The Street Urchin

Inspirational Short Story

“Kanika, come inside and rest now, you have been out for a long time now,” called Mrs. Srivastav from the window.

“Coming Ma” replied Kanika regretfully. She had been playing with two of her friends, Suparna and Anupriya in the garden outside her house. Her friends stayed nearby and all of them went to school together.

They studied in class six. Suparna was a quiet girl with long shapely eyes and she wore her hair in two long plaits which hung behind her. She was the tallest among the friends. Anupriya had short curls and was chubby and chirpy. Kanika was the most talkative of all three and even when at home; she was perpetually on the phone with one of the other two. She was quite skinny, impulsive and wanted nice things to eat all the time.

Every evening her mother saw to it that the three girls had different treats at tea which mostly took place at six thirty in the evening in the little verandah overlooking the ground where they played.

“Oh! Aunty, samosas,” chirped Anupriya! I really love them, thanks! They are very tasty Aunty,” spoke Suparna, eating one of them. “Baby, pass the chutney to your friends,” smiled Milee, the maid who was the cook too. “Oh, Milee! How do you make such lovely samosas? I want to eat them every day!” said Kanika laughingly. “Okay, I’ll make them again soon. Now try these Jam biscuits and Walnut cookies too. They are straight from the oven!”

Right then Kanika noticed a small boy of about four or five, wandering in the ground opposite their house. He looked sad, sick and hungry with tattered clothes and it seemed he had been crying too.

She got up to see more clearly while the others looked towards the boy too. Just then the boy collapsed under the big Mango tree exhausted without food or water. Kanika ran towards the boy shouting, “What’s happened little boy? Tell me”. Anupriya and Suparna followed too with Kanika’s mom and Milee right behind.

When they all reached the tree, they saw that the little boy had fainted. Milee ran back towards the house and got water in a glass. “Move away Missy baba, let some air come”, said Milee in a calm voice.

She sprinkled some drops of water on the boy’s face and he stirred and opened his eyes. He stood up scared, moving away. Sarla, Kanika’s mom said “No need to be scared, little boy, we won’t hurt you. Come here and tell us what happened.”

The boy stared at the group and started crying. Milee went up to him and pulling him close whispered “Hush boy, tell me what has made you cry?” The boy still crying glanced at her still face and held her hand saying nothing. “Are you hungry little one?” asked Milee.

The boy silently nodded his head. “Come on, let’s go to the house and give him something to eat,” chorused the three friends. On returning to the house, Milee took the little urchin to the tap at the far end of the garden and washed his hands and face, then made him sit under the corner tree and gave him a glass of milk first.

The boy gulped the contents of the glass in one go as if he hadn’t had any nourishment since quite a few days. Milee also gave him two samosas and some cookies which he finished in no time. After the boy had eaten, Kanika went up to him and said, “Tell us your name.” This time, the boy smiled and said, “My name is Bunty.”

After a little coaxing by Sarla, the boy told them that he had come to this town from his village with his parents a few days back. While crossing a busy road one day, he lost his parents in an accident.

He was saved because he had run between the fast-moving traffic to the other side but his parents were not used to so many vehicles on any of the village roads and couldn’t escape.

Now he had nowhere to go and nothing to eat. After listening to the boy’s tale of woe, Milee burst into tears and clutching little Bunty to her heart, she exclaimed, “You don’t have to feel lost anymore dear, because I’m going to look after you.” She turned to her employer and wiping her tears, said “Is it ok Mem Saab? At last God has answered my prayers and sent me a son and I’m going to be a mother after so much waiting.”

Milee was a widow with no children. It was Kanika who answered for her mother, who was too busy trying to calm down an overexcited Milee. “Sure Milee, you shall have a son from today who will call you mummy”. Milee took Bunty in her lap and walked happily towards her little cottage at the back of the house.

Next day, Bunty came to the house and watched Kanika getting read to board the school bus. He was fascinated by her colourful school bag, plastic pink lunch box and green water bottle. He wanted to know what was inside each container and Kanika patiently explained the usage of each object to him.

Just then, Milee came with a glass of milk for Kanika. She took it and sat at the table, then said, “Mom, isn’t Bunty going to have milk too?” “Sure dear, he will. Milee, get another glass of milk for Bunty.” “Okay, Mem Saab, thank you”. “Arey, what’s there to thank me for Milee, milk is a necessity for growing children”.

After Kanika had gone to school, her mother was in the kitchen helping Milee cut vegetables for lunch.

Suddenly she looked up from the table where she was sitting and said, “Milee, I was thinking, why don’t you send Bunty to the school nearby which has classes till the eighth standard. The fee is nominal, and it has a good atmosphere where Bunty will meet children his age. He will have company, will learn reading and writing and together with getting a good education, he will also learn about friendship and sharing. You can walk him to school after Kanika’s bus leaves and fetch him back before lunchtime. Isn’t it a superb idea?”

“Oh Mem Saab, is this possible? I’m so happy but there is one condition. I will pay the fees.” “Ok, Milee, you can do that. After all he is your son and you are his mother,” said her employer laughingly. Milee had tears in her eyes and Bunty was over excited at the prospect of going to school.

“Will I have a bag, bottle, pencil box, and Tiffin too?” He asked Milee with rounded eyes. “You sure will Bunty”, chorused both the smiling ladies cutting vegetables with great enthusiasm.

In the evening the happy little boy told the girls that he too will be going to school. Kanika hugged him and both her friends congratulated Bunty. The years went by and Bunty became a strapping lad of nineteen. He had started learning computers as well.

Soon he became a Computer whiz and helped Kanika and her friends from time to time. Milee was thrilled at her son’s progress and could not stop talking about him to any and everyone she met. Kanika used to think of him as her brother and always tied rakhi on Bunty’s wrist on Raksha Bandhan.

When Kanika got married he organized everything and though he had given her only small and affordable gifts on Rakhi, Bhaidooj and birthdays, his wedding gift was a pair of beautiful gold bangles to his beloved sister.

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Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash