The Boy From The Town

Raju lived in the village with his grandma. The village was calm and steady. It moved with its own pace. There was a tranquility in the village. All that it contained was trees, large farms and really great people. But during the summers the villages were filled up with the people. As the summer vacations started, people moved to their relatives in the village. And the tranquility changed into the roars of laughter, cries of children and murmurings of women.

Raju didn't have many friends. During the hot afternoons he used to sit behind his room window alone, and watched the cars or bullock carts passing away leaving behind the flying dusts.

One evening when Raju was sitting in the garden alone, painting a cow which was his drawing assignment, a boy came up to him and asked “ Hello! I am Aman. Is there no ice-cream seller here in the village?”.

“Yes, we have many here, but you will have to go the market for that. They come here only in the afternoons.” Raju replied.

“Can you please take me there? I am not able to bear this heat here.” he asked.

Raju agreed.

“You don't have this much heat there in the town?” Raju asked in the way.

“Ha ha, We do have this much heat there but ice-creams are readily available there.” he revealed.

That night Raju was thinking only of the town. He guessed how the people had to just come out of the house to get what they want. They are readily available after all. He wondered how the markets there would look like. The thoughts of big schools, big hotels, cemented roads all kept him awake him till midnight.

The very next day when he met Aman, he talked mostly about the town.

“The schools must be big there?” he asked.

“Yes they are very big indeed. And there are many there.” Aman replied.

“Are there only cars or you also have bullock-cart there?” he asked again.

Aman sensed his desperation to know more about the town. He said just what Raju wanted to hear.

“Why don’t you come with us and see all by yourself?”

“Who? I? ……” he mumbled.

“Yes. Come with us. We are leaving tomorrow at 7 am.” he disclosed.

Raju packed his bags. He went to sleep early. But he just couldn’t sleep. The excitement was at its peak. He was thinking if he should tell his grandma about his visit. But he settled at No. He would return the same day he thought.

The very next day when he opened his eyes. It was already seven. “O my God! I am late.”, he almost cried. He picked up his bag ran to the street. Far away he saw Aman’s car going away. He ran behind it. But it was too fast to disappear. Raju found himself wrapped in the flying dust.

That night he just thought about the boy. Isn’t the words of the boy from the town to be trusted? Through the window he could see that it was dark in the streets. There were no signs of cars approaching. Maybe next year, he thought and closed his eyes just to find out that he was in the town in the dreams.