hehehehe

Awwehyea. 

HBVLEFUNAOUDSMHU~

Soo excited. :D

The Little Boy from Pune

The sun arose that morning more glorious than the ones before, creating a false sense of hope and comfort. Ichaa knew this morning was no more different, and no more special, than any other typical morning. He had become accustomed to the thought of never being allowed into the outside world again. Ichaa wasn’t always like this, in fact, he was more ebullient and effervescent than any other eight year old boy around all of Pune.

He and his older brother, Aahva, were a particularly happy duo; which would surprise most, due to the fact they’ve had a rather hard life. They never knew their father, and their mother died shortly after Ichaa was born; leaving Aahva to care for him. Parenting skills came very easily to Aahva, but he still had his work cut out for him. They lived a very small life together, both working very hard to earn barely enough money to live off of. They are very fortunate for each other.

Ichaa, at the time, was very young, bright eyed, and still had a skip in his step. Like all young boys, Ichaa had dreams, marvelous ones of America, and space travel. Occasionally he had dreams of superpowers, but Aahva told him those were unrealistic so he tried not to have them any more. His mornings consisted of usual chores, day dreaming, and then cooking breakfast.

“These are women’s chores to do!” He’d always huff, before he’d go out and get water. He was never serious, it was more of a joke between the two of them. Besides, Aahva had the upmost respect for women. People would always tease him as a child, he’d simply reply:

“It was how my mother raised me, I’m sorry you don’t have the same opinion of them.”

(You can imagine this made him very popular with the ladies)

Aahva used to take Ichaa into town. He always looked forwards to an afternoon with his brother. Aahva would always carry him on his shoulders as he held a basket of mangos to sell. Every trip was repetitive and nothing special would happen. Ichaa would ask him plenty of questions and Aahva would tell him stories about his work. However, one day they went to town, something went seriously wrong. But the story begins a little before that…

The hustle and bustle of the bazaar was always exciting to Ichaa. The merchants all lined up, displaying their usual stock of this and that. Each person claiming to have the ripest of all fruits, the most glimmering of all jewels, and the nicest of shawls. Ichaa latched onto Aahva’s thick hair, as he sat high upon his broad shoulders. He was gently lowered onto the uneven, gravel, turf. Ichaa smiled up at Aahva, eyes glimmering with admiration. Aahva tussled Ichaa’s hair, then went to fix his own quickly.

They stood in the piercing sun, walking up to people offering their mangos and other goods. Hours past by and they were already gaining quite a profit, they had accumulated about 230 rupees.

“Aahva, why don’t you go to school like other boys?” Ichaa asked, as he kicked around a small rock.

“Because, little one, I haven’m t the time for it.” He replied, not making eye contact, as he held up a mango to a woman and began bargaining with her.

“And you already know everything, right Aahva?” Ichaa asked coming in-between Aahva and the woman.

“You can never stop learning, remember that.” He turned to Ichaa, then back to the woman.

“Oh I know, but you’re still the smartest person in the whole world.” He said, spreading her arms out for emphasis.

Aahva tried to hide a smile, as he tussled Ichaa’s hair, then thanked the woman for making her purchase.

“Your son is adorable,” the woman said, spreading her lips apart revealing a gape where her front teeth should be.

“Thank you, but he is my brother.”

The woman blushed, “My, my, you two must have a very large age difference.”

With that the woman said goodbye and made her way down the street.

“What where you talking about with her daadaa?”

“She was asking if you were my son.”

Ichaa bursted into laughter, ” That is so strange, why would she think you are my father?”

“I don’t know either little one,” he said while he tussled Ichaa’s hair some more.

In the distance a group of young boys were hanging around a jewelry stand.

“These hooligans have really started to cause trouble around here,” Aahva mumbled to himself. He bent down and placed his hands on Ichaa’s shoulders, “Listen here little man. I want you to stay away from those people as much a possible. Understand me?”

Ichaa nodded his head vigorously.

“Good.”

After a long afternoon of standing in the heat, trying to sell mangos, the two brothers headed back to their home.

The next day Aahva and Ichaa held hands as they walked into town. They waved hello to their friends as they chose their spot to cover that day. Aahva handed his large basket of fruit to Ichaa to hold.

“Stay here little man, I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going daadaa?” Ichaa asked as he put the heavy basket down.

“I’m going to thank Priya for giving us that bread last night. I won’t take long.”

Aahva pat Ichaa on the head and walked off. Ichaa began people watching to pass the time. Suddenly, a group of young boys approached him.

