Tark- His Penned Chronicles

Ch73: Somethings never Change

Lolita peeped in through the glass pane of the door and her jaw dropped in amazement.

"Andar maat jaiye Barrister Babu ko bilkul pasand nehi koi unke ijazat k bina andar jay" warned Bihari but instead she looked at him and rolled out her tongue.

Opening the wide door, she ran into the room and was fascinated by seeing so many n books and equipment around her. Back in the days where she lived, she used to sneak out of her house and secretly go to the library for books. She used to hide those books from her mother or else she could be in big trouble but now she won't have to lie or do anything secretly. She went towards the table and started to press the keys of the typewriter

"Barrister babu gussa karenge" Bihari warned her again but she paid no heed to him. After watching the sand slipping in the hourglass for a while, she started to play with the pages and quil kept on the table. She drew a stick man and then a flower roughly with the quill.

Taking out a book from the lowest shelf, she smelled the pages and recalled her secret book reading session in the basements of her house.
She opened a particular chapter and crawled under to table to read it. She could have read it by sitting on the chair but she was habituated to reading books secretly or hiding herself.

Books had always fascinated her, various books helped her travel various parts of the world without physically going there.

She recalled the moment when libraries were burnt down so were pike of books, into ashes since they believed books would lead to liberalize the mind, that is what a communist would do so the dictators burned down all books across the country except their own books which were only about war the "FUHRER". The schools were even bound to a certain types of books.

"Barrister babu a gaye to"

"Shhhh" she eyed him, "I am reading".
Just then Anirudh entered and looked at Bihari who pointed towards the table. Anirudh quietly sat on the floor beside her but she was so engrossed in the book that she hardly noticed him.

"Book par rahi hain ap" she looked up and on seeing him immediately kept the book aside, "sorry motu uncle ne kaha tha ki na chu mein kitabo ko".

Bihari cleared his throat hearing the wierd name.

"Aphika to sain sab"

"Really" she exclaimed out of joy and jumped out of the table. Anirudh nodded his head with a wide grin.

"You know mein na usdin pakdi gyi thi".

"Kis din?" Enquired Anirudh.

"Wo I used to collect books, against the law and would hide them in the basement wo secret place thi, par mumma ne dekhliya tha, she scolded me a lot aur mein gusse mein bhag gyi thi par jab mein humare town wapas ayi, waha sab khatam ho chuka tha, koi nehi bacha".

His smile faded away after hearing this.

Military checking was going on that day, Nazi militaries were checking each and every house to make sure no jew is left or hidden. When her mother went to the basements, she was shocked to see so many books...a fear crept into her heart that these people may assume them communist hence she lashed out at her daughter for her actions and threw all books away. The adamant little girl was so annoyed by her mother's behaviour, unable to understand her concern, she ran out of the house with a diary and some biscuits in her little backpack. It was snowing that day. She really hoped that her mother would come to find her but she didn't. Disappointed by this, she returned to her home town after a few hours but was it really where she lived.

All the houses were demolished to dust and the snow has turned red. She was traumatized by the view. "Mumma!" She called her mother, "Rudy" she called her neighbour friend, she called everyone she knew but no one answered except some nazi militaries carrying a few people on stretcher. She removed the stones with her little hands to get a glimpse of people she loved but failed.