The new green grass of the park stared back at the Spring which had flown in to revive the green in all the trees and plants around. The flowering plants on the borders of the park swayed in colours displaying their beauty through the blooms that adorned them.
Many adults were worried by the heat of the Summer that would follow the kinder natured Spring. They were not overreacting or wrong about it, climate change had made Summers quite unbearable, especially harmful for the elderly.
Fourteen years old Anila was quite far from these thoughts. She still loved to associate seasons with the colourful pictures in the school books. They felt better that way, because in school books everyone looked like they were enjoying the seasons unlike the real world in which they had a tone darker than their pictorial representations.
Anila stared at a pink hibiscus. It was beautiful. Had her mother allowed her to borrow her phone Anila could have clicked beautiful pictures of different flowers today. But the last time Anila was allowed to do so, she ended up resetting the phone.
All of a sudden, a hand appeared from the left, caught hold of this hibiscus and broke it off as the hand was pulled back. Anila was taken by surprise, she turned towards this person who had invited her anger. It was a boy around her own age, standing with the flower in his hand and by the expression on his face, it could be seen that realisation had knocked on his mind that he might have made this girl upset.
“What is wrong with you? I was looking at that flower. Where are your manners?” said Anila in an angry tone, the boy remained quiet but Anila continued her conversation, “Why are you plucking flowers? Haven’t they taught you at school not to do so? Which school do you study at?”
The boy kept opening his mouth to answer each question, but then another one was asked before he could and now, he stood confused by what he intended to say.
“My… my grandmother, she is old, she does not move a lot and cannot come out to see and enjoy the flowers in the park,” said the boy
Anila was thoughtful for a while, then she asked, “What is your name?”
“My name is Parv,” replied the boy
“Why haven’t I seen you before? Don’t tell me you are from outside the society”
Parv pointed to his house on the other side of the park, it was the last house in the line, “that is my house.”
“I have not seen anyone living in that house for years. My father says it needs a lot of repair work,” said Anila
“Yes. The repair work is happening inside”
Anila then got back to the topic, “I am Anila and I live in the house exactly opposite to yours, across the park. Now listen, plucking flowers is not a good habit, can’t you just take pictures for your grandmother?”
“I did take pictures,” said Parv, pulling out a small digital camera from his pocket, “but you see, the pictures will never be able to capture what it feels to see an actual flower.”
Anila didn’t have a response to what Parv said.
“I better get going, I have been out for a while now,” said Anila as she started walking towards her house
“Bye,” said Parv raising his right hand, his voice couldn’t reach Anila whose walk had turned into a light sprint.
“Have you seen the house across the park, opposite to our house?” Anila asked her mother, Mrs Kahlon, while eating a sandwich as her evening snack.
“The one in which no one lives?” replied Mrs Kahlon cutting apples.
“No one ‘lived’. I met a boy named Parv. He lives there with his family. They must have shifted recently.”
“Oh! I did not know. We will meet them sooner or later”
That evening when Anila went to the park to play with her friends, she told them about the new boy whom she had met that morning. No one except Anila had met this boy and no one had met his family yet.
Anila didn’t see Parv for the next three days and forgot about him and his family. One day in the evening when Anila was returning home. She saw Parv standing on the balcony of his house and he was looking right at her. When he noticed Anila looking at him, he smiled and waved his hand and Anila waved back.
That night, Anila was strolling on the terrace of her house with her elder brother Biraj. She focussed upon Parv’s house. Most of the windows were dark. The windows of one room showed dim light.
“Brother! Do you know someone has shifted in that house?” Anila said pointing towards Parv’s house
Biraj stared at the house and replied, “so I have heard, I saw a woman with grocery bags entering the house”, then Biraj noticed something, “it looks like they have lit candles in the house for light.”
Anila looked at Biraj worried, “Why candles? Could they be up to something bad.”
Biraj laughed, “Don’t be so influenced by the things you see on television. The building is old, maybe the wiring of the rooms have faults in them. I am sure they will be repaired along with other things.”
Anila checked the other night and still the candle light could be seen and the next night as well and the night after, two weeks passed.
“How much time does it take to change the wiring of a house?” Anila asked Biraj one evening as he came back from college
“Depends upon the amount of work needed to be done,” Biraj replied removing his shoes
“It shouldn’t take two weeks, right?” Anila asked
“Yes, it shouldn’t, but if you are asking about that house again, then well I am not sure how much repairs are needed before things could function properly”
“If there is repair work going on then we should see something, workers, materials being brought. There is something wrong with that family I am telling you.”
