Full Circle

Life goes on...

FULL CIRCLE

“Listen to me, Mayank. You behave yourself at the party. I don’t want to hear Ankit’s mother complaining after the party. Be a good boy today. OK,” Shalini Anand told her son. Sanjeev was driving his new Maruti Alto listening to his wife as he slowed down for the traffic signal. They were taking their only son to his classmate’s birthday party at Vasant Vihar. They had planned that once they had left Mayank for two hours; they would pass their time at the Basant Lok market, the most happening place in Delhi.

As their car stopped at the red light, a boy of Mayank’s age knocked at the driver’s window. The glasses of their car were tinted black. So the kid outside wouldn’t have seen any of them. He kept on pleading to the driver. Sanjeev saw that the boy had worn a nice t-shirt and shorts. Perhaps a gift from a benevolent, he thought. It looked as if he hadn’t taken a bath for a week, still he looked presentable. He continued to ignore the boy’s incessant appeals when Mayank too joined him. That convinced Sanjeev to part with some money. All right, he thought as he pulled a ten rupees note from his wallet. He opened his window slightly and passed the note towards the boy. The boy tried to look inside the car when the ten rupees note flew past him. As the note settled on the black road, the three passengers of the car looked outside. The boy had not picked up the note. Instead, he was staring at his own image, which had formed on the window of the driver. His eyes were filled with anger.

The lights turned green and the car started moving.

“These days even ten rupees are not enough for the beggars. So much for the inflation,” said Sanjeev as Shalini laughed.

Sanjeev Anand was working for a famous fast food joint as a manager. He drew a reasonable salary, enough to live life comfortably. Shalini was a homemaker, the term she preferred to the old-fashioned “housewife”. Majority of her time was consumed by her ten-year-old son, Mayank.

They reached Ankit's place well in time. Sanjeev held Mayank’s hand as the three of them crossed the road to get to Ankit's place. After leaving Mayank at the threshold of Ankit's ground floor house with his mother, they turned and started walking back to their car. Mayank was still waving to them when they were in middle of the road. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a speeding truck came rushing towards his parents. They were stranded in the middle of the road haplessly watching death in the face. Mayank saw in horror as his parents were crushed by that monstrous truck. His mother had screamed very loud before death made her silent. He ran blindly towards them. Many passing vehicles screeched to a halt. As he stood where the remains of his parents were strewn on the road, he couldn’t make out where they were. He thought it was a dream and his parents would just come out laughing from behind. He looked at their car as though she would help him. He didn’t know what happened after that as everything just blacked out.

When he came to light, he was comforted to find his chacha by his side, Rohit chacha. He was very fond of his chacha as he was the only relative he had. His mother was raised by her father alone. And when he died soon after his mother’s marriage, there was no one left from his mother’s side. His chacha was married to Nishi, his chachi. They had Varun as son and Vani as their daughter, his cousins. He knew that they would love him though unlike his own parents. He lived in their home for a few months. However, no sooner did the cheque from the insurance company arrive in the name of Rohit Anand, than he somehow knew that something was wrong. Suddenly, he was shifted from his cousin’s room to the servant’s room that night. In the morning, when he was getting ready for the school, he was told by his chachi that there was no need for him to go to school. His name had been struck off due to non-payment of fees. He tried to raise his voice. For which, he got his chachi’s hand impression on his cheek.

In few days, his chacha and chachi escorted him to a strange place called “Dinbandhu Orphanage”. He shivered with fear. It couldn’t be true. He never believed that his own chacha would betray him. He cursed him for the first time. He was again rewarded with a slap.

The orphanage too was in contrast to his imagination. He had thought that there would be simple unfortunate kids like him. Instead, he came across a whole bunch of rogues. They would punch him, beat him, or abuse him whenever they got chance. They wanted him to do their work. He was ready for that too but only if they would not beat him first. Not a single night had passed, since his parents’ death, when he didn’t cry remembering his beautiful past. He never considered himself lucky when they were alive. He took his life and his happiness for granted. How could not he? He was just a child like any other. Kids were not supposed to think for themselves. They had their parents to take care of such non-existent work. He never imagined that fate could be so cruel to him.

He missed his father’s funny antics, his mother’s hugs and scolding. The hugs were so warm and always more than the kisses. His father coming to home exhausted still played with him. He cried very much. He lost his chubby looks and became thin. And one afternoon, when the atrocities in the orphanage exceeded his patience, he ran away from there. He had nowhere to go in the whole world. He didn’t know where to go, what to do. He was tired and thirsty. He went to a temple to quench his thirst. There too he was unwelcomed by the already settled group. They shooed him away as though he was a dog who had wandered to a different locality. He walked and walked. Finally, he reached a traffic signal. He remembered that boy on that fateful evening. He stopped. He looked at the car, which had stopped in front of him. He tapped at the window of the driver. He pleaded to the window to listen to his story. To his surprise, the window started to open. Would he be able to find a good man? Would he be adopted by this man? He had heard that the world was full of good-hearted men like his father.

A hand emerged from the window. A ten rupees note in it. The note was tossed towards him and the window closed.

He stood angrily, watching his own image, which had formed on the glass of the window as the note, settled on the black road.

© 2013 Vineet Bhardwaj

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Kami Grace

This story is very amazing. The message brought out is very strong and it gives a good reminder to people. I love the title as well, where life is really a "full circle". What you did, good or bad, would finally come back for you to experience. Thank you for posting! :)