The Skeleton

 

There was a whole skeleton hanging on the wall of the room next to the room where our three childhood friends used to sleep. At night, his bones were shaking in the wind. During the day we had to shake that bone. We then studied Meghnadvadh with Pandit-Mahashay and Osteology with a student of Campbell School. It was the wish of our guardian to make us proficient in all knowledge. How far his intention has succeeded is needless to disclose to those who know us, and to those who do not know it is best to conceal it.

A long time has passed since then. In the meantime, the skeletons from that room and the skeletons from our heads cannot be explored.

A few days later, one night I had to sleep in that room due to some other reason. -- Unable to sleep. The big bells on the church clock rang to and fro. At that time, the oil sedge that was burning in the corner of the room was completely extinguished after about five minutes. We have already had two accidents in our house. Therefore, taking this light easily reminded me of death, it seemed that at two o'clock in the night, the flame of a lamp merged into the eternal darkness, just as it is with nature and the small flame of human life, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night, is suddenly forgotten.

Gradually remembered that skeleton. As soon as I imagined the matter of his life, it seemed that a conscious substance was scratching the walls of the room in the dark and moving around my mosquito net, I could hear his frequent breathing. As if he is looking for something, he can't find it and is circling the room at a faster pace. Surely I could understand that everything was the imagination of my sleepless warm brain and the blood that was gurgling in my head sounded like fast footsteps. But, still started to pretend. Forcefully, to break this unnecessary fear, I said, 'Keo.' Footsteps came to a halt near my mosquito and heard a reply, 'Me. I have come to find where my skeleton has gone.'

I thought it was nothing to be afraid of my imaginary creation--grabbing the side pillow tightly, I said in a very simple tone like a familiar one, 'You have done quite a job this afternoon and night. So, you need that skeleton now?'

In the darkness came the answer from very close to the mosquito, 'Say what. My chest bone was in it. My twenty-six-year-old youth, who had grown up on all fours of him--wouldn't you like to see it?'

I immediately said, 'Yes, that makes sense. So, you go find it. I try to get some sleep.'

He said, 'You are alone? But sit a little. Let's talk a little. Thirty-five years ago I used to sit near people and talk to people. For these thirty-five years, I have only been humming in the air of the crematorium. Today I will sit next to you and talk like a human being.'

I felt who sat near my mosquito net. Seeing Nirupa, I said with a little enthusiasm, 'That's good. Tell me a story or two that will cheer you up.'He said, 'If you want to hear the funniest thing, tell me about my life.'The church clock chimed twice--

When I was human and young I feared a man like Yama. he is my husband I used to feel the same as he felt when he caught the fish with the hook. That is, some completely unknown creature is pulling me out of my sweet deep birth pool as if it is wrapped in a hook - there is no escape from its hands. My husband died after two months of marriage and my relatives mourned me a lot. My father-in-law saw many signs and said to his mother-in-law, this girl is what is called a poison girl in the scriptures. I remember that clearly - - Do you hear? How does it feel?'

I said, 'Fine. The beginning of the story is quite funny.'

'But listen. I returned to my father's house happily. Gradually age took its toll. People tried to hide from me, but I knew very well that beauty like me was not found anywhere. What do you think?'Very possible. But I have never seen you.' Don't you see? Why my skeleton. Hee hee hee.-- I'm kidding. How can I prove to you that between those empty eye-sockets, there were two large black eyes, and the soft smile that was plastered on the painted lips was nothing to compare with the fierce smile of the bare teeth of today--and so much elegance on those few long dry bones. , such grace, such hard-soft chubby perfection of youth blossomed every day to tell you it makes you laugh and rage. Even the great doctors of that time did not believe that orthopedics could be learned from my body. I know, a doctor called me Kanak-Chapa to a special friend of his. It means that all the people of the world were paragons of anatomy and physiology, but I was like a beautiful flower. Is there a skeleton in Kanak-Champa?

