Once upon a time, there was a five year old. Let's call him 'Swami'.
Swami was a shy kid, quite unlike his friends at the school. Bright at studies, laggard at sports, he was an exceptionally disciplined child seldom to cause any mischief, and a twinkle in the eyes of his parents. At school, he would hang around with a group of three close friends. He would go back home and tell tales of his day to his Mother. There will be stories about how the class went into an uproar as soon as the teacher left the room, how two guys fought over their seats and all the boys joined the fight, how they ran around the school in the lunch break and how the (much adored) Gandhi ma'am brought order back to the class. Mother would listen patiently and dole out good advise to her son.
Today, Swami and his friends have planned hide and seek around the new construction area of the temple, close to the school. Its just about time to go home but the boys want to play one last time before the school bus arrives. There is something innocent about Swami that he always gets chosen to be the seeker in this game.(Probably, these are personality traits that become visible quite early in our lives :)) So, the deal is that the seeker has to close eyes and wait behind the 'Huge Banyan Tree' near the temple till the friends hide themselves. Banyan trees are sacred to the Hindus and the religious folk come to it in the morning to tie around strings. But the kids have their own fantasies about the strings and the tree. They rumor about witches that live on the top of this huge tree and how they come down in the evening. So, the tree stands for suspense, rumors and fear in these young minds, but if you are a seeker, you need to wait right at the tree. Thats a rule!
Its been quite some time but no one has called Swami to open his eyes. He opens one eye and tries to peek around. He gets a strange feel about it. His friends are not in sight and the red brick building of the school seems to have gone farther, in distance. Swami opens his eyes and calls out the names of his friends. He calls once in a whisper, second time in a cautious overtone and then he looks around in the moonlit landscape to find himself at some deserted outskirts of the city. The stars are shining intermittently amidst the monsoon clouds but the city lights are far away.
A careless gust of summer wind blows around some dry leaves and brings the 'Huge Banyan Tree' back to his conscience. Swami turns around and the tree leaves now seem to be singing in the wind. The sheer size of the tree and the darkness under its aerial prop roots inspire awe, and the kid runs to safety. Swami hides himself behind an abandoned, incomplete structure, something resembling an old temple. Suddenly, there is a thunder bolt and slowly and surely the monsoon starts to pour down. The poor little kid is now wet and afraid. He huddles in a corner trying to get away from the downpour, but in vain.
This is the moment when our boy breaks down in tears and cries out loud for Mother, and friends. He has no idea how he has been abandoned by the school bus and his friends. He mumbles out stupid innocuous stuff. He looks towards the dark image of the tree with the emotions of a frightened lamb. Instantly, there is another thunderbolt and he moves his eyes around. He can barely stop his tears, remembering how Mother asks him to be brave. One more flash of lightning and he sees another frightened huddled figure in a corner of the ruined building.
The unknown companion crawls up to Swami and sits by him. Two is better than one. Soon the rain stops and eases the horror of the ghostly night. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” asks Swami. “I am Tanya. I am trapped in this temple by the witch of the 'Huge Banyan Tree'”. “I am Swami. How did you come here?” retorts Swami. “I used to play hide and seek with my friends and one day the witch put me to sleep while I was the seeker. Before I could wake up, my friends were gone.”, replies Tanya. The story explains to Swami, what went wrong with his game!
“Do you go to school?” asks an inquisitive Swami. “I am in second class!”, says Tanya. “I am in first !” retorts Swami and a smile breaks on both the faces. Its quite easy to make friends for those who reason less and then, two people in the same boat tend to understand each other well. Swami and Tanya start talking and the night passes on. The conversation starts with the witch. “The witch comes down in the night to eat up humans but she has to hide back in the leaves in the day, as it cannot bear the energy of the sun”, explains Swami. He also tells that the witch would be a dark-slimy-old-fat woman with a crooked nose and flies on a broom. Tanya is amazed at the detail of his knowledge and soon they both start planning how to survive the night. Swami says he will go back to home as soon as the day breaks but Tanya does not share any plans. Their whispers have grown audible and are filled with occasional chuckles. Both share stories about their class mates and friends and have soon grown fond of each other.
Suddenly, the tree starts to make noise, the leaves are falling and squirrels flee, as if running for their lives. The kids notice this rumble and stumble, and fall silent and huddled in their corner. Swami raises his hand reassuringly towards Tanya, playing brave for the moment. In fact, braver than he actually is! They look from behind the corner of a wall as the witch comes down the tree. She is dark and slimy but rather young and slim. So, Swami is proven half right but actually, half wrong as well and it depends on Tanya how she sees it. Further, the witch is wearing a black overcoat with a hood, her eyes are big, shiny, beautiful but her nose is long and crooked. And yes, she carries a long broom.
The witch sniffs for food and moves around her head angrily. Then, she smashes a rat with her broom and almost brings death to the poor lad. She looks closely at the rat who lies on the ground flat on the four legs. Disappointed at the tiny catch, she vents her anger at the prey as she plucks a hair from its mustache. The rat comes to life and cries out loud. The witch smiles and then break into a thunderous laughter at the poor rat's misery. What happens next is something that Swami may not forget for his life. The rat cries out,”Why do you eat a poor rat when you can feast on humans!”. “I will torture you if you lie, you scoundrel!”, retorts the witch. “I swear upon my life, they are hiding behind the walls of the temple”, points the rat. The witch swoops down towards the temple wall and checkmates the kids in their hiding place.
This is called 'Fear', in its purest form. Swami is standing next to the awe inspiring brutal villain, that he always talked about(and sometimes drew pictures) but never had imagined a rendezvous. The sheer magnitude of the moment has him frozen and fear seeps in his skin after a momentary pause. She touches his face with her slimy hands and just brings him into submission. There is no crying but the eyes tell it all. But then, she moves towards Tanya and begins shouting at her, “I told you to catch rats and squirrel for my dinner. Seems like you are clumsy or else too weak. Now, I shall prey on you”.
Petrified but still brave, Tanya decides to make a run for her life. She pushes her hunter and attempts to flee. The witch stumbles and falls down. Swami grabs his moment and runs in the opposite direction. He stops momentarily behind some overgrown wild grass and looks around. The witch is following Tanya and he fears she would catch up with her. The injured rat has also grabbed his opportunity to flee for his life. Swami ponders if he shall try to save Tanya or shall he continue the opposite direction. Moments pass by and the fear turns into inaction, and inaction is further accepted as an uncomfortable but unchangeable situation of the weak. He runs his way, slows down occasionally to look around but carries on.
Swami keeps running as a tear rolls down his eyes. He hits a stone and falls down and the next moment he is sitting in his bed in the pajamas. Swami barely knows how to read the clock but he understands that its some where close to midnight. Stars shine bright outside the window but the lad does not want to sleep anymore. He thinks the witch may come back. But more than anything else, he feels sorry for his friend and sits close to the window staring outside, longing to meet his friend or somehow make up for his mistake.
