Children can be alike, and children can be different. The four friends, Tina, Inder, Nitu and Yousuf were different from each other. Their difference was not small, the four kids were strikingly different!
Take Tina, for example.
The large-eyed Christian girl from eastern India often forgot eating her lunch,
but never missed her dance steps.
Or take Inder! That skinny
Sikh boy from the north of India was brilliant in his studies and never made
fun of anyone. It was impossible for him to hurt others.
Curly-haired Nitu, the
third friend, was so good at acrobatics that she could easily compete with a
skilled circus performer. A Hindu, Nitu belonged to a city that lay somewhere
in the west of India.
Yousuf, a tall Muslim boy
from the south of India, was a bundle of fun. No one could remain sad in his
presence.
These four children went
to the school together, shared lunch at recess, and enjoyed each-other's
company. Their parents came from different parts of the country and practised
different religions, but the kids loved each other.
And they also loved
another member of their group, who was entirely different from them! That entirely
different member was Wonders.
Two years ago, they had spotted
a pup shivering under a tree. The pup was all alone. First it got afraid of
them, then made cooing sounds, and finally licked them one by one. They
comforted it while waiting for the mother to return, but she never showed up.
The small creature with
bright but sad eyes needed warmth, food, protection, and love. The four friends
started feeding him milk-soaked bread every day. They even built a small kennel
for him.
The pup returned their
love whenever they approached him. It danced like Tina, jumped like Nitu, stood
tall on its hind legs like Yousuf, and looked around with intelligence like
Inder. It was wonderful for a motherless pup to perform so many tricks with
ease. And so the kids named him Wonders.
Wonders grew into a
handsome golden dog that could run very fast, identify objects from their
smell, and catch sounds that no one else could hear.
In terms of human-years,
Wonders was fourteen. A perfect match, as his four human friends were also of a
similar age-group!
Two
One peak summer morning Tina
woke up very early. She was drenched in sweat. The fan had stopped running. The
power supply had tripped once again.
She turned and tossed in
her bed, looked out of the window, listened to the call of birds, and decided,
"Enough! I can't keep tossing in the bed and spoil the day. It would be
better to sit under the cool shade of a tree in Inder's bungalow."
As she approached Inder's
house, she heard Yousuf's happy voice, "Look, look, who comes here! Is it
a big-eyed doe or a mare!"
"Bad joke,
Yousuf!" Nitu reprimanded him with a turn of head that shook her curls
from left to right and back, like a pendulum.
"Hi! Where is
Inder?" Tina asked.
"The genius is still
in his bed! Man is the only creature who sleeps when he really wishes to be
awake, and gets up when he actually wants to sleep." Yousuf answered.
"How true! Amma
does not allow me to watch television shows in the evening when I am still wide
awake, and forces me to get up in the morning when my eyes are full of
sleep," Nitu agreed.
"And when you two
get up, you walk straight to this place!" Yousuf teased.
"Ha! Ha! The kettle is
calling the pot black!" Tina's eyes became larger as she threw her
question at Yousuf, "What about you, Yousuf? Haven't you, too, walked
straight here this morning?"
"Well, I had something
important to finish," Yousuf became serious.
"And what was that
important thing?" Nitu, in the mid of a somersault, asked.
Yousuf remained silent.
"You talk even while
jumping, Nitu," Tina observed, "and this great boy here does not talk
even to his closest friends."
"Well, we are making
a balloon," Yousuf's voice was barely audible.
"Balloon?" Nitu
and Tina were amazed.
"Yes! A balloon. A
hot air balloon. I have done my bit, and now Inder must be completing it. We
plan to fly in it."
"How sweet! I will
also travel in it," unable to control their excitement, both girls exclaimed
together.
Three
The balloon landed at a
clearing amidst the hills. Clear blue sky, a fresh-water rivulet, fruit-laden
trees, and a wide expanse of lush green grass—the children were overjoyed! They
didn't know that such a beautiful picnic spot existed just a few kilometres
away from their homes.
"What a fantastic
place!" Tina broke into a dance. Inder, Nitu and Yousuf started clapping,
matching the rhythm of her steps. Not to be left behind, Wonders started
circling around Tina, proudly giving her company.
Though somewhat comic, it
was a memorable moment for all of them.
"That was great,
Tina!" Nitu complimented her. "And now, let us play a game," she
continued. "I will give this scarf to Wonders. Wonders will place it behind
one of us."
"And then?"
Inder asked.
"And then, the scarf
will be tied on the eyes of that person who will have to find us out."
"Fine, but no
favouritism and no cheating, okay?" Inder looked at Wonders. Wonders nodded
his approval with a twinkle in his eyes, a wag of his hairy tail, and a gentle
"Woof!"
