|| MAGIC of COLORS ||

Kolkata, city of joy, is very welcoming . it has a big heart inundated with generous, fun-loving folks everywhere. It was once India’s capital under British rulers. Well, I did not know it. Because Kolkata is unknown to me. The city , I am from , is the capital city of India right now. I am a girl from New Delhi, moved to Kolkata a year ago. People say , you do not know what is waiting  for  on your journey ahead. Never had given it a thought until my journey took an unexpected , unforeseen turn. I guess, from then a new chapter in my life started. Back in New Delhi we had an apartment. Me and my parents. Well, Sunita is my stepmom. Three  years after I was born things became complicated ….mom did not want to live with my dad anymore. I used to ask every other day, “ why mom does not stay at home? “ , “ why does she leave so early in the morning and why she never takes care of me , never even ask about me ?” these questions  used to haunt me . I used to sit on the couch staring at our door , longing for that one hug from my mom .  but I was too young to be told that she used to live with someone else and my parents were already separated . I was a good kid, used to do all my works on my own . things were going good even without mom.

©Dayeetachaudhuri

 But  when I was in high school, dad decided to get married again.  I knew he was seeing someone. Then , Sunita moved in and for them, it was a happy family. But I never could get over the memories of mom even though I knew that she had a choice to stay but she chose to leave me .

Days passed, Sunita used to take care of me very well and best thing about her…. She is a brilliant cook. I may not be her daughter but she treats me like  her own child. But things did not go well for long. Dad used to stay away for months.
 And when he used to return , he used to find Sunita mad at her  and then they argued , quarreled for hours . after some days Sunita left and then dad went over to her father’s place to get her back. But no full stop in the situation. Anger, quarreling , shouting , crying never stooped. I finally decided to take a leave from that prison.  That night  made a ticket and next day took the flight for Kolkata. My college was finished. I was looking for job . so, taking some time off would not be a bad idea. So, here I am now in Kolkata with my grandparents. They are lovely couple and what amazed me about them was they never yelled at each other. No fight, no getting mad, no anger  around me.  Not to mention…. I am happy. I was always fond of ice creams. And the combination of ice cream cones with headphones on my ears and long walk down the streets alone …has always been my favorite . so, I kinda started exploring the new city and with internet and its maps  nowadays, it is really  difficult to get lost even in a new city. Kolkata has a lot to share, a lot to show, a lot to give.

Here I started giving tuition to children . soon , my students became my friends. There is an old couple next door, they are also on my friend list.  In this big town , I am happy with thus small circle of friends.  Still it feels lonely. Because I left behind a lot people close to my heart when I left my hometown.  It is true that I never liked staying at home .  Everything  was there yet everything was missing. So  I used to hang out with my buddies . not many. Five-six lovable, reliable, good friends. I am still in touch with them. Well, few of them . my best friend Sumer, he was a darling. Beloved by everyone who used to meet him. How much I miss those times, we spent together laughing  and chatting. We made a promise that we will stay happy and smile in difficult times and will stay in touch forever. We were in same high school then same college. But things changed. Maybe , ‘Forever’ had planned something else for us. Few months after Sunita moved in with us , Sumer started acting weird. He stopped coming out of his house and meeting his friends. Barely received my calls or answered any text.

So one fine morning me and Alex decided to go to his place . we went over to his house….he was not there. His mom welcomed us  and we chatted a bit . Alex was answering to her formal ‘how are you?’ and ‘ what are you studying ?’ s. I jumped in. “ where is Sumer , aunty?”

“ he is not at home. He had to go to market.  Very important works to be done . Very important. “ she stared at the cup in on the table while answering. She looked nervous.

“ what’s going on , aunty? Something is wrong. He is avoiding us all, barely leaves the house .  Did anybody say anything or hurt him ?”

“no, no , no  ….nothing like that. “ she held my hand and said.  Aunty knew that I was always very protective about him and loved him so much. Then what she said , that left me shocked.

[TO BE CONTINUED]