The Umbrella Girl

By Radhika P

I was five years old when I decided to have my very first ‘little adventure’ totally and completely out of the blue. Till today I have no idea why I even did what I did? and this memory has remained fresh ever since probably because it was my very first ‘solo trip’ ever. It never stops shocking whoever hears my story and almost all of them give me that “You joking right?” face but yes this has happened for real on a rainy afternoon when I finished my class I end of the year exams and just like everyone else I had planned on going home since the holidays were here.

I was overjoyed that exam season had come to an end finally and that my school would be closed for a few days for a short summer break till my term for class II began. My peers and I could not hide our excitement and started singing and hopping up and down the corridors hugging and saying our goodbyes to each other. I always took the school bus home but since it was the last day of the term our regular buses were not running and so my mother agreed to come by with my neighbour to pick me up and take me home. I, on the other hand had completely forgotten all about it in the cheer and festivities and this tiny glitch led to the following series of events which remains as one of my scariest yet gallant memory until today.

Earlier that day once we were out of our classrooms, we said our goodbyes to each other and to our teachers and I came running out of the school with my classmate Suri with my schoolbag on my back, water bottle hanging from my little neck like a garland and an umbrella in my hand all set to head back home. It was a dark afternoon and I noticed the sky plump with dark clouds as if one poke might burst it to rain and instinctively gripped my umbrella close to me tightly. Suri’s home was just within a kilometre away from school so she walked home every day. Usually, we walk together until the main gate and then part in opposite directions since the bus that took me home would be parked at the other end of the lane.

But on this day since we both knew we would not be seeing each other for a while due to the upcoming vacation, our conversation continued and I also had somewhere in the back of my mind that there was no school bus today but my thought process ran erratic that day and the information was wrongly relayed to my brain. We could not get enough talking about what we were going to play while we were at home and about the cartoons that we were going to watch and the places we were planning to visit and so on. What I did not realise was that in all that elation, instead of staying at school, the talking and hopping had taken me all the way to the main road from the school gate. Suri had to cross the main road to get into the complex where her house was located. A group of older students and few adults were waiting for the signal from the traffic policeman to get to the other side. When it was finally time to cross, I thought of nothing else and tightly held Suri’s hand and impulsively crossed the main road along with her.

Once we got to the other side, Suri said goodbye and walked into her housing complex and disappeared. It took me some time to realise how heedless I had been. But the worst part was I did not remember that my mother was on her way to get me and she was not going to find me at the school when she got there. Today I can imagine her horror but as a child my curiosity was insatiable and I was swept away by it. I stood there thinking what to do next. I did not know how to use the public transport alone and neither did I have any money to buy the tickets nor did I know what my bus stop was called. I was too young to be travelling on my own. Strangely, not even for a second did I feel lost or alone though. In fact, the only thought that crossed my mind was “Home is on the other side of the bridge.” I knew exactly where my home was. I have a very keen sense of direction since childhood and I can remember a place forever even if I have seen it just once. I knew all the lefts and rights that could take me home without a pinch of self-doubt.

I knew that my school was located on an island away from the mainland. A narrow sea separated both lands and there was a long bridge built during the British raj in India that connected the mainland to this island. Standing there I was mentally drawing a map connecting my house and school hence had started conjuring up images of the route, the shops and even the people who I could run into while I walked all the way home. I stood there making my very first life decision. It was a situation that no five-year-old could anticipate. I needed to decide one of the two. Either to go all the way back to school or to walk home crossing the bridge. I felt a sudden surge in adrenaline of sorts, a rumbling in the stomach like there was a storm rising in me. My heart beat faster and breath got shallower. The kind you feel when you skydived or bungee jumped and within split seconds, a decision was made, as if by force I was up for the challenge and I started walking towards the bridge without looking back. I could have turned and walked back to school but my feet did not oblige for it said otherwise.

It was as if the heavens were waiting for this tiny human to take her steps towards the bridge that without further ado it started to rain. It started off as a drizzle synchronising my footsteps as I walked towards the bridge. Like there was a hidden orchestra watching my every move and playing rhythmically, asking me to join in. Since I travelled daily back and forth the bridge in my school bus, I was very familiarised with the bridge and my home was just half a minute away from the sea-side. Whenever I got a chance I would walk towards the sea-shore from my home and I could clearly see the same bridge, the vehicles, and the island wherein my school was situated. The view was quite astounding to me especially during twilight as the day ended, the headlights and taillights of the vehicles looked like tiny beads of light slowly moving along an invisible thread held in mid-air and I loved how the light from the huge lamps near the shores and from the bridge reflected off from the sea-surface underneath. It looked like a piece of abstract artwork at night painted by an unknown artist. So, all this added up to a sense of familiarity and instilled confidence in me and maybe this catalysed my journey.

As I finally made it to the bridge the drizzle continued and the sea-breeze welcomed me. I tried seeing the other bank where the bridge ended but it was in vain for all I could see were the vehicles coming upfront. There were a few people at maybe fifty meters ahead of me and few people at some distance behind me approaching slowly. Numerous vehicles like buses, two-wheelers and others were passing through the bridge as I stepped into it. I felt the bridge jerk and dip a little every time a heavy vehicle passed through. I could sense it in my feet and I made sure that I would stay as close as possible towards the railing of the mighty bridge. Since it was slightly windy and drizzling, I held my umbrella open and held on tightly to it as if it was a lifeline sent to me from the heavens to help me through this ordeal.

