Just outside the window, a streak of black cloud was visible over the horizon. Aathma closed the window. It is going to come. By their estimates, it is going to rain that evening. They must start before it starts raining. He looked at Nithya. She was packing her clothes into the suite case.
“Quick Nithya”
“What to take and what to leave?”
“Take only the most essential. For all the three of us put together, we are allowed to carry only eight kilos.”
“What is essential?”
He had only one answer to that question, “Life”. Nothing is required at all. A new beginning could be made.
Aathma patiently gleaned through the hall. It had collections of fifteen years of married life. Articles which gave him happiness, news, knowledge and love. The speakers stood silently on either of the Stereo set. On the coloured jackets were frozen hours of music. Beethoven, Bach, Hariprasad Chourasia, none of these is required now. Nearby, stood the typewriter. Hmm, this is not the time to compose poetry. The Shelf was staked with books. Could I carry some of them? But what? “Research in Tholkappiam?”, “Temple poems of Pandya country?”, “New Poetry – Four Essays?”, “Research in Tamil Folklore?”, “Bible?”, “Thirukkural?” What to choose? All these are noise, nothing but pure noise.
“Bombs thrown set the roofs ablaze,
Children and Elderly die in heaps,
This is a everyday pastime”
“Bastards!” Aathma abused none in particular.
“What books to take?”
“Take anything to read on the journey”
“Tell me what, quickly” asked Nithya raising her voice.
Aathma looked at the bookshelf again. He picked up the “Rani” magazine and said, “this is enough.”
“What to do with the jewels?”
“Wear all of them. We can sell them there and buy vegetables there.”
Nithya looked disturbingly at him.
“For each of us I have placed three sets of dress. For Kumar I have a sweater.”
“What is so big there?”
“That is our marriage photo album. I don’t have the heart to leave it behind.”
Aathma opened it. He was very lean and Nithya looked like a doll. His heart smiled. “When I touched you for the first time, you quivered.”
Nithya did not pay heed to his comments. She complained, “There aren’t enough locks. We have only four.”
“Why, locks?” Aathma asked in surprise.
“Don’t we have to lock our house?”
Clapping his hands, Aathma laughed, “Fool, there is no need to lock. There will be none to steal. Everything, Refrigerator, T.V., Radio, Chairs, Books, Guitar, the Elephant Doll, everything will be left here. For the next hundred years, they will all be here. They will glimmer in the glow of Alpha and Beta rays.”
Nithya stayed quiet for some time and then asked, “Aathma, where are we going really?”
“Who knows? They say, it is Arabic Ocean. Minnicoy Islands, Anadamans, they would take us in the opposite direction to the winds.”
“Do we have to go to Bombay first?”
“Bombay? You Stupid. Bombay has gone to dust. There is nobody there. There is a gigantic fungal umbrella over Bombay. Madras, Delhi, Calcutta are all gone. We escaped because I got transferred to this small town. We will keep running against the rain, it is all luck.”
“It it good to survive?”
“That’s a good question, but I don’t have the answer. Where is Kumar?”
“He is playing out there.”
Kumar came running with bated breath and announced excitedly, “Look, seven helicopters have arrived, all at once.” Both rushed out to the balcony. They saw those giant insects touching the ground down and coming to a screeching halt.
“Nithya, they have come. Pack quickly.” ordered Aathma.
“Papa, are we going by helicopter?” asked Kumar.
“Yes. Dear.”
“Where are we going?” persisted Kumar.
“To a distant place”
“Is the School closed?”
“From now on, it is going to be holidays forever.”
“When would we return?”
“We won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because, Do you know Pakistan? Pakistan and China together have fought with us and in the war a large number of people have been killed. Only we are alive.” Aathma’s voice was half-filled with anger and exasperation.
Nithya asked from inside, “Is it at all necessary to tell all this to the child?”
“He must know, Nithya.”
“Then, why do we go to our native place?” asked Kumar after giving some thought to his father’s explanation.
“The crackers burnt by them have let out a huge quantity of poison gas and the gas is fast approaching us.”
“Did we not shoot at them?”
“Yes, we also did. It is like crackers during Diwali. We have also burnt Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Beijing.”
“Why we have stopped doing that?”
