UpRooted : short story

short story

UpRooted

UpRooted : best short stories online

At the middle of the night Sunita woke up on her bed. Her eight months old daughter was sleeping just beside her. Whole village was silent except continuous barking of the village dogs. It seemed, they were alarming the villagers for something unknown. Sunita drew her sleeping daughter into her lap. She kissed her forehead. Since last month, her husband Manu went Kolkata seeking a job. So she had to live alone in her hut outside the village. Neither her family nor Manu's family accepted their inter-caste marriage. Due to this avoidance from both families, she had learned so much things at her twenty years of age. She gained much courage to live lonely outside the village.

Her father was a rich farmer in their village. She was only girl child among three siblings. She had two brothers, one older and the other younger. She grew up with caress of her family.

She met Manu when she was in school. Manu used to wait for her on the way after his school. He lived in neighbour village. They were almost same aged.

After finishing school Manu's father wanted him to join into their family business of carpentry. But Manu wanted to study more. His father was not agreed with him. Because he thought that higher study is nothing but wastage of money. Manu became stubborn and the relation became worse with his father. At last his father gave up and agreed with his son. But he clearly told that, he could not carry the expenses for his higher study.

Sunita took a hand fan and fanned her daughter. The weather was dull. After continuous heavy raining since eight days, the rain had stopped that night. The prosy sound of rainfall had been over. Instead of that, the sound of crickets and frogs filled the environment around the hut. An unknown blurred sound was also coming from a distance. The dogs were howling like wolves. Sunita felt, there was something wrong. She wanted to enquire what was going on. But she did not dare to leave her child lonely at the hut, or take her along into the darkness of outside. She could not decide what to do at that time. She hoped Manu was with her. So she was seated upon the bed steadily. Her memories of those days were making an uninvited crowd into her consciousness.

When her father pointed out her love affaire with a boy from separate caste, he stopped her going outside the home. But she became disobedient to her family for the first time. Her father and elder brother tried to restrict her but she never heard to them. The home environment was changed entirely. She knew about the rage of her father as well as her brother. She started to meet Manu secretly.

One day her brother caught them and the consequence was worst. The family of Manu was threatened by her father, and Manu's father did not tolerate that. He became very strict towards Manu and stopped his study to engage him in a job and started to find out a girl who belonged their own caste, for him to marry. Sunita's father seized her in her room. One night Manu knocked on her back window and they escaped from their. They married in a temple that night and started to live outside the village in a hut which was belonged to Manu's father's property.

Since then, both of the families declined any relation with them. At first Manu started to work hard in the village farms as a helper. But it was not sufficient. When their daughter born, insufficiency increased. So Manu had to go to Kolkata to find out a job.

Sunita enhanced the flame of the lantern. She never put it off at the night since Manu was out of home. But the bright light of the lantern failed to encourage her any more. She felt uneasy with the situation. When the dogs stopped their noise, the world became silent at once. Not entirely silent. The strange blurred sound was quite clear then. It was overflowing the sound of crickets and frogs. That sound was well known to her. It was the sound of water. It was the sound of river Ajay, which was far away from their village ; but not so far at that moment. Sunita felt helpless. She needed help, but Manu was not with her at that time. She could not expect help from the other villagers, because they were also in danger.

As time passed, the sound of water became more clear. Sunita heard previously from her grand father about fierce hunger of Ajay. Last time when it became a demon, she was not born. But she heard so many times about it that she clearly understood what was happening.

Quickly she made a decision. She had to leave home. She had to escape from Ajay. She gathered all the necessary things for her child which she could carry with her. Tied them with a cloth. Then tied her baby with her body tightly by another cloth. In the meantime she heard shouting of people coming from the village. When she completed her arrangement, she saw Ajay at her doorstep. She looked around the hut for the last time and prayed to God. Then she came outside into the water holding the lantern in her hand.

At first she thought to go to her home. There were her parents, brothers, old grandma. But initially she changed her mind. There was water all around the village just like liquid death spread it's trap everywhere. In that darkness of night she might fall into the pond. She could swim, but it would be dangerous for her child. The water level was increasing in every minute. The current of water flow was pushing her at the other direction of the village. There were paddy fields of the village farmers. The high road at the end of that field was a high land than the level of the village. Some people also coming from the village at that direction. With quick steps she started to go to the high road. The water was at her knees.

