The Roads

The little feet strolled from one room to another inside the house. The tiny hands have been busy since morning picking up things from all over the house to stuffing them into the small backpack. The soft triangular face finally had one good look at itself in the mirror. The hairs were perfectly ironed on the scalp with the help of sufficient coconut oil. The Ponds Dreamflower has contrived some irregular patches of white circles on the face complying with the hair oil. 

“Bharathi, where are you? It’s already very late, come have your breakfast” the voice echoed from the kitchen.

“I’m coming amma” The little face looked into the mirror one last time. The almond-shaped eyes had some sense of pride. Bharathi was going to deliver the welcome speech in today’s sports day event at his school. 

He walked into the multipurpose room of his house. It had a sofa placed in front of the TV. A little adjacent to the sofa, there was a small table with two chairs that rarely served as a dining table. It was filled with various items from school notebooks, wedding invitations, a few vessels, brochures, and medicine bottles. The boy effortlessly pulled out his ID card from the clutter. 

“Here, eat this while you prepare your speech.” His amma stuffed a large piece of idly dipped with green chutney into his tiny mouth. He read out the speech aloud simultaneously gobbling the idly. 

“Appa, reduce the volume,” bits of idly spattered from Bharathi’s mouth as he shouted at his father who was peacefully enjoying his morning news. 

The middle-aged man turned his head from the sofa to look at the commotion beside the table. His white-colored shirt and sandal flowy pants looked neatly pressed. His hair was similarly formed to that of Bharathi’s and rested on his head the same way. Their faces were also alike except for some loosened skin and lines on his face that he had gained from the toil of the years. He restlessly lifted his heavy body from the sofa and adjusted his pants. He sighed and pandiculated his back.

Bharathi was memorizing the speech holding the paper in his hands. His mother picked another idly from the hotbox on the table and placed it on the plate.  

“Have you prepared your talk?” His father interrupted his act.

“Why don’t you go get the scooter ready? He will be there in a minute.” Bharathi’s mother responded for him stuffing another piece of idly into his mouth. 

He left another sigh and limped outside the house pulling his prosthetic left leg along with him. It was a bright morning but the sun was not too harsh. There were very few people on the road as it was early hours for the school traffic. He unlocked the scooter and took out a grey-colored napkin from its boot. The stained napkin was as if it had not had its bath in for a very long time. He wiped the dust on the mirror never minding the state of the cloth. 

“Are you dropping Bharathi at school this early?” a voice made him turn his head to look at the man. His neighbor was on the way to his morning routine to buy milk packets. 

“Yes, he has some sports meet at his school today” He slowly turned his body facing his neighbor. “He is also delivering some speech, so he has to be there a little early.”

“Ok ok right!” the neighbor continued his walk to the corner grocery shop.

He did not struggle much lifting his left leg and sitting on the seat. He has been doing this for years. He pressed the starter as Bharathi came running out of the house in his white polished shoes. His mother has neatly made a white sleeky holy strike on his forehead for him to perfome well today.

“Appa, go a little faster. We are already late.” Bharathi sat on the pillion hanging his backpack on his back. His eyes were fixed on the speech paper holding in his hand.

His appa slowly accelerated the vehicle and the three-wheeler bumped into the speed breaker in their street. He exchanged the regular head nod and smile with the flower vendor at the end of their street. The flower vendor was a little surprised at the early departure of the father and son. The three-wheeler turned into the main road taking its regular route to the school. The traffic was quite minimal. However, in some time the same road will be flooded with different colored buses transporting hundreds of children from their houses to school. 

The scooter maneuvered through the two-wheelers and a few autos on the road. Bharathi’s eyes were still so glued to the paper that he even forgot to wave his hands at the parrots in the pet shop they usually cross. 

Suddenly the three-wheeler slowed down as the man opposite it ushered them to turn around. The stranger stopped his vehicle a little beside the three-wheeler. The cessation of the movement made Bharathi lift his head from the paper and look at the stout man on his bike. The man was wearing a red colored t-shirt and shorts that revealed a large portion of his hairy legs. His hair was a curly mess and his dark face looked as if he had just gotten out of his bed. 

“You cannot go that way; they have dug the road. They dig the roads wherever and whenever they want” He spoke in a sour irritated voice. 

“But this is the way to school,” Bharathi’s father said perplexed.

“The JCB is blocking the road and there is a huge pit.” He turned his head and had a look at the JCB. Then he looked at the three-wheeler. “There is a small muddy path on the left side of the road for two-wheelers but I don’t think you could go in it.” 

The father said, "I have to drop him at school." He looked at the JCB digging more mud.

The stranger thought for a moment and said,

"Go in the opposite direction and take the last left, you will be connected with the highway."

The father said worried, "Aiyoo, it would take a minimum of 25 mins to reach the school."

The stranger replied, "There is no other way sir," he kicked started his bike and went past them.

"It is already late appa. Give me your phone. I'll inform the teacher. You turn around we will take the highway."

The three-wheeler tackled to take a u-turn and went in the opposite direction that would lead to the highway and from there would take another route to school.