Showers of rain in Assam would catch anyone unawares. Apart from the monsoons—where half of Assam remains flooded by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries—there are other months too, when the clouds would gather in the horizon, and even before one reaches home, he/she will be drenched in the showers! Unpredictable.... pretty unpredictable! There was a girl, a little girl, who was fond of looking at the ocean's pictures. It enchanted her little mind. Every now and then, she would dream of becoming a beautiful mermaid, like they show in the Walt Disney pictures. She would imagine herself to be the princes of the underworld. Her ornaments would be the beautiful seashells. But of course, the colour of her dress would change quite often, depending on her whims. A particular big conch lay etched in her mind. Her enaai's (maternal granny) house had an aquarium. It was devoid of fishes. What lay in the dry bowl were small seashells and a big, big conch. Once Munu—her cousin—put the conch to this dreamy girl's ears and asked her to hear the roaring sound. Roaring, it was!!
"The ocean sound like this roar that you hear inside the conch," Munu told her. The girl was astounded. What magic the conch held inside its belly!!! It came miles and miles away from the ocean, but brought the sound along.
This spiky brownish-white conch had cast its spell. Now, started a dream in her little head of seeing the ocean, and collecting lots of seashells in a blue lagoon. She tried to compensate the desire by buying some dozen cowries from a puja bhandaar one day. But the cowries were too small. They couldn't suffice the conch.
It was one rainy July day, when this girl was in the 3rd Standard. She loved to jump in the puddles while on her way to school. However, there was only one dampener to this. Her leather shoes would get soft at first, after getting wet in the rains, and then it would be hard like stone. The other problem was the socks. Attending classes all throughout the day in soggy, smelly and wet socks was not a very brave thing to do.
She set out for her school. After getting down from the school bus, she struggled to balance her heavy school bag on one shoulder and her water bottle and the yellow/black umbrella on the other. It was however, not an easy task. It was pouring, her white shirt was already drenched in the showers, her satchel half wet, and her shoes were going ‘SQUISH, SQUISH’ because of the water that filled it up.
She was struggling her way to the school gate, when she saw a small crowd. People were peeping into something. When she reached the spot, she saw that some senior schoolmates were peeping into the small stream, which was like drain cut in the soil. And there were tiny silver fishes swimming in the drain. The girl was excited. There were also brown coloured shells lying in the pool. It looked like the ones that she saw in her enaai’s place, but a tad bit smaller. It didn’t matter.
“Uncle,” she called on the rickshawallah, trying to look as sorry as possible. “Can you pick those shells for me,” she asked him.
“What would you do?” he asked.
“I will carry them home”
So in another couple of minutes, the shells were in her hands.
"The ocean sound like this roar that you hear inside the conch," Munu told her. The girl was astounded. What magic the conch held inside its belly!!! It came miles and miles away from the ocean, but brought the sound along.
This spiky brownish-white conch had cast its spell. Now, started a dream in her little head of seeing the ocean, and collecting lots of seashells in a blue lagoon. She tried to compensate the desire by buying some dozen cowries from a puja bhandaar one day. But the cowries were too small. They couldn't suffice the conch.
It was one rainy July day, when this girl was in the 3rd Standard. She loved to jump in the puddles while on her way to school. However, there was only one dampener to this. Her leather shoes would get soft at first, after getting wet in the rains, and then it would be hard like stone. The other problem was the socks. Attending classes all throughout the day in soggy, smelly and wet socks was not a very brave thing to do.
She set out for her school. After getting down from the school bus, she struggled to balance her heavy school bag on one shoulder and her water bottle and the yellow/black umbrella on the other. It was however, not an easy task. It was pouring, her white shirt was already drenched in the showers, her satchel half wet, and her shoes were going ‘SQUISH, SQUISH’ because of the water that filled it up.
She was struggling her way to the school gate, when she saw a small crowd. People were peeping into something. When she reached the spot, she saw that some senior schoolmates were peeping into the small stream, which was like drain cut in the soil. And there were tiny silver fishes swimming in the drain. The girl was excited. There were also brown coloured shells lying in the pool. It looked like the ones that she saw in her enaai’s place, but a tad bit smaller. It didn’t matter.
“Uncle,” she called on the rickshawallah, trying to look as sorry as possible. “Can you pick those shells for me,” she asked him.
“What would you do?” he asked.
“I will carry them home”
So in another couple of minutes, the shells were in her hands.
1 comment:
You have travelled so much. Y don't u write about them in your blog. Let other mortals know about ur experience.
Although I know, most of the people will be charred by sheer jealousy.
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