gora

i first saw him when i was four years old. as the story goes, i was running around in front of the garage, chasing the ducks and chickens our caretaker, shakeela, prided herself in having... after a fall and a bleeding knee, gora was beckoned by a very harassed shanti di to quieten my wails. and that was the beginning of the story.

i don't suppose he was much bigger than me, his large eyes looking at me curiously, his his shriveled up nose, the ridiculously colourful shirt all convinced me to love him... with all my heart and soul, and of course, his flees! he was the most beautiful monkey i had ever set my eyes on, and since that afternoon, gora, much to the annoyance of the very spoilt cat we had, became a regular visitor at the biswas home, bringing with himself bits of twigs, little stones and once even a marble as he came came, very punctually and made himself busy entertaining me. so

enthralled was i by his charms that i wasted no time in bullying my parents into buying him and his mate rakhi more gaudy clothes. and truthfully, so fond was i of that monkey that the presence of an older and unfriendly rakhi did not please me. but, i "tolerated" her none the less, playing with them to the point of torture where i would make gora sit in my doll's house and drink out of the tiny cups. and of course, spilling was not allowed!
then, one fine day, school happened. suddenly flung into a whole new world with rugrats like me,

i was captivated. so enthusiastic i was about school and my friends who would sing, dance and talk with me that gora faded to some dank dark corner of my mind. gradually, his visits were welcome only on bored afternoons, during summer, when the mind of a five year old had nothing to occupy her and then, with promotions and the development of newer interests and hobbies, the visits stopped.

sometimes, as i would walk with my father towards the park circus maidan, i would notice biju bhaiyya (gora's owner) sitting outside his little shack, smoking a bidi, then maybe, i would remember gora and stop by to pet him, but then maybe i wouldn't.

my fascination with gora returned a few years ago. upon returning from mumbai, one very hot
afternoon, biju bhaiiya stopped by to converse with my grandmother, and much to my surprise, gora was missing! though i feared the worst, gora was very much alive, but not very well. some kids from the mullick bazaar basti had stoned him down, "just for fun". thus almost 14 years after our torrid friendship, i realized my soft spot for gora and between college and work, i always managed to squeeze time out to call for biju bhaiiya and enquire about gora, if need be, even pay for medicines he needed as he lay in bed, ailing.

if i was to believe biju bhaiiya, gora had just crossed his 15th year on the face of the earth, and was living past a monkey's average lifespan! to spare myself the arguements, i accepted gora, now a wizened lill thing, still dressed brightly, for all he was worth and the fleas.
i never had courage enough to adopt him and make him a proper part of the family, like i never had courage to deal with the fact that gora, during his last few years was suffering form acute diabetes, couldn't deal with the fact that much of the life that was in him was gradually draining out as he slowly lost control of his bladder...

perhaps, biju bhaiiya realised the trauma i was facing each day as they both stopped by to show me prescriptions and chit chat for a while. perhaps, he hoped to find a better cure for gora, perhaps, he just wanted to go home... whatever the reason might be, one day, biju bhaiiya announced that he was leaving for bihar with gora.apparantly, he had land issues to deal with. and that was the end of the story...

yesterday, as i was wasting time in the afternoon, trying to prevent myself from dying out of boredom, a familiar call for audience froze me. hobbling out to the balcony as fast as i could with a broken foot, i was yet aging greeted with biju bhaiyya's bearded grin.
"kya memsaab, khela dekhbe na?" he asked in heavily accented bangla, and i felt my heart break into a million pieces as he pointed to two tiny monkeys on his shouders, dressed identically in gaudy colouring and i knew i would never see gora again...