Homework

Walking through the crowd, trying to get hold of her dad, who wasn't looking back, she stood at her usual waiting spot. It had happened so often that she couldn't take it anymore. Afraid of being alone, traveling alone, and getting lost in the jungle, she decided to have a waiting spot.

In front of the garland shop, as she kept waiting, the clouds started to gather, ready to rain. The gushing winds rang bells around, the lights playing on and off. She fell unconscious to this beautiful sight when a few garlands fell on her, and he came out of his den to lift her.

Sensing the call to wake up, she murmured with her half-opened eye, "You look so handsome."

With a smile, he pointed at her dad.

Embarrassedly, she ran to Dad and said, "You are again late. Let's go."

Walking out, she heard him ask, "What's your name?",

with an upset face, she wished better if he didn't know.

The whole night, she couldn't sleep wondering all about him. An attraction or love at first sight, she woke up with a racing heart to meet him. But she had to wait till the market day, the last Saturday of the month.

A little love story emerging around, she smiled and enjoyed the joy of happenings in her monotonous, mundane life. After five months of stalking each other, the question from him never changed, and her love for him grew. A blind love or a fantasy story, with his patience fading and her growing desire to spend time with him, she leaves a note to meet him on a full moon Tuesday night.

On a full moon night, she sneaks out of her home to visit him with only one purpose, to tell him her name. She takes the key from her dad's box and walks out with his motorcycle, hoping it will help her escape somehow. Not knowing how to ride, she dragged it along to the garland shop, the golden home. Tired of walking, she dozes off in front of the market's veranda, waiting for him.

In front of the garland shop, as she kept waiting, the clouds started to gather, ready to rain. The gushing winds rang bells around, the lights playing on and off. She fell unconscious to this beautiful sight when a few garlands fell on her, and he came out of his den to lift her.

Sensing the call to wake up, she saw a shadow walking away with her half-opened eye. Smelling the scent of him, she started to follow his steps. Through the darkness, under the giant trees, she pauses for a second to look back. The fear in her eyes that she had lost her way woke her with the strength and courage to keep marching forward. She felt as if someone whispered to her ears of a treasure waiting at the end of the trail. But she couldn't trace the moonlight or him. She could only hear the sounds that felt like hunters waiting to capture her. As she sat to calm her nervousness, she could see a lantern lit from a long distance. Following the thin stream of light that beamed through the jungle, she believed she would catch him halfway but never knew she would land on the other side, a whole new world.

Waking to the morning sunrays, lost and alone, she couldn't believe what she saw, a bullock cart carrying her motorcycle. Running behind, she lost sight of the scenery and entered the golden home where all flowers bloomed, the central hub to all shops in the town. Awestruck at the beauty of the colors, and the fragrance of the flowers, she smelt a distinct joy and happiness, an instant connection as if she had seen this world before. Strolling through the flower lanes, an old lady asked, "What's your name, my dear, are you lost."

Standing on the other side of the jungle, she feared being lost but not about telling her name. Far away from her hometown, she looked into the eyes of the old lady and spelled out loud with chin up, "It's PHOOL, not FOOL. PHOOL means flowers."

And she continued, "My dad was in a different world when he named me," but stopped when everyone around paused and stood up. She was frightened by the stare, and the fingers pointed at her. But through the crowd, she caught that eye, that shadow she followed this long. She saw him standing among the others, pointing to look behind.

She slowly turned in shock and saw an old rusted stencil-styled board that read "PHOOL estate." It had a motorcycle logo at the end and a lantern hanging on its handle.

She wondered, did I follow this light, was this the treasure the jungle whispered?

Right this moment, she had found her life, a meaning to her existence, a story yet to unveil. But from now on, she will not be called, "Here comes the fool," but "charging bull."

And she reigned her hometown as her dad once did.

But Mom,

"What's the moral of the story? I have to fulfill that checkbox to submit. It is mandatory", Peter asked as he munched on his morning breakfast,

Staring at his dad, his mom remarked, "The moral of the story is that your mom always has to cook up a story she doesn't know how to end."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For ref: https://tinyurl.com/phoolname

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------