Moonrise from the Green Grass Roof

by Vinod Kumar Shukla

  He felt for the switch in the dark and flipped it on. The moon shone again, clear of clouds. In a little while, moon and bulb went dark again. He felt for the switch. He was pleased to find it in the off position; he had discovered a new magic trick. It stayed dark in the sky.

  He heard voices, but couldn’t see who was approaching. Why is the moon hiding? he thought to himself. He stepped towards the edge of the verandah to see better. He couldn’t make anything out. He went back to the wall and felt for the switch. He flipped it on. The moon flashed in the sky like a hundred-watt bulb. The bulb in the verandah, too, came on, brighter than before, as if from a surge in voltage.

  He saw his father entering the school grounds accompanied by a lion, a tiger, a wolf and a bear. Sometimes the bear walked on four legs, sometimes on two. It walked more slowly when standing on its hind legs. At full height it was taller than his father. The bear walked on all fours until it was abreast of his father. Then it walked on two legs. They continued walking together, his father’s left hand resting on the bear’s back. Bhaira could see white lines in the shape of the letter V within the dark hair on the bear’s chest. He seemed to be seeing through a zoom lens. Along with the animals, he could see tiny insects against the light of the moon. But for some reason, the zoom lens would not focus on his father; he looked hazy. Could it be that his father carried the semi-darkness of the Bajrang Snack Shop with him? That, added to the darkness outside, might account for the haziness. People carry some essential things with them when they leave home: glasses, umbrella, cloth bag, handkerchief, cap. His father must have taken darkness along. Never in his life had Bhaira succeeded in getting a clear view of his father.

  Bhaira slumbered. Bolu walked around him in a circle, saying, ‘Bhaira, wake up. Bhaira, wake up.’ Koona tried to shake him awake. The friends shouted, ‘Up, Bhaira!’ to no avail.

  ‘He won’t wake up,’ Binu said. ‘Remember how he slept through lessons?’

  Chhotu spoke in Guruji’s voice, ‘He’s alone, trapped in a bad dream. We must help him.’

  ‘How can we help him?’ Koona asked, yawning.

  ‘He’ll get out of the dream if we get him out of sleeping,’ Binu said. He took hold of Bhaira’s arm and pulled so Bhaira would sit up. The others helped Binu pull. They could get Bhaira to sit, even though his eyes were shut. As soon as they released his arm, he rolled back down. He began to snore, making a moaning sound as he exhaled. It must have been from the bad dream.

  ‘How can we help him inside his dream?’ Koona asked, yawning still.

  ‘I’ll get some water to splash on his face,’ Chhotu said in the watchman’s voice, and ran to fetch some. Koona lay down on a rug nearby. She fell asleep, and joined Bhaira in his dream. In the dream, Koona went and stood by Bhaira. She saw a lion, a tiger, a wolf and a bear accompany Bajrang Maharaj to the school grounds. She felt afraid.

  ‘Now’s a fine time to arrive,’ Bhaira said. ‘Were all of you asleep?’

  ‘We were awake,’ Koona said. ‘We were trying hard to wake you up. I fell asleep again so I could help you. You didn’t wake up.’

  ‘But I am awake,’ Bhaira said. ‘And you’re awake.’ He didn’t know he was dreaming.

  In her dream Koona remembered she had been awake. She wanted to tell Bolu and the others that they should go to sleep and enter Bhaira’s dream. She called out to them but no one heard her.

  Bolu saw her sleeping and tried to wake her. ‘Get up,’ he said to Koona, and took two or three steps back. ‘Get up,’ he said again, and took two or three steps towards her. He decided to sit down next to her. The others sat around them.

  ‘What should we do?’ the others said.

  They saw Bolu yawning.

  ‘It’s vacation day. We don’t need to do anything,’ Chhotu said in Bolu’s voice.

  They turned to Bolu on hearing his voice and saw he was asleep. They, too, lay down and slept. Soon they were seeing the same dream as Bhaira and Koona. Koona clapped with joy at seeing Bolu in the dream. Bhaira stopped feeling anxious. Together the friends began thinking about what they needed to do.

