The Unbridled Spirit

Chapter 1

The road is wide and the stars are out
and the breath of the night is sweet,
And this is the time when wanderlust should seize upon my feet.
But I'm glad to turn from the open road and the starlight on my face,
And to leave the splendour of out-of-doors for a human dwelling place.
I never have seen a vagabond who liked to roam
All up and down the streets of the world and not to have a home:
The tramp who slept in your barn last night and left at break of day
Will wander only until he finds another place to stay.
A gipsy man will sleep in his cart with canvas overhead;
Or else he'll go into his tent when it is time for bed.
He'll sit on the grass and take his ease so long as the sun is high,
But when it is dark he wants a roof to keep away the sky.
If you call a gipsy a vagabond, I think you do him wrong,
For he never goes a-travelling but he takes his home along.
And the only reason a road is good, as every wanderer knows,
Is just because of the homes, the homes, the homes to which it goes.
They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,
And now and then there's a toll gate where you buy your way with tears.
It's a rough road and steep road and it stretches broad and far,
But at last, it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.

(Roofs by Amelia Josephine Burr)
                            ***
“Gull, where are you? Come here, now!”
“Yes, mama?”
“Where have you been? Go and fetch me some water from the well, and help me cook something…here, take the pail, and go.”
“Yes, mama.”
Gull took the pail and headed outside. She pulled water from the well and decided to rest for a while so she put the bucket on the ground. The Sun was generously distributing its light among the creatures below it. Gull sat on the patch of grass near the well and closed her eyes to take the benevolent beams in. She felt someone was standing a few steps away from her. She turned to see a tall guy who was apparently in his twenties; he had dishevelled curly long hair; tied in a band, warm bright eyes under thick lashes on a wicked and bonny face, and he seemed very attractive to her. He had a get-up that was strange to her. The big guy was startled to see her captivating beauty. He had seen so many beautiful faces but the beauty of this face was something unique; something magical. His eyes wandered from her long, curly brown hair to her eyes and held there. The girl was intimidated by his long stare.
She stood up from the grass. She swallowed hard and heard herself asking, “Who are you?”
The spell broke and the guy blinked and replied softly, “I’m Harman, Miss?”.
"Gull", she replied and turned to pick up the pail from the ground. She was feeling nervous as it was not usual for her to talk to strangers. She headed to her home walking speedily. Harman called her name slowly and smiled his most charming smile.
After coming home, Gull helped her mother in cooking and setting the table. They ate in silence and had tea. After eating she combed through her house and cleaned it. After a long day, she went to her bedroom. While lying in her bed she started reading as usual and was soon lost in her world. During the reading, those wild eyes blinked on the screen of her mind and she couldn't read anymore. After a few moments, the book was placed on the side table. Gull wasn't feeling well, she wasn't aware of the cause of the restlessness either, and those eyes… She stood up from the bed and went to the window. On opening the window a feeling of freshness went through her and there was that familiar moon that she has been staring at and talking to since her childhood. Being a selenophile has its charm. You just see the moon and forget the rest of the world but for some people, it brings the memories of their beloved ones… so did it bring for Gull. She was looking at the moon continuously and saw those eyes again, now on the face of the moon...
Her heart was perplexed, how could she think that much, just for a stranger she didn't even know? Why was this forever-comforting moon bringing discomfort in her? Why was her heart not moving at its normal pace? Ah, those eyes… just looked at her for some fleeting moments but stole her comfort at the very moment. 'Will she get the same comfort again in her life?' She asked herself. 'On looking in those mesmerizing eyes again', answered the heart. She closed the window abruptly and went to bed again. After hours of struggling she was drowned in the benevolent sea of sleep.
