A boy with a gift: part VI The Finale
Please read the parts I to V of the short story first, before starting with the sixth. You will find them below a few articles down.
The next morning: Opening day of the Bhadra Mela
After a heated conversation majority of the family decided Chottu needs to speak to Sarpanch about what might happen today. Against his daughter's will, nana said he wants to accompany chottu for his safety. They both hurried towards his house only to find Ahmed mama standing alone outside. He inquired why were they panting and chottu told him about his dream. Ahmed said he knew where he would be now according to his wife. All three rushed to the fields of the fair, where the sarpanch was supposed to be inaugurating the fair. On the way Ahmed mama tells he wanted to meet sarpanch to allow all the poor "untouchable" kids from the slums across the river to come to fair. Nana agreed with the idea, they were innocent little kids after all.
Sarpanch sahib was surrounded by people all around. Everyone in pure whites, a red ribbon lay before the entrance of the field. A scissor was brought and as sahib was about to cut it, someone yelled "Sarpanch sahib Ruk jaiye!!!"
Everyone looked behind to find our trio.
About the dream: Chottu was at the gates of the fair in brand new clothes. He was overjoyed to see so much of colours, so many beautiful faces, smell of so many delicacies all at the same time. Kids running from everywhere to everywhere. First came the garment stalls with there multi-coloured sparkly garments, and then the bangle and accessories stalls all geared up to seduce women and girls into the land of beauty. Then came the kids stores with wooden toys stacked to the sky, followed by snake charmer, puppet show with crazy loud folk music and ultimately chottu's favourite-the food stalls. The heavenly smell of chole-bhature, wadas, sweets and gol gappas intoxicated our kid when someone offered him a glass of sherbet. As he moved his hands to hold it, the glass fell and splased red syrup all over his clothes which was accompanied by a pin drop silence. The over crowded fair was suddenly all empty, no person in sight, no noise, no music, when suddenly water came gushing from all directions, waves so high that the clouds were engulfed and the hill-tops no longer visible. He ran for his life but the waves sucked him in and crushing pain of water woke him up. Clearly the fair was about to face an imminent flood.
Sarpanch sahib laughed it off, so did all the people around. Are we supposed to cancel the whole fair because some child dreamt he is drowning, exclaimed one man.
"Yeh koi aam bacha nahi hai sahib, ye jaunpur ka chottu hai jiske saare sapne sach hote aaye hain" claimed Ahmed mama.
"Kyun! Aapne hi kaha tha ki sukha padega, Kahan gaya wo sukha? Aaj aap baadh(flood) ki baat kar rahe ho!" said Sarpanch Sahib.
Chottu felt extremely embarrassed and his face turned red with anger. Nana came to rescue, taking the fall he said:
"Sahib! Wo hamari galti hai, bache ki nai. Jhuti Sauhrat ne hame andha kar diya tha. Magar aaj yeh sach keh raha hai! Agar logon ko yaha se nahi hataya gaya to anarth ho jayega"
Sarpanch Sahib refused blindly. the ribbon was cut and the party started. Nana suggested they go home, its not in their hands anymore but chottu refused. He wanted to wait and watch whether the flood really comes, it did seem highly unlikely in the month of august and today chottu wanted to test his gift.
The day passed by slowly, every one was enjoying except chottu. Sitting on the fence wall, he just kept watching the people and the sun setting, wishing he was proven wrong today. Few people rushed to the gates, widening it so that a police van could come in. The Commissioner was here with a news. Sarpanch Sahib rushed to see him. The news wasn't good. People started running in all directions to inform everyone, take out the kids and save as much of their stalls as they could.
Due to the heavy rainfall in the north of Uttar Pradesh, the Sultanpur dam couldn't contain the River Gomti anymore. The rising levels had finally broken down the dam and a raging flash flood was coming down to Jaunpur. The village had less then half hours before the waves hit the fields of the Fair. The prediction came true but no one cared, everybody was rushing to save their family and reach to the safe spots as soon as possible. Nana came running and asked chottu to rush to home. He asked about whereabouts of Ahmed mama. Ahmed mama had crossed the old wooden bridge to inform the lower caste "untouchable" kids to not come to the Fair today as it could be dangerous. What he didn't knew was that the water was on the head and any minute it will wipe away everything in the vicinity even if the river looked very calm. Chottu ran towards the bridge, he wanted to see if Ahmed was trying to cross the bridge at the time. With his tiny body chottu could run against the crowd while nana couldn't. His senile body was not capable of competing with sprinting chottu against the crowd of hundreds.
