Birds Of Fallen Paradise

By Ashutosh Agarwal

It was a hot humid sunny day, I was standing there on the bus stand. My eyes were dribbling between my watch and the traffic signal. Sweating profusely in those humid conditions was making it unbearable to wait . Thirst of desire can never be satisfied but water in this weather feels like the milk pudding of mother’s hand. I took out the bottle from my bag and drank the whole in one go,the satisfaction you

Get when you gulp down the chilled water in one go is out of this world. Across the road I saw two beggars sitting just near the traffic signal ,in their dirty torn clothes ,one had a sandal in one leg and nothing in other, the guy’s hair brought out the image of the dried brownish bushes at the back side of my house . The girl was wearing a skirt which was hardly covering her whole body and it seemed like she hadn’t bathed for an year. She had a steel glass in her hand and the guy had a bowl , trying to get the attention of the passerby and pedestrians for the alms. I was just thinking and cursing why didn’t municipal corporation was taking any actions against these useless beggars, swachh bharat mission needed to sweep them too.

And in an instant the sunny day wasn’t sunny anymore, sun was getting covered in clouds and it started drizzling,my black old umbrella was out to save me from the drizzle..the water which I needed badly few moments back is what my umbrella was going to save me from..for one moment the same thing is precious and the other its ferocious, my eyes were still there ,on those two beggars, the girl was still sitting there ..with the glass in her hand..few passerby were dropping coins in and rain drops were filling the left space of the glass, the beggar guy stood up and took out a plastic bag and covered the head of the girl with that..earlier I was contemplating that they are couples but beggars being lovers ,my mind couldn’t fathom that thought. I was just curious and watching keenly the actions of the guy, next when it started raining heavily he took out a bigger plastic cover and covered themselves..The girl was just sitting there and shaking the glass and trying to make noise with that in the hope that someone will put a penny ..rain drops were falling ntensely so I couldn’t see them clearly..but I saw the guy moving closer to her…he wrapped his hands around her shoulder and tried to cover her with that plastic , his body was covered partly but left no stones unturned to cover her. With the other hand he was caressing her hair ,the hair which looked dirty and untidy to me ,was something else for him. Amidst all the noise and traffic ,the way he was giving his undivided attention to her ,the way he was trying to look into her eyes, in that fraction…they were in their own world , that was love , the love that we search for in movies books music was unfolding in front of my eyes ..and there came my bus.

By Ashutosh Agarwal