“…and then Rumki and Jhumki reunited with their mother.”
Her mother concluded the story. The little girl with her big
round eyes, mouth filled with food which she somehow forgot to swallow, could wish
nothing more than this reunion. Rumki and Jhumki’s reunion with her mother was
very much desired to her. She was very nervous about the fate of these lost
siblings. Hence this reunion brought a big smile on her face along with a sigh
of relief.
“Why are you not eating food? Finish your food, hurry”, her
mother interrupted her joyous thoughts, “You have school tomorrow, remember. Go
to bed early. I am fed up with your tantrums every morning. It has become a
routine now. Finish your dinner, fast. You don’t go to bed early, don’t wake up
early….” her mother went on saying but she was in no mood to pay any heed to the
allegations. She was busy in thinking of the post reunion situation. Rumki,
Jhumki and their mother might have rejoiced the occasion.
“Mamma, did they celebrate the occasion, just like you do
whenever Bhaiyaa returns from boarding school?” she asked.
“I believe that they did”, her mother replied, “Come; let me
wash your face. Swallow the food properly. I told you not to talk with filled
mouth.”
The little girl again discarded the advices. She went on
asking, “But why did that banyan tree protected Rumki and Jhumki? Did it know
them before?”
Mother replied, “No, but the banyan tree recognized the
angels at a glance and angels are good, pure, no evil can touch them. Good people
get helps from everyone.”
“Mamma I am also an angel!” the little girl giggled.
“No, you are a little monster”, her brother replied
promptly, “you throw tantrums at everyone. You even have hid my color pencils. Tell
me where have you kept those?”
The little angel strongly rebuffed the accusations. They were
almost into a heated argument while their mother intervened in the matter. “Stop
fighting. I will find them. Now you both go to bed. I do not want to hear a
single word anymore from you. Go”, the mother strictly ordered. They followed
it.
It was a daily routine that on the dinner table while
feeding the little girl her mother had to narrate a story to her. After finishing
dinner on the bed the little girl would dream those with her colorful imaginary
lens. That night the self claimed little angel dreamt that she was flying with
her wings. She was flying over a mountain, river, road and her school. She
could see from above that Miss Gomes was taking class who she never liked at
all. Miss Gomes saw her hovering over her head. She got very pissed seeing her
flying hither and thither bunking the class. So what? Now Miss Gomes could
hardly reach her. She was in so high. She was giggling seeing Miss Gomes so furious
and frustrated.
Her dream was interrupted by her mother calling her to wake
up and get ready for the school bus.
After few days her uncle visited their house. She was very
happy to see her uncle. She loved her uncle so much. Her uncle was a good story
teller and he used to fulfill every wish of hers. Whenever her uncle paid visit
to them, the little girl preferred to sleep with him.
One day she was lying next to her uncle at night. Her uncle
was narrating her how he got stuck in his last jungle safari. It was a full
moon night. The jungle looked so mysterious. Wolves were howling, tigers were roaring
and her uncle was alone in that forest. The little girl was amazed by her uncle’s
doughty spirit. Her uncle was stroking his fingers through her hair while
narrating the story. Her uncle haphazardly finished the story so that she could
sleep early. This made her upset. Her uncle promised her to continue it next
day. She was convinced.
Her uncle always gave her a good night hug before she fell
asleep. But this time it seemed suffocating to her. Her uncle hugged her so
tight that she assumed that she might stop breathing at any moment. She struggled
to get rid out of his uncle’s surprise love. Her continuous effort might have
angered her uncle. He suddenly slapped her twice so hard and bit on her breast
which was then a flat chest at the age of six. She felt burning pain on her
soft skin. She cried out loudly. Her mother came running to see the matter.
“Oh! She did not want to sleep. I promised her to continue
the story tomorrow but she was rigid. She started pulling my hair and was
scratching on my face. I slapped her ‘by chance’. Such a monster she has become! I am sorry
sister. Take her in her bedroom,” her uncle said.
