Steps on the pavement

That evening he walked out of the jail gates...

And it was moments before sunset

As he kept walking

Steps on the pavement

He almost felt it was home

Walking down the path

By now deserted

Steps on the pavement 

Big dark city on a winter night

'Akele Hum Akele Tum' playing through a stranger window

Somehow brought back memories

Of radios and winter nights

Life lay scattered like unplanned lanes leading to various no-wheres 

Fourteen years in prison makes one forget a lot

That chilling murder he could never forget

But they made him work in the 'mess' for fourteen years

Food was the last thing on his mind

By now hunger had become a distant dream 

Steps on the pavement 

She was not at home

The posters was still up on her wall

But there were cobwebs in the balcony

A sleeping neighborhood

At the end you are just alone

Steps on the pavement

A car rushing past

Life disappearing in the rear view mirror

As he kept walking

He almost felt it was home

Claws on the pavement

The feel of dogs behind him

The quietness and silence felt like death

Some of them

Many of them

Remembering the posters was still up on her wall

He kept on walking

But he forgot that there were cobwebs in the balcony

Steps on the pavement

Pretending not to run

The roads parted

Like they did in those filthy school books.

Like it had fourteen years ago

One path seemed lightened

The other was dark

He chose the light this time

Untimely salvation is worse than sin

The road ended under a a dead banyan tree

And an old blind dog

The steps on the pavement stopped

The steely silence of a winter night 

The claws on the pavement had stopped

'Akele Hum Akele Tum' floating from a distant radio

Still as a monk, the blind dog sat

He stood still as his life flashed by

And then that deafening bark from the monk

All the dogs attacked

A silence that only death can carry

Blood on the pavement 

A car rushing past

Life disappearing in the rear view mirror

The golden coast of Malabar

The Golden Coast of Malabar | Story told in words by Rahul Bhattacharya, re told visually by Samudra Kajal Saikia | Order your copy at kankhowa@gmail.com.

One happy day when I was a young little boy, someone told me, that the coast of Malabar is very beautiful and neat.

One day I went and I saw, that the sea was blue, the trees were green and along with the golden sand, the coast of Malabar was special indeed.

One happy day in Malabar, I was lying on the sand. When an ant came and bit me here, bit me there and went.

Then came another ant, slowly there came many more ants; they bit me here, bit me there, they really bite me everywhere.

On that beautiful day in the coast of Malabar, as I was dying in pain, I heard a small voice talk to me and call me by my name. 

“I am sorry Mr. Donkey” I heard him say. “These are all young ants and they shall learn their lessons one day.”

He climbed my nose and proceeded to say, “Please do not attack our small little hole, our queen begs to be forgiven, or so I am told.”

Then he turned to the young little ants. “I warn you again you little young ants”, he crackled as he spoke, “If you go on biting, the humans will fill our holes”.

That strange morning on the beautiful Malabar sand, I could not help praising the crackling old ant.

If indeed he had not come by, I would have really filled the nearest ant hole before saying goodbye.

A small story I saw...

***

It was a hot summer evening everywhere near my house, and as I lay beside the pickles mother had left for sunning, I saw a colony of red ants. Like in all ant colonies, a board at the entrance read 

“tiredness is a word outside the Dictionary of Ants”.

Now, like all words, Mr. Tiredness hates not being printed in all the dictionaries, and ever since I can remember, and I can remember a lot of things, Mr. Tiredness was trying his best to be a word in the Dictionary of Ants. 

Every time he saw an ant colony, he would camp nearby and hope to be introduced to the Dictionary. As I looked through the blades of grass, I saw a pale blue man who looked like he was doing nothing.

He was setting up his tent about 5 meters away from the ant hole. Did I forget to tell you that he was very small indeed? Nearly 6 centimeters tall, he was about the size of a cockroach. Imagine it very wobbly and walking upright.

He looked much tiered; and he was complaining “how much I hate to work……even if a lot of it means doing simply nothing”. He lay there hoping for a quick introduction to the Dictionary of Ants.

***

 The little ant Alina had never felt like this before. She was actually looking for a place to sit. Till now she had been busy walking with the ant army, ready to attack a sticky yellow toffee which I had spit out a few minutes before.

Taking a turn away from the line she was walking in, she spotted a shade under a blade of glass and sat there.  She started staring at the sky and sometimes at her mates busily walking by.

Slowly but surely Ruchi, Jason, Rumana, and Jeet joined her. Many other ants had started wanting to sit down. Slowly but surely all of them started yawning. Jason even started dreaming about sleep

 “Wait….. Wait don’t do that”…. my mind screamed, but before I could do anything, the gardener aimed his water pipe right  at the ant hill, the water drops started helplessly landing and hoping to escape a bite.

 

As the waters drops started landing on the ant hill, Jeet jumped up, “these Pants are horrible”…… “They always come between us and our lives”. Jeet started rubbing his chin in anger. Oh yes! He nearly rubbed his chin right in.

Rumana always shouts when she is angry. “Stop wetting us” She burst out a shout, her brain began to heat up with every drop of cold water that fell. I wanted about to stop the maali, so started just thinking what to yell.

I was surprised to see the line of ants still carrying on, unaffected by the gentle spray….only our angry ant friends seemed disturbed………only our tiered young ants seemed disturbed.

 By now Alina had picked up a ball of mud and flung it at the nearest water drop. She started screaming “Pants are merciless” …… Jason stood up... “We need to revolt”.  Then I saw Anpu joining the group.

 Stamping her feet on the ground, Anpu started to give a great speech and asking all the ants to bite the gardener. Stamping their feet on the ground all the 6 ants started singing “Bite the gardener, Bite that Pant”.  

 By then our angry ant friends were sitting around and trying to imagine a good way to bite us Pants. They were yawning and yawning planning a bite. They dreamed and dreamed for a bite.

Through the corner of my eyes I caught a small movement. Mr. Tiredness had stopped had just started doing something. He hates cold water just like your pet; as soon as his tent started leaking, he busily packed up his bags and withered away.

It was strange to see Alina get up and join the line of ants. Soon Ruchi got up. Soon all of them had joined the line and had all started walking in a row. Marching with the beat that only the ants are supposed to know.

I heard Mr. Tiredness had gone to buy a waterproof tent and will be back very soon, so the next time you are bitten by an ant do not forget to look. You will surely spot a pale blue man who looks like a balloon.

***

Everywhere I went

Everywhere I went, she used to come after me.

Everywhere she went, he used to run after her.

Everywhere I was they used to be there too.

Somewhere I went, she came somewhere with me.

Somewhere she went, he went running somewhere.

Somewhere I went, they were somewhere too.

To a cold place I went, she came to a cold place with me.

To a cold place she went, he ran to a cold place with her.

To a cold place I went, they were in a cold place too.

To see a sunrise I went, she came to see the sunrise too.

To see a sunrise she went, he ran to see the sunrise too.

To see a sunrise I went, they saw the sunrise too.

Everywhere I went, she used to come after me.

Everywhere she went, he used to run after her.

Everywhere I was they used to be there too.

Then one day on a trip I went.

That one trip I wanted to go alone.

 I was really afraid that they would be there too.

To a place called Nowhere I went, she came Nowhere with me.

Nowhere she went, so he went running Nowhere.

To a place called Nowhere I went, and they were Nowhere with me.