Chapter 1 : The Announcement
Ukim woke up at night , sat up in his bed ,crossed legged, put his palms on his cheeks and closed his eyes. There was a faint peaceful smile on his face . A couple of minutes later he laid down again and went back to sleep. The next morning he summoned his family and close friends to the foyer of his ancestral home. The foyer was big enough to accommodate 2 dozen people. People gathered there on time, some clueless , some with a fair idea , for why were they summoned. Ukim arrived with a backpack on his shoulders and stood in front of them. Without wasting anytime time he came straight to the point and said " I AM LEAVING". The moment he said those words there were murmurs and a few raised eyebrows. His mother started to cry but the people who were close to him didn't show any emotion.They knew this day would come, sooner or later. He was a rara avis, a free bird by nature. They always knew he would leave but the only question was of when, to which they got the answer that day. "I want to learn and improve" he said ".. and the only way I can do that is by discovering myself". I will miss you all, but you are the people who will give me strength during the times of trial and when I comeback, I hope to be a better man and will be better equipped to face the challenges of life and together we will help each other realise our dreams. But for now I'll take your leave and I wish to seek your blessings for the same. TATA!!!" he said and started to retreat. His friends came forward and wished him luck , some hugged,some shook his hand. Ukim then saw Timhi standing in a corner with a smile on her face. He walked to her and said "wouldn't you wish me luck". Timhi said "hmmmmm........ I wish you break a leg". "WHAT??" asked a confused Ukim. "I WISH YOU BREAK A LEG!!!!" Timhi replied, this time louder and clearer. Ukim didn't understand, but he didn't ask Timhi to explain it, he just left.
Chapter 2: Making an Unlikely Acquaintance
Ukim travelled for days. He saw mountains, deserts, plateaus. He met many people, old, young, believers, agnostics, atheists. He stayed in towns both small and big. He kept on moving , until he reached a small idyllic village situated on the bank a river. This place reminded him of his own village, which made him nostalgic.So, he decided to stay in that city for a few days.
There in the city, he started working as a salesman in a jewellery shop.He worked there all day and in the evenings he would go and sit on the bank of the river. On one such evening, Ukim was sitting under a tree on the bank of the river when somebody patted him on his shoulder. Before he could react he heard these words "Hello mister , this is where I play so please leave". Ukim turned back and saw a little girl , with a pair of huge beautiful expressive eyes. Ukim smiled and replied "I come here everyday how come I have never seen you before?"."Because I was at my granny's.. , please leave now" she said in an authoritative tone. Ukim stood up and sat under the next tree.
The girl took out a box form her bag.The box had a doll in it along with various other items. She was so engrossed with her doll and other toys that she didn't even notice that Ukim was observing her. After watching her for sometime, he asked "what is your name". The girl didn't reply.
He asked again, but failed again to elicit any response from the girl . Ukim then stood up and went to the girl and picked up the doll from her box. This infuriated the girl big time,"How dare you touch Ritu, nobody touches her ... give it back to me right away". "Hmmm...So this is what you call your doll !.. but what do people call you?" enquired Ukim again.
"NANHI" she shouted " Now give Ritu back to me or else I will drown you in this river". Ukim retreated a couple of steps pretending to be afraid and gave her back the doll. "So we shall meet again tomorrow" said Ukim with a naughty smile. "No" said Nanhi and started playing with her doll.
From that day onwards he used to go to the bank of the river everyday and meet Nanhi. Ukim enjoyed her company, he teased her, pulled the clips off her hairs and called her by different names. Nanhi on the other hand hated Ukim. Every time she saw him, she would take her tongue out and make faces. She retaliated each time when he did something to her. She had low endurance to his mischiefs, so each time she either ended up crying or threw things at him to make him run away.
Though they fought a lot, there were also days when they sat down and talked (not to mention these occasions were rare ). Nanhi would sit down and tell Ukim how much she hated her school and her teachers or tell him about who her best friend was and what they had in lunch, or about a fight she had with one of her school mates. Sometimes she would tell Ukim about her mother and how well she cooks or would talk about her doll(Ritu) and tell him how much she wanted a pearl set for her.
