The Toy
Kumud had returned to her parental home in Kaadur after some two decades.She was married and was happily settled with her husband and son,miles away from her home town.
In fact after the death of her father, when she was 15 years of age, she left her home.She was taken by her paternal uncle to live with the family and pursue her studies.
Even as she was about to complete the course she got married to an official and went on changing her residence as her spouse was transferred from one place to another.
Now she was around 50 years of age, and quite hale and healthy.
She had been specially invited for the get - together function in the family.
Kumud had one other younger brother born after the death of her immediately younger brother Mohan.he grew up and lived in kaadur and managed the ancestral property and cashew business .
It was a huge ancestral old model house with large space all around within a roughly built strong fencing wall.
None of the successive occupants ever bothered to go near the distant fencing wall ,nor ever touch , repair or white - wash it.
In recent times the rough wall had been rendered distractive enough with layers of moss grown over everywhere.
Kumud during her short stay at home now had come very close to all the small children who belonged to her brother and other relatives.
They all loved her joyful nature and clung to her for her interesting stories. By nature she had the talent for making any dull thing appear attractive and interesting with her imaginative description and emotional creativity.
Children were so fond of her that they cringed before her requesting her to tell stories ; which she did.
Her fiction - store,it seemed,was never exhausted .
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Kumud was born to her parents many years after their marriage and had been the dear child of the family.
Her father was a rich landlord and a businessman.On her Tenth birthday he took her out for a jolly shopping .
It was a great shopping event for kumud as her father had bought for her a toy - monkey which made several performances such as screeching noise and hopped forward with winding key operation.
There was only one toy piece in the shop and hence a toy - train was bought for Kumuds
brother Mohan who was just 5 year's of age.
When both the toys were displayed at home, Mohan opted for the toy monkey and was firm on his choice .Nothing could change him.
Kumud who was particular about the toy coaxed, and even threatened her brother, who would not yield.
The elders naturally took the side of the younger child which disheartened and saddened Kumud.
She retired to a secluded dark nook in the house and spent a few hours there, sobbing.
When she got up, she had decided to do something which seemed just and proper to her.
She got up and stealthily approached her brother who was asleep after the victory over the toy- tussle.
Kumud smiled happily as she shifted the smiling toy -monkey to her hand.She wasted no time now and rushed to the backyard of the house.
She had decided to take it away and preserve in a safe place.
She could see only the enclosing compound in the distance.Without a second thought she went near the spot where the brick seemed to be loose and easy .
She pulled it out. It came out leaving behind a good gap.
Kumud ran her fingers through the place and pulled out another brick.
There was good enough space now.
With wide-open eyes she kept the toy there and set the bricks in the former position.
Everything seemed to be intact now.
She brushed the spot with her hand and ran back into the house.
The little boy woke up and searched for the toy.
There was hue and cry.
But Kumud behaved as if she never knew anything about the missing toy.
Things ended there and days went on as ever.
Kumud's family had one more child,a boy born after Mohan.
A fatal pandemic broke out in the town and
There were countless death on account of it.
Some people left the place.
Kumud s younger brother and later her father two fell prey to it .Though great efforts were made to save them, neither of them survived.
A kind of dismal sorrow befell the family and to relieve the burden of the calamity, Kumud's
Paternal uncle who was leaving Navilur, miles away from kaadur came to the ancestral home and took away Kumud to live with his family .
Kumud gradually began to feel at home in the new environment and carried on with her studies.
She also fell in line with the changing life style.
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After some two decades now she had come back to her home town and her paternal house.
As the children had been coaxing her for more stories, she took them all for a casual walk in the wide open space surrounding the house.
She showed them the tamarind tree where she spent most of her time as a little girl, when she was free and outside the house.
She narrated how she played various, self invented games with her younger brother who was no more.
She remembered something and suddenly, almost implusively rushed towards a spot in the fencing wall.
She stood there observing for some time and pulled out a brick and then one more.
She could see something inside.
With trembling fingers she took it out.
It was the same toy monkey she had kept their and had forgotten decades ago.
The toy had lost all its neat appearance and had become a worthless trash.
A certain heaviness and darkness over powered Kumud's mind.
Her eyes were filled tears and yet she could not sob as something seemed to choke her breath.
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