His name was Orko - it came from the word urchin, Papa said teasingly. Ma had a better explanation – she said it came from the Sanskrit word Arkin meaning ‘radiant with light’. Orko was their third child – the one they decided to adopt as a baby. They had two kids of their own who were big brother and big sister to Orko. The arrival of Orko has brought with it, change in fortunes for the family who were going through some tough times. So, Ma was totally convinced that he was their lucky charm. Orko Chatterjee was two years old now.
Even though he was an outsider, he was treated with much love by all of them, especially Ma. Orko loved Ma the most as well. He would spend long hours just sitting and watching her move around the house doing her chores. She was a tall slender woman and always wore sarees. He loved to play with the folds of her saree and brush against them while trying to devour some of the maternal affection, and give some back in return.
Tonight Ma and Papa had to go to one of Papa’s office parties. The kids had gone to their grandmother’s house. But Orko couldn’t go with his brother and sister. As much as the family had accepted him, Grandma was yet to show her favour. He watched while Ma dressed in a beautiful pink printed chiffon saree with a sleeveless blouse and put on a strand of pearls around her slender neck. She then asked the neighbor to take care of him and they left. Unfortunately, the neighbor asked their teenage daughter TheiThei to attend to Orko’s needs. She was a not a very friendly girl. It seemed to Orko that she was enjoying seeing him being uncomfortable. TheiThei lied to her mom that she had given Orko some dinner and that he was fine. Her mother didn’t inquire further.
Ma and Papa returned probably around 11pm. Their faces gleamed and it seemed like they were very happy. But they were tired as well, and went straight to bed. That night Orko slept hungry.
He woke up to a quiet morning, the usual chatter of the house missing with the older kids having been gone. He could see Ma in the kitchen. His tummy was growling with hunger and so was his mind. So when he saw her starting to make rotis, he patiently waited. Rotis were his favorite food, especially when torn into pieces and dipped in milk. Soon, Ma was done and gave him his roti. As young as he was, his survivor instinct kicked in instantly. He thought that if he hid his roti, Ma would see that it was quickly gone and would probably give him another one. So he ran outside and hid his roti and came back inside the house. Unfortunately, Ma was already winding up her cooking. She usually made a lot more, but today with his brother and sister out of home, she wrapped up her cooking quickly. Orko always ate just one roti so she never realized that he wanted more.
Nevertheless, he ran back out to eat the one he had, and dug up the ground underneath the Nashpati tree where he had hid it. But it was gone, just within a few minutes – it was gone. He kept digging little further and almost couldn’t believe his eyes on not seeing it. He turned around to see a little girl running up the concrete stairs leading from his front-yard to the road, with his roti in her hand. Their house was on a slope, so the road was at a higher level. She was a real urchin and she was watching him from above. As soon as Orko went inside after hiding his roti, she dropped her sack of the little stuff she had picked from dustbins, and came and dug up Orko’s roti. She was grabbing bites even while running away. Orko was too timid to chase her. He had lived closely with these tramps when he was out alone in the streets, and he knew that they could be nasty.
Orko licked his mouth, went back to the verandah, laid down in his bastah, and rested his head on his paws. Moving his eyes in all directions once, he saw TheiThei watching from her balcony, in silent devilish pleasure, before closing his eyes and falling asleep again.
Nashpati tree – Pear tree
Roti – a kind of flat-bread
Bastah – a sack made of ropes of coconut fibres
(Based on a true event witnessed by my mom in Shillong in the early 1960s)
No comments:
Post a Comment