It was the
mid monsoon season, the sky full of varying hues which blended into white near
the horizon. A black patch here and another white one near it gave the illusion
of the world being transformed into gray-scale. Water poured as if the heaven
had been flooded due to some reason and was draining its waste.
Choti was
standing under a small shade on the entrance of a small house which barely
guarded her from the cruel chilling rain water. Choti? Yes, that was the name
she was accustomed to hear. She almost forgot she was once named Shipra. Her
pink frock was torn at the edges with stains of mud all over.
Shivering
bitterly of cold but the need of her belly faded away the effect of cold
weather. She had not eaten a morsel since the last day. How would she have when
she has nobody to cook for and feed her? She cried at times when she remembered
her mother, her only parent since childhood whom fate snatched from her a month
ago.
‘It is good
to cry in the rain because then nobody knows that you are crying’, a statement
oft repeated by people did not hold good for her. How would she get food if she
did not get sympathy?
The gate
behind her beautifully carved and polished with silvery color having numerous
red flowers with a large glittering WELCOME written at the top. The ‘WELCOME’
caught her attention.
‘May be I
can get something to eat here?’ she thought.
Knock.
Knock.
A man opened
the gate.
“What’s the
matter with you?”
“I’ve not
eaten anything Sir. If I could get some…..”
“We don’t
have any food. Go, ask someone else” he shouted interrupting her and banged the
door.
She turned
back to move to some other option. The road was too slippery to walk. She tried
a lot to be firm and hold herself but to no effect. She fell. Her blood
droplets fell into the muddy water and transformed into a weird shade of brown.
‘It’s just
little blood’ she consoled herself and moved.
She reached the
highway. The road was almost empty with few cars moving to and fro at an
interval of a minute or so. She started crossing the road with small shivering
steps. All of a sudden a white BMW emerged out of nowhere; the driver tried
hard but could not stop due to the slippery path.
Banggg.
She was hit
with great force and thrown five meters away on her face. Blood smeared all
over her face and her head bleeded heavily.
The car
owner hurriedly came out of the car to look into the matter.
“Who is it?”
asked his wife sitting inside the car.
“Some random
street girl”
“Leave her
or we’ll get into trouble. The road is empty, no one saw the accident.”
Choti was
breathing heavily. The man left her, sat into the car, ignited it and went
away. After driving a mile or so he played music to lighten the mood.
Choti was
dying.
