“Kanhaiya / कन्हैया ”
(a messy child! with a holy-innocent heart...!)
“Meera” was sitting in her hut, immersed in deep thought. Today she was missing her late husband a lot. Her husband died when their son, "Kanhaiya" was one year old. She was thinking that if he had been alive today, Kanhaiya would not have been so stubborn and adrift, staying out of the house the whole day. Meera didn’t know whether he went to school or not. She decided to go to the school the next day and talk to Master Ji, she wanted to know if her son was reading anything or not.
But that same day, as the evening approached, her son did not come home. He had slightly scolded her in the morning and still hadn't returned home. It was getting dark; Meera was starting to worry now. She got up from the cot, picked up her stick, came out of the hut, and called out “Kanhaiya…O Kanhaiya…” as she searched for him.
She knocked on the neighbor’s door - "Sister, have you seen my Kanhaiya?" -“I saw it there near the temple, go and see it” – the neighbor said, wrinkling his nose.
Meera walked towards the temple. The temple was a little far away and when she went there, she saw that Kanhaiya was sitting curled up with cold on the steps of the temple. He still looked angry. He could hear Meera's voice, but still, he sat silently with his head buried in his knees.
Meera approached him leaning on her stick. Placing her hand on his head affectionately, she said - "Son, come home, it is getting cold, and you haven't even eaten any food."
Kanhaiya moved Meera's hand away and said angrily - "No, you go, I will not come home."
Meera said caressingly, “No son, come home, I have made millet roti for you.”
- “I will not go; you scold me too much.” Kanhaiya complained.
- “Then I promise I will not scold you any further.” Meera tried to bargain.
Kanhaiya removed Meera's hand and walked towards the house. Meera also followed him leaning on her stick.
Meera had brought bread along with her – “Take it, son, eat the food.” she pushed.
- “I will not eat.” He refused and after saying this, Kanhaiya got under the torn sheet of his cot and went to sleep.
Meera kept the food there; she knew that he would wake up at night and eat on his own and she also went to her bed and slept.
When morning came, Meera got up from her bed and woke up Kanhaiya who was still sleeping face down, but his food plate was empty. Kanhaiya got up and went to the well outside to take a bath. But he did not talk to his mother. In silence, Meera prepared food and his bag for him. When Kanhaiya returned to the house, he wore clothes, ate something, and walked towards his school.
Meera saw him going far. She could see he was feeling feverish pain in his body. But more than that, the pain of his mother's sad heart was greater; tears welled up in her eyes. In the afternoon, Meera thought that she was suffering from a fever, so she went to Kanhaiya's school via the doctor's place. She picked up her walking stick and went to the nearby doctor.
While the doctor examined, he said, “Amma (mother), how long have you been coughing?”
Meera replied– “Doctor, it has been a month, and today my body is also burning with fever.”
The doctor answered – “Amma, please deposit 100 rupees we will have to get tested.”
Meera looked through her torn pockets, there were only 20 rupees in all. Meera moved the money towards the doctor with trembling hands and said - "Doctor, this is what I have."
The doctor got irritated - “If you don't have money then why did you come here? Come back when you have the money.” Meera walked towards the outside with her broken steps. Her eyes were moist, and she reached her school leaning on her broken stick.
She saw the teacher, Master Ji... who was sitting on a chair, basking in the sweet sunshine. Some children sitting around them were snatching each other and some were making paper kites. Meera looked around but she did not see Kanhaiya anywhere. Her old heart sank with worry. She balanced on her stick, and quickly reached Master Ji.
- “Master Ji… Master Ji, namaste!”- Meera called out loudly while suppressing her cough. Master Ji was shocked to see her there – “Hey Meera, tell me how you came?”
-"Master Ji, where is Kanhaiya?" - Meera asked pleadingly in her old voice.
- “Kanhaiya…, Kanhaiya did not come to school for four days, I thought perhaps his health would not be well.”
When Meera heard it, she saw the ground beneath her feet sinking, her old heart became distraught, and she ran out of the school leaning on her stick.
He looked around the school but did not see Kanhaiya anywhere. She ran towards the temple but the platform of the temple was also empty.
When Meera turned back from the temple, she saw friendGunnu going towards their other friend Chaupal. Gunnu studied in Kanhaiya's class but he hardly ever went to school. His father worked as a contractor at a brick kiln near the village, so there were two children in the house. The money was good. Meera followedGunnu towards Chaupal.
When she reached inside, her old eyes remained wide open with tears. Kanhaiya was sitting with Gunnu and smoking beedi/cigrate. When Meera saw this, she saw hundreds of needles pricking her heart simultaneously. She became very angry and attacked Kanhaiya sitting below with her stick. It seemed as if Meera had gone mad with anger.
When Kanhaiya saw this sudden storm of violence, he got scared. The beedi in his hand fell away and he ran away from there, pushing Meera. Gunnu also ran ahead of him with his feet on his head. Meera remained lying there. The stick in her hand had also fallen away, she was crying, and her kurta/shirt had become wet with her old tears. She sat there, today she was missing Kanhaiya's father the most, but she was completely alone in this old journey of life.
That day he seemed to be getting robbed of everything. She picked up her stick lying in the dust with her broken hands and walked towards her hut with slow steps. After reaching home, she fell onto her bed closed her elderly eyes, and drowned in a sea of despair. But the tears from her eyes were still flowing continuously while holding each other's hand.
TO BE CONTINUE...….(Part-2)
