Huts and tiled roof houses were seen alternately in that road. It looked like a person wearing a bright shirt and a torn dirty dhoti at the same time. His inner mind was in search of somebody but some unknown force prevented him from asking it, perhaps his inborn inferiority complex that was preventing him from asking. He wants to ask and not to ask at the same time.
An old woman with a dirty kerosene bottle in her hand, came in his way. "Hey, Did you see the kerosene cart coming here?"
"I don't know, ma'am.I am also looking for someone", he replied.
"Who are you looking for?" she asked. "His name is Narayanan. He works as an officer in a bank." he answered.
"I don't know", the old woman replied and went off.
His face withered in disappointment.
The boy, who was plugging the cobblestone into his pocket, touched the elder man's bag and asked "What are you selling?”
In the opposite side of the road, a rickshaw Wala having a nap on his rickshaw, that was parked in front of a tea shop overhearing the conversation asked, " Sir! A man, who has a light skin tone and tall, Are you looking for him?"
"Sir!"
How long has it been since someone addressed him respectfully like that! For a moment it carried him away to his past.
"Yeah, exactly", he replied.
"And a girl at the age of six or seven will be there, right?"
"Yeah!"
"They shifted to another good area as they do not want to live in this area. What relationship do you have with that man?"
He didn't answer. Sweat dripped from his face. Then he staggered and sat upon a box that was in front of the tea shop. He asked for a soda and drank in a gulp.
The rickshaw Wala said, " Do one thing, sir, Go straight and take left. There will be a Ganesha temple. In the side alley, you'll find a school. The kid was studying there. They would not change her to another school in a mid-year. You can know the details if you inquire there."
"Thanks a lot. It's time to leave", the elder man replied and started to walk.
"Sit in the cart. I will drop", rickshaw Wala thought to ask. But, "He will not be having any money! Death craving!" This thought occurs in his mind, so he remained silent.
The magic sound of school bells, little footsteps as the children ran, stunned him. The innocent sounds of laughter, the smell of school bags, notes, books and pencils and the dream world of color socks, slippers, ribbons, and shirts, tears rolled out of his eyes not of grief but of sheer happiness. In his thought that the world is full of evil and darkness all of a sudden a sparkling streak of light shed light in to his dark heart.
He was wondering how he was going to identify that child. Suddenly, he saw a young man and shouted, "Gopalakrishna... Gopal!"
He was waiting with a scooter to pick up his child. He turned back with a shock when he heard the sound.
"Dad!"
He stopped saying anything else after that as if he said what he said out of mind.
"It seems like that you have vacated the old house. That's where they told me to look for you ... I sent a letter, did you get it?", he asked Gopal.
He can’t even find one percentage of his happiness in his son's face.
"I thought you would have gone to the village", he said.
"I had to... go to the village... But how will I be there... Gopal? Everyone knows... They will ask too many questions..."
Suddenly, a voice bangs in between. "Daddy! What dad, you came by yourself today?", the child asked her father.
Gopal tapped the dust in the Girl's skirt.
" Lalitha, you have told your mum that walking from school to home makes you tired, right? That's why I am here. Hereafter I will come early from the office and pick you up in the scooter. Okay?"
"Super! Super!" she exclaimed.
The elder man was staring blankly at Lalitha. She is my granddaughter This small excited bundle is my son's own child!
"Did you buy Harry Potter DVD daddy?"
"Yeah, I kept it at home."
"And that Barbie doll which was broken?"
"Oh, that... we can buy a new one Lallu. Repairing old one..."
"Go dad", she waved her hand. She noticed that there was an elderly man only after her hand had slipped on him.
"Who is this uncle daddy?" I am not uncle my love! I am your grandpa! Your father's father! He lifted her up, hugged, kissed her. She felt shy and her face turned pink as her friends surrounded and watched this scene. Touching her shoulders, he said, "At your age your father was also like this."
Gopal started his scooter, "Come, sit Lallu.It is getting late,your mom will get worried"
Narayanan all of a sudden remembered that he did not ask anything about his daughter in law "How is Rudra? Is she fine?", he asked.
"Hmm,Dad you go and stay in some hotel ,I will come and see you there", he looked upon his father and said.
But Lallu, "What is this daddy? Why are you telling grandpa to stay somewhere? Let him Come home dad", holding his Grandpa's hands tightly, she said.
In front of Gopal's house, in the small fenced Garden,Janu was reading her college book. Her eyes crawled across the street frequently.
