Nature's Comeback

42- Commotion

The bus halted suddenly, making everybody curious. "Did we reach already? I thought we had still a few minutes to go?" Tejas asked from the back seat.

"Nah! I don't think so," Kriti said, looking at the huge line of people standing with buckets, through her window.

"I will go and see what this is about," Gyaan volunteered and left the bus.

His head started paining from the commotion he heard as he moved past the people. While the people at the back were standing peacefully in line, the front liners were altogether in a different mood. Some were fighting while some were pleading.

Glancing over, Gyaan found his old friend standing over to the other side fighting with the people in the line. Gyaan tried to go past the people, but he was forcefully pushed back.

"Go and stand at the back of the line. We all aren't idiots to stand under the sun for hours," a lady shouted.

Gyaan raised his arms in surrender, before speaking. His gentle tone highly contradicted her harsh voice. "I am not here for water. See, I don't even have buckets with me."

The lady saw reason with Gyaan's words and let him move forward. She even went as far as to yell at the people in the front to give him the space to walk. Who would think that the lady who was yelling at him moments ago would go out of her way to help him? Maybe this was her style of apologizing.

Chuckling internally, Gyaan went straight to his friend who stopped fighting as soon as he saw Gyaan and went to hug him.

"Whoa! Long time no see. How are you?" Aakash, his friend asked with happiness.

"I am good but what is happening here?" Gyaan questioned, gesturing at the commotion.

"Nothing new. You know the water problems in the nearby village, right? They are here to get some help from us," Aakash replied with a sigh, before taking Gyaan to a corner so that he wouldn't get trampled on.

"Okayyy, but my question is still the same. Why the commotion? Don't we always help them?"

"We do and have always helped them. However, the situation is different now. Disasters are hitting one after another. We need to save water for ourselves. What if we help them now and then end up dying due to shortage of water?"

"What will they do then? You just said that shortage of water can cause deaths. Help them a little or else we would be the cause of their deaths and not the shortage of water," Gyaan tried to explain.

He still couldn't get over the fact that his village, which was known for its kindness and helpfulness, had turned out like this. Nature surely knew how to test everyone.

"Please Gyaan, it's not like they don't have any other source," Aakash tried to maintain his tone, knowing Gyaan wasn't aware and was only speaking with the past experience in his mind.

"Another water source?" Gyaan inquired in a curious and shocked voice.

"The hazardous river. You know how nature is having mood swings right now. While everything is being destroyed by those sudden changes in nature, their village actually profited. The river is no longer hazardous. It is open for use now," Aakash informed.

Gyaan was baffled by the news. Nature surely had a way to surprise everyone.

"Why are they here then?" Gyaan questioned, but before Aakash could answer, he was called by another villager for help.

"I will be back," saying this Aakash ran off.

Gyaan sighed at the situation, before going to join the crowd to help settle the commotion.

☯☯☯☯☯

"What is taking so long?" Payal asked no one in particular as they all impatiently waited for Gyaan.

The afternoon sun was blazing in the sky, possibly in the highest degree they had ever faced. They didn't realize much in the moving bus, but now when the bus had stopped, it was too difficult for them to sit still.

"Shall we go and see?" Sarika suggested.

Everyone nodded, eager to go and see what was happening and possibly get to Gyaan's home in a few minutes.

"Kids, will you stay back until we go and confirm what's happening?" Reyansh asked.

"Dad, do you really think we would sit still when a drama has been happening outside?" Rewa questioned back with a laugh.

"A person has to at least try," Reyansh shrugged, laughing as well, before ordering the kids sternly, "Stay together, don't go missing," before abruptly losing his sternness, "Please."

They all got down and moved towards the front. No one stopped when they saw that this group of people didn't carry the buckets. Neer and Ahana followed the group sluggishly, not having the heart to move but they had to if they wanted to hide their pain.

They all walked faster when they heard Gyaan's voice, calming down the commotion and requesting them to hold a normal conversation.

"Okay we are calm. Now tell us, what is it that you want to say," a lady asked with her hands on her waist.

"I heard that the river in your village is no longer hazardous. Then why are you all here expecting us to give away our water to you?"

"Don't you know that river has birthed a monster?" Another villager yelled from the back and many other yells of affirmations were given.

Ahana and Neer stopped in their tracks, not having the ability to walk any further after hearing the words.

A loud cry of a child was heard, that stopped all the commotion. Everyone tried to look who was hurt in between the crowd while whispering among themselves, guessing what must have happened.

"What were you thinking while bringing children here? Did you think that these small children would also lift buckets of water?" An old lady scolded, after scooping the hurt child.

Everyone parted for her as the old doctor moved to take the child to her house, where she also practiced her profession.

"My son," the child's mother cried before running behind the lady.

The lady's question was repeated among the villagers asking and whispering the need to bring children in this commotion.

Another lady, holding her small baby, spoke between her tears, "What can we do? The last time we left them in the village, monsters had taken over the two innocent children."

"Exactly!" A man agreed, "We have learned our lesson since then and will also tell our future generations to never leave the children alone in that village."

"So they knew we were innocent kids back then," Ahana muttered under her breath with a sardonic smile.

"Yet they didn't hesitate before throwing us away," Neer completed her sentence.

The twins looked at each other, their eyes full of pain. They didn't know that agreeing to join the researchers would make them face their past again. Ahana and Neer didn't tell each other, but they both were contemplating whether to stay put in their decision or just leave the place right away without bidding goodbye.