The smoke from the burning brick stove was causing tears in Rehka’s eyes. She was preparing the chapatis for dinner. Shyamlal (Rekha’s husband) was sitting on his old khatiya and was smoking chillum. As he waited for dinner, Sundar came to see him.
Shyamlal: Why are you so late? I was looking for you all day.
Sundar: I was on the farm only.
Shyamlal looked blankly at the floor and kept smoking his chillum. After some thinking, he spoke. Some wild animal is destroying the crops at night. I want to keep a check on that. I can’t trust anyone else. You are like family. From today you will guard the farm at night.
Sundar had a fear of darkness. He was reluctant to the request put forth by his boss. But he had little choice. So he agreed.
Sundar went back home. He was packing some chapatis for his stay on the farm. He looked around and thought to himself:
I should have never agreed to this job. How can I stay alone all night? God knows what creature might be ruining those crops. What if it hurts me?
Sundar reluctantly left his house with his lamp and a few chapatis. He took a bamboo stick for his protection. Walking towards the field, he noticed Rajam playing with his friends. Rajam was the thirteen-year-old son of his younger sister. Something came to his mind. He called Rajam. He hugged his favorite nephew and said:
I am going to the fields. I will stay there the whole night. Would you like to accompany me? I will get you, sweets, on the way.
Rajam got excited. He replied:
Yes, Mama! I will come. Wait I will inform Mother about it.
Suddenly Sundar realized that his sister would never agree to it. It was rather unsafe. Even he was hesitating but he was too scared to go alone. So he told Rajam:
We can’t tell your mother. You know how she is. We will inform her that you are staying with me at home. No mention of the fields. Got it?
Rajam agreed with a huge smile. After informing his mother he went ahead with his uncle. They got sweets on the way. It was a dark night. The field was deserted with no one around. Sundar placed the lamp on the ground and spread a cloth to sit. He gave some chapatis to Rajam. He instructed him:
Listen, Rajam! Whatever happens, you stay close. We need to stay awake all night. You eat and take a nap. When you wake up, I will sleep and you will guard. If you hear some noise, wake me up. Do you understand everything?
Rajam laughed and nodded a yes to his uncle. He ate the chapati with sweets and lay down. A scared Sundar kept looking around. At any slight noise, he would get alert and hold the bamboo stick tightly. But nothing major happened on his watch. He tried hard to stay awake but he soon fell asleep. He went into such a deep sleep that his nap was interrupted only by the bright sunlight.
He woke up yawning and looked around. He realized that Rajam was not there. He got confused. Where did the kid go? He looked into the fields. He was not there. Sundar started to panic. He packed his stuff and started walking towards the village. He kept cursing himself:
Why did I bring him with me? What will I tell my sister? What if a wild animal devoured him? No…No..this is not possible. He should have screamed. What if he did?
His heartbeat was running faster than his legs. As he entered the village, Shyamlal stopped him. He tapped his shoulder and said:
My men just returned from the field. They told me that the fields remained unharmed today. Good job!
Sundar had forgotten about his purpose in those fields. Shyamlal’s words were not giving him any comfort. He didn’t respond to his boss and walked fastly toward Rajam’s house. As he went close, a voice stopped him. It was Rajam’s. He looked behind. Rajam was playing with his friends. He was shocked. He went straight to him and asked in an enraged voice:
Why did you leave without saying anything?
Rajam laughed and said:
Uncle! You sleep as if you would never wake up. There was so much chaos in the nearby fields. I tried to wake you up but you kept snoring. So I went alone to check. A wild boar entered Maniram’s field. He captured it with the help of some poachers. I saw it all. Then I came back. I couldn’t sleep there with you snoring so loud.
Rajam went ahead to play with his friends. Sundar kept looking at the brave kid and thought to himself:
Thank god! They captured the boar.
By
Khushboo Singh
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