Mid Summer Deluge

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A smile beamed across his face as he surveyed the dark sky; he whispered to his fellow third graders, “It’s going to rain”. Even before they could react, he picked up his battered notebooks from the ground and climbed over the school’s mud fence. He felt a sudden cold breeze on his face; the rain was coming and he had to reach home before it did.
He pulled out a few marbles from his faded navy blue trouser pocket and made sure the big one with the yellow streak was there. Holding his books close to his chest and clutching his trouser pocket containing the marbles, he jumped off the mud fence and dashed towards the rice field. Balancing himself with one hand, he crossed the field over a narrow path while the rice plants danced to the tune of the strong breeze. By the time he reached the banyan tree just outside the rice field, a heavy wind had started to blow away leaves and the tree rained down ripe fruits like heavy pellets.

He reached a long dusty road and saw his house on the other end. His small feet kicked up dust as he raced towards the house. He heard the rain, like a swarm of bees, getting closer and felt the air getting heavier with moisture. He turned back to see the dusty road changing color to dark brown as the rain splashed on it, racing towards him. He ran as fast as he could while the trees on either side swayed violently, as if cheering him. He leapt over the steps leading to his house followed by the thundering sound of the rain hitting the clay tiled roof. He fell on his knees trying to catch his breath, the sweet smell of earth filled his lungs and he felt it flow throughout his body.

Twenty years have passed since that mid-summer deluge, but the sight of the rain chasing him down the dusty road, the sound of it pelting on the roof and the sweet smell of earth it brought will remain locked in his heart forever.

This story was originally posted in Writer's Lounge
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~ rich-poor machine ~

The excitement could be seen on Anto’s face as he jumped the compound wall and ran towards the bushes. Even though he was 10 years old he looked much older, thanks to the hard living conditions in the slums of Mumbai.

He couldn’t stop giggling as he neared the bushes and saw his classmates, Guru and Sethu, dressed up like never before, waiting for him. Guru was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and blue jeans, the clothes fitted him well but looked as old as the boy himself; Sethu on the other hand was wearing a brown full sleeve shirt neatly tucked in and black trousers, the tip of a long comb exposed its head from his shirt pocket.

Anto went around the boys inspecting them; Guru was wearing a long belt and the loose end was dangling behind him.

Whose belt is this? Anto asked, pulling Guru’s tail

Brother’s, he replied

He bent the protruding part of the belt and pushed it back inside, making it invisible from outside.

Now facing the boys, he started speaking “The guard is not a problem unless you try something stupid. The first time they caught me because I looked like a beggar boy, the second time the machine alerted the guard who caught and slapped me; he said he would strip me naked if I went there again…”Anto paused for a second seeing the anxiety on Sethu’s face “…. It’s alright, you look good. The guard is not going to stop you, but the machine might. That’s why I asked you to bring money. How much do you have?”

“Sixteen” Sethu replied

And you….?

Guru pulled out a few currency notes from his jeans pocket “twenty…”

“That’s good enough” Anto said as he pulled out some coins from his pocket and held towards Sethu

“I have five rupees here, take this now and give it back once everything is over”

The three boys started walking towards the huge mall across the road, it’s 5 in the evening and there was already a huge crowd coming in and out of the main entrance. Anto, who was walking a few steps ahead of the boys stopped and turned around.

“Remember what I told you, no fooling around… I’ll wait here until you come back”

The boys nodded and started walking, as they reached the entrance they avoided looking at the guard’s face and stood in the queue before the metal detector. Sethu turned back to check whether Anto was still there; Anto gave a thumbs up sign. There were a few well dressed guys in front of them in the queue; the machine let them pass through. When Sethu went through followed by Guru, the machine gave a loud beep….

The boys stood dazed for a second, they looked for Anto, and at the same time a guard at the entrance was calling them towards his desk. Just then there was another loud beep, the machine also caught the girl who was standing behind them in the queue. She moved towards the guard near the desk to show her purse, just then the boys saw Anto signaling them to get inside….. and they did.

Walking towards the shade behind the popcorn vending machine kept outside the mall Anto breathed a sigh of relief. He had asked Sethu to count the number of cinema halls that are in the fourth floor, he never believed his friend who heard someone saying that there were 11 of them. How could that be possible?!

He sat on the floor behind the popcorn machine with his face resting on his knees; He could see people going under the metal detector one by one. He wondered how a machine could find out whether someone was rich or poor. Sethu had 21 rupees; still the ‘rich-poor machine’ caught him… How much money does one need to be called rich?? Maybe the machine is not all that smart, it did catch the boys, but it also caught the girl. She had to go to the guard and let him check the money she had in her purse. She must have had a lot of money in her purse, say 200 rupees…

His eyelids started to feel heavy and the images getting blurred, the smell of pop corn made his stomach growl, maybe there’s a ‘rich-poor machine’ inside him as well..