Theja was the only child of his parents. He loved roaming the forest adjacent to his home in Jotsoma village, which lay in the fringes of Kohima—a beautiful town in the heart of the Aradhura hills of Nagaland.
Every morning, on his way to work, Theja’s dad would drop him to school and his mother would pick him up.
Theja looked forward to the ride back home, when he would sit pillion with his mother, sharing stories from the day, most of which came from his own vivid imagination.
The weekend had gone by in the blink of an eye and Theja was back in school, sitting in the classroom, on the last bench, close to the window, from where he had a clear view of the playground outside.
In the morning, he had reached school just in time for the Assembly, missing his play time with friends.
Somewhat wistfully, Theja’s eyes fell on the seesaw. It looked so inviting with its fresh coat of paint from the week before, that he longed to run outside and get on it. But, it was only the first period on a Monday morning, and he knew he’d have to sit through all the four periods of the morning before the bell would ring for the recess.
He was still lost in his thoughts when Miss Naro walked in, dressed in her floral mauve shirt and the Naga mekhala. He had no choice but to pull himself back into the class. Everyone stood up to wish Miss Naro.
She smiled at the children, throwing in a quick glance at the front, middle and back rows, as if to check if there were any absentees.
Satisfied that there was full attendance, Miss Naro placed her books and the attendance register carefully on her table and settled into her chair.
“Good morning, Miss“, went the voices, in a trailing sing-song tone.
“Good morning, everyone!
She was about to say something, but paused, as if a little disappointed.
“What happened to you all? Did you not have breakfast this morning, children?
She looked at the class and threw a quizzical smile, at them as she stood up, her arms folded in front, signalling them to sit:
“Please take your seats, everyone.
Now, please take out your New Radiant Readers.”
Miss Naro took out her reading glasses and opened the text book, casting one sweeping look at the students from one end of the room to the other.
The students had settled in by then with their books open, ready to read.
Theja saw someone in the front bench had volunteered to read. He felt relieved. One by one, the students took turns to read out aloud. Theja pretended to look into his book, once in a while, but his eyes were mainly fixed on the playground.
He was clearly not in a mood to sit indoors and study but he knew he had no choice but to sit through the forty-five minutes, which felt like sheer torture.
The English period was about to end soon, when Theja decided to glance outside for one last time.
“Thejangulie, is there something interesting outside that you would like to share with the rest of the class?”
Startled by Miss Naro calling out his name, Theja turned towards the direction from where the teacher stood.
Will you please stand up, Theja?
Theja stood up.
“Please read the next paragraph“, said Miss Naro, rather sternly.
Theja’s mind went blank. He fumbled through the pages, because he had no idea of the page or the chapter, that the class had been reading so far. Through the entire period, he had been staring out of the window, lost in his thoughts.
Now, caught by Miss Naro, his mouth went dry, with his heart pounding, he could feel his knees tremble.
“Why me?”—muttered Theja, under his breath. He wondered why, out of thirty-six students in the class, Miss Naro had to single him out.
“Why, oh why???“
By now, Theja’s face went a deep crimson. He stared at the class and then, looked down at his desk, which had scribbles and compass marks all over it.
As he did so, his eyes fell on the floor. He wished the ground would swallow him up whole, and he could disappear and hide his shame.
Before Miss Naro could utter another word, Theja walked up to her and said:
“Miss, may I please go to the toilet?”
Miss Naro simply nodded. She could tell that it was only a silly excuse to leave the classroom.
Theja walked out of the classroom, his hands folded behind his back, while Miss Naro shook her head in despair. It seemed to everyone present in the class, that she had given up on him!
As soon as he left the classroom, Theja heaved a sigh of relief. The tightness in his throat was gone and he happily walked towards the toilet, even though he had no need to go for it.
A few minutes later, when he emerged from the toilet, Theja took the stairs and sat down on the steps, where he was certain, nobody would see him.
He watched the cleaning staff mowing the lawns and clearing the weeds. This was the path that led up to the back gates of the school, from where the nuns usually got their supplies delivered.
He felt envious of the cleaners:
“How lucky, they don’t have to study!”, he thought to himself, feeling sad that he wasn’t one of them.
