THE BHOOT IN THE RIVER


PART-I


Its so difficult to sleep these days…
The head ache has been very bad today. She hates such nights. Because, on such nights, the bhoot comes in her dreams.She clings on to her mother who is sleeping peacefully beside her.The vey thought of the bhoot is so frightening. Now, the headache seems so light, for all she can feel is the beat of her own heart. It feels like her heart would come out of her chest. Now, there is a pain in her chest.
She closes eyes tight, trying to keep the bhoot away. But, she knows, the bhoot is still there, in the shadows of the room, in shadows of her mind .

The night crawls on ...
And she waits for the bhoot to come.

She had just come back from school. It was her first day. She was so scared to go, but the school turned out to be a very nice place. She had fun playing with so many kids.
Amma had asked her to remove her uniform. But she wanted to go to Keerthi’s house and show them her new uniform. Keerthi is one year younger than her and was not old enough to go to school. She was running to Keerthi’s house when she heard the sream. She stood still for a moment. Then she ran faster.
Something had happened to Keerthi’s appa.His hands and legs looked scary and he was crying in pain. She was standing beside Keerthi.They did not know what had happened. Keerthi’s amma was crying very loudly. Many people had come rushing in to the house. A man came running in and knocked Keerthi to the floor. She started crying. Everyone was shouting. And she stood there, thinking what had happened to Keerthi’s appa.
It was amma who told her that a bhoot had caught Keerthi’s appa when he was fishing. The bhoot made Keerthi’s appa cry in pain. The bhoot in the river.

Amma had taken Keerthi also to her house that day.She had to share her food with Keerthi for a whole week after that day. There was no food in Keerthi’s house and her ama was always crying. All of them had to remain hungry because there was very little food. Her own Appa was sick and had not gone to work for two days.
Two days later, she saw the bhoot. It had come in her dream. She had screamed and woken up amma that night. She had cried the whole night and did not let amma sleep.

That happened two years ago. Her eyes still closed, she lets go of her amma’s hand. Now, she knows, Keerthi’s appa got hurt because the factories threw acid in the river. There is no bhoot, her teachers tell her everyday.

There is no bhoot. She opens her eyes. And there, in the darkness, she sees it. As clear as ever. The bhoot! It is real and it is waiting for her.
She screams.

PART-II


Its so difficult to sit in class when one is sleepy. She is trying hard to keep her eyes open. The teacher is reciting a poem. All her classmates are repeating the lines after the teacher. She is sitting there, staring at the black board.

STD-III
15/03/05
TRY, TRY! NEVER CRY!!

she had tried her best, but the bhoot just would not go away. It is coming every night now. And it has started talking to her.
When everyone goes to sleep, she does not know whether she is sleeping or not .All she knows is the fear.
The first time the bhoot came near her, the stench was unbearable. It felt like she was near the factories. The same stench.
Then it whispered in her ear, ”I’ll make u cry like I made keerthi’s appa cry. I’ll make your appa cry too. I live in the factory he works in. Cant u smell me when u pass by the factory?” And it started laughing. She was so scared to move, even to close her eyes. Her heart was beating hard against her chest and she realized that she was shaking very badly. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She tried to scream, but could not.
The next day morning, she begged her appa not to go to the factory. She cried and she pleaded, but he did not listen to her. Amma tried explaining to her that if appa does not go to the Factory, they would not have any food to eat.
She is so scared for appa these days. She gets so tensed when appa doesn’t come home on time. She tried telling him, she tried telling everyone. But they don’t listen to her. They tell her there is no bhoot. No bhoot in the river and no bhoot in the factory. Nothing will happen to appa. He is safe.

But she knows, the bhoot is real and it is in the river. When people go fishing, it eats their flesh. And when they cry, it laughs at them.
She knows, the bhoot is real and it is in the factories. In the air. When people breathe, it eats up their throat and chest, like it eats up hers, every night.
One day, it’ll eat us all up.

She knows, because it told her. It tells her, every night.
But no one would listen to her.
Can’t they smell it’s stench when they go to the factories? Can’t they hear its deafening laughter when they fall sick and cry in pain?

She is crying now. The teacher is beside her. Headache, she tells the teacher. She takes her to a doctor who had come to the balvadi for a medical check up. He gives her two tablets. One for headache and the other for cold. ”you will be alright if u take these tablets every day morning. Now, don’t cry. Go to your class.” She is not moving. She is standing there, looking at the doctor. She starts crying again. The doctor puts his arm around her, ”what is it, child?”
She looks down. “Can you make the bhoot go away?”

