My childhood days in agartala...

MY CHILDHOOD DAYS IN AGARTALA…

“ Hey madhuri!” “Come-on lets play!” I used to shout with my full strength to call out madhuri to her balcony, daily after my school. Madhuri was my closest friend. We were in the same school but she was one grade younger than I was. I was in 4th grade when we stayed in Agartala the capital of Tripura located in the north east of India.
“Yes!” she replied “Coming, let me first have my glass of milk didi.” “Ok” I said.
By then I used to call out for the other friends.
This became my routine. Calling friends to play after school.
But the fun we used to have was unexpected. Every day a new adventures a new fun event. We were a group of funloving kids in our colony that just can do anything to have fun, removing air from car tyres, climbing trees to pluck mangoes, ghost hunting (but never was successful!) exploring the forest near by, lamb catching, collecting wild flowers competitions.
“There she comes ” Swetha who was her classmate said. “What took you so long? Were you drinking barrels of milk?” this was Ritu who was the youngest in our group and Swetha’s sister. “No, but I was reading an article on witches, it says they are old women who lives alone and have cats as their pets” came the reply from madhuri. Astonished faces were looking one another. Just then nikita joined “ Hi, friends what’s going on?” we narrated the whole article to her.
“Oh then the woman in the last house must be a witch” she concluded.
People say that she lives alone and have a cat in her house. And also says that she knows magic! This woman was strange, one has hardly ever saw her face, she never comes out of her house and allows no one inside. And she has a small jungle in her house.
As we walked down the road talking about witches and her cats, suddenly ritu pointed out “see, the witches house” we were eager to have a look at the old woman whom we were calling witch. We all waited at the bamboo gate. The big gate was coiled with the thorny climbers with small violet flowers and it was locked from inside. We wondered why. Hiding behind the gate, as it was covered with the thorny climber with violet flowers, was convenient for us. “ There she comes” whispered madhuri. We wanted to have a good look at her face as we wanted to find her spiky teeth. She was feeding her cat. She gave the cat a bowlful of milk. But the cat was not paying attention to the milk. Then came the words “ if you don’t drink the milk I will eat you up” “aaah” “she is a witch run!” we all ran away from the site as quickly as possible. We halted at the park and took long breaths.
“I think she saw us” nikita was worried.
“Now will she eat us” asked ritu.
“But her garden was beautiful” said Madhuri. We all agreed.
“I have never seen so many colored roses at one place.” I said. And I wanted to go again so was madhuri. We were brave enough then the rest as they were in 1st and 2nd grade.
The bamboo fence and the gate curled up with the thorny climber with violet flowers was what I got fascinated with I also wanted the same arrangement of the climber on my gate and fence too.

For the next few weeks we all were quite busy with our exams that made us to forget all about the “witch”! The winter holidays arrived. We are very excited. One evening we were returning from a friend’s birthday party. Suddenly we felt like someone called us from behind. “Hey” came again. We looked back and no one was there. It took us some time to realize that we were standing in front of the witches’ house. A chill ran down our spine and we stood frozen we couldn’t even run. Again she called us; but this time with more friendly gesture and with a smile. We could see her face clearly in the dawning sun. But she had no scary face or spiky teeth. “Please come inside” she said. We all were looking at one another with a wonder what possibly would happen? But she was just an old lady we thought and approached her slowly. “Don’t worry I will not do anything”
I didn’t know what to say, as I was speechless. She gave sweets to all of us. “Today is my sons birthday” she said.
Swetha was the first to speak out. “Oh! Please convey our wishes to him. And where does he stay? We never saw him here.”
The old woman went to a corner of the living room, which was well decorated with pictures, paintings, and handicrafts and we then thought this cant be a witch’s house, so beautiful. We were somewhat convinced. Then she came with a picture in her hand “this is my son.” “He died,” she said after a long pause. She embraced the picture tightly and said “he died in a war, he was a soldier” “I am proud of him.”
We all went to her and just gave a soft touch on her hand, as we never came across a situation where we lacked words, never like this. Her hand was wrinkled and so was her face but the warmth in her eyes was unforgettable.
She then made herself strong, wiped her tears and with a smile she showed the porch to sit. We made ourselves comfortable exploring the whole room, then she came with some cookies and pastries. Now it was time to clarify our doubts. “Do you stay alone?” asked madhuri. “No, not at all I have a cat too, I think you saw it, that day. We were ashamed of our foolish behaviour.
It’s a good company.” She turned to me and asked, “ why did you run that day?” “I was calling you inside.”
I said “but we heard that you.. never.. allow.. anyone inside”. I spoke finally but shivering.
i was i bit coward that moment where ususally i was not!
“Yes I don’t generally allow any one inside, but I love children and for you are always welcome”
“But why the gate is locked from inside?” it was ritu.
“Because I am always inside the house and people come and steal the fruits from my trees”
“And do you know magic?” asked nikita.
“Yes I used to practice, but how do you know?”
“We heard from our parents” we replied in chorus.
“But that was not magic just some tricks”

Suddenly the clock struck and we all looked at the old big pendulum clock on the wall behind us. It was 8:00 PM. We then remembered we had to go to our houses.
We then looked at her, she understood. “Yes your parents will be waiting for you.”
We all stood up to go but then I thought I should apologise.
“we are sorry for our behaviour that day we shouldn’t have ran but someone told you are a ..”
“a what?”
“a witch!” I had to say it finally.
We didn’t know how she would react. But she started laughing.
We joined her and laughed, ...(the story will continue)

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