With every step I took, the excitement puffed up my chest and so did my grit. I was telling myself “Oh this bridge is a close friend of mine. What is the big deal walking it? I would reach the other side in no time.” I kept walking forward and believe me the view was breath-taking. I could see boats of different sizes and ships lined up along the shore. I tried staying at the centre of the tiny walkway that stretched all along the bridge meant for pedestrians. I could not help but peek towards my left-hand side through the rails onto the sea which was a few meters down. The waves and the current along with the rain were disturbing the surface of the sea and it was agitated. The waves were hitting constantly at the bottom of the bridge pillars and every time I gazed at the sea surface, its instability made me feel like I was walking on a moving surface. So, I tried to avoid any eye contact with the sea which was difficult because I was gravitated towards it hence, I decided to steal a few occasional glances.

The hyacinths floating on the surface looked like they were dancing to the tunes of the hidden orchestra that was being played from the heavens. They were buoyant and looked like ducks flocked in groups wafting across the tide. The jerks that the vehicles made on their way through the bridge instilled slight fear in me and so I did not dare look towards my right side as well and decided to focus exclusively on the walkway alone. I was only about the height of the huge wheels of the vehicles so I pretended that they did not exist and kept moving forward. As I reached towards the middle of the bridge, a gale swept along the sea and I felt it pull my umbrella slightly up. I knew that if this kept up anytime the wind could blow my umbrella away and take me with it. It was getting difficult to move on. Appalled, I tugged onto my umbrella even tighter than before and with all the strength that I had in me I pushed forward regaining my balance and crept forward. I felt heavy drops of water fall on my umbrella and a slight tug moving it back and forth, the rain gained strength and was now lashing hard against my backpack and my umbrella. I could feel my socks, shoes and my uniform getting all drenched in the rain and my occasional glances at the sea surface started blurring out of sight in a small matter of time. I wanted to leave my backpack, umbrella, and bottle where I was and run as fast as I could towards the other end of the bridge but the heavy rain made it barely visible for me to see even a foot distance ahead so, I had to tread slowly to the other side “Can’t give up now” I thought. I needed to win over this storm. To my great luck, suddenly the rain softened and the gale lost its power. I had managed to cover two-thirds of the bridge by then. As I looked forward, the other end of the bridge came into clear view and I was ecstatic. “I made it” I thought and without further hesitation when I was finally closer to the bank, I could not help but run. But before I made my move, I took one last glance at the sea and it did not look agitated as before. The waves were getting calmer and so did the sky.

The drizzle continued all the way till I reached home so I kept my umbrella open all the way. While I was amidst the ordeal, my mother along with our neighbour were heading towards my school on a bus. My neighbour as she was looking out of the window saw a little girl walking with an umbrella under the rain. As she felt a striking resemblance to me, she kept nudging my mother and told her that the girl she saw just now might be me. My mother laughed at the idea. She knew me as a high-spirited and curious girl but not as one who is stupid as to try something bizarre as walking down a fifty-year-old bridge alone in a storm in the middle of the day. They dropped the idea and moved on talking about other things but upon reaching the school I was nowhere to be found. She checked the corridors and the grounds many times and checked in with my teacher for any information. “I saw her leaving the school chatting with Suri, she couldn’t have gone far but that was about an hour ago.” She replied.

My mother ran out of the school looking worried and reached the bus stop. All kinds of grave probabilities flashed on her mind. Our neighbour reminded her again about the girl she saw on the bridge and they had no option but to take the bus back across the bridge and search for me on the way back home. Meanwhile here I was hopping all the way down the bridge walking myself to the next crossing. I had to cross the road back now to the other side and then the straight road ahead could take me home. Again, I did not know how to cross the road alone so I lightly poked a traffic policeman who stood there with my umbrella and asked him “Uncle can you please help me cross the road?” Puzzled he looked at me and then around as if asking “Who is she with” and then he signalled with his hand to stop all the vehicles coming by and took me to the other side of the road. I quickly thanked him and then continued my expedition home. Again, I knew we had to take a bus that went near my house and then all I needed was to walk down a lane to reach home. But I was helpless and hence I decided to walk again all my way home from there.

As I said before, I knew all the buildings along this road. The provision shops, bakeries, stationery shops where we bought our books for school, churches, the market, the temple, the chapel, the mosque and my most favourite video rental shop was also along the way. My father had a habit of bringing me everywhere he went and they to date remains as my most cherished memories from childhood. That is how I knew every minute detail of the road and of its people and life. I walked through all the way holding my umbrella straight up and smiling at the familiar faces and the scenery along the way. After a while I reached home. I checked the gate but found it to be locked. There was a space underneath the front gate through which I always slid in and out if I found the gate to be locked. I threw in my backpack, umbrella and water bottle and slid myself inside the gate. I removed the wet shoes and socks and without wasting a single second slid back out to start off with my playing. I was famished from the trip but could not do anything about it other than waiting for my mother to reach home. After what felt like a lifetime, I saw familiar faces walking towards me, my mom and neighbour both glaring at me.

Suddenly I remembered my mother asking me to stay back at school since there was no bus that day. I knew what was to happen from her face. She went to a nearby tree and plucked a nice slim twig from it. What happened later remains history. The beating continued till the twig broke and my mother broke down crying. Later in the evening when my father returned from work, I heard her tell him the kind of nightmare I made her go through and had I not been spotted by my neighbour and a few shopkeepers who told her “ We saw her hopping with her umbrella” she did not know what might have happened. Lying on my bed that night I could not help but think how such an action-packed thrilling day turned out to be such a misadventure by the end of it. But later as I grew up, I understood the graveness of my action and about the kind of grim consequences that might have occurred had I been not extremely lucky that day. To be honest, I think I ended up using all my luck that day and I do not think I have ever had such an intense experience in my life the day since.

By Radhika P