Before it Went Away

Do you ever see wild animals?

It was a busy evening for little Tinni. She was sitting along with her most prized possession, her study table. She studied here, did her homework here and read books. Sometimes, she would just rest her head on the table for a quick nap, but the activity she loved to do there the most was drawing and colouring.

This evening Tinni was at it again, colouring what she had drawn. The sound of the crayon rubbing against the drawing sheet placed on the wooden surface of the table could be distinctly heard in every corner of the room.
“A rhesus monkey, is it?” asked Raju peering over Tinni’s shoulder at the drawing she was making.

Raju was elder to Tinni, he lived in a nearby house in the neighbourhood. Raju was closest to an elder brother Tinni would ever have in life. The financial difficulty Raju’s family faced didn’t deter Raju from becoming excellent at drawing and painting with whatever means he could find, and Raju was quite determined to pass on his skills to his first student, his sister Tinni.
Tinni smiled as she looked up, “Yes Raju dada, it is a monkey. The one you said. Does it look good?” Raju picked up the drawing, “It could be better, but I am really glad you have come this far.”

Tinni giggled as she took back the drawing and continued colouring.
“Do you know, in the jungle, there are many beautiful and amazing animals,” Raju said as he sat down on the bed nearby. Tinni nodded, still colouring, then spoke, “I know, our teacher has told us in school.”

“Have you been to the jungle?” asked Raju. Tinni moved her head right and left to express she hadn’t.
“I have been to the jungle once and do you know what I saw there?” Raju said as he moved ahead eager to tell what he saw.

Tinni became curious, she paused colouring, however held the crayon upright, then she looked at Raju, “What was it, Raju dada?”
Raju’s eye widened as he answered, “It was an elephant. A beautiful, big grey elephant.”
“What was it doing?”, asked Tinni with excitement.

“It was staring at me,” replied Raju.
“Did it say anything?” Tinni asked with curious eyes. Raju laughed and patted Tinni on her head, “Who knows, maybe it did. Then it walked away disappearing into the jungle.”

Tinni fell silent trying her hardest to imagine a young boy and an elephant in middle of forest staring at each other and at the end of it the huge animal saying something and slowly walking away leaving the spellbound young boy with an experience he would never forget.

Raju’s mother called Raju from outside the house to accompany her to the market. Raju said his goodbye and went away.

He had left Tinni with a deep imagination and she did not wait to draw for her elder brother the majestic grey animal. Although, Tinni couldn’t stop thinking for a long time in life about what the elephant might have told young Raju in the midst of the jungle before leaving. All the logic seemed to fade before the dreamlike imagination of the childhood each time she went back to it.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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