Chottu reached the bridge and to his surprise Ahmed was trying to cross the old bridge to come this way. Oh! He had no idea. Chottu yelled at him to keep away and go back to the other side of the bridge which was still closer but the poor man's hearing was not good enough. He started moving more steadily towards chottu. But it was too late! The land started shaking and the wind blew strong. The sky darkened and the old wooden bridge trembled, the middle section couldn't bear Ahmed's weight any more and it cracked in reverberance. The whole structure collapsed at the center and Ahmed fell into the pile of wood right on to the pillar top under the bridge. Stuck to the pillar he grabbed it hard with all the strength, praying to allah for one last time. Chottu, without thinking twice ran onto the bridge towards him. He could feel the bridge trembling under his feet, the rotten wood being too weak to bear a bird's weight let alone a human. Chottu reached the broken section and grabbed Ahmed with both hands. The poor man wished for help but didn't expect it. Chottu pulled the old man over back to the bridge from the top of the supporting pillar. Ahmed was relieved but he yelled madly at chottu for risking his life to save him. But Alas! Their time was up.
A huge wall of water came gushing thunderously from the west, with boats, logs and trees floating on it like tiny debris. The water smacked the coast so hard, that everything in sight was reduced to pieces from houses, temples and docks to trees and animals. Ahmed knew the end was near, so he hugged chottu tightly and kissed him goodbye, and uttered some verses from the Quran. Before they knew anything, the waves knocked down the already shaken bridge badly, in a blink's time it didn't exist any more. The Flash Flood passed by taking with it every thing that came on the way. In a fraction of second, the wooden bridge that had existed there for the last15 years was wiped out of scene like it was never there. And so did our two beautiful souls. The villagers stood on the hill top watching everything with their eyes wet with fear and pity.
6 Months on...
The sacrifice of chottu had verified the fact that it was never about fame or glory or money, it was an innocent child with a heavenly gift who sacrificed his life to save everyone else, including people who called him a fraud and pretender. Sumitra was devastated, and so was nana and nani. They eventually came to terms with it and thanked the lord that they ever knew a child so good, so brave and courageous, too good to live amongst us sinners and that, now is in a better place.
That's where my short story ends folks,
Thank You for reading.
The next morning: Opening day of the Bhadra Mela
After a heated conversation majority of the family decided Chottu needs to speak to Sarpanch about what might happen today. Against his daughter's will, nana said he wants to accompany chottu for his safety. They both hurried towards his house only to find Ahmed mama standing alone outside. He inquired why were they panting and chottu told him about his dream. Ahmed said he knew where he would be now according to his wife. All three rushed to the fields of the fair, where the sarpanch was supposed to be inaugurating the fair. On the way Ahmed mama tells he wanted to meet sarpanch to allow all the poor "untouchable" kids from the slums across the river to come to fair. Nana agreed with the idea, they were innocent little kids after all.
Sarpanch sahib was surrounded by people all around. Everyone in pure whites, a red ribbon lay before the entrance of the field. A scissor was brought and as sahib was about to cut it, someone yelled "Sarpanch sahib Ruk jaiye!!!"
Everyone looked behind to find our trio.
About the dream: Chottu was at the gates of the fair in brand new clothes. He was overjoyed to see so much of colours, so many beautiful faces, smell of so many delicacies all at the same time. Kids running from everywhere to everywhere. First came the garment stalls with there multi-coloured sparkly garments, and then the bangle and accessories stalls all geared up to seduce women and girls into the land of beauty. Then came the kids stores with wooden toys stacked to the sky, followed by snake charmer, puppet show with crazy loud folk music and ultimately chottu's favourite-the food stalls. The heavenly smell of chole-bhature, wadas, sweets and gol gappas intoxicated our kid when someone offered him a glass of sherbet. As he moved his hands to hold it, the glass fell and splased red syrup all over his clothes which was accompanied by a pin drop silence. The over crowded fair was suddenly all empty, no person in sight, no noise, no music, when suddenly water came gushing from all directions, waves so high that the clouds were engulfed and the hill-tops no longer visible. He ran for his life but the waves sucked him in and crushing pain of water woke him up. Clearly the fair was about to face an imminent flood.
Sarpanch sahib laughed it off, so did all the people around. Are we supposed to cancel the whole fair because some child dreamt he is drowning, exclaimed one man.