But every time Nanhi started to think of Ukim as a friend, he would say or do something to piss her off.
Chapter 3: The Broken doll
One day, Nanhi was sitting quietly under the tree with the doll (Ritu) in her hand. It was very unlike her. She was an energetic child full of life and never sat still.
Ukim saw her on the river bank, went to her and without uttering a word sat next to her resting his back on the tree. She stared at him for few moments and then looked away. There was silence.
After sometime, she saw him again and started talking. "Ritu is my best friend in this entire world, she is the most precious thing to me...." she said and stopped without completing the sentence. Ukim looked at her, raised his eyebrows and pulled his head upwards and asked "whats the matter?". " I saw a beautiful pearl in a shop... I wish I had it for Ritu" she said, and became quiet again.
Ukim looked at her and asked " and.....?". Nanhi pointed her finger towards the doll. The doll was broken, it was broken beyond repairs.
"How did this happen?" enquired Ukim. "Peeli!!!" she said while grinding her teeth with anger. "Peeli???" asked Ukim puzzled."Yes , she is my neighbour. Yesterday I went out with my friends to play and forgot to take Ritu with me" she said innocuously, while a teardrop fell from left eye.She raised her hand, wiped her tear and continued "Peeli.. she took it and ... and .... she broke it". Nanhi bursted into tears. It was like somebody had broken a faucet and water was flowing out off it uncontrollably . Ukim said nothing. He just watched her and waited for her to calm down and wondered what would have happened if she were sitting on a cloud and cried like this."There would have been floods which would have drowned the entire village and rendered people homeless. The whole image was frightening and disturbing. Ukim shook his head twice and came back to reality and realised that she was calm now.
"How deep is this river??" asked Ukim to Nanhi. She failed to understand the relevance of his question at this point of discussion but replied "Deep, very deep.. why do you ask??" . Ukim smiled and said " I like throwing things into the river, now that you doll is broken..... can I throw it into the river?". This infuriated Nanhi big time and she stood up angrily and chased Ukim to hit him. "Die , Die you die" shouted Nanhi while she chased him.
Chapter 4: The Old Man's Wisdom
Next day when Ukim went to work in the jewellery shop, his owner called him in his office. Owner of the shop was an old man and was fond of Ukim.
Ukim went in his chamber and touched his feet. Owner saw him, took off his glasses and kept it on the table." Come.. Come son sit" he said. Ukim sat on a chair. Owner cleared his throat and started to speak. "Ukim...,I am 73 years old now, I have had a good life and I have worked very hard for it, but now I want some rest. I am fatigued , both mentally and physically." he stopped for a while and asked Ukim to bring him a glass of water.
Ukim immediately brought a glass of water and placed it on his table. Owner gulped the entire glass of water in one go and continued "I have no complaints , no regrets but as I just said I am tired. So I have decided to retire. I am selling this place. But before I leave I wish to express my gratitude to all my staff members who have helped me, all these years. Although, I have known you only for a little while, I have developed a fondness for you . Ukim you are hard working young man ,full of ideas and energy and you are honest and loyal. I wish I had a son like you."he paused. He then opened the drawer of his table and took a small box and placed it on the table.
"Open it" said the owner. Ukim opened the box, there was a closed oyster inside."Open the oyster" said the owner. Ukim opened the oyster and found a truly exquisite, unmatched, silvery white coloured pearl with overtones of pink. Ukim looked at the owner and said"I have never seen anything so beautiful" . Owner said " This is a natural pearl.A natural pearl is one that has never been touched by human hands until the oyster is opened.It is rare to find and its luster is most probably unsurpassed."
Ukim looked at it again ,then closed the box and stood up to give it back.
"Keep it!!!" said the Owner. "Wwhat????" Ukim stammered. "Keep it I said, its a little gift from me to you" Owner replied.
Ukim was confused he didn't know what to do, but he respected the owner too much to say no to him,so he kept it.
