Danny stepped out on his Sunday
routine as usual, all of just about 3’, the apartment sounded like a a dozen steam locomotive engines furiously hissing to start all at once, such was the effect, that came from the 20 odd kitchens that invariably had a combination of steam rice cookers and milk cookers set up to cater to all the family members expectations for lunch on a busy Sunday morning, a few houses also had their radio blaring, through that din Danny's young mother called
out saying they were expecting guests so he had to be back soon and he also had to make sure not to dirty his dress, she clearly also asked him to stay away from the ground and to play with friends closeby,
but by the time Dan’s mother had finished her bit, Danny was already out, he
started his day first at Vanaja’s home, he was made to feel special when they
complimented him for his looks and style, Vanaja even caught hold him squeezed his cheeks and gave him a kiss but he couldn’t spend much time since
he saw Vanaja was busy cooking, and so was Indra - Vanaja's younger sister who was then preparing for her SSLC - all the others at her place were also more or less occupied, so he ran out and went up the staircase to the corner where
the girls were playing , he hugged and kissed a few
of them even as they protested and cursed him, he hung around for a while watching them paint themselves using cheap lipsticks and crayons but he soon itched for the outdoors and so left the
girls - without a courtesy bye - and reached the ground; The sight he saw was unbelievable, it was swarming, with action.
The heat, the activity, the
sound, the frenzy, the action, the dust sent Danny’s heart pumping, the
backdrop included a cacophony of bollywood music. Danny opened up his shirt, as
he had seen many older boys doing before, exposed his white inner vest and
rushed in screaming, a few adult boys slapped him behind Danny's his head as he
ran, seemed like a ritual because Danny just didn’t mind, in fact he just tried
pushing their hands away playfully and kept running until he came face to face
with Bobby who was already around helping some elderly boys set up their
cricket Stumps, soon the boys whom they were helping sent them packing as they were about to start their match.
Shortly, they were running all round,
staying bit by bit at different game sections, a little bit where the big boys were
Gambling, a bit where others were fighting it out with their pigeons, a while at
the football corner, some time watching some boys playing on the Carom board, then they chased a few dogs, tried holding onto a kite that came falling down ( the poor kite tore into pieces almost as soon it reached the ground since too many boys were trying to hold it simultaneously) they, Danny and Bobby, just went round and round enjoying everything they saw, they even smelt the fruity smell of Godamba the country liquor and took in the rich smell of tobacco smoke wafting from that part of the ground, Danny and Bobby hoped one day they too would grow up and try the hard liquor and smoke that rich tobacco they saw the big boys smoking.
Invariably they soon
landed near the big water well and went about chasing each other running around the well, it was then that Danny noticed, through a corner of his eye, that there were a few girls who
had managed to reach the terrace of their apartment block and they were all
watching the happenings at the ground with great interest. That’s when Danny
decided it was time to show off a bit of dare devilry, so thinking he was up on
the wall of the well and walking on it with his hand spread wide, now the wall
of this well wasn't the most evenly structured through out its periphery, even the big boys
often had to tread pretty carefully to avoid falling over, Danny’s bravado
was noticed by some big boys playing close by and they warned him to get down
and scoot, in reality Danny wasn't really the dare devil type, in fact he
feared the dark, and was never the type to argue or pick a fight, not that he was a coward, its just that he was not that 'overtly macho type' , at least not yet, he preferred running around, climbing on trees, jumping from small heights and stuff like that - what he was not good at is the more rougher stuff.
More often
when the other small boys or even the girls, when they were angry with some of his pranks, caught him by the hair or identified
him for a fight he would invariably be the one to get really hurt and if there were a
referee watching a fight between Danny and an opponent giving him the thugs then it wouldn't have taken too much time for the referee to stop the fight and quickly declare Danny as clear the loser of the
fight before getting mauled. The other reason could be the fact that Danny was a small in size, then, even in comparison to the boys and girls of his age and thin too.
But give Danny a chance to run, or climb or jump or do any such thing - he had no equals.
Which's probably the reason why he was also
getting a bit used to being the ‘entertainer’ around, it was both a defensive action to hide some his more physical limitations while at the same time keep himself relevant among his friends. Danny enjoyed the attention
that came along when he indulged on actions that bordered on the risky, while
inside him his heart pounded , he continued pushing his luck just to get those
admiring looks and compliments from people around.
Danny looked up once more
and was happy to note that he had managed to get the attention of a few girls from
the terrace , he kept his great trapeze act going, he would walk a bit , pause
a bit, look up, ensure he had an audience and then walk again, during one of
his pause he took a peep down into the well, at first he thought he would find
a lion waiting inside as his mother had told him, but found none, it was a wide
well, with a wall made of bricks that were once red, they were now covered with thick black and green
moss, some parts of the well had grown thick shrubs of the banyan and the peepal like bonsais, the water beneath looked dark and dirty, Danny could see
frogs, Dragon flies and some ghost like insects that made ripples as they
moved, there was also a small flattened iron platform like structure a few feet above the
water level of the well , the Railway water supply department had fixed a water
pump, rusty and old, and they had a big 10” size pipe connected to it , a part
of the pipe went down and disappeared into the well and another part leapt upwards
and then went on its way to some part outside the ground.
Danny kept his eye both at his
audience and once a while at the other boys playing cricket, the bollywood songs too were on, with one of Danny's favorite number from the movie DON playing, Bobby by now was a
bit tired and so had crouched on the ground with his back to Danny watching the
excitement in front of him, Danny had now reached that part of the Water well’s
wall that had a big portion broken during the monsoons, so one had to squat
down and get a good grip with both hands to cross it, as Danny made his moves a
boy came rushing chasing a ball, the ball was about to go through the gap where
Danny was located, the big boy gave out a bark , even as he was trying gather his breath, asking Danny to move out of the
way, the small rubber ball with which the boys played cricket was now almost about
to fall into the well, Danny thought he could help so he stretched his one hand
to stop the ball and just then the boy chasing the ball came and collided onto
Danny and that was it – Danny fell head long into the well , the rubber cricket ball hit the water first.
The water was cold and smelt
funny, the frogs too surprised , they flew out of his path as he went down, big loads of that dark water were getting into his nostrils and to his horror Danny started drinking huge quantities of the water too.
Bobby turned around from where he was sitting, to face the well , men and boys were running towards it shouting things that was not clear to him, he realised something serious, very serious, had happened and soon he realised Danny was nowhere to be seen.
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