A Collection of Short Stories

A Precious Gift. 1

Ace Edition

"It's coming your way! Catch the ball Nariman!" someone screamed from a distance in the field.

Nariman didn't need that indication. His eyes never left the ball that was enlarging slowly each second in his eyes.

As the ball closed in towards his direction, he raised his arms instinctively and manoeuvred at the anticipated position where the ball would land. When he realised that he would miss, he held his breath, closed his eyes and leapt.

He felt the object beautifully being clasped in his palms when they retracted by its force. The heat searing into his skin felt like bliss. And then he fell down with a thud.

His teammates erupted in joy. They had won the match.

"That was an amazing catch brother!" Sushil said as he and Nariman walked to the cycle stand.

"Hehe! Thanks man. You too did an amazing job by hitting four boundaries! I got bowled after scoring just twenty six runs. That catch redeemed me." Nariman said. They both reached the cycle stand and found a small gathering of boys.

"Hey! What's the matter?" Nariman asked while trying to peep through the group of bodies. "Hemant has brought a new watch that was gifted to him by his uncle who lives in the city." said Sharad half-turning his head to Nariman while his eyes remained glued to the shining watch. It was indeed the most beautiful piece of watch that both Sushil and Nariman had seen till now.

"That's such a beautiful watch Hemant!" asked Sushil.

"Ofcourse it is!" Hemant imposed. "And do you know? It shows date and day of the week as well!" He advanced his wrist to show-off the golden rimmed watch with a black dial. "My uncle said it was one of the limited editioned ones. And that it won't be available for the next couple of years." Inside, the group was muttering curses at this arrogant brat.

"All right guys, I have to go now, Ma will thrash me if I'm late," Nariman said, unable to tolerate the bragging of Hemant anymore. "I need to go too, I have to finish my homework." Sushil snapped and followed Nariman. Sushil sat on the carrier of Nariman and after an initial running, the latter climbed unto his cycle as it took off to the stony path of the village.

Dropping Sushil at his home, Nariman cycled his way back to his home which was only a few minutes from that of Sushil. He lavished the sunset across the hills on his way. Upon arriving, he carefully peeped through the window to see if his father, whom he reverently called Bapu. He was there indeed, sitting on his desk and writing something under an earthen lamp. Nari quietly removed his slippers, arranged them properly with his hands, placing them close to the aligned shoes and entered. Washing his hands, feet and face, he first went to the deity room and knelt before the idol before going to study.

Despite being at it for hours, Nari found it hard to concentrate on his books. His mind was constantly stuck at that gold and black watch that Hemant received as a gift. He wondered why some people are more fortunate than the others and why he never received any kind of such good fortune. He cursed his fate for not having an uncle living in the city who could send him precious gifts.

Nariman was studying in the seventh standard, but he always made it a point to study further ahead of the course and learn something more that others wouldn't do. That was what kept him at the top rankings of his class. But realising that these silly thoughts are wasting too much of his time, he had no choice but to stop studying and do his homework early. He increased the intensity of the earthen lamp by turning a knob and began doing the sums marked on his textbook.

The next day at school, results for the previous week's test were announced. Nariman had completely forgotten about it but it wasn't a big deal. He had scored the highest marks yet again. He came home and announced it slowly to his father who nodded in acknowledgment. That same evening, Nariman's cousin brother came from the city.