In the morning after having breakfast, she went outside for a walk. After walking, she went to the lake and sat near the lake. With her eyes closed, and hands around her knees, she was listening to the melody of the water. On hearing the footsteps coming near her, her eyes flicked open. On seeing Harman, her heart started beating madly. He sat beside her. They talked about the alluring beauty of the lake and nature. Then she asked Harman about his whereabouts. He told her that he was a gipsy guy who roamed from one place to another. She told him what she had known about the gipsies, 'the wicked tricksters'. Harman told her that he was a Roma. Roma is the word gipsy used for the ‘man’. Roma always found the gadjó (outsiders) distrustful to tell their secrets. But with Gull everything was different. He felt himself inclining towards her. Being a Roma he had always been superstitious and had believed in being caught in love by someone.
Gull asked him, “What is the meaning of your name?”
“The hardy”, he replied.
When Harman asked about the meaning of her name she told him, “the flower”. Gull was a Persian word meaning flower.
“Even the name doesn’t seem to do justice to your looks!” He said, under the influence of the magical moment.
In return, he heard her soft melodious laughter. The corners of her eyes became narrow when she laughed. His heart stopped beating for a while. It was the moment he felt that he was struck by the cupid’s arrow and there was no way to escape the attack.
“Where are you exactly from?” She asked. He told her, “I’m a Roma; a gipsy. I don’t stay in one place. So, I’m from nowhere.”
“Don’t you have any place or home to lodge? It’s just strange not to have one”, she said.
“Yes, but a home is where one finds freedom, I always wander from one place to another, and wherever I go, I’m free”, he replied.
“Don’t you think that you’re enslaved by your freedom? You’re bound to dislodge always, you can never have a family in that sort of living”,
“We belong to nowhere, but we have everywhere to go. Our tribes are our family.” She continued, “…and, what about Love? What if you fall in love with someone, somewhere, won’t you stay for your love even?”
“Being in love…” he closed his eyes, “I’m in love with my instinct of floating from one point to another, and I must tell you, a Roma, when he loves someone he doesn’t wait for the time and fate, he snatches his love when he feels it necessary.”
Gull was intimidated by his remark and deliberately changed the topic of love.
“Tell me about your tribe at least, where were you born?” She asked.
“I’m a nomadic gipsy from the tribe Bede in Bangladesh.” He told her.
He told her about his parents, his father died before his birth and her mother died giving birth to him. He was raised by his uncle. His uncle was also a gipsy. Once he went to Ireland and took Harman with him too. He told her that someday he would leave this place also, to keep on his journey… a journey with no destination. Then, Harman asked Gull about her hobbies. She told him about her love for books and reading habits. She told him her love for collecting books… the love for the process of collecting books never ends. We always feel our pile of books is incomplete and end up adding more and more…
One day he came near the lake but Gull wasn’t there. He waited for hours but she didn’t come. He returned disappointed. He felt melancholy in his surroundings and within him as well. How strange it is, when we feel gloomy inside, the world on the outside loses its charm also and everything seems to be adding to our grief. Our insides begin reflecting on the outsides and the fog of melancholy seems to cover either our eyes with which we look at everything or the world we look at… shadows of evening darkness began to prevail everywhere, it seemed like the blackness of the night was descending on his heart. He was in love with Gull but he thought that Gull didn’t have the same feeling for him and this thought seemed to snatch his breath.
Gull inside her home was resting in her bed. She couldn't go to see Harman that day… she got up in the morning, she wasn't feeling fresh and didn't have her breakfast. She bade her mom good morning and told her she was going outside. On her way to the lake she felt her chest tightening, she couldn't breathe normally…after a few moments of struggle, she fell to the ground unconscious. Some children playing outside saw her and went to tell her mother about it. Her mother came and with the help of her neighbours, took Gull back home. On arriving home, she made Gull lie in her bed and went to the kitchen to get a potion for her that she gave Gull whenever she had an asthma attack… she had it now for the third time. No one knew what was inscribed in the book of her fate. Will she get up or will she go to sleep forever, without being disturbed, without any trouble, without any discomfort?
                           ***