He remembered how Miss Naro always chided him in class for his poor handwriting. He was terrified of the teachers, when they asked him to read aloud in class.
He disliked the fact that except for a handful of boys who were his friends, everyone made fun of him because he couldn’t read as clearly or as fast as the could. He hated that they called him a ‘slow poke’.
By now, Theja had forgotten that he was supposed to return to the class.
Suddenly, a fluffy white kitten appeared outside the gates—Theja thought it was nearly the size of his dad’s palm and it seemed to be meowing, as if looking out for someone.
He knew that little kittens meow to communicate their needs. Perhaps, he could help find its’ mother.
As he stood up ready to walk up to the gates, Theja heard the sound of a jeep approaching. He ran back into the Bougainvillea bushes in the corner of the building, so no one would see him.
From behind the bushes, he noticed an olive green jeep pull up at the gates. Sister Philomena was sitting next to the driver, on the front seat, signalling to the cleaners, to open the gate.
Minutes later, a staff member arrived with a bunch of keys and unlocked the gate. The jeep entered the school compound and stopped near the steps, where he had been sitting until a few minutes back. Had it not been for the kitten, he’d have been dragged by Sister Philomena to the Principal’s office.
“What a close shave”, thought Theja .
In the meantime, the Khasi girls came, picked up the bags from the back of the jeep, and left.
Everyone had left by now, except the driver of the jeep, who peered into the back seats and jumped back in and drove off.
Theja kept watch from behind the bushes, waiting, in case somebody came to lock the gates.
Minutes passed, yet nobody came.
Theja’s heart began to beat faster now, as he pondered over the possibilities.
“Would anyone notice if I slipped out?”
It was an outrageous thought but a tempting one, thought Theja.
The English class would have been over by now and Sir Ramaswamy would be too busy teaching sums to the clever kids in the front benches, to notice if anything was amiss.
Theja sneaked out of the bushes and quietly slipped out through the gates. He walked for a minute or two and then, quickly took the stone-clad steps on the side of the road that went down, all the way to the the pine forest below.
As soon as he entered the edge of the forest, he heard bird calls.
“Ah! such bliss in the embrace of nature!”
As he wandered through the foliage, it seemed like a different world to him, where all the words faded away, and the rustling of the leaves whispered little secrets to him.
Here, he felt free, his heart dancing with the rhythm of the wild.
When he paused to quench his thirst by the tiny spring, he saw colourful butterflies with dappled wings flitting about—their delicate wings, shimmering like jewels in the golden light.
At every step, that he took, nature revealed its’ wonders—a ladybug clinging to a blade of grass, a squirrel darting up a tree, and the sweet scent of wildflowers filling the air.
Theja had lost track of time, as he wandered in this magical world of nature.
It was only when the sun came up overhead and his stomach started growling, that he realised how hungry he was. It must be lunch time now, he thought as he remembered his mom packing his lunchbox in the morning.
The thought of food made his hunger pangs grow stronger, but he knew he’d have to wait now.
Theja walked on, making his way through the wild trees and bushes. Suddenly, he stumbled upon a hidden grove.
There, in the middle of the grove, he saw a strange tree—its’ gnarled branches, stretching far and wide.
“What on Earth can this be?” wondered Theja, as he went closer to inspect the tree. He was not able to contain his curiosity any longer.
Suddenly, the ground where he stood began to tremble and the tree’s bark split wide open, revealing a hollow that resembled a brightly glowing portal.
His eyes grew wider now, as he stepped closer—his little heart racing faster than it ever did.
Before his eyes, a booming voice echoed from the inside the tree, “Not yet, little one. Your adventure begins when you learn to listen.”
Theja stood still. He could not believe his ears.
In fact, he barely breathed. From the corner of his eyes, he tried to see, if there was any one around.
Certain that there were none, Theja could tell that the voice had indeed come from inside the tree.
“But, a tree never speaks. So, who is it?”
Theja stood there, a little scared and somewhat confused, wondering what to do next.
He wanted to run away but he couldn’t lift his feet—they were stuck. He tried again, but still couldn’t.
His feet were glued to the ground!
*******
To know what happened next, watch this space for the concluding part of the story.
Joining Vinitha Dileep for her #FictionMonday bloghop. This week’s prompt—’Nature’.