[jai_bhardwaj]

DILLEMA OF RAIN


After his father had left them, he and his mother had moved to a smaller house with only one room and a bathroom. The front part of the room served as the living hall, the right corner, the bed room and the farther end, the kitchen. There was a window on the front wall. Nikki unlocked the door and went inside the house. To add to his gloom, there was a power cut. The house was in darkness.

Nikki’s Science book was lost. He didn’t know what he would do for the exam. The very next day was the exam. Science teacher was not a kind person. He would not believe if he told him that his book was lost. Nikki would be considered a liar. His Science teacher would turn wild if anyone failed. No one was ready to lend him a book. Nikki could not blame anyone. Tomorrow was the exam.

“It is a tough world,” Nikki thought.

“Why don’t you tell your father and buy another book?” asked Varun.

“Yes, yes,” said Nikki and moved away from the place. He did not want to tell anyone that his father had stopped coming home for the past six months. He could sense something was seriously wrong between his parents. Once he asked his mother if his father would come at all. She mumbled that they were a thousand times better off without him. His mother was working as a nurse in a private hospital and was doing night duty.

Nikki went to the kitchen part of the room to see if there was anything to eat. Some of the lemon rice which his mother had packed for his lunch was left over. His anxiety turned to anger. He lay down without eating anything. He was looking at the window. The three vertical bars looked black while the window looked a dark grey. Soon the bars will merge with the colour outside. He thought of their previous house. It was a two bed roomed apartment. He had a room for himself. His father used to come home very late. He did not talk much – only some monosyllables and a few grunts. From his mothers bitter words he could understand that he had another family.

He detested this place, at first. Now he was getting used to it and memories of his other home came only occasionally. Rain started pattering against the door and window shutters. Droplets started spraying inside steadily. He reached out and closed the windows. He lay down again on the chill floor.

Nikki woke up with a start to the sweet smell of cardamom. His mother was cooking. The bathroom was open and her wet clothes hung inside.

“Ma,” he cried.

“Nikki, I didn’t want to wake you. You were fast asleep, baby,” she came and hugged him tenderly.

“Get ready quickly and have some kheer. In the evening we’ll go out and get what you want,” his mother said.

At once it came to his mind. It was his birthday! He had been counting the days, but now at last when it came, he was not in a mood for celebration.

“Nikki, I got a bonus, you know,” said his mother.

Nikki stood at the door and inspected the condition of the place around his house. After getting dressed and drinking kheer, he was ready to go to school. He thought about the words of the principal in yesterday’s assembly.

“Rain or thunder showers, you will be writing your exams; don’t ever dream of holidays. Prepare well!”

So no hope of getting a holiday. He was resigned to his fate. Only a few days back, his mother had advised him.

“Let’s show that man(his father) we can manage very well without him. You will become a great man without his help. You must study well. Will you promise me that?”

And he had assured her by saying ,”Yes.” He did not know how he would explain if he failed.

There was knee deep water in the front till the road, and it was still drizzling. His mother put a couple of logs to serve as bridge, so that he would not have to put his legs in dirty water. Nikki started to walk carefully on the logs when he saw a familiar figure in a rain coat, zooming past. On seeing him it turned around and stopped in front of his house.

“Nikki, no school today.”It was Varun.

“Wh….at? No school?”Nikki was not sure what he heard.

“Yes, it seems some power connections got cut near the school in yesterday’s rain and risky for students. So they have kept a board at the gate. Exam only on Monday, that’s after two days.” Varun zoomed away with glee.

“Yey!” jumped Nikki and realized that he had landed into the muddy water splashing it all over and on himself. The old lady next doors started cursing him for splashing water on her. His mother started shouting for dirtying his clothes. He could not hear anything.

“Ma!. I want science book for my birth day,” he declared in a loud voice.