“Hello,” The tallest of the boys walked up to him, Ichaa could tell that he was the leader.

“H-hi there…” Ichaa replied.

The group of boys began surrounding him, “What is your name?” the leader asked.

“I-I am Ichaa.”

“Would you like to play a game with us, Ichaa?”

“Oh,” Ichaa began easing up, ” Well, I’m not so sure. You see, I am waiting for my brother to return.”

The boys all stood there in silence, eyeing Ichaa.

“On second thought…I love games…” Ichaa whimpered struggling to stand up.

They all walked down the street in a tight bundle. They walked over to a small stand selling beads. The leader pointed to that stand.

“See that stand?”

Ichaa nodded.

“If you want to win the game, you need to…”The boy paused, ” Collect, the most beads.”

Ichaa pursed his lips, “What if you don’t want to win?” he asked timidly.

All the boys were silent. Then the leader finally spoke, “Charu and Nabhi will show you how it’s done.”

Ichaa watched the boys casually walk up to the stand. They then commenced to slyly stuff beads into their pockets. After going at it on and off for about a minute before they walked back to the rest of the group. Then the leader gestured to the stand.

“Your turn.”

Ichaa gulped. He shakily walked over to the stand. As he looked around he began stuffing the colored beads into his pockets. Suddenly he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head, to see a large angry man towering over him.

“Do you realize what you are doing there?” A cold voice rang out.

Ichaa began shaking as hot tears started streaming down his cheeks. He shook his head.

“I’m afraid that you need to come with me,” the man (who Ichaa now believes is a police officer) said, growing impatient.

Ichaa could no longer repress his tears, and he began crying, “I didn’t…It wasn’t…They made me!”

“Look kid, we’ve heard it all. I haven’t the time to listen.”

“No!” he cried, “Please!”

“You’ll get a chance to explain yourself in court.”

The commotion began attracting the attention of people standing by, and within seconds they were surrounded by a sea of people. Aahva began pushing his way through the crowd.

“What is going on here?” He asked, trying not to loose his temper.

“Daadaa!” Ichaa shouted, as he ran into Aahva’s arms crying.

Aahva walked up to the police man, “Sir, what is going on?”

The police rubbed his mustache, “I caught him stealing from this stand. Now I’m taking him to the Juvenile Courts.”

Aahva looked at the police officer, then back at Ichaa whose clammy hands were tightly latched onto his arm, “Couldn’t you let him off with a warning?”< /span>

“If I let all children off with a warning then we’d have hundreds of criminals running around Pune, wouldn’t we?”

Aahva was silent. He bent down, and softly placed both hands onto Ichaa’s fragile shoulders.

“I-it wasn’t my fault, daadaa,” he whimpered, his lips quivering, “They-those boys, forced me…” Aahva was silent, “Oh daadaa, please d-don’t make me go with him.”

Ichaa was in shock, this was horrible. How could his brother, whom he admired more than anyone else, betray him? Perhaps Aahva was not thinking straight. Ichaa thought hard of things to say to make Aahva forgive him.

“Daadaa, I didn’t do it on purpose, well, I did, but…I didn’t!” He tried hard to not let the tears flow, “Oh, daadaa-Aahva, don’t let them take me. I’m not a bad kid, I don’t steal for fun. Oh, Aahva, please you’ll believe me won’t you? I know you will. Your’e my brother, my daadaa, you look out for me. Daadaa!” Ichaa was beginning to speak fast, “Daadaa, please believe me, say something don’t let them take me. Aahva! Please!”

Ichaa was stunned, and not because Aahva wasn’t speaking. Aahva’s hand began shaking, and his lips were pursed together tightly. At this point Ichaa had stopped crying he just stared at Aahva. He was amazed, he’d never seen anything like this. Aahva was crying. Tears rolled down his cheeks and dripped down his neck. Ichaa wiped the tears away from his brother’s face, using his thumbs.

“Listen,” the cop said, placing his hand on Aahva’s shoulder, “I need to take the kid now.”

Aahva nodded, and took his hands off of Ichaa’s shoulders. He then got up and turned around, limply waving his hand for Ichaa to go with the officer. Ichaa was heartbroken, Aahva had betrayed him.

“Daadaa?” He whimpered one last time, his words barely audible.

Aahva turned his head away from Ichaa, “Go with them,” he finally spoke, “don’t worry little bhai, I’ll come to get you.”

Ichaa nodded, and walked with the police man to his car.

