The Sun rose as usual,the city of Bhubaneswar rumbled to life,people went about their daily lives,birds chirped as usual & every other shrine of different religions played their devotional music,it was just another day in the busy lives of countless people who lived in the city.Hawkers went throwing newspapers,people took to pavements & parks for the morning jogging,some flaunting their toned bodies & some hiding the weight as much as possible,vegetable vendors ran about,municipality people cleaned the streets,everybody started their daily itinerary cursing & muttering about misery & helplessness,the rich ranted about richer & the poor about rich all but Lakshmi. Lakshmi, 12 year old little Lakshmi sat silently in their hut looking at her little brother Chintu & her Father,sleeping peacefully. Lakshmi smiled as she saw them & tried to remember her mother's face,she tried hard but she failed to remember her,tears welled up in her eyes & she sighed,'Lakshmi never saw her mother,all she heard from people was that she was a prostitute in the nearby red light area,who threw her away after she was born,calling her a curse,Lakshmi never understood the meaning of the word prostitute but she knew that it was not a good profession,people would cringe at the name of a prostitute & several of her neighborhood's women chose to be prostitutes to support their families.whoever turned a prostitute was met with wrath of the slum people who lived in there.Chintu was also an abandoned child,nobody knew about his mother though,both of them were adopted by a drunk,handicapped beggar,who raised them by begging at the nearby railway station.'Lakshmi sat transfixed in the hut,looking around she tried to think of days left in this month,how they would survive this month & how she would admit Chintu at the nearby school because at the end of the month as promised by Shilpa Nani,the local woman leader,she would get to work in a very good business,her father will be provided with a wheelchair & they will be shifted to a good house & their life will be happy forever.'She heaved a sigh of relief as she thought of the beautiful future that can be possible if she would agree to work under Shilpa Nani & then she smiled again.
By the time lakshmi cleaned the hut & the veranda,Chintu & her father were awake,she ran to the nearby tea stall & brought a cup of tea & some cigarettes for her father as well as some bun for Chintu.While they were eating,Lakshmi went to bathe,while coming from the pond she went to the nearby Shiv temple & prayed to God,she asked for all but herself,she was strangely happy for some reason,she didn't have a proper family,any education or good upbringing or a good place to live,yet in those small pieces of life,she felt complete because she had two persons who loved her,her father & her brother,she prayed to God to make her remember her mother's face next time she remembers her & she asked God's blessing for the new life she was going to start. While running back to her hut,she saw her father going out on his crutches to station,he kissed her on her forehead as she touched his knee & blessed her & then slowly dragged himself to his destination.
Coming back to their hut,Lakshmi took Chintu & bathed him in their backyard,Chintu was just 5 years old & just as beautiful as Lakshmi. Then she fed him with the leftover food of last night & ate a little so that he could have more food & then both of them set out to work.They wore their ragged clothes & holding their Polythene bags set out for collecting glass & plastic bottles from garbage dumps. Apart from their father's begging this was another of their livelihood sustenance. Wherever they went they found hordes of poor children all doing odd jobs at such tender ages,Lakshmi & Chintu collected about 65 rupees by selling the bottles they collected & returned to their home,on the way she bought chocolates for Chintu & a pack of cigarettes for her father & then went to their hut.It was already evening while they were going to their hut,many people surrounded their hut in their neighbourhood,there were hues & cries of some people,their neighbours Neela Mausi & Chinky Nani were wailing loudly.she found it strange & she felt an eerie chill inside her,what if its something wrong & slowly she walked towards her hut. Anyone who saw her looked at her with pity only Shilpa Nani who was there saw her with a look that puzzled her,as she saw at her hut she saw something placed on the ground,it was something or someone,covered with a dirty cloth & it was bloodied at several places.
Lakshmi felt a strange fear,for she didn't know why it lay in front of her home & then she saw something,something that would remind of the unknown fate that was looming large over her. She saw the battered crutches of her father lying nearby,battered,bloodstained & ignored like her father. Then she understood why the people gathered around her house,why the people were looking at her with pity & whose bloodstained & dismembered lifeless body it was,she sank down on the ground,Chintu was still clueless about everything that went on about & was staring at everyone. Her father was begging as usual near the stairs of the overhead footbridge of platform 1 when suddenly a mob broke out rushing for their train ,her father tried to stay away from being crushed but went near the edge of the platform,he slipped & fell over to the tracks,the train crushed his body under it & his dead body lay there until the train left & he lay there on the platform for about 2 hours before his body was identified & brought to the slum. Lakshmi heard everything like a corpse,still & motionless,she couldn't believe the only good person who cared for her brother & her was dead.while she was sitting there it became a kind of commotion as Shilpa Nani addressed people by saying some good things about Lakshmi's father & how she was going to take care of the two children & how she was going to take care of the neighbourhood if they vote for her as the new ward member in the coming election,Lakshmi was motionless & sat like a statue while Chintu ran away to play with the other children of the neighbourhood,innocent & unaware of the situation. Then a group of people drank some liquor & took away her father's body to the Shahidnagar crematorium & burnt it,some women started crying at the scene & went to their homes after being paid some money.
