Short stories
| COLOURLESS “Ritu, I am going to the market.” her mummy called out to her, loud enough for Ritu to hear. She was busy playing upstairs, in her small, cosy room. It was a doll’s room for a Doll. The racks beside her bed were full of big and small and adorable dolls. Many were from her mummy, few from her aunt, who stayed in Virginia and sent dolls and toys every now and then from USA. There were also many local dolls accompanying foreign members, given by her Jiji, her grandma. Those were in Indian outfits, wearing salwar -kameez and sarees. There was a classical dancer with flickering head, one from far east with tiny eyes and also a plastic doll whose hands were joined to her body. Ritu loved them all. But the most beloved was the fairy doll, one with a white gown and beautiful eyes. She had blond, silky hair and red rosy cheeks. She was Ritu’s favourite for two reasons. One of the dolls was a gift from her father, who once in a while visited them. Ritu’s parents got divorced just after her first birthday. On the occasion, her parents had a fight as usual. The issues between them were not resolving rather getting worst. The ultimate solution Ritu’s aunt and her Jiji found was to get rid of the “man” out of their lives. Fortunately, Ritu’s mummy got her custody and her father got to see his child once a month… though, he appeared once in six months. On Ritu’ s last birthday, he gifted her the doll. Since then she was her favourite. The second reason why she adored the doll was- the doll looked like her mother, she used to think. The doll in her white gown always resembled to her mummy’s personality. “Mummy is white”, she used to say and everyone would laugh, because her mother was dark. Ritu had this strange habit of connecting things in front of her to different colours. Though, at the age of four she could not recognize many colours. But the basic colours were always on her mind. She would refer pink and white to her aunt in US and yellow to her Jiji. Ritu’s mummy found it amusing initially but later, she was worried if Ritu really could see colours which were really not there. How could she call a red hibiscus flower blue? And how could she say that the blue Krishna idol in the Jiji’s room is white?.... and her father Red? She wanted to consult a doctor, but Jiji said, “She would be just fine. Kids have their own World of imagination”, she would say. Soon the issue was consulted with Ritu’s aunt in Virginia. As an immediate solution, she sent few drawing books and a big box of colour pencils. It contained all sorts of colours... basic shades – Black & White, basic colours and colours with the combinations. Her mother gave special attention to explain her colours by sitting next to her once a day. “Ritu, see, this is an Apple, apple is red. Ok?” “hmm..Apppel ij led”, Ritu would repeat. “Good. Lemon is yellow” “Leman…is yelyow” Ritu’s mummy was happy that her child was learning it fast. She thanked her sister a million for sending a survival pack of colours which would make her daughter realize the colour difference. Jiji said, “See, I told you so. Once she learns more, she would differentiate.” Jiji was right. Ritu started differentiating colours …but only in the books, as it was taught by her mother. But in the practical life, she still had the same strange World of her own colours. The only change, this time was… she started adding more colours to the objects and people. The colours were newly learnt from her white mother from the books sent by her pink and white aunt from far away. Now the hibiscus flower was not just blue but sky blue and the blue Krishna idol was pale yellow with white. Her dolls were though colorful, she would refer them to a particular colour. Her drawings were only collage of dark and faint colours, dancing on the white paper, making no sense to others. Though it was strange for others, Ritu was happy in her beautiful World of colours. “Mumi ij white, jiji ij yelyow. Tina aunti ij pink and white, Daddy is white when with me But led, when with mumi. Klishnaji white but behind ij yelyow, Appel ij green and not sweet Water ij white like mumi, But for me no colour” As Ritu started growing, she started seeing many colours added to different things, people and objects. She could see colours with shades of other various colours added to the object. She was now six years old, but her World of shades followed her…. nowadays more distinctly. She learned to draw mountains, rivers, sun and moon.. trees and people. But the sun, rising between the cleft of the mountains was green…as if it was yet to be ripened enough. The moon was half cut with blue and white… the same colour of the plate in which Jiji keeps her ear rings, before going to bed. Somehow, Ritu’s mummy was happy to see the drawings and started ignoring the colours. She thought that the colours would change with the age of her daughter. One day, when Ritu was returning from her school, a strange thing happened. The angry school bus driver was driving with a rapid speed. Suddenly, on the signal, he dashed a car and there was