" Lata, where are you looking at? Have your food !" Lata's father Shyam Singh said in a stern voice.
Lata have been looking at Parvati as she explored her house. Parvati couldn't have the meal as she was a spirit, a reality that Parvati had accepted for herself now. Dhanush, Sambhu and Lochan had returned to their respective home as it was dinner time. They had planned a meeting after dinner as they could freely talk to Parvati and explore the village without raising any suspicion.
They reached village in the evening and at first went to the village merchant shop to sell the consumables and then return to each of their homes to keep their share. Parvati being invisible to other people, was simply following them while floating over the ground. Floating? yes, she just found that she had this new skill just by accident. After that Parvati went with Lata to her home as they dispersed to respective homes for dinner.
" Parvati, go to my room. I will come after finishing my food." Lata told Parvati in a hushed voice as her father went outside for some work.
" Alright, but please come soon.' Parvati answered, ' I can't have food here, but I want to have some fun in this tour."
Lata hurriedly ate her food and entered her room. She showed her toys and then chatted for a while. As the clock stuck 9 PM, they come out of their house and waited for others under a big banyan tree located at the center of the village. The tree was encircled with stone, where they could sit and wait. Dhanush came first followed by Lochan and Sambhu.
" All of us have gathered, now let's move." Dhanush ordered as they walked on the small trails around the village. The village was not large but was of a sizeable side. It comprised of similar looking houses with roof made of tiles and having a big veranda. Every house had thatched huts behind them where cows and goats were kept. Some also had bamboo enclosers where hens were kept too. Every person had a small land where they grew some vegetables. There was a Tulsi plant in front of their houses with Rangoli made below of different patterns.
As they move farther, there were some isolated huts, near the farmland probably made for night watch against wild animals. The village had two ponds, one smaller and the other one larger. They had a wooden plank that stood in the center of the pond. Parvati was told that the first pond was for washing clothes, animals and other purposes while the larger one was for their bath. Although each house had their personal well from where they brought water for household activities. They explored a lot of places tallking and laughing together while encountering occasional pedestrians. The people saw these kids happily strolling and chatting together with something strange about them.
" Look the children walking there in this dead of a night." said one man to the other as they crossed them.
"yeah, they looked pretty much happy looking around places. That is Dhanush and Lata there, but isn't it strange?" queried the second person.
"What's about it?" the first person was puzzled by the question.
"Is it just me or they were looking and talking with invisible person. Just look, they had left an open space for someone as if they were showing around." explained the second person
"May be its just an illusion, don't talk about it." the first person hasten his pace to his home. Villages can be scary at night.
The children spent about few hours outside and decided to return. Parvati and Lata went together for their sleepover while the other wished them goodnight as they went home.
"It was fun.' Parvati exclaimed, ' You have a lovely village. I wish to live here."
"You are always welcomed. My room is always there for you." Lata supported her.
"Only if I could run and play like others. I also wanted to try the food here." Parvati said with a sad smile.
Lata couldn't answer back. Parvati could partake the food she took to Parvati's house but here she can't even touch them. They decided to sleep as it was late night.After Lata slept, Parvati woke up and leave the bed to move around the house. In her spirit form, she could pass through the walls, so move without making any noise. She saw Lata's father sleeping in the veranda as it was warm outside. She could feel it as she sat there and watched the moon.
After a while she decided to return back as she was feeling sleeping. The despair of the morning and sadness of not enjoying the food, games, toys like other kids were all gone. She absentmindedly went inside and grabbed the bed sheet. She adjusted the pillow, and tried to lie. She felt a resistance, it was Lata's toys. She took the toys and put them near the table, and finally slept.
" Parvati, parvati....wake up. " Lata called.
" Umm, ohh morning Lata, what's going on?" Parvati said as she saw everyone looking at her with expectations.
"Parvati, look around" Lata almost shouted in an excitment.
Parvati looked below as she felt a solid mass around her hand. In one hand she was holding Lata's toys and other hand was grabbing the pillow.
"Yes Parvati, you can touch them." Dhanush answered as if understanding her puzzled look.
------- to be continued.-------
No comments:
Post a Comment