The Call Of Imagination

It was lunch break, students were busy talking their hearts out with friends, some were playing in the ground, some were idling around in the corridors, some had occupied the swings, slides, merry-go-round and the canteen always seemed crowded.

If you went to the library at this time, you would come across some avid book readers, going through the books in various shelves, finding their next pick of temporary escape from this world. Among them was 8 years old Uma.

Uma had realised that only books could give wings to her thoughts and imagination. They could introduce her to enchanting lands and tell her of unearthly beings with some exceptional abilities. She could never understand why adults would never talk about all these to her or maybe take her there. These adults on the other hand never had the heart to tell a small girl that the happenings in the books were well-contained within its covers and they would never merge with the reality of the world.

For Uma, the school library was a magical place, she believed somewhere in the library was a door which would appear and it would open into a world like no other, full of astonishing magical landscapes and beings. The books containing these mystical tales were somehow the guide or key to find that door. Sometimes she would quietly peek across rows of book shelves hoping to find any one of those other worldly beings she had read of… scurrying off back into its world of wonders allowing her to follow behind.

“You will see, one day I will find that door for sure, you all can come with me, it will be our secret,” Uma often announced to her friends who were very much used to it by now and some had unsuccessfully tried to tell her that there was probably no such thing in existence.

A crisis in the family led to Uma’s parents deciding to immediately shift back to their hometown. They thought it would be better to tell Uma that they would be back after some time, meanwhile giving them time to think of how to explain it to her. So, Uma was gone from school in the middle of the session, she never got time to say her goodbyes to her friends who wondered for a very long time that just maybe miraculously Uma had really found the door and stepped into a world unknown.

– Written by Anuran Chatterji

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