a huge fight between the car owner with the bus driver. All the kids got scared. Few children started crying. Ritu was scared too. While coming home, she realized that her colourful World was changing. There was a black shade in everything and addition to that there was red too. Yellow Jiji, who was waiting for the school bus on the road, now had turned brownish. And the angry red bus driver was darker than usual. She told her granny about the change in the colours while coming home, but Jiji ignored it with a smile and a kiss on her chick. She told her mummy, but mummy rather scolded her. After that she did not discuss the changing colours to anybody. The colours remained darker after that…. with each fight she saw in the school among the rowdy school boys, the wrath of the teachers when the homework was not complete and the newly started fights of her mummy and daddy frequently…the shades of black and red started getting added to everything. Ritu’s father had increased his visits. As per the court’s orders, he started coming to see his baby girl once a week. And he had also started demanding for the custody of Ritu from her mother. This was the basic reason of their weekly fights. Ritu, though did not know the reason’s of the fight, got upset. Likewise, one day Ritu found her mother crying in her bedroom after her daddy was gone. She did not know what to say. Dragging her white doll by hand, she went to her mother, wiping her eyes filled with tears. Her mother was very upset. She said, “Ritu leave me alone for sometime, beta.” But Ritu wanted to know what had happened. “Why did my white mummy is now pale yellow with reddish skin? And why my red daddy was so dark and red like the angry school-bus driver? She kept nagging her mother, pulling her hand by holding the bangles. Ritu’s mummy turned red and more red. She snatched the white doll from her hand and threw out of the room. Ritu, in a shock looked at her mother and ran to fetch her white doll. While running, she hit her leg on the chair and banged herself on the door. The next moment, she saw that all the colours were vanishing.. they evaporated like the steam off the soup of her everyday meal. And there were no colours. She could hear her white mummy crying and calling out her name,” Ritu…. Ritu… open your eyes… please.” …but she was into a deep sleep. The next day, when she woke up, there was no other colour but only black. She could not see her white mummy or red daddy, neither her yellow jiji. She could only hear. Voices of her mummy, daddy, Jiji and Doctor Uncle but no colour. She felt, they were all hiding in the Jiji’s cupboard where no one can find her out and neither can she see anyone. “Mummy, are we hiding in the cupboard?” she hushed as if she and mummy were playing hide and seek. Ritu’s mummy broke into tears. Jiji started crying. Doctor said, “We need to operate”. According to the doctor, Ritu did not lost her eye sight but she hit her head to the door very badly and hence her retina’s are damaged. He also warned her parents that after the operation, Ritu could see but there is no assurance that she would see the World properly. Ritu’s parents for the first time after their divorce took a unanimous decision of getting Ritu’s eyes operated. Doctor gave the date of the operation. On the day of the operation, everyone was present in the hospital. Her white mummy, yellow Jiji, red daddy, white and pink Aunty from far away. Doctor came out with a smile on his face. “The operation was a success. But the actual results will come out only when her eyes are opened after two hours.” There were still two hours for Ritu to come out of Jiji’s cupboard of darkness and to see her white mother. Doctor told her that after sometime she would be seeing her loved ones. Ritu was excited. They all gathered around Ritu’s bed in the room. A pretty nurse helped the doctor to remove the bandage tied around Ritu’s eyes. The bandage was removed and now the cottons were off. Doctor instructed her not to open her eyes quickly but slowly. Ritu opened her eyes slowly…as if she was coming out of her Jiji’s closet. Slowly, removing the black sheet off her eyes. Then there was lot of white… very strong beam of light just like the white curtains in her mummy’s bedroom and then she could see everyone looking at her eagerly, waiting for her reaction. But she was speechless. Doctor asked her, “Ritu, can you see us?” She did not say anything but sat numb, blinking her eye lashes like a butterfly on a newly opened flower… looking at everyone…... as if she had seen them for the first time. Her mother holds her near and asked, “Ritu, baby, can you see me?” She looked at her mother and touched her. Her soft palm was tenderly moving on her mother’s chicks, nose, hair... A sparkling tear came out of her mummy’s eye. Her mother asked again, “Can you see me?”… Ritu nodded with a smile. Her mummy was no more, white like the princess doll... rather she was dark and the tears in her eyes were colourless….. Mandar Naik capriciousleo@yahoo.com |
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