Rajshekar -The day of goodbyes - Chapter 9 - The Chronicles of the Youngest Child
As Daddy walked ahead with his trunk, Raj turned around and looked at the buildings of the Military Boarding School. He saw Sanjay waving down from his window. Most of the children had already left. Sanjay's father was into farming and he needed to find someone to take care of his fields before he could come pick him up. Raj waved back and then turned and walked to the gate. Daddy was already getting the trunk into an auto-rickshaw, so Raj hurried towards him. He hardly had a minute to look back at the grounds before the rickshaw had already carried them out of his view. Raj turned and looked through the little slot window at the back of the rickshaw. He could see a part of one of the buildings and the large trees and then very soon he couldn't see anything anymore. He turned to look at Daddy. Daddy seemed very happy, relieved even.
"Monu, you're coming back home with me, I'm so delighted. On top of that you got such good marks in the 10th Standard exam. I'm so proud of you", as he said these words, he put his hand into his shirt pocket and took out a thin and sleek fountain pen. He handed it to Raj. "This is for you. For your college studies." Raj looked at the pen and marvelled at it. He had rarely got a gift from Achan and now he'd somehow earned such a nice gift. "Thank You, Daddy, it's so beautiful".
Raj seemed to cheer up after the sadness he had felt when he first got into the vehicle and tried to huddle close to his father. It wasn't very difficult, as the big trunk stood at their feet, leaving very little space between them, but Raj seemed to need the reassurance of being physically close to his father, to feel that he was safe and that, at least for now, everything was all right.
The rickshaw soon reached Neel Ammavan's house. Raj saw Ammai in the garden and Lakshmi on the small porch steps with a book. Like him Lakshmi had grown up and they both had developed a real bond over the years. Raj was invited to stay with the family during all his mini-breaks. Bombay was too far away for him to go home, and so this was, in many ways, his local family. He ran to Ammai and she turned around and hugged him. "Ah Good, you have reached. Are you excited to go back to Bombay?" Raj was excited as he would finally belong in his house and take his place as the eldest of the siblings. But he was also sad that this probably meant he would see Ammai and Lakshmi much less. He wanted to say something, but preferred to just hug Ammai once again. Then he ran to be with Lakshmi.
The next day was soon upon them and Raj was sitting in Lakshmi's room. They'd made a pledge of sorts. They would stay in touch, they would write to each other and they would eventually visit each other as much as they could. Both of them loved books, movies and songs. They decided resolutely that this was not the end of the road for them. Lakshmi wanted to come to the railway station to say bye but both Daddy and her Amma decided that it was best for the children to say their goodbyes at home.
As Raj and Daddy got into Ammavan's car, Raj now felt this was it. This chapter of his life was closing and Bombay and his family there would be waiting for him. He even had a new sibling to go home to - a tiny, fragile baby girl called Lekha, born the year before. There was so much for him to discover and look forward to.
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