When the Children went missing...

Author : Chandralata

Antholgy: Nenu Nannanavutha

Translator: Sujatha Gopal

That was a different world.

The moon light traced beautiful designs with the stars as focal points.

Parijata flowers spread fragrance.

The chirping birds composed music.

Beautiful Cinderella danced to the enchanting music till she was tired. Holding her satin skirt carefully, she gave her delicate hand to the prince. Her glass shoes glistened with her steps. They sat down on the river bank to enjoy the cool breeze blowing softly. Soon they were joined by Snow White, Goldie Lock, Sleeping beauty, Princes, Princess and the dwarfs. Accompanied by the Genie, Alladin and Jasmine arrived soon.

Sindbad- The Sailor and Gulliver arrived. They stopped talking and looked at the brave sailors. Their chests filled with pride seeing the beautiful Princesses go into rapture with their eyes filled with surprise. They cleared their throats and narrated their heroic deeds enthusiastically.

Maroof stepped in then and proclaimed that he was luckier than them.

Suddenly the place resounded with the tinkling bells of anklets. Little Krishna, with a dollop of butter in one hand and a flute in the other arrived, accompanied by Bala Bheema carrying the mace on his shoulder.

An old woman seated under the moonlight, excited with their presence worked faster on her wheel.

Her pet rabbit frolicked around happily!

An elderly lady, who perhaps was the hostess busily moved around supervising the party arrangements and instructed the old woman to make pancakes.

"Have all the invitees come?" some one asked.

"They are still coming. How long can we wait? Wouldn’t it be late for the party?" little Bheema said patting his stomach.

That was a different world.

Every child who travelled to that fancy world of dreams was familiar with that world. Adults too, were familiar with that world as children.

Unlike in the past, very few children frequented that world these days.

Worried over this, the inhabitants of that world assembled there on a full moon night. Cinderella lamented that no one appreciated her dance these days.

Little Krishna sulked that no one shared his butter. and enjoyed the flute recitals.

"I wonder what obstacles prevent our little friends from paying a visit to us." Jasmine wondered.

"Princess...Can I explain that? The Betaal asked respectfully...No one knew when he joined them.

"No, No, Great one! You would blabber something, then ask a question and then threaten to smash the head into thousand pieces when we do not answer! Come here!" Jasmine held his hand dragged him to the hostess.’

She made them sit near the stone grinder and instructed them to grind the lentils and spices.

"Shall I pay them a visit and find out the reason?" asked Sinbad eager to go on a voyage.

"I am ready, too." said Maruf.

"You have to wait! This isn’t the age of ships and voyages. Aero planes.. .cars.. . You can not adjust.. .Allow me to go!" Gulliver raised his collar and offered his services. "Stop it! It doesn’t matter who went. Our priority is to know what the problem is immediately." Bheema said in a loud voice.

A flute recital reached them from some where.

The princess moved towards that direction as if in trance, mesmerized by it. The princes followed them. The others followed them too.

Pied Piper of Hamelin was rehearsing under the moon light tree studded with starry branches.

He stood up and greeted them happily.

Every one came out of the trance.

He bent his knees and thanked them.

Pointing at him with his flute, little Krishna smiling mysteriously said, "He is the right person to meet our friends. He has the reputation of having mesmerized the children in the past..."

In the past, he saved the town of Hamelin from the menace of rats. The queen, however, refused to give. him the money she had agreed to give earlier. He hypnotized the children of the town with his pipe recital and vanished them into thin air to teach the queen a lesson.

Every one unanimously agreed to Krishna’s suggestion.

The group saw off Pied Piper at a book stall in the town. They reminded him that they were at a stone’s throw distance in case of any emergency.

Pied Piper stood in front of a pile of books. He looked around excitedly.

Book sellers... book buyers... window shoppers. Bargainers walked around. Occasionally a book or two was sold.

A little child came and picked up the book of Pied Piper.

Pied Piper thanked his stars and smiled.

The little one touched his colorful coat, the red feather in his cap and was about to touch his pipe...

"Chitti come here" some one called her and she stopped.

"You come here," Chitti replied, "Mummy, see this... this picture is so beautiful...Mummy...Mummy... I want this book!"

"We will take it later...Come here!" Her mother instructed her.

"No... We will take it now!" she sulked.

Piper patted himself on his back for his ability to attract the children.

Chitti’s mother came there. She took the book from her, scanned the pages quickly and in the same speed threw it on the rack.

"Listen, Chitti... We have to buy you many books. I know that story. I will tell you later.. .come let us go."

"I don’t want any other book. You always say so, but will never tell me the story." she complained angrily.

