Straight from the Heart

It was something that made him excited and proud! Now it had been established beyond doubt that he was no longer a child. He had those cuts and bruises on his knees and elbows to proudly display as a proof of his graduating from a child to a teenager. Having had his baptism on the green grassy fields behind his quarters, he was now ready for the ultimate test-that of cycling his way to school for the first time! His school was barely two kilometres from his house. The organisation where his father worked provided buses for taking the children of the employees to school. There were different buses for every school and every day these buses would go round the colony picking the children up from the designated bus stops. Every morning there would be fights to be the first to get into the bus and grab the window seat. Every morning it would be a rush to finish all daily chores so that one could be present on the dot when the bus arrived. The bus was the place where one met his/her friend...

Down at the market this morning I saw, A streak of silver, and there was The Hilsa! Like an arrow of dazzling silver white, This fish was a feast for a fish-lover’s sight! Like a king, standing out in that crowded market, Miles apart from the fat katla, or the “moony” pomfret. Perfect symmetry, God’s creation at leisure, I thought. Pink were the gills, blessed be the one who had caught! The eyes were glazed as it was long dead. Waiting to delight, either fried or baked! That fishy smell, ahh…so mouth watering! I could feel, the beginning of the stomach’s rumbling! The fish seller knew, he had me snared. I brought it home, whatever the price, I didn’t care!!