"Yeh koi aam bacha nahi hai sahib, ye jaunpur ka chottu hai jiske saare sapne sach hote aaye hain" claimed Ahmed mama.
"Kyun! Aapne hi kaha tha ki sukha padega, Kahan gaya wo sukha? Aaj aap baadh(flood) ki baat kar rahe ho!" said Sarpanch Sahib.
Chottu felt extremely embarrassed and his face turned red with anger. Nana came to rescue, taking the fall he said:
"Sahib! Wo hamari galti hai, bache ki nai. Jhuti Sauhrat ne hame andha kar diya tha. Magar aaj yeh sach keh raha hai! Agar logon ko yaha se nahi hataya gaya to anarth ho jayega"
Sarpanch Sahib refused blindly. the ribbon was cut and the party started. Nana suggested they go home, its not in their hands anymore but chottu refused. He wanted to wait and watch whether the flood really comes, it did seem highly unlikely in the month of august and today chottu wanted to test his gift.
The day passed by slowly, every one was enjoying except chottu. Sitting on the fence wall, he just kept watching the people and the sun setting, wishing he was proven wrong today. Few people rushed to the gates, widening it so that a police van could come in. The Commissioner was here with a news. Sarpanch Sahib rushed to see him. The news wasn't good. People started running in all directions to inform everyone, take out the kids and save as much of their stalls as they could.
Due to the heavy rainfall in the north of Uttar Pradesh, the Sultanpur dam couldn't contain the River Gomti anymore. The rising levels had finally broken down the dam and a raging flash flood was coming down to Jaunpur. The village had less then half hours before the waves hit the fields of the Fair. The prediction came true but no one cared, everybody was rushing to save their family and reach to the safe spots as soon as possible. Nana came running and asked chottu to rush to home. He asked about whereabouts of Ahmed mama. Ahmed mama had crossed the old wooden bridge to inform the lower caste "untouchable" kids to not come to the Fair today as it could be dangerous. What he didn't knew was that the water was on the head and any minute it will wipe away everything in the vicinity even if the river looked very calm. Chottu ran towards the bridge, he wanted to see if Ahmed was trying to cross the bridge at the time. With his tiny body chottu could run against the crowd while nana couldn't. His senile body was not capable of competing with sprinting chottu against the crowd of hundreds.
Chottu reached the bridge and to his surprise Ahmed was trying to cross the old bridge to come this way. Oh! He had no idea. Chottu yelled at him to keep away and go back to the other side of the bridge which was still closer but the poor man's hearing was not good enough. He started moving more steadily towards chottu. But it was too late! The land started shaking and the wind blew strong. The sky darkened and the old wooden bridge trembled, the middle section couldn't bear Ahmed's weight any more and it cracked in reverberance. The whole structure collapsed at the center and Ahmed fell into the pile of wood right on to the pillar top under the bridge. Stuck to the pillar he grabbed it hard with all the strength, praying to allah for one last time. Chottu, without thinking twice ran onto the bridge towards him. He could feel the bridge trembling under his feet, the rotten wood being too weak to bear a bird's weight let alone a human. Chottu reached the broken section and grabbed Ahmed with both hands. The poor man wished for help but didn't expect it. Chottu pulled the old man over back to the bridge from the top of the supporting pillar. Ahmed was relieved but he yelled madly at chottu for risking his life to save him. But Alas! Their time was up.
A huge wall of water came gushing thunderously from the west, with boats, logs and trees floating on it like tiny debris. The water smacked the coast so hard, that everything in sight was reduced to pieces from houses, temples and docks to trees and animals. Ahmed knew the end was near, so he hugged chottu tightly and kissed him goodbye, and uttered some verses from the Quran. Before they knew anything, the waves knocked down the already shaken bridge badly, in a blink's time it didn't exist any more. The Flash Flood passed by taking with it every thing that came on the way. In a fraction of second, the wooden bridge that had existed there for the last15 years was wiped out of scene like it was never there. And so did our two beautiful souls. The villagers stood on the hill top watching everything with their eyes wet with fear and pity.
6 Months on...
The sacrifice of chottu had verified the fact that it was never about fame or glory or money, it was an innocent child with a heavenly gift who sacrificed his life to save everyone else, including people who called him a fraud and pretender. Sumitra was devastated, and so was nana and nani. They eventually came to terms with it and thanked the lord that they ever knew a child so good, so brave and courageous, too good to live amongst us sinners and that, now is in a better place.
That's where my short story ends folks,
Thank You for reading.
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