Her mother was anyway convinced by her daughter’s mischievousness.
The little girl tried to protest but she found her granny standing there with
her big eyes which was a clear instruction to keep mum. The little girl was
surprised why her granny did not protect her when she was present in the room
and witnessed the entire act!
Her uncle left the house on the very next day. She did not
bid him goodbye. She obeyed her granny, kept mum and bore the pain on her chest
for four days.
It was her cousin brother’s 17th birthday. Her family
went to attend his birthday. He was eight year older than her and two year
older than her sibling. They enjoyed the birthday celebration.
The little girl was always fascinated by her cousin’s
bedroom. It was huge, full of various types of video games which her sibling
had in his room but never allowed her to touch or play. Besides, her cousin had
various kinds of musical instruments in his room about what she was very much curious.
One day during lunch she expressed her wish to play with the
instruments. She expected a rejection, but to her surprise her cousin expressed
the desire to teach her to play guitar. She was so excited.
After finishing lunch, she entered her cousin’s room. Her sibling
did not take any interest and went to have a nap. So did her mother and aunt. Her
cousin locked the door so that no one should be disturbed by the chaos they
were about to make inside the room.
“Come, sit beside me. Let me show you the strokes”, her
cousin said.
She excitedly joined him. It was going really well. Suddenly
she felt some uneasy movements at her back. She preferred to remain ignorant. She
felt ticklish by those movements. To her amazement her cousin removed the
guitar from her lap hastily and kissed on her lips so passionately. Before she
could understand anything he slipped his hands into her frock. Those uneasy
movements continued causing immense pain.
This time she neither cried nor did she scream. She did not
even try to resist her cousin as she did not want to get slapped so hard again.
The self claimed angel only wished to be buried under the ground, wished to
have real wings so that she could fly off so high alike Miss Gomes her cousin
could not reach her. This time she acted like her granny. She surrendered
herself.
On her every birthday her mother gifted her book. It was her
18th birthday. Her relatives, cousins all gathered to celebrate her
birthday. Her sibling could not join them as he was in UK and could not manage
to come. Everyone was rejoicing. Her relatives were reminding her again and
again how mischievous she happened to be. She was a little monster in her
childhood. Now she is a big girl.
She smiled but laughed inside. They did not know that this
little monster became a devil by the time.
She forgot to dream with colorful
imaginary lens. Whenever she dreamt, the color of it was always grey or black
and white shaded. No matter how many stories on angels she had read after that,
she always fell in love with the demons’ character. In her dreams also she
found herself screaming, crying out of some unknown pain and sometime found her
killing or beating someone. Who was that victim, she never knew. She always
discovered herself in shady places in her dreams just like the demons’ palace in
the stories.
She did not have any boyfriend alike her friends of her age at
that time. Not because she was unappealing or something, but she was too
reserved to approach. In spite of having male friends, no one could dare to
approach her. She successfully kept herself within an invisible prohibited
circle inside which no one could trespass.
Gradually she
developed an obsession on devils. She could connect herself easily with Lucifer,
the fallen angel and his fascinating boldness but never with Adam or Eve. In any
discussion on Lucifer, she always took side of Lucifer, she defended him. Such devilish
nature she had developed! People, who used to call her ‘a little monster’, were
right, she thought. Once the self claimed angel by the time realized that she
was no more an ‘angel’, but a fallen angel who was prepared to
face any obstacle bravely.
“Surprise!” her mother said, “look who sent gifts for his
little monster”.
Bhaiyaa! Her brother sent her gifts with a card. She curiously
took the card to read the message first. Her eyes got stuck on the address note.
She could not read further.
It was written ‘my little angel’! He addressed her ‘my
little angel’!
She murmured, “But mamma says that angels are pure!”
That night she tried to dream with her colorful imaginary
lens. She could see nothing. It was pitch dark!