'When I walked, you could perceive that when a piece of diamond was moved, light would flash from all its sides, so with every movement of my body, so the pose of beauty would break in various natural movements. I would sometimes hold my own hands for a long time and see myself--two hands that could put a rash on the face of all the arrogant men in the world and hold them sweetly. When Subhadra took Arjuna and drove his chariot through the three astonished people in a bold manner, he had, I think, two of these chubby arms, red palms, and fingers like flames of fire.

But that shameless naked old skeleton of mine has borne false witness in my name to you. I was completely unresponsive. That's why I'm more angry with you than anything else in the world. I wish, heated by the heat of my sixteen-year-old youth, Arctim Rupkhani once standing in front of your eyes, I drive away the sleep of your two eyes like a long time, I leave the country by disturbing your bones.'

I said, 'If I had your body, I would have touched it and said, I don't have that knowledge in my head. And that earth-loving form of your full youth is shining brightly on the dark surface of the resin. No need to say more.'

'I had no girlfriend. Dada had promised not to marry. I am alone in the heart. I used to sit alone under the trees in the garden and think that the whole world loved me, all the stars were watching me, the wind was tricking me and passing me by with a long sigh, and if the Triana on which I was sitting with my legs crossed would have become unconscious again. I used to imagine that all the young men of the world were standing silently at my feet in a bunch of grass; How the heartfelt pain for no reason.

When my grandfather's friend Sasishekhar passed out of medical college, he became our house doctor, I have seen him many times before. Dada was a very strange man - he did not see the world very well. As if the world is not empty enough for him--that's why Saria Saria went to the very edge and took shelter.

'One of his friends is Sasishekhar. That is why I always saw this Sasishekhar among the youths outside. And when I took the empress's seat in the evening under the flowers, all the men of the world would come at my feet holding the image of Sasishekhara. - Are you listening? What do you think?'

I said under my breath, 'I think it would have been better if I had been born as a Sassishekhar.'

'Listen to everything first. One day on a cloudy day I got a fever. The doctor has come to see me. That first meeting.I was facing the window, the ruddy glow of the evening falling on the paleness of the sickly face. When the doctor entered the room and looked at my face once, I imagined myself as the doctor and looked at my face. In those evenings, on a soft pillow, a beautiful yellow face; An unruly frown fell on the forehead and large, shy eyes cast shadows on the forehead. The doctor said to grandfather in a gentle voice, "You will have to see the hand once."'I put out a tired smooth hand from inside the blanket. Once I looked at my hands, if I could wear a blue glass bangle, it would have suited me better. I have never seen such hesitation in the doctor to take the patient's hand and check the pulse. He saw the pulse in his fingers, which trembled very incoherently. He understood the heat of my fever, I also got a glimpse of how the pulse of his heart was going. Can't believe it?'

I said, 'I see no reason for disbelief--the pulse of man does not run the same in all conditions.'After getting sick and recovering two or four more times, I saw in my evening meeting that the number of billions of men in the world was greatly reduced and gradually came to one, my world became almost deserted. There is only one doctor and one patient left in the world.

I used to secretly wear a Basanti-colored dress in the evening, tie my hair well, and wear a garland of belflora on my head, take a mirror in my hand, and sit in the garden.

Why. Isn't it a pleasure to see you? Not really. Because I did not see you. I used to sit alone then there were two of us. I used to see you as a doctor, fascinated and loved and adored, while inside my soul a sigh rose like the evening breeze.

Since then I was no longer alone; As I walked I would look down and see how the toes were touching the earth, and wonder how this step looked to our newly certified doctor; In the middle of the day, outside the window, there was no response, sometimes one-by-one chile flew away with a sound in the sky; And outside our garden wall, the khelewala would catch the melody and call out 'I want to play', 'I want bangles', I would lay down the bed in my own hands and lay the bed in my hands; I used to think that one bare arm was folded disrespectfully on the soft bed, who saw this hand in such a manner, who took it with both hands, who placed a kiss on its red palm and slowly returned again. -- Think how it would be if the story ended here.'