  There were swarms of insects around the bulb in the school. The moon was a spotlight tracking the villagers. Insects swayed and reeled in that column of light. They were in danger of smashing against the moon. Some insects were already trapped in the bear’s coat of dark fur.

  ‘We are coming,’ Bajrang Maharaj rumbled as clouds rumble. The lion and the tiger roared. The wolf howled. Lightning flashed with a crackling sound. The moon hid behind clouds. The bulb went out. Darkness engulfed the school.

  ‘The bulb is out. The moon is gone,’ Bolu said, bumping into Bhaira as he spoke. Bhaira stumbled and hit the wall. He would have fallen if the wall hadn’t stopped him.

  ‘Must have been Bolu,’ Bhaira said.

  ‘Don’t say anything while it’s dark,’ Koona said.

  ‘Stay where you are,’ Binu added.

  ‘Turn on the light,’ Bhaira said while feeling for the switch along the wall. Koona wasn’t feeling for the switch. She knew her hand wouldn’t reach that high.

  ‘There’s no power,’ Bolu said. He had reached the alcove next to the switch.

  Bhaira had bumped into Bolu and lost his bearings momentarily; he couldn’t figure out where the switch should be.

  ‘Don’t say anything,’ Bhaira told Bolu. ‘Otherwise you’ll knock against me again.’

  ‘I won’t speak a word,’ Bolu said, climbing up to the alcove. There was a flutter of wings. He had startled some pigeons.

  ‘Feel for the switch where you are. The moon will come out when you flip it on.’

  Bolu had estimated correctly. The switch was within reach of the alcove. He flipped it, and moon and bulb came on.

  The friends looked beyond the verandah. There was no sign of Bajrang Maharaj, Bear, Lion, Tiger or Wolf. Where could they have gone? A light rain began to fall. The night’s blue mixed with the moonlight. The shower beyond the verandah appeared composed not of water but of light.

  ‘Let’s play in the rain,’ Bolu said. He had stepped outside before the others could hold him back. A shimmering rain soaked his clothes. A hole in the clouds made the moon shine upon him like a pillar of light. A pigeon flew out of a classroom transom and hovered over him. Then it began to climb towards the moon. Bolu raised his right arm and followed the pigeon, keeping within the pillar of light.

  ‘Don’t go away, Bolu!’ the others pleaded.

  Bolu had his gaze fixed on the moon. The pillar of light began to contract and draw back towards the moon, as if it had been a net to catch Bolu in. Could Bajrang Maharaj, Bear, Lion, Tiger and Wolf been hauled up in the moon’s net as Bolu had been, or would they be lurking somewhere around the school? They may have found a safe corner for themselves. It was true that no one had a clear impression of Bajrang Maharaj’s countenance in any case. His features were indistinct at a distance. They grew even more indistinct as he drew nearer. When he was very close he seemed to disappear. Was the defect something a good pair of reading glasses could correct?

  The dream was now a sea on which the friends navigated a bamboo raft.

  There was no land in sight. They used a bamboo pole to push against the bottom and propel the raft forward. The waves were high. A large moon rode in the sky as before. The raft would rise close to the moon as the waves surged. Koona could make out Bolu’s form on the moon. ‘I can see Bolu,’ Koona said. He seemed to be talking to himself as he walked. They waited for a wave to raise them so they could call out to Bolu, ‘Jump on the raft, Bolu!’, but the wave subsided before Bolu could leap. They decided they would be the ones to leap the next time. They would leap onto the moon. Koona was ready. A wave rose. She leapt upon the moon. At the same time Bolu jumped towards the raft. Bhaira, Binu, Premu and Chhotu saw that neither Koona nor Bolu succeeded in their aim. Meanwhile, the surge abated. The sea grew calm like water in a pond.

  The friends were horrified. They huddled together, eyes filled with tea
rs, trying in vain to comfort one another.

  What happened was that when Bolu jumped, he fell on the grass-top roof. And when Koona leapt, she fell on the grass-top roof. They landed near one another.

  ‘Is this what grass on the moon is like?’ Koona asked.

  ‘We are on the grass-top roof on earth,’ Bolu responded.

  ‘But I leapt towards the moon.’

  ‘You missed your aim. The moon rises by the grass-top roof.’

  The two walked together on the roof.