Biraj stood up to take a bottle of water out from the refrigerator, “Look, stop being obsessed with that house and if you have so much curiosity, then why don’t you go and say hi to the new family in the neighbourhood.”
Biraj was joking but Anila thought of it as her brother telling her to go and check out if there was anything wrong with the place. So, the next day after returning from school she had her lunch and then she headed for Parv’s house. The door of the house was on the adjoining left side of the house, it could not be seen from Anila’s house. The building still looked old with its paint falling at several places and at some places the walls had bared enough for the bricks inside to be visible.
Anila thought of knocking on the door but pressed the doorbell instead, just out of curiosity whether there was actually no electricity in the household and to her surprise the bell rang. She waited for a while before the door was opened by a young woman.
“Hello! I live across the park. I heard you all have shifted here recently and came to introduce myself,” Anila spoke with a smile
The woman smiled, “Oh hello! That’s so nice of you, please come inside.”
Anila stepped into the house and found the passage leading to the drawing room quite clean, well-lit and decorated as well with paintings on the wall. She stepped inside the drawing room and found it quite like any other home. She made herself comfortable on the sofa.
‘I guess they have started the repair work from the inside. I might have been quick to judge,’ Anila thought
The woman came back with a glass of water for Anila. Anila picked the glass.
“My name is Anila,” smiled Anila
“I am Rama. I am the caretaker of the house and I also look after Mrs Jojha,” said the woman.
‘Mrs Jojha must be Parv’s grandmother’ though Anila.
“If you are done drinking water then come, I will introduce you to Mrs Jojha. Her room is upstairs”
Anila followed Rama upstairs. The stairs were still under the process of being repaired. The handrails were yet to be installed. She kept looking around but found no sign of Parv.
Anila reached the upper floor and there was a long narrow corridor with rooms on both sides. The doors to the rooms on the left were closed, these were the rooms that Anila could see from her house. The doors on the right were open and Anila followed Rama inside a room through the first open door.
Inside, Anila saw an old woman sitting on a single sofa. On a side table to the right were some medicines and a bottle of water. On the left was a walker.
Rama spoke to Mrs Jojha, “Ma’am this little girl lives in the neighbourhood and has come to welcome us.”
Mrs Jojha smiled at Anila, “Come, please sit down dear” and then she turned to Rama, “please bring some cookies for our little guest.”
Anila pulled a chair from the corner of the room, near to where Mrs Jojha was sitting and she sat down.
Mrs Jojha smiled, “Where is your house?”
“Across the park, exactly opposite to this house,” Anila replied
“So, you are the daughter of the Kehlon’s?”
“Yes, you are right.”
Anila looked at the photos of people on the wall
“Where are the others of the family?” Anila asked
A sad expression appeared on the face of Mrs Jojha, “There is no one but me and Rama here. The rest of the family lives in other places.”
‘But I saw Parv just two weeks ago. Has old age affected her ability to remember or she is intentionally lying to hide him,’ Anila thought
No matter what the situation was, Anila had to clear her doubts.
“Ma’am, I met a boy a few weeks before. He told me his name was Parv. Does he not live here as well?” Anila asked and she saw tears in the eyes of Mrs Jojha, “I am sorry if I have hurt you in any manner.”
Mrs Jojha wiped her tears, “Its alright dear. Yes, Parv lived here. He is no longer among us. He was unwell for quite some time and doctors said he may not have long to live. His parents had given up all hope and had started to become uncaring towards him, giving more focus and attention to his elder brother. So, I bought this house and came here with him so that he could live his remaining life without the kind of pain he would have faced in his house.”
Rama arrived with some cookies on a plate and kept it on the side table. Mrs Jojha offered them to Anila and Anila picked one, then Mrs Jojha continued, “We have been here for seven months. We lived without revealing ourselves too much to the people around. I told Parv not to go out but the boy would sneak out now and then. I thought having friends will just make it more painful for him towards the end but he was happy to have made a friend. He said he met this girl while he was clicking pictures of the flowers in the park. I guess that girl was you. Now, I am all alone here after he has gone”
“You are not alone. I will visit you whenever I can,” said Anila, trying to control her tears. Mrs Jojha smiled at the words of the girl.
“I will come by later again. I have to go home,” Anila said standing up as she could not bear to realise what she had heard and Mrs Jojha understood.
“Please do come again. It was nice meeting you. I wish Parv had brought his friend home, even if only once,” Mrs Jojha smiled.
Anila quickly went down the stairs and out the door after greeting Rama and as she walked away from the house, she turned to look at the balcony of the house where she saw Parav for the last time, smiling and waving at her.
Fortuitous Crossing
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “Fortuitous Crossing”
This was very well written!
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