In the 1970s, when heavily sounding silver anklets are a trend, Sandhya preferred to wear anklets without jingling trinkets. That helped her to move around stealthily without making any noise and explore nests, holes, and barks on the thickly grown trees. Her mother always warned her to be careful while climbing trees. Fire ants, insects, caterpillars, and even snakes didn’t scare her. She learned to maintain a safe distance from them and kept herself away from any lurking danger on time.
First monsoon showers filled the empty space near her home with flowers that swayed in the morning breeze and greeted her. Tiny or big, she smiled at them and considered them as her best friends. After annual exams, her parents decided to send Sandhya along with her younger siblings to their native town. But she didn’t feel excited to visit her cousins at their native town. She wished to spend her days roaming around the vegetation rich empty grounds around her home. Reluctantly she accompanied her siblings to spend her summer holidays.
First two days rolled off happily as they visited their aunts and had fun roaming around the little town. But, after two days, Sandhya started to feel bored. Days seemed lengthy and she could not find a way to spend her hours with fun. If she were at home at that time, she would be chasing butterflies that flirt among white thumbai flowers that filled the space.
More than having fun, her sisters preferred to have their afternoon siesta. Sandhya could not sleep. She cautiously stepped on the narrow stairs and reached the terrace. The lonely corridor that led to the terrace looked invitingly cool even without a table fan. She entered the room at the right hand corner and sat near the window. Usually in a small town like that, afternoons are silent. Most of the women at home preferred to spend their afternoons by lying down for a while and rest.
For hours she gazed at the empty streets and wondered how lonely she felt at that time. Afternoons at her home, her mother would be deep asleep after lunch and she would prefer to climb and sit on the guava tree near the compound wall and browse through the tree for edible fruits.
She preferred to choose her fruit from the tree on her own and pluck fruits hidden behind leaves. After plucking fruits from the tree, she shared them with her siblings and enjoyed eating in perfect silence.
Her cousins left after their dinner. Once they left, the house looked desolate and scary. By 9o’clock, her paternal granny switched off the only dim light that lit the hall. Light from the street lamp entered through the windows and engulfed the hall in light darkness. It took a while for her to see into the darkness. Sandhya could hear only the ticking clock and she imagined freaky ghosts moving up and down the dark stairs and now and then peeped into the hall through the iron-railed ceiling.
Life looked simple and without any adventure. Sandhya’s bubbling spirits wanted to explore the world and enjoy the bliss of nature. She could not rest for a while and she kept on chattering non-stop. Sometimes her non-stop chattering invited problems.
On a Sunday, they visited one of their aunts for lunch. Her uncle was there at home. While eating he asked her some questions relating to their existing family issues.
“My mom told me not to discuss with anyone about this. I don’t know.”
“Smart answer.” Her uncle chuckled and stopped asking her any more questions.
After playing for a while, they all returned home. Sandhya didn’t suspect anything and she went on with her usual chores.
On Monday evening, when her aunt came home started to complain about her behavior to her granny. She complained Sandhya didn’t have any respect for her elders and she always snapped rude answers.
Sandhya refused telling her that she always respected her elders and she never used rude words to answer. Sandhya started to cry and could not stop crying for the next one hour. Her aunt not pleased with her crying warned her not to behave so rudely with any elders. Sandhya could not share this even with her mother as she had warned earlier not to discuss those things with anyone. Till midnight she sobbed and sobbed and went to sleep on a wet pillow dampened with her salty tears.
Once the school reopened after holidays, days went on quickly. One of her sisters told her mother whatever that happened during lunch at their aunt’s home and also how she chided Sandhya at their granny’s home. Though Sandhya was afraid, her mother would thrash her for whatever that happened, to her surprise, her mother didn’t tell anything.
One evening in the middle of the week, they received the message that their uncle died due to heart attack. He was on his way to the shop when he collapsed and became unconscious on the road. As it happened near his home, people recognized him and took to the nearby hospital. Unfortunately, the doctor could not revive him and he died without responding to the treatment.
Sandhya looked at her wailing aunt and her dead uncle reclined on a chair. She could not suppress her feeling happy, and felt her aunt deserved such a punishment. Sandhya starred at her dead uncle, he looked short and plump. His legs and hands were swollen and black.