When she heard the scooter sound, she looked up and howled, "Sister! Someone is coming with uncle! keep the cooker in the stove."
"Who is he bringing without saying anything?"Rudra murmured- Gopal's wife. After seeing the person sitting behind his husband, "Oh God! How did he get here?", she shocked she was. "Who's that sister?", Janu asked. "You go inside. I will tell", she sent her in.
Lallu, who was sitting upon grandpa's lap, jumped down from the scooter. "Come grandpa", she held his hands in her own and said to his mother, "Our grandpa mom! Do you know him?"
Rudra looked at her husband ferociously. He acted like as if he lost something precious and was searching for it in the scooter.
A rope bed was laid in the backyard. Narayanan was spreading and unrolling a blanket. The ropes of the cot were very loose. He thought he could lie on the floor itself. But Rudra may feel insulted if he does so, he spread the blanket on the cot.
Lallu was standing and staring at her grandfather and was closely observing what he was doing. Narayanan who turned around accidentally saw Lallu. "Who is this? Is this my Lallu baby?", he bent down and lifted her.
"Didn't you go to sleep? It's already late dear. Have you been studying for so long?"
Lallu didn't answer him. She looked upon the dark gloom place and asked, “Why did you came here grandpa?"
"Why. What is lacking here? The breeze is wonderfull. I am an old man, right? Will have to go to bathroom often. This place will be comfortable for me."
"There's a nice room upstairs grandpa. Bathroom is also there. Get up grandpa!"
"Okay. Tomorrow I'll go there. It will not be good if I shift now disturbing everyone in the house", he consoled and made her to sit beside him.
She asked him, "Where were you been all these days grandpa?"
His eyes fluttered.
"I was in Mumbai"
"Oh, Are you working there in an office?"
"Yes,dear!"
"Is that a big office?"
"Yeah! Very big one."
"Won't they give you a leave?"
" Why? They do"
"Then why you have never been here before?"
He sighed.
"That's my own office.How the owner himself take leave frequently dear?"
"No. he Should not", she agreed.
Narayanan bent down and took something in the other hand. It was her broken Barbie toy.
"They broke this while shifting the house", Her face curled up like a plucked lotus.
"I saw it in the evening. I have taken it so that it can be repaired. I will stick and fix this for you"
"What is this grandpa! You are the owner of a big company. Then why you repair my dolly", she smiled.
"What if I'm a owner. Should I not do these kind of jobs. I've learned this from an office I have worked earlier for.", he said.
The bed room lamp that was on the head side of the luxurious cot, let the light till Gopal's chest. The shadow spreading beyond that.
The sound of closing doors of neighboring houses and the sound of some night beggars singing songs with beating in rhythm the tin cans in their hand made a background score for the lonely night.. Janu seemed to be busy in turning off the light-switch in the adjoining room.
Gopal was busy in reading “Professor’s Diary “an autobiography of a teacher lying in the bed. Lallu was sleeping next to him. Rudra was walking crosswise in the so narrow bedroom in full roudra bhava.
"I didn't think you'll do such a non-sense! Why did you bring him here?"
"How can I expect, when I started the scooter he was already there in pillion seat.Are you telling me that I have to push him down?"
"I'm not telling you to push him down. But you could have at least expressed yourself by saying a few words to hurt him, right?"
"Even If I say four thousand words, it will not hurt him and he will never mind it."
Gopal reluctantly kept the book he was reading at the side table. It fell on the back of the cot.
“We vacated the old area and shifted to come here, because the child may adapt to bad habits living in a slum area. Now we were glad that she'll be growing well here.You spoiled that too."
The fan above was making sound as if it didn’t like this conversation. With their dreams being lullaby and improper planning’s as a pillow, slowly they went in to laps of deep sleep.
All of a sudden, Rudra woke up to the sound of two cats fighting and screaming in the street. Like all mothers quite natural her hand searched for Lallu. She was not there.
"Where is Lallu?", she shouted at her husband. The bedroom door seemed to be open. "She might be in the bathroom", he said.
"She will not go alone without calling me"
Both of them came out. They could guess that she had gone downstairs because the only door of the stairs was wide open. In Narayanan's bed, Lallu was hugging her grandpa and sleeping comfortably.
Rudra had a terrible rage.
"Send your dad out as the first job after dawn. If not, he will spoil my child! He has been in jail for six years!", she told her husband angrily.
