Shiny Trinkets

Summers in Bhubaneswar were sultry and humid. In erratic gaps the city would see tormented showers of rain. But, they did nothing to wipe off the sweat of the people or the thirst in their eyes. The heat was often adamant in that part of rocky Kalinga. The Daya river sauntered in a dainty but scanty flow on the outskirts of the city and the trees of Chandaka cried in mighty fervor. At night, crickets and fireflies chirped, a reminder of the coming monsoon giving somewhat of a relief. 

The heat did not ebb the youthfulness of the children of the city. The hot evening would be packed with young girls and boys zooming through the streets in their bicycles in search of their mindless treasure. They only stopped to take a big gulp of the almost cold lemonade available in small stalls around the local bazaar. A restless army of small girls in their divided skirts and cotton blouses would be seen traipsing in their ladybirds to have Chuski and steal flowers from neighbor’s gardens to adorn their bicycle’s basket. 

In one such evening, Suchitra, Rani and Gauri sneaked out of their houses and with excited giggles headed towards Suchitra’s backyard. They carried along with them, shiny trinkets and many obsolete items. Suchitra with focused eyes pointed her little fingers to one part of the backyard and directed, ‘There, that’s a good spot”. The three of them rushed forward and examined the area. After thoroughly inspecting the place, they looked up at each other with coy smiles, screamed with euphoria and dropped everything they were clutching onto the ground. They got to their knees and started digging with as much energy as their tiny souls had. 

Along with mud in their faces, slight bruising in their knees and sweat on their forehead, they managed to dig up a decent sized hole. The items they had selected consisted of old imitation jewelry, pretty stones, black and white photographs, a cotton handkerchief, shiny chocolate wrapper, a paper with their names on it and so on. The three of them neatly packed everything in a plastic polythene, put it inside the hole they had dug out and sealed their treasure with dirt and love. 

As Suchitra continued with the muck project, her mother looked out the window. She smiled looking at the lone figure of her cheery daughter talking to herself and playing in the mud. Piningly, she wished Suchitra had friends to play with. That girl spent far too much time on her own.