“Because the crackers have run out of stock.”
“Once we reach our native place, get me some bombs.”
“What bombs?”
“Atom Bombs.”
“You must be a leader.” Aathma laughingly said.
“Kumar, Did you collect your items?” asked Nithya.
“Yes” he said, pointing out his School bag. It had a writing stick, eraser, rope of spinning top, stamps, labels of match boxes and glass balls.
“Is that all?”
“Only this much, Amma. Because we need to take Jillu too.”
“What? Do you want to take Jillu too?”
The moment it heard its name being pronounced, Jillu lying beneath the Cot, woke up from its sleep and came running towards Kumar with its ears raised and by wagging its tail.
“Jillu, shake hands with me.” Jillu raised one of its front legs.
“Jillu walk.” It walked on its rear legs a few steps.
With dark eyes and all kinds of smells on its body, this little doll was a springing ball of happiness.
Kumar subjected it to affectionate torture. He lifted it on its ears, its rear legs; but the dog played with him unmindful of all the trouble. There were two kids in that house.
“JilluJilluJillu.... Papa, we are going to take Jillu along with us?”
“No we are not.”
“But Amma said we could.”
“Amma lied. Look Kumar. There wouldn’t be enough space for people even. They won’t allow dogs to come in.”
Kumar started to cry embracing Jillu. “I am not coming.”
“You must come. There won’t be a soul here in this town.”
“Me and Jillu will stay. You both go.”
Nithya intervened. “Why, what is the matter? Why are you crying Kumar?”
“Amma! Appa says Jillu cannot come with us.”
“Who said that? We are definitely going to take Jillu with us. You go in.”
Kumar though unsure about the fate of Jillu, wiped his tears and went in taking Jillu along. Aathma could see through the balcony a queue of people lining in front of the resting helicopters.
“Why did you lie to the kid? You know very well that they won’t allow dogs to be taken along.”
“Why reveal it at this time. I thought I could somehow convince him at the time of boarding. You broke the story before.”
“No, Nithya. We must prepare him for such disappointments. We should not keep supplying him with dreams. He must know what contemporary worlds is all about? He must have the strength of character to understand it.”
“Hmm.. Does a seven year old kid need all this tutoring? He is still a kid. He is so fond of Jillu that he wouldn’t bear the thought of leaving it behind. He would fall sick if he comes to know about it. We will somehow convince him at the end. Now go and tell him that we are taking Jillu with us.”
Still two more hours are left.
Inside, Kumar kept telling Jillu. “Don’t worry. I will take you alongwith me. I they don’t allow you, we will shoot them.”
Suddenly Nithya said, “Why don’t we do like this?”
How?
“There is enough space in the suite case. We could wrap it up in a towel and ,,,,”
“It would die crying.”
“Could we not carry a basket?”
“Look, Nithya. Don’t complicate matters. We’ll leave it here. It would roam around for food, definitely. If it were British, the dog would have been shot!”
“Even I don’t like to leave this little devil behind.”
“What do we do? The bastards have all done their job.
“Aathma, please control yourself.”
They left home at five. The streak of black clouds has grown a bit. Aathma, Nithya and Kumar came out of the house. For the last time, he saw the house, completely open, the roof of Jasmine creepers, mango tree and the name plate in blue at the door step which bore his name, “R.S. Aathma”.
“Did I close the Gas?” suddenly Nithya remembered.
“Stop. How does it matter if you closed it or not?”
A Suite Case and a little Basket were all they had taken.
“A little Basket.”
“Hi, what is there in the basket?”
“Shut up. Jillu is deep asleep. We’ll somehow manage.”
“Why do you invite trouble? If they notice, then we’ll have to cut a sorry figure. Let’s leave it now.” Aathma tried to snatch the basket from her hands. Kumar shrieked at the attempt.
“Leave it to me. I’ll manage. I heard they are not checking everything.”
A three ton military truck stopped in front of their house.
“Come on! Quick!” A Uniform yelled at them.
As Aathma, Nithya and Kumar with their Suite case and Basket mounted onto the truck , he looked at the faces all around. All disturbed faces, their futures uncertain. Where would we go and stand? Which land? Nothing was known. The truck trudged its way to the playground. Aathma kept looking at the basket repeatedly.
