THE STORY OF INDU-1

Recalling childhood memories, I remember that at bed time I used to gaze at the sky, once I asked my mother. Whom do these stars represent? Why are they in the sky? She replied, when good people die their souls take place in the sky as stars. I have often seen falling stars who rush speedily and disappear, as I grew up I came to know they can be meteorite who enter the earth’s atmosphere and get burned out due friction with the earth’s atmosphere. There is another kind of celestial body which moves around the sun and disappear, they visit the sky on timely basis, they are known as comets, different comets appear over varying  span time. For many a comet can be seen once in a lifetime. Halley is one such comet which appears after 74 to 76 years. Like comets in the sky people appear in life and leave behind unforgettable memories. This article is dedicated to my sister-in-law “Indu”.

I was a small child when she married my brother (Manu) and joined our family, she used to stay in the village and I used to stay in the city. Whenever we happened to visit  her my mother would be closer to her and I would be busy gaming with friends, away from home into the fields, in the evening I would at times return home with a bag of tamarind or with a bag of wood apples. 

Come dusk and all activities (in-house and in-farm) would slow down, in the village people usually prefer to have dinner at dusk. The completion of dinner would lead us to family reunion where the elders and the children would exchange talks, ideas and stories. Though the house was big enough to accommodate the whole family; cots would be drawn for few family members who preferred to sleep under the shady neem trees which stood in front of the house. This group of beds was the reunion site. Those day there were no street lights in the village; the only light available was the moonlight that depended on its waxing and waning mood. Laying in the bed as I watched the moon slowly traversing the sky; playing hide and seek through the branches of the neem tree, she (Indu) would be there sitting beside me gently stroking my back, moments later I would be in deep sleep.

My slumber would be lost by the flutter of the birds on the neem trees, the noise of the cattle and the sunlight all around. Day after night and night after day would join together to form a continuous flow of joy and merriment. This flow would come to an end when it was time for me to leave this ambiance for schooling. Few days later the school would be commencing and I would be among a different company of friends. Often I would be stuck with the thought “Why is joyous time always short? Why does a vacation pass so swiftly?”   

Back at school I would get busy with studies and someday she would surprise me by an unexpected visit. She would stay overnight and leave the other day. During the few hours she would make me laugh. I really enjoyed her company. As years passed I found, she sensed me growing up and treated me accordingly. She would be friendlier rather than being mischievous. I had cleared my preparatory science. She one day paid a surprise visit and while leaving invited me to be her guest. 

See you next time with "The story of Indu-2"