  ‘Who is that?’ an ancient-sounding voice asked from below. ‘Is it a cat? If it’s a cat let it say meow.’

  ‘They’ll get angry if I say I am Koona,’ she thought. She lied: ‘Meow!’ and instantly turned into a cat.

  Bolu was frightened by the change in Koona. He picked her up. ‘This is Bolu speaking,’ he said. He had been standing near the edge of the roof. He fell off the roof as he spoke, and landed before the very old man and the very old woman. They were seated outside their door with a water jug between them. They were brushing their teeth with datun twigs.

  ‘Is it morning already?’ Bolu said as he walked towards them.

  ‘Ours, yes,’ they said, ‘yours, not yet. Our morning begins just past midnight. We wake up then and begin to brush our teeth. We keep brushing our teeth till the entire datun twig is used up.’

  Bolu glanced down and saw that ten feet of datun twig trailed along the ground. The cat was restless. Bolu wondered what it would take to turn it into Koona again.

  ‘Were you the one who jumped onto the roof,’ the very old woman asked, ‘or was it the cat?’

  ‘We both jumped,’ Bolu answered. ‘I wanted to jump to where Koona was on the raft. She wanted to jump to where I was on the moon. We both missed our aim and landed on your roof.’

  ‘Is it your cat?’

  ‘We go to the same school.’

  ‘Does the cat study at the school with you, or does it live in your textbook?’ the very old man asked with a smile. His teeth were gleaming white.

  ‘There is a cat in my textbook. This one isn’t even in my class. She’s in a different class.’

  Bolu remembered the very old man had taken him in his lap once and stroked his head. He remembered the very old man had no teeth.

  ‘But you have teeth,’ Bolu said. Bolu would walk ahead when he spoke and walk back when he spoke again. ‘I saw you once before and at that time you didn’t have any teeth.’

  ‘That must have been my older brother. He’s the toothless one. He’s a hundred and fifty years older than me and needs a walking stick to get about.’

  The very old woman interrupted, ‘Not a hundred and fifty years older. A hundred and seventy-six years older.’

  ‘Is he home just now?’ Bolu asked as he walked towards her.

  ‘He’s gone for his walk.’

  ‘This late at night?’ Bolu said and drew closer.

  The cat jumped from his lap into the very old woman’s lap. The very old woman began stroking it with her left hand while she continued brushing her teeth with her right. ‘Day and night mean nothing to him. He takes a stroll from the past to the future whenever he wishes, and returns home whenever he wishes. I hear the tapping of his walking stick. He will cross in front of the hut soon, travelling from the past to the present, and from there, just beyond us, into the future.’ She gestured with the hand holding the datun twig.

  ‘Can I travel to the future?’

  ‘Isn’t that where you are going now, growing taller and more mature every day?’

  Bolu saw that Koona had returned to her original form while she sat in the very old woman’s lap. ‘You’re Koona again!’ Bolu exclaimed.

  ‘The cat was a lie,’ the very old woman commented. ‘The truth is Koona. A lie can last a little while. The truth lasts forever.’ Her teeth shone when she laughed. Though the very old couple’s hair had turned white they did not need the support of walking sticks.

  Koona was smiling.

  ‘Don’t you want to go home?’ Bolu asked.

  ‘I can hear the tap tap of his stick. Elder Brother is approaching us,’ the very old man said.

  The very old woman set Koona down. Both the very old woman and the very old man rose to greet their elder relative. The very old woman covered her head with the end of the sari in the traditional way of showing respect. The very old man saw that his elder brother rested his hand on his sister-in-law’s shoulder for support.

  Koona said namaste. The couple blessed her. Bolu bowed down and touched their feet.

  ‘You forgot your walking stick, Brother,’ the very old man said.

  ‘I had your sister-in-law for support.’

  ‘I heard tapping sounds and thought it was your walking stick.’

  ‘You mistook my wooden sandals for the walking stick.’

  ‘Would you like me to fetch the walking stick for you?’ the very old man asked.

  ‘Not needed,’ Elder Brother said. ‘Your sister-in-law is fine support.’

  ‘Do you hear how Brother-in-law is saying nice things about you?’ the very old man said to his sister-in-law.

  His sister-in-law smiled. ‘I’m not hard of hearing,’ she said.

