Biscuits

It was a sultry afternoon. The sun was at its glory, shining directly over the heads of the people of Kolkata who were sweating profusely in its presence. Horns were blaring and traffic was at a standstill. The din of the hawkers trying to make a living, the whistle of the traffic sergeant, the blaring horns and the jostling pedestrians- all created a pandemonium that was both an annoyance as well as a thing too common. It was just another day in the middle of August.

At the corner of Sudder  street, stood a young nine year old boy. He was dressed in tattered clothes, wearing a ripped shirt and shorts, too short for a boy of his age. His face was covered with a thin layer of dirt while his hair lay plastered to his scalp, drenched in sweat. He was missing an incisor or two. His eyes were chocolate brown and his nose was a bit crooked. He had a habit of licking his lips and tilting his head when deep in thought.  At the moment, he was gawking at a child standing with her mother. The girl had her one hand wrapped around her mother’s fingers , while in her other hand, she had a chocolate bar that was melting and dripping all over her fingers and on to the pavement below. She was in the middle of the process of licking her fingers clean. The boy, on the other hand continued to stare at her, while his stomach rumbled.

He felt a smack on his head. Turning around indignantly, he was greeted by the sight of a hawker who was annoyed by the presence of the little ragamuffin, who according to him was driving away his customers.  The little boy walked away quickly and crossed the road. On the other side, he again resumed on his endeavour to collect a bit of money from the generous pedestrians. However, generosity was a bit rare these days.

After roaming around on the streets for a few hours more, he finally stopped and sat down at a quiet corner and in the light of the street lamp; he counted the coins that were jingling in his pocket. He was gracious enough to have had a family till the age of six but poverty drove him far away from them. Unable to feed him and his siblings, his mother sent him off with a man who had posed as a well-wisher. They were promised that he would be gone for a short while only and that the family that was hiring him as a servant boy would feed him thrice a day. After three days, he found himself in the midst of several small children who, just like him, were taken far away from home and who had horrible things in stored for them. He managed to fight off and run away and since then, he had been wandering the streets of Kolkata and sleeping on the pavement. Sometimes he was lucky enough to collect alms that could provide him two square meals a day….on the other days he would fill his stomach with water and stand before the big sweet shop and look longingly at the various sweets displayed.

He counted once again. 15 Rupees. He was overjoyed.  It was enough to buy him a dinner and maybe, even squeeze in breakfast. He walked towards a shop and bought himself a packet of biscuits. He rinsed his mouth and his face with the water that was trickling down from a broken tap and made his way to a bench in the park. Dusk had fallen and the park was almost empty. There was a group of college students, smoking at one corner while a young couple was making out, making good use of the darkness.  He settled down on to a rusted bench, far away from both the parties and ripped the packet open. He took out one biscuit at a time and nibbled on it. He had a habit of eating slowly, savouring each morsel. He watched the moon peeking through the clouds and let the cool breeze ruffle his hair. He was down to his third last biscuit. He was about to put it into his mouth when he heard a small whine. He looked down and saw a pair of eyes staring at him. He squinted and realized that it was a puppy.In the dim light of the streetlamp, he could make out that it was a few weeks old and then realized that it wasn’t actually staring at him. Rather, it was staring at the biscuit in his hand. He was about to pop the biscuit into his mouth when the puppy whined again. It came a little closer and nudged his right foot. He was about to kick it away but he changed his mind and with a sigh, he offered the biscuit. The puppy immediately bit the biscuit and he let it drop. The puppy ate the biscuit with relish and then licked the crumbs on the ground. It looked back at him, wagging its tail. This made the boy give a toothy grin and he took out another biscuit and offered it to the puppy. After a while, he took it in his arms and petted it. It licked him on his nose and this made him laugh. He had found a new friend.