“Look Gama is here.”

Tara was throwing a tantrum. She refused to have food. She spit, she cried, she hit at her mother. However the mother in Reena was not ready to give up. Finally when all her efforts failed, she used her ‘Brahmastra.’  The ‘ Brahmastra’ was a joke  in the neighbourhood.  Gama the vagabond though harmless was a nightmare as far as the tiny-tots were concerned. His unkempt look, fiery eyes sent a chill down their spine. For all his looks, Gama was actually a loving person. He loved children, but his looks scared them away.   However, he was a hit among the street dogs.  They loved Gama; they played with him, slept with him, stood guard on him.

Looking at Baby Tara, Reena suddenly exclaimed, “Look Gama is here.”  The mouth opened suddenly and there went down a ball of rice mixed with curd. Ball after ball of rice went down the throat in quick succession and before Reena realized it, the plate was clean and empty. Reena felt a pang of guilt, guilt at having to tell a lie to make Tara eat, guilt at having to portray Gama as a demon come to harm Tara if she did not eat, guilt at having instilled a fear in the little babe. But then what could she do?

Sweet slumber overpowered Baby Tara.  She slowly drifted into deep sleep.

Image courtesy of 
Mantas Ruzveltas at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Four houses down the lane –

All hell was loose. Vani was screaming at the top of her voice. Varun was bathed in mud.  He was least bothered about his mother’s ‘tantrum.’ Varun was thoroughly enjoying his mud bath. Even the stick in Vani’s hand did not affect Varun. Vani was at her wit’s end. Exhausted, she was on the verge of tears. What if Rajeev reached home now and saw the boy in this shape? What if her mother-in-law decided to pay them a surprise visit? She knew what to expect. The boy would get a taste of Rajeev’s hand. Her MIL would start off counting her ‘minuses.’ Vani could not bear both. Suddenly she saw a figure in the distance coming down the road. She called out to Varun, “Look Gama is here.” Varun sprinted to the tap and started flushing down the mud from his body. Vani silently thanked Gama.

The shopping mall-

Neha was having a tough time. Little Priya had taken fancy to a doll house. But Neha could ill afford it. She tried to reason with Neha. She offered to buy her a Barbie instead. But Neha was a born fighter. She was not one to give up easily. She started to yell at the top of her voice. Heads turned. One or two tried to cajol Neha. Some passed by making a comment on the inability of young mothers to reign in their young ones. A girl offered Neha a ‘Five star’. Priya started to feel her heart sink. Neha’s health did not permit her to cry endlessly. She would start suffocating in a few minutes. Suddenly she saw of a vagabond on the road opposite the Mall. She cried out, “Look Gama is here.” The name acted like a switch. She forgot the doll house; she only wished to be in her mother’s arms. She ran to Neha, embraced her in a tight hug, eyes closed. Priya forgot the vagabond.

The slum on the outskirts of the town-

Children were playing a game of “Pittu.” Suddenly, the ball flew high hitting Akash on the head. All the children ran to him. A brawl started between the two teams. It looked as though blood would spill on the street. Suddenly from nowhere appeared a vagabond. “Look Gama is here” so saying, little Shikha ran up to him. He dug into his pockets and brought out a handful of cheap jelly sweets. The brawl broke. Hell broke loose around the vagabond. Everyone wanted to make sure they got their share of the sweet that Gama had so lovingly brought for them. They showered him with kisses. Gama smiled flashing broken teeth. His day was made.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for 
Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

This time we had to write a post in which one sentence was to be repeated at least thrice.

Thank you for walking in. By the way don’t forget to leave your footprints in the form of comments and suggestions. 

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