Nitu sat down, and the
rest three joined her. They formed a tight circle. Their shoulders were
touching, their eyes were meeting, and each one was secretly hoping that
Wonders would drop the scarf behind someone else.
Wonders sniffed at the
scarf, picked it up delicately, and made his move. As he came behind Tina, she
said, "Ta Thai, Ta Thai, Tat, Tat!"
Wonders moved ahead.
Yousuf was next. Wonders
decided to drop the scarf behind his back, but Yousuf cried at the exact moment,
"Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hey! Hey!"
Wonders moved ahead towards
Nitu.
Nitu didn't say anything
to distract Wonders. She just slightly moved her head. Her curls moved, came
too close to Wonder's snout, and caused a fit of sneezing.
One, two, three, four ...
Wonders continued to sneeze till the laughter of the kids brought him back to
his senses. He resumed his rounds, quietly dropped the scarf behind Tina, and
nudged Yousuf.
"Oh no, the friend
became a foe!" Yousuf reacted, looked behind, and was delighted to see the
scarf lying behind Tina.
"Tina will do Ta
Thai Ta Thai, with the scarf on her eyes!" Yousuf declared with joy.
Four
Nitu stood still for a
moment, and then, like a spring, jumped to the top of a nearby hill. Yousuf and
Inder were amazed to see her getting lost in the surroundings. It would be
impossible for Tina to locate her, both of them felt.
Yousuf looked around and
noticed a small cave behind a large tree.
"Ammi Jaan
never understands how I still adjust myself in my childhood cot, and Nitu will
never imagine that my large frame can fit in such a small cave! So, let me
squeeze myself and hide here. After all, it's a matter of a few minutes
only," he smiled and hid himself.
"A tough one,
indeed! I wonder how such a small cave can accommodate a tall boy like Yousuf!"
Inder was surprised.
"Well, both Nitu and
Yousuf are almost impossible to be found. Let me also find a good place to hide."
He started walking towards the valley with the thought.
Inder had never seen
anything so beautiful except in the movies! He soon got engrossed in the
fragrant surroundings, pretty plants, colourful flowers, and attractive
butterflies. The view became more captivating with each advancing step.
Soon, Inder forgot that
he was playing a game. He should not have walked ahead, but he forgot that too!
Continuing to explore the beauty of the valley, Inder didn't realise that he
had moved too far inside the beautiful forest to join his friends in time.
"Oye Meri Bebe!"
The words automatically came out from
Inder's mouth, "Isn't that a jumbo butterfly?"
He knew that butterflies
in some parts of the world can be as big as twenty centimetres wide, but the
insect in front of him was really huge by all standards! The butterfly he was
looking at was almost a metre in width. It was more like a National Geographic
close up on the television screen than a real-life experience.
The butterfly was real.
As if to prove the point, it fluttered its wings, and Inder immediately felt a gush
of wind on his face.
"Such a large
butterfly! She must be sucking the nectar of enormously big flowers!"
Inder mused.
The butterfly flitted
deeper in the forest. Wading through puddles of water, jumping over rocks, and
making his way through dense thickets, the bewitched Inder didn't lose sight of
it even for a second. How could he allow such a precious learning opportunity
to slip away?
Five
When the butterfly finally landed, Inder was left
bewildered! He noticed many, many of them huddled together. A strange humming
noise echoed all over. He tried to get closer, and the noise suddenly stopped. Complete
silence took over.
Evidently, the butterflies had seen him and were
worried about it! After all, Inder was the first human being to know about
their existence.
Inder didn't want to disturb the butterflies. Sitting
down quietly, he pulled out a pad from his backpack and started drawing
sketches of the butterflies.
The strange humming noise resumed. Unlike earlier, the
noise kept on increasing, and soon reached deafening levels. Inder was
astonished to see a giant bee fly menacingly towards him. Leaving the pad under
the tree, he slipped behind a thick bush and watched with horror.
The bee looked very ugly in anger. Yellow saliva
dripped from its tongue. The loudness of its buzz could have put a jet engine
to shame.
The bee tried to reach Inder, but Inder was too clever
for it. Tightly grasping low hanging tree branches, he hid himself further. It
was impossible for the bee to reach him. Finally, it turned and flew away.
The noise of the buzz faded and ultimately died down.
There was pin drop silence. Stunned by the bee's
appearance, perhaps the butterflies had abandoned their discussion.
Inder took a breath of relief. In no mood to stay any
longer, he wanted to go back to his friends at the earliest. Though the giant
bee was nowhere in sight, Inder decided to reach them under the cover of the
bushes.
