It was one of those non-typical
July nights in India with the absence of cooler breeze and slighter drizzle.
Around 9 PM, I reached the bus station to find away to travel back to my home
after a weary working week. The station was not crowded as it was a Monday and
the conductors of different buses were relentlessly shouting their destination
to attain the attention of needy passengers. And so I found my bus and went in
desperately as if I was pursuing a travel to reach some other world. Yes, indeed
it was a world without ticking clocks, buzzing traffics, hyper fast lunches and
back breaking demands. Though I knew that it would take eight more hours to
reach home, I sensed a big relief. The bus was scarcely populated and the
conductor, reminded by the schedules they had, gave a nod to the driver
insisting him to start the travel. It was then a family boarded the bus and
with their loud voices of native Tamil I could easily guess their destination.
They made a menace in arranging their stuffs before they settled themselves in
seats before me. A girl with her baby
brother, her mother and her granny made their family. The bus started to
explore the city before reaching the outskirts and I preferred gazing through
the window as I loved doing that.
I heard the voice of the little
girl expressing her mom in a worried way that the window by her side was so
tight to open and so her mom looked back at me stating their need. On opening
the window for her, the girl gave an enticing smile which could give a reason
to rejoice even for a wrecked man like me. I was thoroughly impressed by her
innocent smile and that was when I noticed some surgical leftovers near her
left ear, it concerned me. But she never bothered about my reactions and
started to play with her baby brother by tickling him and calling him out with
pet names. Suddenly, the tyres screeched for an unavoidable brake that the
driver had to make and the mother shouted “Stella, be careful with the baby”.
Everyone in the bus was alarmed with the mother’s cry except the baby as it was
enjoying the time in the hands of his sweet sister. The conductor apologized to
the family for that and started inquiring about the family, caringly, with the granny.
I was listening to their conversation as well as watching Stella play, since it
gave me more pleasure than gazing at roads. Stella was a typical Indian girl of
10, with brown colored skin and dark pupils and had a gracious hairstyle with
neatly falling hairs. Her mother took the baby from her implying that it was
not safe to let Stella handle him. Stella, though annoyed for a moment, started
seeing through the window and enjoyed the bus ride.
Conversation between the
conductor and the granny still existed and they started speaking about Stella,
I was all ears at that time. He enquired about the recent surgery made to the
girl as it was evident from the plasters that were stuck on her left ear. The granny
replied that a fluid-like thing was erupting occasionally and they had to make
a surgery to stop it and she added that it was due to the shock that Stella
experienced when her father passed away. I was equally shocked as the conductor
on hearing that and I didn’t take my eyes off Stella and happened to notice
sudden elemental changes in the emotions by her face. The pain she was
undergoing now was not new, I felt that it has besetted her many times whenever
she heard someone speaking about her dad. Her looks were struck at one point,
her thoughts were deep around something and her pain echoed through her
heartbeats, that I could hear. She was experienced than me in handling pains so
that she controlled her tears but not for a long time. Her thoughts won and
tears welled from her eyes. I could see them roll over her cheeks and splash on
the steel bars that guarded the bus windows. I couldn’t bear the sight and
rested my head over the seat and the last sight of my day was seeing Stella cry.
I woke up suddenly around 4 AM in
the morning to see Stella physically disappear from me as the bus reached their
destination. But Stella stayed back in my thoughts and she made me realize how
a daughter could miss her dad with all her thoughts. I took a nap before the
bus reached my destination. The morning
was so damp and misty that it was only with the great difficulty the day succeeded
in breaking. I had to wait for a local bus to reach home and in the spare
time I decided to have a tea which will help sustain the morning cold. I sat
down thinking about Stella and uselessly glancing through the magazine that was
on the table. One particular news caught my attention, it read: “Life term for
father in Paravoor sex scandal”. I was not able to read through its contents
after going through the introductory passage of the report, as it certainly troubled
my mind terribly. It was about the ruthless act of a father, who raped his
minor daughter and allegedly involved her in prostitution. It was insane and
felt that I was exposed to the two corners of the world within 12 hours: the
good and the evil. I came through a daughter who misses her father in every
minute of her life and a daughter who hates her father in every second of her
life. The thoughts prevailed inside me and I got a bus to reach my home.
My wife opened the door for me
with a blank smile and relived me of the luggage from my hands. I straight away
went to the room where my daughter was sleeping, as it was too early for her to
be awake. I sat in one corner of her bed and kept my hand over her head and said
in a low voice “I will take care of you”. And it was that time, that day, I
made a promise. A promise of limitless love; A promise of endless care; A
promise of a better life; A promise of eternal happiness; A promise that I will
not make my daughter weep; A promise that a little angel of The Lord, Stella,
told me to keep; A promise forever.
The words in bold-italic (fourth passage) were taken from the novel "The Idiot" to express my liking over it!!
