After a couple of bright sunny days the weather took a turn for the worst.Man!!It was probably one of those dreary,wet period of the year.In our small town, the sun was always welcome but the rains during this period always brought misfortune.It would rain like hell for two weeks approximately destroying property and sometimes even taking lives.Then the floods would start and all kinds of communication,work and town activities would come to an abrupt halt.And once all this was over we would have to spend the next five to six months rebuilding and mourning for our lost properties and lives.No wonder I grew up hating the rains!
And now it would repeat again this year.I thought maybe the Gods,the clouds and the rains conspired only against our little town.Why not go and flood the cities!But my brother,a highly optimistic soul believed that something good did come out of everything.He always said,"A bird in the sky is a hope on the horizon.When asked what he meant by that,he just shrugged and said in time i would know!My brother and his futile hope!
Well when i was out in my bookshop(well we sold school and storybooks)selling a drawing book to a child,the neighbor shop fellow came and said that the first clouds had been sighted.When i came out to see these clouds did not look much but experience told me that they would get a lot bigger.For the last seven years these clouds did not miss one chance to cause a deluge and flash floods to destroy our small town.And now these clouds were here again!Well now that the warning had come it was but a matter of hours before calamity struck.We started closing our shops and packing whatever few belongings we had to carry them home.
When i reached home,i found my brother tending to our sick mother.our mother had been sick for three years now after that treacherous father of us had abandoned us and fled the town.But my brother had reacted differently.He had only smiled and said that maybe father was on along holiday.God!How naive could he be!Did he really think that our old man was on vacation or was he just shutting himself to the shock.Whatever it was,he never discussed father again and took up the job of caring for mother with zeal.Well as for me i handled the shop.By now a drizzle had started and after three hours it was pouring cats and dogs!We were safely in our house now preparing to spend another two weeks in captivity!Luckily we had stocked on enough food supplies for a month.As soon as this rainy disaster pass over we would go on to rebuild and renew our daily routine.Actually the rains had become a part of the routine now!Two days passed without uneventfully and with a great effort we had to ward of the boredom.But the coming week would be very eventful had i known it before.
Our mother suddenly developed fits and were highly recurring for the next few days.whatever medicines had been given for these fits were stopped since the town doctor had told her not to take it because two years back the fits had stopped.But now as if the rains pounding our house was not enough even these damned fits were back!Why God,why!And now the dutiful son my brother was he immediately left for the doctor's house to put an end to mother's fits.But the rains were still on and i had not even hesitated to stop my brother feeling relieved that i did not have to go.I was a coward like my father and only after my brother had left had i realized that!But i still did not go out to search for him when he did not turn up for a full day!How shameful of me!I cried,begged and prayed to the Gods who i had damned,but neither did brother turn up nor did i go out to find him.My mother's sad eyes were always on me but she did not speak out.After one and a half days the rains mysteriously and luckily stopped and after the second day of my brother's missing a group of men arrived supporting my brother.Wow he was alive after all!And not only that he was clutching mother's medicine!
I could not see eye to eye in fear of seeing my guilt reflected in my eyes.But all my brother said was,"At least i did not go on a vacation like dad."Had i heard right,he was trying to justify to me!That was the last straw i broke down and cried like a baby for forgivness.But all my brother did was take me outside and showed me a fleeting white cloud which he said he thought was shaped like a bird.And then his words rung in my ears,'A BIRD IN THE SKY IS HOPE ON THE HORIZON'!
*note-do you also think this looks like a bird?
And now it would repeat again this year.I thought maybe the Gods,the clouds and the rains conspired only against our little town.Why not go and flood the cities!But my brother,a highly optimistic soul believed that something good did come out of everything.He always said,"A bird in the sky is a hope on the horizon.When asked what he meant by that,he just shrugged and said in time i would know!My brother and his futile hope!
Well when i was out in my bookshop(well we sold school and storybooks)selling a drawing book to a child,the neighbor shop fellow came and said that the first clouds had been sighted.When i came out to see these clouds did not look much but experience told me that they would get a lot bigger.For the last seven years these clouds did not miss one chance to cause a deluge and flash floods to destroy our small town.And now these clouds were here again!Well now that the warning had come it was but a matter of hours before calamity struck.We started closing our shops and packing whatever few belongings we had to carry them home.
When i reached home,i found my brother tending to our sick mother.our mother had been sick for three years now after that treacherous father of us had abandoned us and fled the town.But my brother had reacted differently.He had only smiled and said that maybe father was on along holiday.God!How naive could he be!Did he really think that our old man was on vacation or was he just shutting himself to the shock.Whatever it was,he never discussed father again and took up the job of caring for mother with zeal.Well as for me i handled the shop.By now a drizzle had started and after three hours it was pouring cats and dogs!We were safely in our house now preparing to spend another two weeks in captivity!Luckily we had stocked on enough food supplies for a month.As soon as this rainy disaster pass over we would go on to rebuild and renew our daily routine.Actually the rains had become a part of the routine now!Two days passed without uneventfully and with a great effort we had to ward of the boredom.But the coming week would be very eventful had i known it before.
Our mother suddenly developed fits and were highly recurring for the next few days.whatever medicines had been given for these fits were stopped since the town doctor had told her not to take it because two years back the fits had stopped.But now as if the rains pounding our house was not enough even these damned fits were back!Why God,why!And now the dutiful son my brother was he immediately left for the doctor's house to put an end to mother's fits.But the rains were still on and i had not even hesitated to stop my brother feeling relieved that i did not have to go.I was a coward like my father and only after my brother had left had i realized that!But i still did not go out to search for him when he did not turn up for a full day!How shameful of me!I cried,begged and prayed to the Gods who i had damned,but neither did brother turn up nor did i go out to find him.My mother's sad eyes were always on me but she did not speak out.After one and a half days the rains mysteriously and luckily stopped and after the second day of my brother's missing a group of men arrived supporting my brother.Wow he was alive after all!And not only that he was clutching mother's medicine!
I could not see eye to eye in fear of seeing my guilt reflected in my eyes.But all my brother said was,"At least i did not go on a vacation like dad."Had i heard right,he was trying to justify to me!That was the last straw i broke down and cried like a baby for forgivness.But all my brother did was take me outside and showed me a fleeting white cloud which he said he thought was shaped like a bird.And then his words rung in my ears,'A BIRD IN THE SKY IS HOPE ON THE HORIZON'!
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