Lakshmi & Chintu were consoled by Shilpa Nani for some while & then she brought them food & left them & she promised Lakshmi not to worry & that she still remembered her promise to her.That night Lakshmi had a strange thought,what if she & Chintu would have been born in a good place or a good family,their father would not be a handicapped beggar & would have been a teacher or a shopkeeper,she & Chintu would go to school like other kids & play with their friends,like she saw the kids playing outside a school while collecting bottles. People would not treat them like worms & they would get whatever they wanted to have,she wept silently remembering their father & looked at his torn crutches lying on the floor,she cleaned the bloodstains herself before bringing it inside their hut,all she had memory of her father was a photograph some fair skinned person called a foreigner took of them on a trip to their slum,it had her,Chintu & their father together,smiling. She remembered everything & then prayed to God to give her strength & closed her eyes.
The next day was just as every other day,nobody missed their father,everybody went about their businesses,labourers, ice cream vendors,hawkers,security guards all went for their respective jobs.It continued the same for the next few weeks,even Lakshmi forgot her father & worked harder & collected more bottles with Chintu to survive,she learnt to cook which her father did until his demise,she learnt to fight for water when the tanker came to their slum & she learnt to abuse in order to dominate other people,she got to know about prostitutes & their profession & hated her mother,never again she tried to remember her face again,she didn't pray to God anymore. There was Shilpa Nani who came to the neighbourhood now & then making promises but she forgot her promises to Lakshmi,even Lakshmi forgot her dreams,what she had seen for her family, some days later she went to collect bottles near Malisahi,the red light area of Bhubaneswar & observed the people over there,their lives,the money they earned & how they were a little but better than her own slum. She couldn't sleep that night,all night she thought of everything that may or would happen to her & her brother & decided for a better life for her brother even if it cost her,her life.
The next day it was the old Lakshmi again,she went to bath at the pond & went to the temple after 2 months,prayed to Lord Shiva for her brother & sat there for sometime & then she came back to her hut.She scavenged everything she could find of Chintu & then made him wear the best clothes he had & set out with him towards a place. Chintu was happy to go out of the slum without any dirty clothes & bags in his hand & whistled enthusiastically. She took him to an orphanage & told him to stay there while she comes back to him,then she went over to the Warden of the orphanage & talked with her about Chintu & how he should be raised till she comes & claims him back,she promised to send money every month for his education & upbringing & asked to make Chintu forget about her sister in anyway possible,when the concerned warden questioned her,'how she could arrange for money as she herself was just another child ?',Lakshmi smiled & fighting back her tears,said'I'll make my dreams come true,whatever the price may be.'
It was a long walk to home,she took all her belongings with her,took the only photograph of her family,held her head high & walked till she reached Malisahi,the red light area of the city,she knew what she was going to do & she wasn't afraid or disgusted. She took a deep breath while salvaging her dreams & thought of the beautiful future she could provide for Chintu,smiled bravely & walked in.
Lakshmi & Chintu were consoled by Shilpa Nani for some while & then she brought them food & left them & she promised Lakshmi not to worry & that she still remembered her promise to her.That night Lakshmi had a strange thought,what if she & Chintu would have been born in a good place or a good family,their father would not be a handicapped beggar & would have been a teacher or a shopkeeper,she & Chintu would go to school like other kids & play with their friends,like she saw the kids playing outside a school while collecting bottles. People would not treat them like worms & they would get whatever they wanted to have,she wept silently remembering their father & looked at his torn crutches lying on the floor,she cleaned the bloodstains herself before bringing it inside their hut,all she had memory of her father was a photograph some fair skinned person called a foreigner took of them on a trip to their slum,it had her,Chintu & their father together,smiling. She remembered everything & then prayed to God to give her strength & closed her eyes.
The next day was just as every other day,nobody missed their father,everybody went about their businesses,labourers, ice cream vendors,hawkers,security guards all went for their respective jobs.It continued the same for the next few weeks,even Lakshmi forgot her father & worked harder & collected more bottles with Chintu to survive,she learnt to cook which her father did until his demise,she learnt to fight for water when the tanker came to their slum & she learnt to abuse in order to dominate other people,she got to know about prostitutes & their profession & hated her mother,never again she tried to remember her face again,she didn't pray to God anymore. There was Shilpa Nani who came to the neighbourhood now & then making promises but she forgot her promises to Lakshmi,even Lakshmi forgot her dreams,what she had seen for her family, some days later she went to collect bottles near Malisahi,the red light area of Bhubaneswar & observed the people over there,their lives,the money they earned & how they were a little but better than her own slum. She couldn't sleep that night,all night she thought of everything that may or would happen to her & her brother & decided for a better life for her brother even if it cost her,her life.
The next day it was the old Lakshmi again,she went to bath at the pond & went to the temple after 2 months,prayed to Lord Shiva for her brother & sat there for sometime & then she came back to her hut.She scavenged everything she could find of Chintu & then made him wear the best clothes he had & set out with him towards a place. Chintu was happy to go out of the slum without any dirty clothes & bags in his hand & whistled enthusiastically. She took him to an orphanage & told him to stay there while she comes back to him,then she went over to the Warden of the orphanage & talked with her about Chintu & how he should be raised till she comes & claims him back,she promised to send money every month for his education & upbringing & asked to make Chintu forget about her sister in anyway possible,when the concerned warden questioned her,'how she could arrange for money as she herself was just another child ?',Lakshmi smiled & fighting back her tears,said'I'll make my dreams come true,whatever the price may be.'
It was a long walk to home,she took all her belongings with her,took the only photograph of her family,held her head high & walked till she reached Malisahi,the red light area of the city,she knew what she was going to do & she wasn't afraid or disgusted. She took a deep breath while salvaging her dreams & thought of the beautiful future she could provide for Chintu,smiled bravely & walked in.
emotional.......n heart touching
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