Dream Tree

He thought it would be an ordinary journey. Standing behind the pillar he watched the train snort arrogantly into the station. With each snort he was reminded of his grandfather's words "You will fail in the city and return penniless"; with every heavenward whistle, he heard his cousin, "Don't worry. Come here and I will get you a job at the construction site." Now he had a 34-hour journey to prove one of them wrong, and he expected the excitement at the end of the journey. He looked at his ticket once again: compartment S9 berth 23.

Pushing his luggage under the seat, he sat close to the window. "Papa, when will you be back?" - his four year old daughter Munni asked innocently. He stared into those soft brown eyes of the motherless kid. He held her frail palms in his, through the window. "Munni, Papa will get you a nice gudiya from the city..Say tata," his sister spoke to the kid, to avoid an emotional outburst. In a minute, the train pulled forward, and Munni's little fingers parted from between his. "I need to go..", he thought, "I have to, at least for Munni's sake.."

The humid summer breeze and the rattling train coaxed him into an uncomfortable state of drowsy consciousness. He dreamt that Munni ran away, the closer he ran to her, the farther she was, like a mirage. He woke up with a start and squinted at his watch.

"What is the time please?"
A smallish woman, a meek voice as if she was scared that her existence would annoy someone. Her only noticeable feature was her rather large, expressive eyes.
"4.30"
Something made him look at the woman again. He had stopped noticing women long back. Ever since Meenakshi passed away...

Four long years. His daughter's birth. His wife's death. Joy and sorrow in an instant. A heady cocktail. He had hardly recovered from it. He barely had a chance to. You can't be a poor farmer in Andhra Pradesh and have time for emotional upheavals.

Life betrayed him once with the death of his wife. Life betrayed him again, three years in a row, with the failure of his crops. Every year, the debt increased and it felt like a noose tighten around him. Tightened till he could not breathe. He shivered with the memory of the night, where he took a bottle of poison in his hand ...

He threw the bottle away when he heard the small voice behind him, "Papa, what's beyond the big well? Sanju says that's where the world ends."

His then-preoccupied answer had satisfied Munni’s innocent curiosity, "No, beta…That's the railroad to the city…There's a lot of world beyond the big well."

He had repeated the answer to himself, "No, it's not the end of the world".

Maybe some of that same innocence in this woman's voice or eyes made him rephrase the answer to her question. "What is the time, please?"

In a crystal-clear flash of certainty he realized ...

"It was time."

It was time to put the scattered pieces of his life together. Just like the marbles he picked up as a boy. That he won and collected one by one from the ground, his pockets laden and bulging with his precious treasure. He had to play the game of life again. He looked at the large expressive kohl-rimmed eyes once more. Shy and downcast at times, hesitantly observant at others as she gazed out at the rushing landscape beyond the rusted iron rods of the second class carriage window. He suddenly heard himself asking, "Are you going to the city?"

She shook her head, and looked away, out of the window. She looked tense. Almost a little scared. Balbir wanted to ask "What's wrong", but hesitated. He'd been too friendly. He turned away and looked out of the window.

The train slowed. Radhapur Junction. Dusty. Near-empty. Interchangeable with so many rural stops. Just one man got on board. He wore the bright, colourful pagri of the region above his sunburned face. He had a happy face and no luggage. As he walked the corridor his eyes scanned the berths. He reached their compartment and stopped in front of the woman.

His eyes seem to darken for an instant. Or so Balbir thought. However, the woman was too engrossed in her thoughts to notice anything.

"Jamna?" the man called out softly.

The woman turned with a start. Fear was written all over her face. It looked like he was the last person she wanted to see. The man continued smiling.

"I know what you are thinking. I also know that you do not trust me. All I have to say is come home. No one will hurt you anymore."

Jamna did not utter a word. Nor did she move a muscle.

It was a trial of perseverance for Jamna who was accused of bringing down the curse of the ancestors on the house. She bore the symbol of sin her womb, they said. The day the news of Jamna being a mother was announced, nature’s fury was unleashed that left the fields devastated and the family homeless. “The sani must be destroyed!” they declared.

She saw her father but not her mother. Jamna never wanted to see her daughter murdered before her. She left her to her fate, never to return.

“Jamna! Say something.”

Awe struck and puzzled, she asked, “Jamna? I don’t understand.”

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I voluntarily tagged from Hyde.... So whoever feels he or she can tag please join the game..

The rules of the game-

Everything above line drawn should be copied and pasted with every accepted tag. This is a story tree and is best nurtured as follows:

1. The blogger must add only 90-100 words (not more or less).
2. All previous snippets must be copied before a new snippet is appended.
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Update: Tag taken up by Diabolical Angel!