This short story, ‘Verandah’ is likely to strike you hard and perhaps leave you a bit stunned! I watched a TV series based on true events which changed the life of the protagonist forever. Ironically, he realized it only much later in his life. That series left an indelible mark on me and lent itself to this short story captured below.
He just kept playing in the verandah,
hoping that his mother would call him,
tired, he went inside the house to look at her again,
her naked body on the floor, and blood all around her,
it was just a red colored thing for a 4-year-old,
then there were sirens and so many people running around,
he didn’t know any of them, but he asked a man wearing a cap,
‘Uncle, when will my mumma be back?’
The man replied, ‘Beta, she has gone to a place from where she will never come back’
he didn’t know any such place from where someone couldn’t come back,
he went back to playing in the verandah,
hoping that his mother would call him!
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