"Sir, I don't know what to say , I ... I ... " he stammered again. Owner smiled and said "Don't say anything , just keep it. This is probably our last meeting but I hope you break a leg".
"What?????" said Ukim."Sir, what did you just say". " I hope you break a leg" said the owner again.
Ukim took a deep breath closed his eyes and said " Sir , I am not sure if I understand what you just said". Owner heard him and laughed , laughed out loud. He then went to his cupboard took out a book , tore a page and gave it to Ukim.
Ukim took the page and read it and then looked at the owner and smiled.
Chapter 5: The Closure
Ukim went to the river bank that evening, to meet Nanhi one last time. Nanhi was already there when Ukim reached.
Ukim noticed, Nanhi still had the broken doll with her. "I am leaving tonight" said Ukim .
Nanhi looked at Ukim and asked "why?? where??" . "Its time for me to leave" replied Ukim. His reply made Nanhi a little uncomfortable, she didn't know whether to feel happy or sad about it.
"But before I leave I want to give you something. May I have your doll.. I mean Ritu?" said Ukim.
Nanhi nodded her head and gave him the doll. Ukim took damaged the doll, stared at it for a moment then took a deep breath , stood up and threw the doll as far as he could into the river and while he did that, he cried "LET IT GO. LET IT GO".
Nanhi couldn't believe what she saw. Tears rolled out of her eyes, she cried profusely . She picked up a big piece of rock and started running towards Ukim. " I WILL KILL YOU, HOW DARE YOU.. I WISH YOU ROT IN HELL.DIE ,DIE,YOU DIE" she shouted and chased Ukim.
Ukim started to run away from her. "DON'T YOU EVER SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME" shouted Nanhi .
"Ohh.. don't you worry about that" replied Ukim with a smile on his face.
While chasing him Nanhi stumbled upon a rock and fell down. This incurred a minor sprain in her feet. She held her feet and sat down. Ukim noticed the fall and began to laugh. This incensed Nanhi big time and she started to cry even louder.
"I WISH YOU BREAK A LEG" Ukim squalled." Oh wait , on a second thought , I WISH YOU BREAK BOTH YOUR LEGS" he squalled again and ran away.
Nanhi cried and cursed Ukim all night that day . Next day she woke up with swollen eyes. She was in pain, she missed her doll badly so she decided to go to the river in search for her doll.She reached the river bank and picked up a long wedge to search the doll. While she moved closer to the river she saw a box hanging on the branch of a tree. She went to the tree and pulled off the box . She opened the box and saw a beautiful little doll inside it, along with an oyster.She picked up the oyster and opened it.When she saw the pearl inside the oyster her eyes lit up. Below the Oyster there was a note. She unfolded the note and began to read.
Dear miss little naughty NANHI,
I know you hate me, and after what I did yesterday I am sure I must have become your enemy no.1. But there are somethings I want to tell you. Some people are different , they have their own subtle ways of expressing their emotions.So when they tease you, or fight with you or pull your leg, it doesn't mean they hate you. It actually means they like you very much.
In fact life is very similar, when something bad happens it doesn't mean life is over, in fact it means that its time to make a fresh start and sometimes to make a fresh start, you must let go. Yes it is tough to let go off something that has been close to you. But believe me, once you do that you would feel stronger, and you would be ready to face anything that comes your way.But most importantly you will be at peace with yourself and nothing is more comforting than that. So Nanhi do not jump to a conclusion immediately, never give up , identify the subtle messages and learn to let go.
And by the way you can call your new doll whatever you want to.
Ohhh... Yes One more thing , read this...
I WISH YOU BREAK A LEG ----> People in theatre consider it bad luck to wish an actor good luck, so instead they wish the opposite, by saying "break a leg!". So when someone says I WISH YOU BREAK A LEG, he actually wishes you good luck.
Your enemy No.1
UKIM
Nanhi picked up the new doll, looked at it for a few moments and hugged it tight. While she hugged the doll she closed her eyes and suddenly she felt very light, there a calmness on her face and a faint smile. She understood what Ukim meant , she had let it go and was at peace with herself.
