Page 149 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

“Only parents, please,” she said. “The baby is serious.”
Choki’s three cousin-brothers stayed back at the canopy, in front of the cabin.
At 10:00 pm, Tenjur shuffled in. “You can take rest.”
“Take care of this line, please,” I said. “It’s his lifeline.”
I lay on the rubber carpet at the canopy. Early the next morning, I shuffled into the cabin. In her sleep,
Choki was wobbling on the stool, holding the baby’s neck. So, I sent her to take a rest.
Back in the school, I would remember my ailing baby. One day, my class monitor stood before me with
a sack full of presents.
“Sir, this is for your baby,” she said, grinning.
My breath seized. “Oh, really?”
“May your baby recover soon, sir,” she added.
Others sat tight-lipped, blinking at me. They were too young to understand anything, not too young to
offer condolences.
My lips quivered. “Thank you all. I…” I sank into my chair and covered my face with my hands and
sobbed for minutes. “Oh, no! I must not cry before them.” I wiped the tears and began the day’s lesson.
On my way home one morning, a young boy leaped before me and wailed. “Boohoo.”
“What the hell?” I glared at him for startling me. Somehow, his fear assuaged my furore. “Why are you
crying, kid?”
He trembled. His dirt-smudged face said he hadn’t washed for days. Often, he glanced back at the door
he came out from. The other moment, he even tried to cross the road. He looked right and left and
hunched. But something deterred him. He almost tripped on his leg.
“Oops-a-daisy, watch out, kid!”
“My mom is beating me,” he cried, putting his finger in his mouth. “Boohoo.”
“Why?”
“Boohoo!”
“Stop crying.” I rifled through my pant pockets for some change, but only to find just adequate for a
taxi. A young woman rushed out and grasped the boy’s frail arm and shook him hard.
“Aunty, please don’t beat him.”
But she slapped him hard across his left cheek. “Where is the money? Tell me, where is it?”
Poor kid jerked in agony and dropped to his knees before her. “I lost it, Mom. Boohoo! I am sorry.”
I looked up and said, “Lord, have mercy on this poor chap.” I dragged the boy behind me. “Aunty,
how could you lay your hands on your son?”
She glared at the boy. “Come out, you rogue.” Hefting the boy from my back, she spanked him hard on
the back. “Take this!”
My heart ached, seeing the innocent boy flinch in fright.
“He is just a boy, Aunty. You can’t beat your child. You know what’s like for a child to—”
“Leave us alone. I have the right to do anything with him.”
“But he is just a—”
She dragged the boy away and slammed the door behind her. “You spoiled brat. Take this!”
Spank! Spank!
With each distancing step, the boy’s weeping faded away too. It haunted me all the way home. “That
was gross. Can’t believe I saw a stone-hearted mother abuse her child today.”
Back in the school, I drowned in tears, remembering my baby. And every time I remembered him, I
sneaked into the toilet and sobbed, leaning against the wall. I sobbed until my brain throbbed.
Commuting to school from the ward to school became a part of my daily schedule. Evenings, I sat on
the bench behind the ward, wondering what fate had stored for my baby. As the cool evening breeze

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