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For those of you who are curious, the "she " in The Bhoot In The River lives in sipcot, cuddalore.If u really wanna know what she and the other kids are goin through in there, please visit the place urself.For no literature, no poetry, no reports and no photographs can recreate the trauma of being in sipcot, cuddalore.
U and me, alike are responsible for this deplorable state of affairs.
This story is the out come of the emotional turmoil i went through after visiting the palce and interacting with the kids.It was primarily written for me, myself to deal with my own emotions. As for 'her', she is with me always, like the bhoot is with her. And she keeps reminding me that, this life i lead is , but a meaningless act.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The day i walked out of college

The heat of the afternoon sun was too much to bare and the hot concrete road was burning my feet. One cannot escape the concrete roads, once u enter the world of the deemed university.Huge buildings and concrete roads.
And there are the lawns, but nobody is allowed to walk there.Not even humans.So, you can imagine how they treat us, dogs, if we try to walk on the grass.Can't they understand that we don't wear shoes like them? These humans!
Lost in my thought, i was walking towards the hostel mess when i heard a commotion.These humans make a lot of noise for no reason at all and i usually don't bother to check out whats happening. But this time,in between all the noise, heard a sound that made a chill run down my spine.i heard the whine of my friend. I ran to him.
There he was, standing on the road,his head was hanging on the side of his neck, one of his limbs broken and his body, moving in fits.The moment i saw him, i knew that death would be his only relief from what ever had befallen him.And i knew he would have to wait a painful wait for that salvation.I wanted to help him. but there was nothing i could do.
The shock of seeing my friend in such a condition had momentarily taken my attention away from the humans around us.The cacophony of laughter that had erupted from the crowd drew my attention to it.
A human was mimicking my friend in pain and the rest of them were laughing!!
What are u humans laughing at? i wanted to ask them..I've seen your kind in situations worse than this. You ignorant fools! What are u laughing at?
But then, another thought hit my mind,"what would they do if they find a human in a condition like that of my friend? "
They would ignore the human..they would walk around as if they were blind.
Would they do what they were doing right now? may be they would..
I was street dog before i joined the elite crowd in the deemed university and I've had many interesting encounters with humans on the streets.Some of those humans had looked much worse that my friend had that day.
Once, an old man,with only half a body, his eyes bleeding, was lying in the middle of the road.he looked dead.but when i went closer and smelled him, i knew he was alive.He was in such pain that ,if i could have, i would have killed him myself, to relieve him of the pain.But i could not and i walked away.Two days later,he was still on the road.Still alive.
I had lived on the street just outside the college for a year.It was a very difficult time. Everyday,i had to fight with human kids to get some food.There was a big yard where they dumb all the waste food.These human kids,they look so harmless.But take my word, when they are hungry,even a big dog like me cannot stop them from snatching things right from my mouth! They have done that!
Water was another big worry those days.There was no water anywhere.Once i was drinking water from a puddle in the road and this big human, kicked me and drank up all the water.
But life had been very easy since the day i joined the college crowd.There was ample food and water.They just keep watering the plants all the time! I wonder where they get all the water from...
My friend had started howling now...I prayed he would die soon .I looked at the humans again.
Its incredible how a compound wall can make them blind and immune to empathy.
I could sense the irresistible aroma of meat from somewhere and I ran towards its source.there was a big party going on in the lawn. I was trying to get in to the area when i noticed a little girl sitting in the corner and crying.I could not understand why she was crying. I looked around the place.All other humans were enjoying the food and the noise they call music.Wait a minute, there were other little girls there and they were not eating the food.They were serving the food.When i looked at the girl again, i realised she was looking at the food and crying.She was crying because she was hungry!
How unfair can humans get?
They are hungry, but they cannot eat.They make the food, but they cannot eat.They had the food in their hands, but they cannot eat! What unseen forces make them act in such unfair ways? Is it the paper I've often seen them exchange?
How can a piece of paper make a little girl give away the food she cooked? how can it make her cry out of hunger??
Somehow, the day seemed too long and i was not hungry anymore.humans disgust me and i found myself walking out of the college gate.
The streets are far better.
Here, everything is fair, Human or dog, we fight for our food.
And in pain, hunger and thirst, we survive together.
And m sure, that when the day comes for me to go through what my friend had to that day, no one will mock at me.
For they know the pain and they are not blind.
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