They got down and formed a moving column. The military officials were moving from one end to another. The seven helicopters had seven rows of seats each. All the town’s folks without any distinction were getting into the unknown entrance with some hesitation and anxiety. The young military men lifted the aged and sent them in. There were people sitting, standing, on wheel-chairs, with walking sticks, the poor and the children. The entire town would be emptied in an hours’ time. As Aathma, Nithya and Kumar approached that mechanical bird, Aathma’s heart beat fast. If only we could get in and the copter starts flying, then we could manage with an awkward smile. They came very near.
“You have only one suite case, right?” asked the officer.
“A suite case and a basket.” answered Nithya. The basket was covered with a towel.
The officer lifted and weighed it with his mind’s eye. “Get in.” He ordered.
“Oh!” Aathma sighed in relief.
Nithya lifted and kept the basket with her. Exactly at that time, the sleeping Jillu started to moan. “Get in fast, Nithya.”
Now, Jillu started howling, full blown.
“Just a minute, madam.”
The officer snatched the basket from her hands and within no time removed the towel.
“Dog!” He picked Jillu and placed it on the table.
“My God! Whose dog is it?”
“Officer, it is like this. My son.........”
“Hi! Did we not tell you time and again? Did we not announce it through loud speakers? Did we not tell each one of you? That, you should bring only the most essential?”
“Dog! What stupidity, I say.”
“Officer, just listen. My son...”
“Look, Gent. I don’t have the time to argue with you. The helicopter must leave now. Look at the clouds. Radiation Clouds. They are fast approaching us. We are just miles from death. We don’t even have space for people and you want to bring your dog. If I make an exception, another would want to bring his piano, yet another his cow! We are running away to live another life. In fact, the CO shouted at me for allowing you to bring eight kilos. I can’t allow the dog.”
“Sir, this is like our own kid.” pleaded Nithya.
“Get in. Get in. The dog can’t. Who is next?”
“Heartless Creatures.”
“What did you say?”
“The war was a creation of yours.”
“You threw an atom bomb at them, quite irresponsibly. They retaliated. Now we have been let all alone to handle cruel men like you. It is all because of your instinct for killing that such a mayhem has taken place. Innocents like us have been caught in between, separated and left to roam from place to place. Bloody military rascals! Bastards!”
Next moment, Aathma received a thundering slap on his face.
“Look man! It is not us. It is the leaders who have done this. Haul him up I say.”
Aathma was bundled and thrust inside. Nithya also got in. Then others came in a hurry and at last the military officers mounted. The door was closed.
The head began to rotate and as the speed increased. All the seven helicopters rose sideways one after another.
“Is it paining, Aathma?” Nithya asked him.
There were lot of people cramped inside. Aathma and Nithya stood at a corner and clasped the hanging handles. As the helicopters rose, the intensity of fear also increased.
“Don’t worry, Kumar. We’ll get a new one for you.” said Aathma, in a conciliatory tone.
“Kumar?”
“Hi. Nithya! Where is Kumar?”
“He was with you.”
“No, he was holding your hands.”
“Kumar? Kumaaaaaaaaaar?”
Nithya’s shriek was silenced by the thudding noise of the machine.
“Sir, Please open the door. We have left our son behind.” Aathma banged the doors. A muscular hand pulled Aathma and held on to him.
As the helicopters became a dot in the sky, Kumar came out from beneath the table, caressing Jillu softly.
“Don’t worry Jillu. Papa and Mama will come back soon. We will go home now.”
The little boy and the dog walked spiritedly on the deserted street. He picked up a huge quantity of biscuits from the bakery. Kumar ate some and gave the rest to Jillu. As they began to walk the way back home, the rains came. They got drenched in it, joyfully.
(Translated from the Tamil original, this is a science fiction story written by the famous Tamil writer, the late S. Rangarajan, alias SUJATHA, who passed away in 2009. He had left a note beneath the story, which runs as follows: “Some of the predictions made in my science fiction stories have come true. It is sometimes gratifying and sometimes embarrassing. This story written almost twenty years ago has come very close to reality. We wish and fervently pray this does not ever happen.” Such a situation need not rise owing to bad calculations of political leaders and military generals alone. Fukushima is another possibility.)
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