But, he had to pick up his scratchpad first. It could
lead to some very important research in entomology. The tree was hardly five
metres away from him. He would collect the pad and run back to the safety of
the bushes within seconds. Surely, the giant bee wouldn't be able to return so
fast, he reckoned.
Inder looked around. There was no sign of the giant
bee anywhere. He strained his ears to listen to the giant bee's buzz. There was
none. Taking no chances, he crouched down and ran to retrieve the pad.
Inder had thought that crouching would make him
smaller and thus difficult to be attacked. He had not realised that crouching
would expose his back to the sky. As he bent down further to pick up the pad,
the giant bee appeared from nowhere, swooped down in an arc, and stung him with
such ferocity that poor Inder had no time to react.
Inder fell on his back. His eyes were open, but one couldn't
be sure whether he was able to see the tree, the sky, or the giant bee
vanishing into it. His spine appeared to be on fire.
Something strange was happening.
Six
"It's been three hours without a trace of
Inder," a worried Tina said.
"I hope he is not watching the matinee show with
a bear in the jungle theatre," Yousuf quipped.
"I hope he is safe!" Nitu was clearly ill at
ease.
"We have to return in an hour," there was no
end to Tina's worries.
"Let us look for him once again," for a
change, Yousuf became serious.
"But where? We have already looked around everywhere!"
Both girls retorted.
"Who knows, we may find him this time!"
Yousuf had not lost hope.
They searched in the caves, on the hills, near the
rivulet, behind the bushes—Inder was nowhere. He had vanished like a puff of
smoke.
The sky started turning grey. It was time to return.
"O Ma!"
Tina was on the verge of tears. "What will we tell his parents?"
Nitu, in better control of her wits, said, "We
will tell that he is spending the night with Yousuf."
"And what will happen if he decides to appear
midnight, like the cough of my nani?" Yousuf had still not lost his
sense of humour.
"Inder is very intelligent. He will manage."
Nitu spoke with confidence.
Burners were fired. Dejected, the three kids and
Wonders sat in the basket.
Nitu said, "We are very sorry to leave you behind
like this, friend. But we will come back tomorrow and rescue you!"
Ropes were untied, and the balloon soared towards the
sky.
The kids remained awake that night, hoping for Inder
to return.
He didn't.
Seven
Next morning, the friends reached the forest with new
hopes and ideas.
"We committed a blunder yesterday," Tina
confessed.
Yousuf and Nitu looked at her with puzzled eyes.
"We didn't use our most useful resource while
searching for Inder," she moved her hands dramatically.
"Oh, yes! Wonders could have led us to him,"
Nitu said with a hint of repentance.
"A night
has already passed. I don't know whether Wonders would still be able to pick
Inder's odour trail," Yousuf looked at the dog with doubt.
Wonders wagged his tail, raised a paw, and barked,
"Woof!"
"It has not rained. The trail may still be intact!"
Nitu was hopeful.
"Wonders must first sniff at something used by
Inder. Do we have it?" Yousuf asked.
"There," Tina pointed at some crumpled
sheets lying under a tree. "There lie some sketches made and rejected by
Inder yesterday," she said with excitement.
Nitu took Wonders to the spot and instructed,
"Sniff these carefully, follow the trail, and take us to Inder."
Wonders looked at Tina and Yousuf with confusion. Only
yesterday Inder had forbidden him from indulging in favouritism!
The three humans understood the animal's dilemma, and
spoke in unison, "It's okay, Wonders! Inder's life may be at risk. Find
him before it is too late."
Wonders might not have grasped the language, but he
got the message alright. He took his time in sniffing one sheet after another, looked
at Nitu, wagged his tail, and started walking with determination.
Like ants, they followed in a line. Wonders led the front,
Yousuf covered the back. The walk continued for hours.
Yousuf expressed his doubt, "Perhaps Wonders is
unable to separate Inder's odour from the fragrance of the flowers here. We may
be wasting our time."
Tina said, "Watch carefully! Wonders is being
very cautious. He is selecting the route only after sniffing the bushes which
might have come in contact with Inder."
Nitu was less confident, "But it has already been
four hours! Would Inder have really strayed so far?"
"I don't know when will we find Inder. But I am
sure, if we continue walking like this, one day we will reach America,"
Yousuf laughed.
"Shh ...," Tina warned, "Be silent and
let Wonders do his work."
"What's that?" Nitu could not stop herself
from speaking. A black object under a tree some distance away had caught her
attention.
For the first time, Wonders was displaying signs of
hesitance.
Eight
"It looks like a gorilla!" Yousuf looked at
Wonders. Wonders looked back with happiness, as if he had performed a miracle.
