Ruksana Part-II

The open mind.

"This is the continuation of the extract from the memoirs of a 9 year old boy called Jay. This story is about childhood innocence, child labour, God, miracles,and affection/love. It can be best enjoyed if the many parts are read in proper sequence ."

"I get bored easily when I am not doing anything so I want to do something all the time. I stand outside the house and see the road. But it is very sunny in the afternoon and amma allows me to go out of the house only after 5:30 in the evening. So, inside the house sometimes I just sit and play with toy cars and start my own new games.

I once played a game with bikes. Suzuki samurai vs. Hero Honda sleek vs. Ind Suzuki vs. Rajdoot vs. Bullet vs. Kawasaki kb 125. I just sit outside the first floor balcony and count the bikes that go in the road and the bike that crosses the maximum number of times in that 2/3 hours will be winner. My dad has Ind Suzuki so I always support it to win.

When evening comes I will go out and climb on top of the big gate and sit there and watch the road. I wait for Ruksana to come out of her house as she also will come out with aunties and babies and sit in their porch. It is a great feeling to see her for the first time after the previous day.

There will be a lot of buses in the evening in the road and they are full of people. Some buses have nose and some did not. I wonder if that altered the top speed of the buses. These buses are made in Hosur. My aunty works in the factory.

I also like to see the rare TATA Sierra and TATA Estate. I want to buy that car when I grow up.

When Ruksana is outside her house, I want her to see me. She does not see me and smile because we are big children now and boys should not talk to girls. I talk to Jaffer’s sisters but Ruksana is servant so she always keeps quiet.

I want to show Ruksana that I am strong and brave. I also want her to know that I am intelligent and I know many things that she does not know. I want to see her smile and play. I want her to be happy.

Many girls see me when I am doing something in school and they like it. But I didn’t like it. I want only Ruksana to see me. So, I try many ways to make her see me and I see her. I want to be like a Hero to her. So, I do many brave things and try and make Ruksana see me.

For a long time I wanted to try and walk in the other side of the railing of the porch in the 3rd floow terrace like a circus man. One evening my parents went to see my aunt in hospital who had given a cousin for me. I was standing in the terrace and studying geography and suddenly saw Ruksana. She saw me too. Immediately I got down on the other side of the railing in the porch and walked the distance from one end to another. At one end I turned back to see if Ruksana was seeing my fearlessness, but she was not there. I got dejected and climbed back into the terrace. I then noticed my neighbourhood ‘thatha’ (old man) watching me. I was happy that he saw me walk and smiled back at him but he was looking at me seriously with wide eyes. I understood that he was angry and ran away.

I was hoping that this thatha does not tell my parents about what I did but he did. My appa told me in the evening not to do it again. I knew that appa was scared and I am not. I have already showed Ruksana how I can climb down on the sunshades earlier.

I like to go to car workshop and see ‘Annas’ (Big guys) who are coloured black because of oil and grease. I also want to be like them. They also drive very fast, both bike and car. They also go under the car which I find very brave. Sometimes when our car is parked in front of our house and when Ruksana is out in her portico playing with babies, I go under our car and stay there for two minutes. My parents do not know this. I come out and see if Ruksana saw it. She must be thinking that I am strong boy but she never wanted me to know that she saw it.

It is very scary under the car as there are many sounds coming out.

Our first floor also had a balcony which had railings that shook. When Ruksana is standing in her house, I hit the railing with my hands and it shakes. I know I am very strong. I wondered if the ‘annans’ (Big guys) in the neighbourhood could do that. Ruksana always saw that and turned away as usual.

Last weekend I did a poster pointing of my house sitting in front of the house. This is how famous painters do painting. I saw it in Trivandrum beach. Ruksana saw me once but I sat there from 2’O clock to 6 ‘O clock in the sun as my parents went to a marriage. I felt sad that she didn’t see my painting. I fell sick next day and didn’t go to school as I had fever.

Today also I will go and ride my Bicycle if Ruksana is there. I am not allowed to go to the road and can ride only inside the compound. I can draw all numbers with my cycle, ride super fast and ride without holding the handle. I can also stand on the seat and ride. I will ring the bell when I am doing this so that Ruksana will see me but Ruksana does not see always. She sees me and turns away.

I play cricket and bat/ball. My father does not like me playing with other boys in the locality as he thinks they are ‘pattikadu’ (country rogues) and do not wear shirts. I have a cricket bat that my amma made with a ‘matta’ (dry ripe coconut leaf midrib). I also a have an original cricket bat but I don’t like it. I wanted Four Square Bat but appa bought Ajay Jadeja bat from Jabalpur. I think it is duplicate. Jabalpur is far away on the way to Delhi.

I also play bat/ball with two red coloured bats that appa bought from Ranchi. Ranchi is in Bihar state. He said that the bats are used to play table tennis. I and my friends play bat/ball with plastic balls and ARUN ice cream balls. I am the only one in the locality who has had ball ice-cream. I tell my friends that it tasted the best and that they have not eaten anything as tasty as this. I sometimes throw the ball high in the air so Ruksana will come to know that I had ball ice-cream but Ruksana did not want to see it. She will be talking to somebody and was not interested to see me play.

I want to do something special and make her see me. I will think about some idea and plan to do more things to make her see me.

I want her to smile.

I want her to laugh.

I want her to play.

I want her to be happy."

To be continued