

            However his sister who was busy chatting with her friend over the phone didn’t answer. The cords of the headphone kept dangling from both her ears as she laughed and laughed talking about something which Deepu could hardly make any sense of.

      “Di..di play with me”, Deepu said quite loudly this time giving a tug to her hand.

      “Whattt!!” Shouted his sister hurling the hand in the air. “Get lost from here Deepu can’t you see I am on phone?”

                    Deepu mocked her putting his tongue out through the round opening created by bending his two pink lips and ran back to the front door. He doesn’t understand what his didi is always doing with her phone. Before papa gifted her with this instrument she used to play with Deepu snake and ladder, Chinese checker sometimes even badminton but now she is always with that thing and never plays with him anymore. In the pool of water in front of the door, he couldn’t find the paper boat anymore and got even more irked. His soft cheeks swelled and a little bulge formed under his face as he pressed them near to his collarbone.

            The bulky drops of rain kept bouncing to tiny splashes on the water flowing through the front road and the sky kept rumbling in a submissive tone every now and then.

            “Deepu come and play with us” the children called from the road. Deepu now noticed that his friends with whom he plays every evening are out on the road now jumping and splashing water on each other. They are children from the neighboring houses. Every evening they gather after school in the play park nearby and play till it gets dark. Someday hop and catch, someday hide and seek depending on the mood they carry that day.

                            “Come on Deepu let’s jump in. It is great fun over here, come and join us”. The children shouted again. A big smile touched Deepu’s ears and he hustled in the water with his tiny legs. The water bumped up to his waist and dazzled along with his half pants as he jumped and gobbled into it. The rain drenched him immediately and Deepu felt enormously happy hopping and splashing water on his friends. The thunder roared like a lion and Deepu’s little body shivered with the rumbling. His heart started pounding faster, and he looked back at his house twisting his little head to its side. He could see the empty side of the sofa from the drawing room through the half-opened front door. Deepu thought of Mom, she might be still in the kitchen. He wanted to go to Mom now.

     “Hey, where are you going? “Said a boy. “Come on play with us. We will play throwing the ball now.”     Deepu wanted to go home but throwing the ball is fun. And especially getting drenched in the rain is just too tempting to leave so early. Deepu smiled and joined his friends throwing ball at each other. Deepu jumped and giggled and threw the ball and the sky kept pouring hard.    

           

                       Suddenly his eyes caught sight of the paper boat he made this morning. It is now wiggling on the little bulges of the water. It covered the journey from his doorstep to almost the middle of the road. Swirling and dancing, it’s moving to the opening by the road where a good amount of water seems to gush into vigorously. It is his paper boat, which he made with utter concentration and care. One by one folding its part flipping and turning and then folding again. He loved his boat the very first moment it took shape and has no heart to let it get flushed out.

                    Deepu turned to the boat to catch hold of it before it gets flushed through the whirlpool by the road. The boat kept moving to the gushing water flowing slow to fast it’s motion increased. Deepu dragged his little legs under the water trying to move them fast to the boat. He has to catch it before the hole gulps it down. The boat rushed even closer to the opening. Deepu hurtled to it faster and then faster and then there was no road beneath his legs anymore. Two little legs waggled hard to touch the ground but all he could get is the endless flow of water.

He gobbled into the water trying to drag himself back but the sinuous flux was too mighty to fight back by his two tiny legs. His head dashed against the iron lid of the manhole which has been pulled out with the intention of flushing the rainwater, to prevent the water logging on the road. His small hands kept flinging to the air with all their strength to gasp whatever they can but the flow was too violent to surrender to his efforts. He tried to shout but water clogged his neck and rushed into his lungs with force. His body engulfed into the hole and his struggling head kept gasping for air for the last few minutes before a lash of darkness swallowed his little body inside its belly forever.