"Thank God, it is sleeping. Gorillas can be
violent," Tina was cautious.
"What is this, Wonders? We wanted you to solve
our problem, but looks like you have created a fresh one! Now, who will save us
from this gorilla when it gets up?" Nitu was becoming anxious.
"Woof! Woof!!" Wonders barked in excitement.
"Shut up!" Tina was angry. "Let us
clear this area and hide. The distance of five metres would mean nothing to an
enraged gorilla."
They hid behind some thick bushes in the nick of time.
The gorilla turned and looked around very slowly.
"It is still sleepy," Nitu observed.
"Thank Jesus for that!" Tina said.
"It is touching its back again and again. Someone
must have beaten him there in a dream," Yousuf laughed.
One must remain quiet in a forest, especially when
near wild animals. Yousuf's mistake could cost them dearly.
The gorilla looked in their direction. It had perhaps
heard Yousuf's laughter. The trouble was not far. The three kids became ready
to take to their heels.
They had assumed that Wonders would also follow his
natural instinct and run to safety. How wrong they were! Wonders jumped out of
the bushes and ran towards the gorilla.
"Allah! That would be the end of Wonders! He has
no idea about the brutal strength of a gorilla," Yousuf cried.
"Oh, no! The gorilla is trying to catch
Wonders!" Nitu was shocked.
It was difficult for the gorilla to get hold of the
excited Wonders, but finally the beast grabbed the dog by its neck. Wonders
cried in pain but continued to wag his tail.
"This gorilla is not violent. Look, it is patting
Wonders and trying to play," Tina announced.
"Don't be so sure! Stay put. It may still attack
us!" Nitu warned.
They waited for some more time. The gorilla continued
to pat Wonders.
"You two stay here. I will approach the gorilla
with chakkars, and slip out if the situation turns dangerous," Tina
declared.
Before Yousuf and Nitu could hold her back, Tina was
spinning like a top out in the middle.
"I can't leave her alone. There should be at
least some distraction!" Nitu jumped out like a projectile and landed on
the other side of the gorilla.
Yousuf didn't know what to do! He picked up a sharp
stone and took aim. "If this beast attacks any of those three, I will
teach it a lesson," he was angry for the first time in months.
Nine
"Is that you, Inder?" Tina asked the
gorilla.
The gorilla batted its eyelids in response.
Happy that Inder had finally been recognised, Wonders
started jumping around.
"Wonders' reaction proves it beyond doubt that
this gorilla is Inder," Nitu was happy to be reunited with her lost
friend.
"No doubt! I can see a shred of Inder's shirt
sleeve on his arm," Tina said.
The gorilla looked at her. His red eyes did not convey
much.
"He has recognised us, but that is almost all! He
can't understand most of what we are saying, and he is in pain," Yousuf
pointed out, "Look, how he is repeatedly touching his back."
Nitu plucked some bananas and offered them to the
gorilla. It didn't take the animal even two minutes to devour them. Somewhat
refreshed, the gorilla finally got up and hugged Yousuf.
"Oh no, don't crush me, my friend!" Yousuf
shrieked in pain. The gorilla stepped back in alarm, and then moved towards the
two girls.
"No, no! No need to hug us, or to shake our
hands! A plain Namaste would be fine for the time being," Nitu and
Tina said in unison.
"Let's go back before it's too late," Nitu
called.
They started moving under the cover of the bushes. The
progress was slow. The gorilla made it slower by probing into ant nests every
once in a while. It was difficult for the kids to stop the gorilla from having
its favourite snack.
Ten
Night had fallen by the time the kids reached Inder's
bungalow. The super excited gorilla had destroyed many plants and was in the
process of uprooting a papaya tree when the door opened.
"You are so late!" Inder's papa looked at
the children and asked, "Where is Inder?"
The gorilla raised its massive head. Inder's father
was repulsed to see the bulging forehead and cried out, "What nonsense is
this?"
Alarmed, Inder's mother bawled, "Wahe Guru bachaye!
What is this? Where is Inder?"
The gorilla extended its enormous arm to reassure the
lady, who fainted immediately.
At a loss of words, Nitu said, "Uncle, this is
Inder."
Tina tried to help, "Yes, he is your son!"
Yousuf added, "He sat on the grass for a while
and so is looking slightly different!"
"Can't I see that it is a gorilla?" Inder's
father looked intently at the creature. "Okay, it may not be a gorilla, or
a chimp, or even an ape! Frankly, I don't know the name of this animal, but I
know, it is not Inder. It can't be!"
