Jerry

Jerry had only one friend. Sea.

He lived with his parents and two sisters in a small and shabby village. They had a small temporary accommodation by the sea, made out of mud walls and coconut leaves shed for the roof.

Gazing the sea whole through the day was what kept Jerry busy. He knew every thing about that stretch of the sea.  He knew how high waves reaches during full moon night. He knew which seasons are not safe for swimming. And, only he knew when fishes come to the shore. Crabs, Jelly fishes and star fishes were his toys.

He learned the various color changes, the sky go through in due course of the day and its reflection in the sea. The pastel shades of orange, red, yellow and patterns of clouds mesmerized him. He could spend days after days sitting by the coconut tree and glancing the sea. He talked everything with the sands, sea breezes and shells.

One such day, Jerry after his school, came straight to his favorite coconut tree. Dumped his bag, and created a virtual seat in the sand. He took out few peanuts from his back-pocket and started munching them while glancing the distant ship in the sea.

Bunch of kids were throwing big balls in the sea and few were merely taking strolls holding parent's hand. Most of them were visitors, staying in nearby resorts. Some getting drenched, some splashing waters on face. There was girl in lovely yellow frock jumping along the shore. A boy almost of Jerry's age was running towards the sea, his father calling him to came back.

Munching peanuts, while the sun sets was a regular adventure for Jerry. He often took nap imagining to be sailor some day. He would have fall asleep, had that scream not woke him up.

"Help...Help" a loud voice of a man came to him from a distance. To Jerry's dismay he was same man whose voice he heard sometime back.

He got up, dusting the sands out of his grey pants and ran towards the man.

"What happened? " asked Jerry.
"My son is drowning.. Help please" came the frantic voice.

Jerry had always witnessed the sea from a distance, though he was well aware of the tides and ebbs of the sea , he never really swam miles across. But he have time to think of his own ability, he have to jump and save the drowning kid, he felt.

He immediately plunged into sea, barely managed to locate the kid amidst high waves. After few awkward moves, high efforts, thumping effortlessly in middle of the sea, Jerry managed to grab him.

After an hour of tiresome effort, Jerry saved the kid.
 It took quite some time to push the water out from the lungs of the kid and made him feel somewhat normal.

Kid's father hugged Jerry and couldn't thanked him enough. He eyes could only said it all.
Jerry also took sometime to believe what he actually did. He was still not believing it.
"What you want, my boy. I can trade my life " , asked kid's father almost pleading.
"Nothing.. I just did because that's what felt right that moment." replied Jerry.
"You don't have to tell me that, still I will be glad if I can make you happy. Please give me that chance" Father insisted.
Jerry cleaned his sand face, took a deep sigh and look at the sea again. He thought for a while and replied "I had seen this sea for ages, I know how it look by all angles and seasons. Though I have never seen it from the top. I'll like to see that one day."

Father knew what he have to do now. He went to Jerry's home , told the entire saga of Jerry's bravery to his parents. Thanked them and asked their permission to take Jerry with them for few days to their place in Mumbai. Jerry's parent agreed, almost immediately.

Then came the day, when Jerry boarded the plane to Mumbai. As the plane took off, few moments later he could see everything from an altitude. Sea looked beautiful from above. Blue patch it was. Coconut trees joined hands by the shore.

As the plane went higher, Jerry kept munching his peanuts and watched the sea became smaller.

A trip to Pahadpur

Vacations meant Pahadpur trips, for Hula. Just after his final exams every year, he along with his sister Mimi made a train journey to Pahadpur. His grand-parents' place. A small Village surrounded by hills and lush greenery. what he liked the most was, you pick any road and it would always be surrounded by hills from three sides. You could pluck fruits from trees and fetch water from the well. During his last vacation, while he learned how to swim in the nearby pond Mimi learned how to keep a wheel rotating by giving it the required inertia using a wooden stick.

Hula and Mimi's arrival every year was no less than any celebration for grandpa and grandma as well. Grandma prepared coconut laddoos, banana chips and fresh jaggery. Grandpa deposited the security amount in local library, where Hula and Mimi could now have access to 4 books a day.

There was only one thing that brought the disagreement between two generations; the habit of Hula and Mimi of loitering in bed till 11 in the morning. No matter how much they tried inculcating the early-bed-early-rise manner, it never worked. This time Grandpa was all determined to kick Hula and Mimi out of bed by 7.

Grandpa had plans. He always had. Last Dusshehra, he selected 10 most corrupt policemen and made them each a Ravana's head in the local RamLeela. When they were on stage, the whole village ridiculed them. While Ram was busy shooting plastic arrow on him, villagers made sure each Ravana's head is targeted well by rotten tomatoes. For many months, police worked the way they were supposed to. Grandpa, since that day, acquired the chief planner role for all the small or big issues in village.

Hula and Mimi, arrived Granpa's place on the scheduled date. Greeted by fresh lemon water and besan ladoos. Soon they discovered the small pond inside their house filled with gold fishes. This pond had dried up in last some years. It was quite a surprise this time. Mimi loved their color, while Hula was excited to see them in motion. Till evening they played with the fishes , feeding them, making them move in direction of their finger, touching them and whistling at them.

Pic courtesy : auariumuniverse.com

Grandpa was happy seeing the kids enjoying. He went to the kids and said "Its lovely to old eyes, seeing you enjoying with fishes. Though the sad part is, we will have to clear them all and probably will have to sell them off".
Shocked Hula , asked "Oh.. why so ?"
"Me and your Grandma had huge dispute over who will pay for their food. she denied. She doesn't like fishes it seems. she said , she had bore enough the extra cost for my idiosyncrasies. She is not going to pay a single penny this time. And I don't have any money. Its she who takes care of all the finances." said Grandpa
"but .. I have Rs. 200 and so is Hula. Papa gave us as our monthly pocket money. Can the fishes survive on that?" asked Mimi.
"They can , but only for a few days. Their food is costly these days. Also, we have to put medicine in the task. Clean it up every week, and refill it with fresh water." said Grandpa, meekly.

He continued "I have a plan though, your grandma gets up at 6:30 everyday, takes bath and goes to Ganges to offer her prayer. She usually comes back by 7:30. I am quite old and inefficient to open her almirah and take some money out. But , you two are stars. If you can enter her room by 7, we can manage to have some money. Only thing you have to keep in mind is, we cannot take all money , else grandma will have doubts, you can do this for small amounts for 20-21 days and she will hardly notice. After 20 odd days we will have enough money to make the fishes survive for a year".

Grandma was happy seeing the kids running around the house early in the morning ,since last few days.
"seems they have started waking up early" she chuckled.
"yes, per my plan they will wake up for another few days, and once they do it for 21 days continuously, it will become their habit" said grandpa sheepishly.
"Plan ?! , is it something to do with missing money from my glass bowl, since last few days ?" inquired grandma.
she met with grandpa's nodding smile. She wasn't sure which expression she should carry , of smile or anger. Keeping a straight face finally, she asked "but in the process are you not teaching them to steal ?"

"Not to worry, they know the difference of right and wrong. What they didn't was discipline. They are stealing it to arrange money to feed the fishes. They will never steal for wrong reasons. I know my kids." said Grandpa. After a brief pause he continued ".. also these harmless stealing becomes part of our childhood stories, don't you remember how we used to steal mangoes from RadhaRam chacha's orchard ? and he used to chase us with his wooden stick ?"

".. yes, yes.." replied grandma.. finishing the sentence with her toothless grin.