Ichaa sat alone in his new ” room” waiting for someone to return to him with the news of when his bail would be made. He sat on top of his bed, curled up into a ball, his knees tucked into his chest. He wondered where the other children were, he didn’t like sitting alone in the dim room. There was a tiny window that light showed through, however it was not nearly enough light to fill the room. The door knob turned back and forth, then he heard the click of a key. A nicely dressed woman stepped in the room, slowly shutting the door behind her.

“I’m sorry but, there are,” She paused, “some cases that are backed up and need to be dealt with, so they are postponing yours. For now you are going to remain in the observation home with the other boys like you.”

Ichaa couldn’t speak. He was terrified, this means he wouldn’t be able to see Aahva again. What if they never took his case? What if Aahva didn’t come back for him? With Ichaa gone he would be able to go to college. Tears began clouding his vision. Ichaa shook his head in denial, he decided to cast all thoughts like that out of his head. He knew Aahva would return to take him home.

The woman left, and Ichaa was alone in the dark room again. The powder blue walls surrounding him seemed to be coming closer together. Ichaa huddled closer into his ball and kept repeating to himself, Aahva will come for me, over and over. Repeating that phrase in his mind like a chant, slowly lulling himself to sleep.

Ichaa was awoken suddenly to be pushed to the floor. His vision was blurred for a moment, going in and out of focus. He rubbed the back of his head in a daze. He then looked up at the older boy standing above him. He appeared to be maybe ten or twelve.

“That is my bed.” the boy said, as he nudged Ichaa with his foot.

Ichaa looked around the room, and all three beds were full. Normally he would’ve argued, however Ichaa was far too tired and depressed to come up with a retort. He then walked around the room asking if anyone would share a bed with him. One boy finally said yes, and Ichaa then fell asleep. 

In the morning the boys were awoken by a bell. Their day consisted of cleaning, and activities. At noon a bell rang and the boys went to lunch. The food wasn’t very good, but it was better than none. After lunch the boys did more activities and when those ended, there wasn’t anything to do. All of the boys were huddled around a television in a room together. They were all silent some boys were asleep. Their minds drained, their eyes wide, and their mouths gaping open. Ichaa sat down, trying to get a good spot, but it was so crowded there wasn’t any room for him.  

The courses of each day became rather monotonous and Ichaa soon became drained just as the other boys were. Before he knew it, it had been two months since the day he was arrested. Ichaa didn’t make an effort to reach out to any of the other boys or to make friends. He didn’t want to become attached too anything. Ichaa had finally gone to bond court and they set a bail for him. When Ichaa was there he saw Aahva for the first time in months. Aahva too, looked tired, and he lacked the gleam that once shimmered in his eyes. 

After bond court Ichaa returned to the same room, at the same observation home, with the same boys. Ichaa wasn’t very hopeful. How was his brother going to raise the money to bail him out of jail? 

Six months past by, and Ichaa has yet to leave to observation home. He now spends his free time gazing out the window. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for. A part of him is wishing for Aahva to come walking up the cobble stone path into the building to pick him up. Ichaa felt foolish for hoping…hope can be such a foolish thing. 

Months went on, and Ichaa stopped waiting at the window. Ichaa didn’t sit and watch the television with the other boys either. Now that some of the boys from when he first arrived were gone he had a bed all to himself. Ichaa spent his free time laying in bed and staring at the ceiling, replaying memories in his mind, they seemed so distant. 

One day after doing the day’s activity, which was book-binding, Ichaa did look out the window. The sun was very bright, and the outside looked very tempting. Which surprised Ichaa, seeing as though he had no interest in the outdoors for months now. Ichaa put his hand up against the window, and sighed. He then walked back to his room, dismissing the ideas of the outside. He then, lie down in his bed and went to sleep. 

Hours later he was awoken by someone nudging his arm. Ichaa pushed the arm away from him, as he groaned. He then sluggishly sat up, and rubbed his eyes, which were blurred by the sleep in his eyes. His vision cleared slightly, however it was too dark to make out the face in front of him.

“Hey,” the voice whispered.

Ichaa moaned. 

“Bhai,” the voice whispered, it was coarse and fragile. 

Ichaa froze. Bhai, who would call him that? Is it another child playing a joke on him? No, it couldn’t be that…

Ichaa gulped and forced the words out, tears began streaming down his pale cheeks,“Daadaa?” he asked shakily, rubbing his eyes harder.  

“Let’s go now.”