Inder's mother had revived by now. She wailed,
"Look at these children! They are saying that my lovely Inder, my small
Inder, my intelligent Inder has turned into this ugly gorilla, this big
gorilla, this foolish gorilla."
Inder's father became angry, "And tell me, why
only Inder became a gorilla? Why none of you have turned into another being?
Yousuf could have become a giraffe, Nitu could have become a cat, and Tina
could have ... Tina could have ..." He could not think of an appropriate
animal that matched Tina's dancing skills.
Meanwhile, the gorilla rubbed its head against the
feet of Inder's father, stroked the hand of Inder's mother, sneaked inside and jumped
into Inder's bed which instantly crashed with a loud bang.
Inder's parents and friends rushed inside.
The cot lay broken into several parts, and the gorilla
was hanging from the ceiling fan.
Eleven
The gorilla lay supine in the lawn. It had been
tranquilised by the zoo staff, who were now busy making arrangements to
transport the beast to the wildlife park. The children were crying, and Wonders
was restless.
"Why are you all crying? Should I have allowed
this animal to destroy my house?" Inder's father was annoyed.
"Sir, can't you see that this creature, whom you
are calling an animal, does not resemble any gorilla ..." Nitu started.
"... or any great ape ..." Tina added.
"... or any other wild animal? Can't you see that
it is as friendly towards Wonders ..." Yousuf argued.
"... Tina, Yousuf, and me, as ..." Tina
continued.
"... as Inder is!" Nitu made her point.
"Don't talk in riddles," Inder's father was
still annoyed.
"Yes, children. Explain clearly, what
happened?" Inder's mother added.
The children revealed the story.
"Don't hurt him. Pick him up gently. Take
care!" The attitude of Inder's parents had completely changed.
"There is something hard in its back," the
handler commented.
"Oh! I hope it's not the tip of the tranquiliser
dart," Inder's mother was worried.
"No! I had aimed at the arm," another
handler clarified.
"It looks like the part of a tiny metallic
capsule," Inder's father said.
"No wonder, he was pointing at his back so
often," Yousuf recalled.
"Don't worry, our doctor will remove it, and make
this gori ... I mean ... make Inder alright," the handler reassured them.
Twelve
Surrounded by his friends, Inder was eating an apple in
a hospital room.
"How about this one," Yousuf showed him a
banana.
Inder shook his head.
"I also have a juicy ant, if you would still
prefer that," Yousuf teased.
Inder looked annoyed.
"He is still recovering. Be gentle with
him," Nitu warned.
Silence prevailed for some time. Unaccustomed to
inactivity, Wonders surveyed them in amazement.
Yousuf could not remain quiet for long, "What a
funny experience! They extract a capsule from his spine, and Ta! Da! Inder
reverts to his human form!"
"It didn't happen that fast! The recovery has
already taken eight hours," Tina corrected Yousuf. "And they have
still not been able to open that perforated capsule. They say that it is made
of some unknown metal, and they don't know what it contains," she added.
"Before the doctors order us out, tell what
happened," Nitu was eager to know.
"Yes, how did the capsule enter your body?"
Yousuf asked.
Slowly, Inder told them about the butterflies and the
giant bee.
"But we didn't find any of them," Nitu
protested.
"He needs rest. Please leave him alone," a
nurse entered the room and requested no one in particular.
"Oh, we were already on our way out, sister. A
few goodbyes, and we will be out," Tina threw a charming smile at the
nurse.
"Fine," the nurse smiled back and left the
room. The children started looking back at Inder with expectation.
"I am still somewhat hazy, but a few facts are
evident," Inder started. "The spot where we landed was real, but the
scenery wasn't."
"Hmm ... had it been real, it would have become a
famous picnic spot," Nitu murmured.
"Exactly! And, the bee and the butterflies were also
not real. Or, they were as real as the gorilla I was turned into," Inder
was evidently finding it difficult to talk at length.
The children looked at him in horror.
"So, they were children, each with a capsule
inside?" Tina asked with a flourish of hands.
"Perhaps! But I would rather guess that they were
visitors from another planet," Inder looked in her eyes.
"That explains our ignorance about the metal of
the capsule," Nitu added like a wise professor.
Inder gave her a weak smile, "I am sure, nothing
would be found if anyone visits that area now. The aliens are probably conducting
a study on Earth and shifting their base often to avoid getting caught."
"So, is that the end of the adventure?"
Yousuf asked, a little disheartened.
"Who knows, we may meet them again, and again,
till the study is over!" Inder responded in a weak voice and started
snoring.
The children looked at him and left the room one by
one. Secretly, they all wanted to meet the aliens.
If you have the courage to join them, tell me. I'll
ask the kids to accept you as their friend!
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