Spring in Winter
Updated: Jul 2
Part I
Time is a magical thing; less is it understood and more ambiguous. It’s both creator and destructor at the same time. It builds relationships, and it will be the sole witness as things shatter. You can never explain its ways. The day, which he never imagined, at least in his last relationship before he had to commit to marriage, would never have ended that way. It’s been a long time since he could understand that he should never be in love once again. He might be wrong at times, but he never imagined that things in his life would turn out like this.
Amith, who is twenty-nine years old, from a village that even Google struggles to find on its map, is now in the middle of an ocean of emotions, sitting alone on the shore. The clock struck 11 midnight, and he broke his promise made to his love a year back that he would not touch alcohol ever again. He drank three full quarters from the full green bottle just beside him. Once again, for the first time in the last 20 years, he cried his heart out. The tide was calm that evening, and the wind had ceased. Just the high rock, all spread sand, and he was there in front of the vast bank of water alone and quiet, testing the time that had tested him a few hours ago.
Let me begin with his early youth, which was almost 16 years ago. He was like any other young boy, full of dreams and confusion about things. He is the only kid to his loving parents, which was a benefit of having all their time for himself. He never waited for anything that attracted him; he was given whatever he wished for. However, he is always under his mother’s eye. She, unlike his father, is strict about discipline. That turned sometimes into a hard task to deal with. He is an explorer of new lands, of course, on a smaller scale. The explorations for this child, Columbus, sometimes became much more problematic.
On Sundays, he generally wakes up earlier than on weekdays to explore the four paths that lead to unknown lands about which he knows less. The lesser-known is a much-pining desire to know. At such an age, there would be more questions than answers. Most of those questions have to be answered by experience rather than explanations. He tried to find most of the answers on his own. Once, he was scolded by his mother for being a CID officer, even though she was very busy with her household work.
He planned to explore the east on a Sunday, which is the sun’s abode. He has seen the sun emerge in all its grace out from there many times, but from exactly where? What’s there at the far end of the village? What could I find if I walk along the path until I’m tired? These questions propelled him for it. He, now, is all ready for it.
Part II
Early at 5, he woke up before anyone at home, sneaking out like a cat; he excelled at the art of silent walking. He is very cautious not to make any sound that might wake his grandmother. Ever since her husband passed away, it seems she has become an insomniac. She is the one who wakes up early among others. He opened the door, which had recently been repaired to shut its mouth from making the creaking sound. The door itself was a faithful guard for the home.
Whenever someone opens it, it sets off a creaking alarm for the inmates. But its loyalty to the inmates was taken the wrong way, and the carpenter was called in to lubricate it. Finally, he left his house without being noticed. It’s 5:15 now, and he is headed towards his trusted companion Raju. For example, they are cousins, but before their relationship, they were good friends. He stealthily sneaked onto their verandah and took a stick he had got under the big Neem tree in front of the house to poke Raju and wake him up.
He opened the unbolted window that is next to Raju’s bed and poked him in the stomach, soon to hear a thunderous cry, “Thief! Thief! Thief!.” Baffled by the cry, he jumped over the wall and hid. It was not Raju but his grandmother! He was struck in shit before he could realise that he had committed a blunder. He hid like a rat in the hole, fearing the consequences. He can’t really get to the reason why that idiot slept somewhere else, even though he was informed about the plan last night!?
Grandmother’s cry woke everyone, including Raju. It doesn’t take Raju long to understand what really happened. He slipped himself into his dress and came out saying, “Don’t worry! No one is here, and I will see if someone is out there.” Though he knew he was a non-entity in his house, he pretended to be like the hero. He saw a detective movie last night and slipped off.
He found Amith and had his hand on his shoulder silently, for which Amith jumped and started running, thinking that he had been caught, before he turned back. Raju could not control his laughter. Amith heard the laughter and stopped; now it was his turn to take revenge. He ran towards him to punch him in the face. Noticing the approaching danger, Raju started running away. Both ran until they got tired. The anger was washed away along with the energy.
Then they stopped, and this time both laughed. Another companion was added within the next minute; Raghu joined the team. Forgot to say Raghu is the third in their adventurous journey. As he was warned not to be late, he would be excluded from the team if he was. Raghu reached the place long before. Unknowingly, these two ran in the proper direction, to the mango grove in the east. Actually, all three relate to one another. Amith’s and Raju’s houses are located adjacent, but Raghu’s is on the next street.
The trio is now on a great adventure that they can boast about the next day in school. They joyfully took their first step towards the long journey, with no idea of the consequences that would befall them.
Part III
Raghu and Raju are both one or two years younger than Amith. They study at the same school, and they think the same thing. No doubt, bondage flourishes when people share the same mindset. In India, there won’t be any specialist lawyers for divorce cases if young people are allowed to choose their life partners from among their friends. These three never differ in the opinion that it is a magical thing. They walked past the coconut groves towards the east; still, the sun was feeling shy to show its full face on that winter morning. The solitude of the vicinity is all for them. Swinging on the cashew tree branches that welcome with their cosy branch cradles, playing with sand, forgetting the time, they are pacing towards the east.
On their way, they met one of their acquaintances from the village and greeted him with a friendly smile on their faces, like the kind you see on television for toothpaste advertisements. He did not smile back and cast a doubtful glance. In a moment, the smile has vanished from their faces, but not their endeavour. They walked past him, and Raghu turned back to see whether the man was still looking at them. He expressed his doubt, asking, “If he informs us at home about our location?” Amith replied, “Let him do it. We shall not fear a cuckold.”
But he still harboured some doubt about the revelation and hid it from the other two. They, on their way, saw a tree full of “Gulab Jamuns”. The word “Gulab jamun” for those fruits might have been given by some uneducated botanists in the village. They didn’t know its name, but they still knew the fruit tasted awesome. Raju climbed the tree and shook the branches. Amith and Raghu collected as many as they could from the ground. They filled their pockets until they popped out. Then, from there, they resumed their journey, eating the fruit. For almost two hours, they walked to listen to a loud, thunderous roar. They can’t come to a conclusion about what it is. Raghu asked, “Where are we?”
Amith retorted, “Hmm! Let me have a glance at the map”, and poked his hand into his shorts pocket. As soon as the other two noticed his tomfoolery, they ran to him to bring him down. Amith ran with loud laughter toward the sound in that direction; the other two followed Amith joyously. Once they crossed the Casuarina tree plantation, they all stood transfixed, mouths wide open, seeing the picture before them. The vast bay of the water, the Bay of Bengal, the finest of their dreams, is spread miles in front of them. The joy, oozing in their hearts, is unclaimed. For a while, they could not speak but to watch one another with glittering eyes. The world has many fine things, and one needs a probing mind to find them all.
Amith, Raghu and Raju are now the sole owners of the sand that spread all over the shore, the tides that never stopped bringing foam to their feet and the water which appeared to have almost touched the sky. They removed their shirts, jumped into the water and started playing, unaware of the time. They climbed the steep sand hills, rolled down, and climbed again. They collected different-coloured pebbles and shells, dug crab holes, built sandcastles, and adorned the tops with soft-coloured wildflowers. Amidst all these pleasure-giving tasks, they forgot to notice something very important: time.
Actually, no one in that gang has a watch, and they were too busy to notice the setting of the mighty sun either. Time, as I have stated earlier, is all-powerful. At that moment, time becomes a villain in their lives. They plunged into the water one last time to wash their sand-bathed bodies, before leaving for home towards their awaiting fate.
Credits
This story was written by Santhosh Ramakrishna, edited by R. K. Chamarla and photographed by Pankaj Tottada.
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