I said, 'It's not bad. It's a little incomplete, but the rest of the night is spent filling that in your mind.'

But then the story becomes very serious. Where is the mockery of it? Its inner skeleton appears with all its teeth.'Listen after that. A doctor opened his clinic on the first floor of our house after a short walk. Then I used to ask him sometimes with a smile about medicine, poison, what to do to make people die easily, all these things. The doctor's mouth fell open at the doctor's words. After listening to it, death became like a familiar householder. I saw love and death only as earthly. My story is almost over -- there's not much left.'I said softly, 'The night is almost over.'For some time I have seen that Doctor Babu is very different-minded and seems like a great genius to me. One day I saw that he dressed up a bit more and borrowed his pair from his grandfather, wondering where to go at night. I couldn't stay any longer. I went to my grandfather and asked him, "Yes, grandfather, where is the doctor going with the pair today?"'In short, Dada said, to die. I said, no, tell the truth - no. He opened up a little more than before and said, to get married.

'I said true or not. -- I started to laugh a lot. I heard a little bit that the doctor would get twelve thousand rupees in this marriage. 'But what is the significance of insulting me by hiding this news from me? Did I grab his leg and say that if I did such a thing, I would die with a burst chest. Men are not to be trusted. I saw only one man in the world and gained all knowledge in one moment.

When I saw the doctor's patient and came home before evening, I said with a lot of laughter, what a doctor, sir. Today or your wedding?

Seeing my cheerfulness, the doctor was not only shocked, he was very upset.

'I asked, there is no music? Hearing this, he took a deep breath and said, "Is marriage so happy?"Hearing this, I laughed and became restless. I have never heard of such a thing. I said, it will not happen, I want music, I want light. I made Dada so busy that Dada immediately got involved in organizing the festival.

I just started talking about what will happen when the bride comes home, what will I do. I asked - Well doctor sir, will you still take the patient's pulse. Hee hee! Hee hee! Although a man's mind, especially a man's, is invisible, I swear the words rang out like shells in the doctor's chest.

Many nights of lagna. In the evening, the doctor used to sit on the roof and drink two glasses of wine with his grandfather. Both had this habit. Gradually the moon rose in the sky.

I came with a smile and said, did the doctor forget it? It's time to travel.

A little word must be said here. In the meantime, I secretly went to the doctor's office collected some powder, and conveniently mixed a few hundredths of the powder into the doctor's glass.

I learned from the doctor that people die if they eat any powder. The doctor, after finishing the glass with a kiss, said in a somewhat damp voice, with a sad look on my face, but I went on.

'The flute played, I put on a Varanasi sari, took out all the jewels that were on the side, and wore them--I gave the singer a big one. I got a bed in that basement.

'Very beautiful night. Astrology on foot. The wind blows in the south, taking away the fatigue of the dormant world. Jasmines and bellflowers scented all the gardens.

When the sound of the flute gradually faded away, when the Jyotsna began to get dark, when the earth began to merge like an illusion from all around me with this Tarupallab and the sky and the doors of eternity, I closed my eyes and smiled.

I wanted this smile to be on my lips like a colorful drug when people come and see me. I wanted to take this smile with me from here when I slowly entered my eternal night residence. Where is the residence? Where is my marriage? I woke up with a crackling sound from inside myself and saw that three boys were taking me to learn orthopedics. Where happiness and sadness were humming in the chest and where the petals of youth bloomed one by one every day, the master is teaching the name of the restless one by pointing the rod. And did you see any trace of that last smile that I flashed near the mouth? --

How was the story?'I said, 'The story is quite cheerful.'

At that time the first crow called. I asked, 'What are you still doing?'I didn't get any answer.

Morning light entered the room.

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