"You hardly have time with the school books and home work.. .Now, when will you read these books? Come let us go" She dragged Chitti from that place.

Piper was hurt.

Chitti bought the class books. Piper quickly hid himself in a book.

A sulking Chitti walked out with her mother.

Her mother walked quickly. She dragged Chitti with one hand and held a bag of books in another. Piper couldn’t balance himself. He some how managed to steady himself and held on to the bag’s handle. He glanced around.

A little boy pestered her to buy a hand fan. Another one hovered around asking her to buy rubber bands. Chitti’ s mother moved ahead refusing to buy anything.

They followed her... Pleaded with her...Reduced the prices.

She explained to them that she did not need any of those things and walked into a by lane.

Chitti wanted to buy everything.

They hardly walked a little further, a little girl selling bunches of coriander followed them...a little later, a girl selling lemons.

Chitti’s mother desperately tried to shoo them off, but they refused to listen to her. Suddenly the little girl selling the coriander bunches fell at her feet and pleaded with her to buy them.

Chitti was excited with this melodrama. Her mother was irritated.

Escaping from them.. .hurrying Chitti... quickly as if she ran.. .settled in an auto parked there. The auto moved forward.

Piper watched the girls till they were out of sight. He noticed the disappointment that spread on their faces.

"How sad! I wonder what problems they might have to face if they did not sell those things!" Piper sighed.

The auto rickshaw proceeded towards the railway station.

The streets seemed like a strange place reminiscent of Maya bazaar. He saw shops selling children’s things every where. Children’s clothes - toys - dolls - bakery - ice cream shops. _

"My god! So many things to entice the children!" Piper watched with interest.

Questions and queries raised its head in Chitti’s mind.

"How could they make such a tall building stand?" She watched a tall building with her head peeping out from the auto. She was surprised by what she saw.

Piper too saw the building in awe.

One building taller than the other. The street was lined with many such magnificent buildings.

They saw a building under construction as if to satisfy their curiosity. Chitti clapped her hands excitedly. A girl with a load of bricks on her head waved to Chitti.

"My god! What a burden on the little head!" Piper exclaimed noticing the weight on that girl’s head.

Chitti wanted to wave back to her, but the auto zoomed forward.

The auto stopped at the railway station.

Chitti’s relatives were to arrive by train.

Piper glanced at the place as Chitti and her mother alighted from the auto.

There was a lot of commotion. Chitti’s mother would definitely be caught in that melee.

A little boy sold peanuts - a girl idlis - a boy water packets - another girl books carrying the little ones on their hips, malnourished girls - urchins in ragged clothes sweeping the floors and begging - each one of them - every one of them - surrounded her and suffocated her.

She was irritated.

Piper was disheartened. He was disturbed further when they reached Chitti’ shouse. Chitti loved to play with her cousin. She wanted to hear a new story from her.

Chitti’s mother was distraught as she hadn’t completed her home work.

She firmly believed that stories diverted her attention from studies.

With a slap on her cheek ... Chitti slept alone in her room, crying. In between the sobs, she asked for the story her mother had promised to narrate.

Piper was hurt. He was drowned in sorrow.

Children - children - children.

Children every where.

If the children did not clean the railway station even for a day, how many sweepers would have to be employed?

Children at the Irani cafes. Wouldn’t they struggle to move along the narrow passages between the tables and walk at least twenty to thirty miles a day?

Half of the labor force - Children

Half of the agricultural force - Children

Half of the producers - Children

Half of the consumers - Children

Dream and Hope of a nation - Children

Happiness and future - Children.

Children - children - children.

What was given to them in return? Burdened lives - burden of education, trafficking, clandestine lives, juvenile crimes - did they deserve such lives?

Piper was agitated with those thoughts. Mounting sadness didn’t help him find solutions to his queries.

Poor little children! He sighed.

Meanwhile there was a commotion in his world. There was no news from Piper. They sent Chandamama, The Moon to investigate into the matter.

Piper gave a report on what he found out - he informed the moon about his decision. Moon sent the star messengers to covey the message.

The message brought tears to their eyes and agreed with Piper’s decision.

Piper took out his magical pipe. He played the pipe. Infants, toddlers, kids, children came running towards him.

Mesmerized young girls and boys followed him.

The moonlight path came alive as if a swarm of colorful butterflies buzzed by

cheerfully.

The inhabitants of that world welcomed them with open arms. They hugged them to their bosoms lovingly. Piper walked in last holding Chitti’s hand.

Having brought all the children, the moon took leave.

It dawned.

Mothers were shocked and terrified.

Without the children the houses seemed to be in a state of mourning.

The streets were filled with anxious parents.

