Caprice

The sunlight came filtering through patched dirty curtain that was gently swaying in the late morning breeze. The door to the balcony was open with the curtain on either side, tied loosely to hide the holes from the eyes. The room was a small one, run derelict. The walls were blackening with ages and cobwebs decked the corner. The balcony had an open view of the streets; the breeze gently carrying with it the sounds of cars running in the street and the occasional call of a friendly neighbour to another.

A small dressing table was kept close to the balcony door to allow maximum light to one who may use it. It was made of old dark wood and looked severely used. There were scratch marks on the sides and the mirror was cloudy from use. Small crayon marks were seen on the delicate woodwork that held the mirror in place, indicating the presence of a child. There were two small drawers on the right side and on top of it was seated a small doll, her legs dangling from the edge of the drawers. And in front of the mirror, stood she.

She was aged about seven. She was wearing a pale yellow frock with large red coloured polka dots on it. It had a washed out feel to it but was her favourite anyway. She had large black eyes that looked in wonder at the world around. They glittered in the sunlight as they looked at their own reflection and as she smiled, her cheek gently dimpled. Her hair was chestnut brown, pulled back with a black hairband, gently falling over her shoulders.

She was lost in her own little world, oblivious to anything else. She had only three people to play with – her reflection, her doll and her mother. She lifted her hand and touched her reflection with both hands and let out a giggle, as if her reflection had tickled her. She stood in the same position and let her head bob up and down, as if in rhythm to a tune she could only hear and eventually bent closer to her reflection, letting their nose meet. Then she suddenly stepped back, looked at her reflection again and started laughing as if she was happy that a secret ritual was finished. Her reflection laughed with her. 

Presently, she diverted her attention to the doll that had been a witness to the entire ritual. She picked it up and held her in her hands, as if a mother lifting her toddler. “Shh…you must not disturb mamma or she will be very angry. If you are quiet and be a good girl, mamma will be happy and will give you a kiss”, she told her doll, speaking slowly with her dark eyes peering into the doll’s large eyes. And thus she played with her doll, oblivious to the sound of cars and horns and of a door slamming shut somewhere nearby.

Some time passed and she grew tired of playing with the doll. She was also feeling hungry. But she knew better than to disturb her mamma, who would otherwise get very angry. So she sat down on the floor and with quivering lips consoled her doll. “Mamma will be here soon. She will come and give you a big hug. She might even give you a biscuit…”

And the small bowl of rice simmered and cooked in the small kitchen but no one tended to it. And the time slowly passed but no one stirred. The child gently rocked her doll and then herself to sleep. Little did she know that the door slamming had been her mother leaving the building for good. She was not coming back. And the clock ticked steadily but the only thing the house heard was “She might even give you a biscuit…”.

-Parekh, Pravesh

December 1, 2012; 08:35 PM

P.S: I sincerely thank Labani Biswas for her help with Caprice. Her remarks were very helpful and gave me a greater insight into the scene. Labani maintains an excellent blog Falling Into Infinity which can be found here: biswaslabani.blogspot.in and she can be found here.