  The very old woman was pleased by the banter. She smiled, too.

  Elder Brother walked into the future with his hand on his wife’s shoulder and wooden sandals on his feet.

  The pigeon that had climbed ahead of Bolu along the pillar of light was still with him. It had flown to be near him when Bolu jumped from the moon. When Koona turned into a cat, the pigeon had found safety in a nearby peepal tree.

  The others on the raft were baffled. Where could Koona and Bolu be? Was it safe where they were? The turbulence subsided. The water grew calm, but the water level continued to drop as if the sea was emptying. The water level dropped till it merged with the bottom. Then the land, upon which their raft rested, began to sink. ‘Everyone lean their weight on our pole,’ Binu said. ‘If we stake our pole deep, we might keep the earth from sinking.’ They exerted their weight. The pole went in straight. The sinking slowed, then stopped. The friends found themselves dangling at one end of the pole.

  Bolu and Koona stood on the earth before them. Koona was calling them by name. Chhotu was the lowest on the pole. He climbed down carefully till he reached Bolu and Koona below. The others got down by turns.

  Bhaira was not among them.

  It turned out the snack-maker had succeeded in waking Bhaira. Bhaira had woken Premu. Premu had woken the others. Koona alone remained in the dream, sobbing audibly. The others woke her from her sleep. Her cheeks were wet.

  ‘Were you dreaming?’ they asked in one voice. Bolu’s voice was among those asking. His feet dangled from the alcove.

  The sun had climbed.

  ‘You’ve been sleeping late on vacation day,’ Guruji said. ‘Go wash up. Breakfast will be ready soon.’ The school had its own well and hand pump.

  ‘Did you dream?’ Binu asked, as Koona rose to go to the well.

  ‘No,’ Koona said and continued walking. She didn’t say anything to Bolu.

  ‘Where are you going, Koona?’ Chhotu asked her in Bolu’s voice.

  ‘I have a new name from today. I’m not Koona any longer.’

  ‘What’s your new name?’ Bolu asked walking towards Koona.

  ‘Sea,’ she answered.

  ‘The school register says Koona.’ Bolu walked beside her.

  ‘Today is vacation day.’

  ‘Will your name become Koona again tomorrow?’

  ‘No. It will remain “Sea”.’

  Koona went to her teacher. Her teacher was busy preparing breakfast for the assembly. Some children laid out rows of leaf plates along the Long School verandah. Bolu and her friends accompanied Koona.

  ‘You aren’t ready, Koona. Everyone needs to have washed their face and combed their hair. You haven’t even brushed your teeth!’

  ‘My name isn’t Koona.’

  ‘Is that becau
se today is vacation day?’ the teacher asked.

  ‘My name won’t be Koona on a school day either.’

  ‘In that case, they’ll drop you from the school roll,’ the teacher said.

  ‘Her name is Sea,’ Bhaira said to the teacher.

  Koona nodded agreement.

  ‘I want you to tell me yourself. What’s your name?’

  ‘Sea. Just like the sea with big waves,’ Koona responded.

  ‘What does the name Koona mean?’ the teacher asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Koona said.

  ‘All right, Sea. Go take a bath and get ready quickly. The food may be gone by the time you return.’

  ‘Sea, would you take a bath if your name was Well?’ Bolu asked.

  Koona broke into a dance, beating time with her feet:

  If I was River, I would bathe

  If I was Water, I would bathe

  Soaking in it all day long

  If I was Waterfall I’d drop

  Down from rock to lower rock

  Rub my back against the stone

  Wash with droplets when it rains

  Wash with waves when it pours

  Wash with care when it’s dry.

  Bolu asked as he danced to the beat:

  How will you bathe when there’s drought?

  Koona replied:

  I will turn into steam and bathe with vapour.

  I will turn into sea and bathe with foam.

  A pulley was mounted on the well. Bhaira told Sea that if she sat in the bucket at one end of the rope, he would give her a quick dip in the water. He would let the bucket down into the well and pull it up again.

  ‘I’m not mad,’ she said. ‘What if the rope slips from your hand? I’ll die if you keep me under the water too long. I’ll tell the teacher about this. Bolu! Where are you?’ she called out.

  Bhaira ran away.