Chiku and Sonu

The story of Chiku and Sonu

Once there was a girl called Chiku. She lived alone with her father in a huge bungalow in a town called Kolhapur. Her mother had passed away recently, leaving a huge void in Chiku’s life. But she was a strong girl.  She lived her life the way all girls her age did;  getting up early in the morning, preparing for school, packing the lunch that her maid prepared and walking to school. On coming back home, she used to do her homework, play with her dolls and go to sleep after having dinner with her father. Chiku, however, had no friends.

One summer day she saw several trucks unloading luggage into the neighbouring bungalow. Curious to see who their new neighbours were, she peered around the gate watching the goings-on cautiously. Suddenly a buck-toothed boy jumped in sight and proffered his hand to her. “Hello, I’m going to be your new neighbour. My name is Sonu”, he said. That night Chiku’s dad generously invited the new comers to dinner. Over dinner, Sonu told Chiku all about his old school and the games he liked to play, and Chiku listened. And so Chiku had found a new friend.

Every evening Sonu used to spend time at Chiku’s home, telling her about the things that happened in school, about the wart on their class teacher’s nose, about how many kites he counted on the way back. Sonu spoke and Chiku listened. It never occured to Chiku that she should tell Sonu some stories too. Sonu tried asking her about things she did in school, but to no avail. So that was the way things were. Sonu talking and Chiku listening.

As their friendship grew, Sonu realised that they didn’t share too many common interests. But they managed to find compromises. They used to spend evenings in the backyard garden, picking nishigandha flowers till it became so dark they could not see anymore. They used to collect toffees from bets with school-mates and cricket matches and put them in jars, saving them for special occasions.  Then one day, Sonu took Chiku to his home, and showed her his paintings. Chiku was amazed to see how wonderfully colours can mix to create beautiful scenes. And next day, Chiku’s dad was surprised to find them indoors instead of playing outside. Chiku had just painted her first painting. It was a sunset on a beach with a baloon-wallah and silhouettes of children playing. It was a marvellous painting. They had discovered a talent.

Many months passed, even with the exams approaching, Chiku and Sonu found time to play, and of course, paint together. One day Chiku was skipping home with a trophy in hand. She had won first place in school for one of her paintings. As she approached Sonu’s house she saw trucks lined outside, and her heart skipped a beat. She ran in to find Sonu helping with the packing. “Where are you going?”, she asked. “Why my father has been transferred to Nashik, and we are leaving today. I’ve known for week s but I wanted to surprise you”, he said. “Are you surprised?” “Oh yes, I am”, she said and ran into her house. She went to the garden and filled her hand-kerchief with as many nishigandha flowers as she could. She went in and took out all the toffees from the jar. She rushed out and handed them to Sonu. “Hey, thanks!”, said Sonu. “These are for you.”said a teary eyed Chiku. “Hey, don’t cry, I’ll send you letters from Nashik. Send me some paintings if you can”, said Sonu.

As she said goodbye to Sonu, Chiku could not stop the tears from flowing. She could feel the void growing again. She had nothing left now, not Sonu, not the flowers, nor the toffees. Only her paintings still remained as memories of the chance fate gave her to change her life.

I heard this story on the way back from Pune, on a radio channel. Many details had ot be added, but the plot and ending have remained the same. I was surprised to hear a childrens story with a sad ending, but it somewhow remained in my head. Sometimes things happen for reasons that are unknown to us. All we can do it try to take the good from what happened and attempt to move ahead.