He got up with the sound of the atom bomb. Sensing something unusual, he frantically looked for his mom. As she cajoled him from the gallery, he got up and ran to the window to understand what was happening. Still too small to reach the window pane, he struggled by standing on his toes. The air was filled with smog and a pungent smell - not a smell which he had sensed before.
Overwhelmed with the sight, he turned to look at his mom for comfort. It was merely 9 am in the morning, however for the first time in months, she had already showered and her soggy hair was now neatly wrapped in a towel with a fruity smell emanating from her due to the heavenly strawberry body wash. She wasn’t dressed in her casual pyjama set which was the norm for all these days. Rather she was impeccably decked up in a lovely chudidar set from Fab India with a red bindi on her forehead being the only missing element in order to complete her look. As she stretched her lower eyelid to smear some kajal, she saw her son earnestly admiring her act against the reflection of the mirror in front of her. She turned to look and flashed a big smile at him. He reciprocated the same and tried to tell her in a gibberish manner that he sensed something unusual. She nonchalantly pulled his cheeks as a sign of affection and held him against her waist with one hand while trying to gather an empty water bottle which needed to be refilled with her other hand.
He freed himself from her clutches upon reaching downstairs and made a dash for the veranda looking for his beloved aaji.
“Aaji, where are you Aaji?” He called out playfully.
“I am here!” she returned his call by asking him to walk down the flight of stairs at the entrance.
He saw her balance herself seated in a squatted position while trying to draw something using a white powder. On moving a bit closer, he saw that she had already filled the design with a concoction of myraid colours. “Blue!” He screamed with excitement! He bent to touch it with his finger when his Aaji panicked and lovingly told him to avoid touching the Raang-goli in a childish tone.
“Raang -g g golly” he repeated to himself and walked to the gate as a fluttering yellow butterfly caught his attention. He peered through the railings of the gate by clinging against it with his hands. A couple of dogs cane running to him sensing he might feed them some biscuits. As he continued to admire the dogs, he heard his dad call out to him.
“Neelu.. where are you?”
“I am here with kutus” he replied trying to point out to the dogs which were now furiously wagging their tails in anticipation.
His dad came to fetch him from the interiors of the house. Thankfully he was still dressed in his tattered shorts and a ganji which was his usual attire this entire lockdown.
He cheerfully yelped “Gaga Gaga” - a term that he playfully used to call out to his dad and ran towards him. Gaga caught him with his arms and hoisted him on his shoulders in order to take him inside for breakfast.
While he relished a portion of porridge at the dining table, Gaga attempted to engage him in a conversation.
“Neelu, would you like to see some zombies?”
He acted as if he hadn’t heard the question as the Phone which had a cartoon streaming in front of him had held his attention. Gaga placed a hand in front of his eyes so as to block his vision to gain his attention. He turned to look at Gaga to understand why he was interrupted in his endeavour.
He repeated the same question again, this time a bit adamant on receiving an answer. Neelu replied in an affirmative just so that he could get back to his cartoon.
The next few hours passed in a blur. It was only after his afternoon nap that he remembered the promise made by his Father to show him some zombies. He ran for his dad’s study room where he found him seated against a table and animatedly explaining an issue to his colleagues via a video call.
“Gaga Zombies!” He cried!
“Neelu please go away” his father replied as he did not want to interrupt his presentation.
Dejected, he came out and sat in the verandah with a frowned face. His mother came to look out for him and assured him that his Gaga would take him out to see some zombies as soon as his office work was done.
In essence, the zombies that he was referring to were the effigies of the demon Narkasur which are burnt on the eve of Diwali in Goa to mark the defeat of evil over good. It is an accepted custom of driving around the city to view these effigies and this was the promise which Gaga had made to Neelu.
It was early evening by now and both Aaji and his mother had decorated the verandah with bright diyas. They are were placed in succession between the balusters and Neelu was strictly instructed not to mess with them. He ran to the verandah to have a look at the bright akash kandil whose paper tails were now fluttering with the evening breeze. The led lights which adorned the ceiling in varied colours caught his fancy. He looked at them with awe.
As his attention waned after a couple of minutes, he ran to Gaga again to understand why they weren’t going out yet to see zombies. Gaga seemed occupied with an important phone call. He assured Neelu that it would take another 30 minutes to finish the call. Too small to understand what 30 minutes meant, he threw a tantrum asking him to get up right away. Gaga tried to pacify him but all attempts were in vain. With no other alternative in sight, he had no other option but to yell at him and ask him to go out and play with his mother.
Unable to understand why his father wasn’t keeping up to his promise, he ran out of the room weeping frantically and as he wept and waited for his dad, he saw the evening gradually progress into the night. The weariness of running around all day in anticipation got to him and he eventually fell asleep.
Moments later he got up with a jerk. He wasn’t sure if he was awake or dreaming. He saw a huge structure of a demon like figure in front of him. The loud music in the backdrop made it difficult for him to hear what he himself was speaking. There was a huge spotlight above his head and a visible crowd around which made it difficult for him to trace his parents. As he struggled to comprehend, a familiar hand reached out to touch him. It was his Gaga who lovingly caressed his forehead and said,
“Neelu get up. See Zombie..”
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