ASTRA

CH-2 The Mother

She was loudly banging at a door which was already broken with a huge hole that made the interior of the room visible. What was is woman trying to do? fortunately a man passed by, he looked quite old maybe more than sixty years of age, he approached, and I said, signaling towards the woman, "sir, she...... This..."

"Oh, oh child, don't cry, there is no one here, he left us, he left us, there's no use crying now, control your emotions, calm down, wait.." the man went inside, brought water and sprinkled some on her face, instead of getting back into senses she fell down unconscious, he then called someone, probably his wife and some other ladies who took this lady inside. Her devastated state was pitiful. When the ladies went inside the old man looked at me and said, "Who are you child? I don't think I have seen you here before"

"Yes sir, I actually shifted here today itself"

"Oh!"

"Sir, the lady? she...."

"She is not very well with her senses sometimes."

"wh....why?"

"huh! actually four-five years ago her husband went to the jungle to fetch some wood or something for the cattle, when he didn't return for long, she decided to go and search him but her child was very young, I don't know what got into her and instead of leaving the child with anyone of us she locked him up in that room" he said pointing towards that broken door "she had left in the daytime, so she forgot that the room would turn dark by the evening, the child was busy with the food she initially left with him but as it got darker, the child panicked, by the time she reached, the child was crying badly and the entire village was collected outside her house, trying to think what to do next as even after all our efforts we were unable to open the door because the child possibly locked it from inside in panic. when she came, she tried hard to talk to him, but he did not listen."

"Why didn't you break the door?"

"We tried but we could not break it by force, the only option was to tear open the door with an axe, but the child was standing too close to it, he could have been hurt. However, when his cries stopped, we looked through a hole and found him sleeping on the floor, we tore the door open and went in through that hole. She took him outside with a sigh of relief. But...... the child was not sleeping...."

There was nothing left to be said. I invited the old man for tea and he readily came, I quickly prepared tea and brought it to him, he asked, "Oh, so you built this house here, we were all very shocked to see a construction in this village, it has been decades since someone built a house here, and I must say, you have built a very beautiful house." I simply nodded at this and he continued "So, what you are doing here, I mean, you are here for work or..."

"No, I am just here to stay, I don't have any work."

"Then how will you survive?"

"On my pension, that I get from the army."

"What? you don't even look thirty, why did you retire so early?"

"No sir, actually I got my right shoulder hurt and got a transplant that made me unfit for further services."

"But the pension must be very less, no?"

"Yes, but I don't require much, after all I am all alone"

"You...don't have a... family?" he asked hesitatingly.

"No, huh, a born orphan you know." I said trying to smile.

"Don't say that we are all a family, only that our houses are a little far." He chuckled, then suddenly his brows stiffened, and he said on a serious note, "Child you need to be careful, this place is really infamous for the number of mysterious deaths that occur here every now and then."

"What?" I couldn't help but cringe at that.

"I am not lying, that girl, her husband, he was twenty-two when he got lost in the jungle, they say that he doesn't want anyone to live here peacefully. Many children died in all these years that is why the population of this area is so less because the parents don't let anyone in their family come here." He was saying this with such impressions that I wanted to laugh out loud at that. The previous story he told could be true, but this is just too much he's making up now. Anyways, after asking some other questions while I explained to him about my decision to be here, he left assuring me that I can consider everyone here as a part of the family.

Back in the kitchen when I started cooking, I heard something strange, inexplicable, and then I saw a huge black wild cat walking by. I understood the reason for the disturbance. my one-year service in Kashmir's jungles had made me used to it. While relishing dinner, I experienced that I am a great cook.