Shailaja Upadhyaya

“Are they never coming back?”

“Back to where, exactly?” Jacaranda enquired going spread-arms-agile-torso sexy.

“What’s never? There are all over you in the morning dear! And many are walking through the night, it’s only during the day they vanish together. Other time they just divide themselves. “A roadside bollard who seemed useless till date answered the black pitched road.

“But they don’t walk through the public gardens now, do they? “ It’s been long I have remained unturned.” An unturned pebble exclaimed, “I wonder what they are up to.”

A cool breeze gushed, “They are h-e-a-ling.”

The unturned pebble asked shortly, “What healing?? What are they doing inside their homes?”

Nasty cool breeze shooted, “CLEANING UP.”

Ha ! ha ! ha! All giggled. Someone murmured, “I hope it is not their soul they intend to clean, it’s going to be a long journey if so. “

Black pitched road – which actually looked black pitched– observed up in vain aiming the cool breeze,“   can you  see them all , have they changed?“

“Nah! Same old same old. But they are into greenery,” the pedant cool breeze answered.

Ha ! ha ! ha!

“Don’t tell me you are referring to that “terrace” decoration thingy. That is so first world”. A tall tree joined. Not very happy.

“Don’t be so hard on them, After all that may be a symbol of prosperity.“ The unturned pebble was all compassionate.

“Yeah, who cares where we belong belong, legit! “ The bush sounded a little emotional and stuck, of course.

Meanwhile the breeze whistled all free and all cool and the jacaranda passed a flirty laugh. The bush seemed offended.

The unturned pebble went thoughtful “Prolly, where you belong does not matter as long as you like where you are. I belonged to the banks of some helpless river. Every day, all I could hear was this gibberish of  the hard working fellas… ‘money and food  and farm and food , family and FOOD’….and here I hear big stuffs like dreams, like aims .It’s only the day before they vanished, I ever heard them mutter “food” here . I mean who talks about food anymore. It’s just so basic, its right there.“

“It’s there?” One dog who had been sleeping throughout this conversation, was suddenly interested. “Where is it? I don’t see the leftovers no more.”

Everyone turned towards the dog.

“So you say? Weren’t you adopted by one of them long time ago? What brings you back to the roads?” The tall tree commanded.

“Me??”

“Yeah, you.“

“Okay this is embarrassing,  mm..well that was not me but my brother who was a lot clean and had a fancy hairdo. I couldn’t make it apparently because their walls and my color do not go together.“ The not-so-fancy dog sounded unhappy and dog-zoned.

“Ahhh!!! Until today I thought their love for you was unconditional. No wonder, a freak took your clan  for some conditioning experiment,” the tall and  green  and proud tree smirked.

“That experiment is not even related, whatever“. Offence was duly taken.

“Your brother happy with them?”The unturned lonely pebble was curious.

“I think so, I don’t know, I just came back because I get no leftovers. And. I have been hearing some terrible things.” The not-so-fancy-but-hungry dog   geared up to steal the limelight.

What! What ! What! Limelight stolen.’

The other day  a lucky dog and I were peeing together and it said they are inside because they are afraid. The not-so-fancy-but-hungry-and-unlucky-yet-full-of-information dog answered.

Afraid?” Of what?  Lonely pebble moved into the paparazzi mode.

“I don’t know, of the outside, I guess.” The-not-so-fancy- but hungry-and unlucky-yet full of information” dog was suddenly all pompous. “They have been acting like crazy lately. They cook and eat and stay inside and huss-fuss about the threat and have been washing hands. Word is that they have forgotten to mud bathe their hands. And.  And they are stocking food as if there is not going to be any. “

The lonely-yet-new-school-irate pebble exclaimed, “Food, seriously?”

The tall tree pouted,“ I don’t care as long as they are not back.”

There was long pause. It was not awkward.

Jacaranda spoke after a long while. “They cannot take selfies with me, their bad.”   And continued  sounding like a narcissist  hydroxymoron, “ At least my fallen flowers remain alive in the mud some days more. All are happy. ”

“Not all though,” the unturned pebble signaled towards the Shopping Mall.

“OMG! Why is it sulking since they vanished?” The tall tree looked confused.

“I think it’s PMSing. FOMO can really get over you sometimes.” Lonely pebble wanted to change the topic, “ Is their world coming to an end?” It shuddered while it spoke. “If only they and we belonged to the same world.  Chh chh. Doomers. “

While the lonely Peeble almost passed the sit-by-the-window-and-sobb whim all over, the tall tree was adamant on ganging up. “You all agree its peaceful right? Like you have been waiting to breathe peacefully. It’s the least we deserve. Everything  except their blabber can  be heard now . The distant birds, the air, the sound of the evening. Who had thought we could  realize we had voices, let alone speak to each other this lifetime.  They had ruled us like lunats.” It sounded hoarse and nearly choked. “We belong here my friends, with or without them.”

The city echoed “Hey folks!! Our nap time has been extended! Crazy times! Crazy times! They are still afraid; boo hoo! Party’s on me!”

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(feature pic courtesy aninews.in)