Page 159 - Udaan 2019-2021

THE BOY BY THE BALCONY

-- PRIYAM BHATTACHARJEE, IX/ X

It was late summer and Anu had decided to spend the
remaining days of summer by being productive; practice

playing the violin, painting, reading books and making a
diary. His apartment was quite small; the door gave way

to a living room which also served as a dining room. At
one end of his living room, there was a grilled balcony.

Anu never really considered it to be a balcony at all. It
seemed to Anu that it was just an open side of the house,

closed off by a grille that scattered the sun’s pristine light
into the living room. The balcony was facing a large plot

of land; the incredibly dense tall, green grass cover had
made the water beneath almost impossible to see. Three

coconut trees were the ones who stood above the crowd,
waving their leaves in the light summer breeze. It was

about five in the evening. Anu sat in his balcony, with a
pencil and paper in hand, trying to draw a beautiful

scenery. The Sun had started to set and the birds were
returning to their nests when suddenly, the sky started to

turn grey. Anu started to hear the sound of rain falling
upon the trees and clattering upon the windows. As time

went by, the sky started becoming darker and darker,
with the raindrops becoming larger and falling with

greater speed. Suddenly, the electricity supply to the
house was cut off. The subtle moonlight penetrated the

dense, grey clouds, making the greenery of the land
barely visible with a greyish tint.

BACKGROUND ART BY- ANVIK GHOSH,X/XI