When she was half of the way, the water reached at her waist. She was lucky that the flow of water was at the direction of high road. She threw the lantern into the water, held her belongings on her head. Her child was safely tied with her body. Hurriedly she crossed the rest half way to the high road.
When she reached there, it was dawn. The sky was dull though the light of dawn appeared splitting that dullness. The people there who also came from the village, told that, they were not safe even in that high road. They needed to go to the school building a mile away from there. Those people were experienced in this matter by previous disasters caused by Ajay. They knew very well what was going to happen after one hour or two. The school building was probably a safe shelter for them at that time.

At first Sunita was out of breath. When she got normal, became upset for her family. An aged woman among those people told her to hurry up and go with them. No time to waste.

Sunita followed them and took a shelter into that school building. Many other people from other villages came there and when the ground floor and the first floor of the building filled with water they came to the roof of the building. From there they saw most horrible scene. It started raining again. There were water everywhere. Only tree tops were visible here and there. Dead bodies of men and cattle were floating on the water. Smell from the rotten dead bodies filled the air.

After two days of starvation, they saw some boats were coming. The rescuers came to them and gave them some packets of dry foods, some bottles of water and a large canvas to built a shelter on the open roof. They had rescued those people who had not a shelter like them. Condition of those people were very bad. Sunita was not feeling well. She was feeling like vomiting. Her daughter was crying continuously. Condition of others on the roof was not better than her. But they survived there with help of the rescue teams.

At last the water level decreased and Ajay returned back to it's own track. Sunita went back with other fellow people to the village which was totally vanished from there. No sign of any hut or the crop field there. Half-liquid mud had covered the land. Only the big trees were standing steadily. The rescuers prepared for them a temporary shelter near railway station. Gradually those people who had survived, came there. Sunita was waiting for her family. But neither her parents nor her siblings came there. She grabbed her daughter tightly and wished Manu would come from Kolkata shortly.

That night an older man in the camp started vomiting vigorously. The health care provider of the camp declared it as cholera. At the next morning several other people were discovered being prey of that plague. An old lady from their village told Sunita, "What are you waiting for girl? Grab your child and go from here. Hurry on before it's too late."

Sunita found that the old lady was right. It was totally foolish to wait there for Manu in that situation. She took her child and her belongings and escaped the cursed place and went to the railway platform. She waited there. A passenger train came which was going to Kolkata. She did not hesitate to buy a ticket and get into the train.

When the train reached Kolkata, she got down and found that, it was another world. Rush of people was just like the water of Ajay. While into the train, she thought that she would find out Manu. But when she found herself among the rush of people, she lost all her courage.

At first she thought to stay into the station premises. But the rail police drove her away from there along some beggars. Then she came to the busy footpaths of Kolkata. At first she was puzzled by huge market place, different types of cars, buses, trams on the roads, ever rushing uncountable people, the noise of the city. But as time passed, she became habituated with all of these. Thus she spent two years.

Now she lives underneath a fly-over in Kolkata Metropolitan. She met there other refugees like her who came from different places and live in same condition.

At the morning, she feeds her daughter who has grown up into three years old now. Then goes to work in a factory. she is sweeper there. She takes her daughter along with her. Then she goes to the market place to collect wastage of the vegetables and foods from the trash. Then comes to the shelter and cooks. At afternoon she goes to work as house-maid. When her daughter will be grown-up enough to stay alone into the shelter, she would find out a better job. She will admit her into a school. She is well determined to struggle.

Still now her memories retraces her into the village, at her childhood days when she was a princess to her father and elder brother. Her brother did not want her to do any hard work at home. He even used to fulfil all her wishes as far as he could. When she collects wastages from the market trash, when hunger creates trouble in her intestine, when her daughter plays in the garbage of the city and tells slang languages learned from other children there, she wants to cry. When monsoon comes and waterlogs the city, the memory of Ajay shivers her entirely.

Still now she hopes, one day Manu will come to her and rescue her from this hell.
May be he is searching her too.
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