Where were the children?

Children - children - children.

Where were they?

They lamented and searched frantically.

Children from every house were missing. How? Where did they go? Who could have abducted them?

Mothers’ breasts grew heavy with out their sucklings. The cradles were quite with out its occupants. Milk packets lay at the thresholds.

No news papers - the paper boy wasn’t around.

No schools. The school bus didn’t ply. No rickshaws. No trains.

Contractors were helpless. Brokers were distraught.

Factories were closed. Agricultural works were stopped.

The town’s life came to a stand still.

No sounds of tiny tots’ foot steps.

No one to sulk.

No one to throw tantrums.

No one to tug mother’s saripallu.

No one to eat chocolates or biscuits.

The town seemed to be deserted.

The Sun ventured into the town to find out about the strange incident. He was unhappy and ran away from that place

In that world, sounds of happiness and joy reverberated.

A little one was learning to play the flute from Krishna... A few of them were learning about the duel feats from Bheema. Cinderella was teaching a few girls how to dance. A few were keenly watching Piper’s pipe and others were watching Alladin’s lamp.

Sindbad - Gulliver - Maruf were busy narrating their heroic tales.

Swinging on the cradles of dreams - flying on the wings of butterflies - saddling the rainbow and sliding - sleeping on the pillows of clouds - stringing the stars into a garland and decorating their hair do.

Happy - Excited - Enthusiastic - Joyful!

Such happiness!

Piper was happy with his great achievement... The old woman and the elderly hostess stood beside him. They commented that it wasn’t a good thing to separate the children from their mothers.

"Do you think I am happy about it? Just to teach a lesson to the elders, I did this! I will now pay a visit to their parents. You take care about their food and milk."

Piper proceeded to visit the parents.

The adults gathered in one place. They did not know what to do...An elderly white bearded old man remembered the story when the children went missing. He was about to narrate it and Piper reached there.

"I know about the children!" He said seriously.

"Is it true?" Some of them shouted injoy. Some of them looked at him skeptically.

"What good news! Are the children safe?" A concerned mother asked.

Piper bowed before the mothers.

"Mothers ... Pardon us. We have taken the children. They are very happy in our world." The anxiety turned into anger. A section of the crowd tried to attack him. Another section tried to pacify them. Piper watched them with a smile.

Now that they knew that the children were safe, they questioned his intentions. Piper answered them slowly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we were created for the children and we live for them. Our relationship is inseparable. Strangely, this relationship has weakened these days. My friends have deputed me to find out the reasons for this."

Every one listened to him attentively. Piper cleared his throat and continued.

"Children aren’t like children, these days. They are not like buds waiting to be blossomed. In this consumerist and materialist world, you are trying to mould them into artificial flowers you have taken fancy for. You haven’t realized that you are robbing them of their natural color, fragrance, tenderness and natural beauty."

No one was prepared for a lecture. With no other alternative available, they listened to him.

Piper turned towards Chitti’s mother, "School books are necessary for Chitty, but will it give her a holistic education? Nature teaches more than those bound books can. Trees, mountains, hills educate one like no teacher can. Creativity is a dear daughter of Nature. Ours is a world of imagination. But, trapping the children with the boundaries of education, breaking the wings of imagination, chaining creativity and thoughts you are molding them into robots. Is that justifiable?"

Chitti’s mother did not give a reply.

"What do you mean? Don’t we care for our children? Do we have to learn from you about parenting?"

The crowd became restless.

Piper raised his voice

"Yes, you know every thing about parenting. Knowingly, you are exploiting the children. Knowingly you are robbing them of their innocence. Exploitation - open exploitation - knowingly they work in factories - contractors and brokers." Piper’s voice reflected his pain. He couldn’t talk further.

Every one stood quietly.

A little later - Piper said in a pained voice -"Happy childhood, they say... we know the value of gold today, but do we know the value of childhood? How sad!"

Some nodded their heads. Some hung their heads. Some held their heads.

"If you think there is a dire need to think about children, then this is the moment. A seconds’ delay and a generation is affected! You may have hundred and one problem, don’t let children become victims of that. Dissatisfaction gave birth to Hitler. Don’t let history repeat itself. This is the time to take the necessary precautions. You created us for the children. Our anxiety and efforts are to make the children happy. Please understand our concern! Our request is to let the children grow up like children. Think about the children. Think about them with a heart! We will be waiting eagerly to make their world more colorful!"

Piper concluded his request with folded hands.

Piper’s friends joined him and supported him, having left the children in their respective houses, unwillingly.

The parents lost in their thoughts, without expressing a word, proceeded towards their houses

Silently!