________________
Prashant felt that the whole thing should be known first. May be, he himself might be receiving some sort of Award concerning the seat of learning. He kept silence and said, “Yes, Yes do tell."
"Listen just as what is given in the columns of the News Paper is, the Government has acquired some land of some people over here, in which the land standing in the name of your late mother also has been acquired and in the Award declared by the Government for this, everyone is going to get good money. You being the heir of your late mother, you are entitled to get Award for the land acquired by the Government.'
Prashant was listening to this all with different feelings and reactions.
He got lost into the pious memory of his late loving mother, the indirect giver of such an un-thought for Award, after these many years, in this way! Saluting the mother internally, remembering her innumerable obligations, sinking into the memories of his childhood past when mother had collected money by undergoing great big sufferings for buying this land, he went on visualizing the series of all these events.
These events enacted on this birth land itself before 45 years, went on moving just like mobile strip of a movie before his eyes:
That old house of the street of that town, two tamed tied cows in front of the house, his loving mother getting up from the bed in the dawn and serving the grass to the cows with great love and care, cleaning the premises, fetching pots and pots of plentiful water from the river, grinding the grain by singing morning hymns, feeding the guests and home comers and saving small amount of money not only from the amount of house expenses given by father but also from her manual serving work executed outside the house and all this greatly laboured money tied into small pieces of cloths and carefully stored at the huge storing box in the house----- Such an image of services, sacrifices and love. His mother was seen by him as if alive in this series of vast visualization of memory !
And then he visualized the event in which mother had handed over with over-whelming joy of handing over all these precious one day to the father --------
Yes, that ever-remembered event: as if it was going enacted and repeated actually today! All the reminiscences of childhood were coming before him just like fast-rushing fall--- what a tremendous and exact seems to be the storage of collection of memories in this small human brain!! As if a super-computer------!!!
The gaint doors of that memory-storage went on opening and the scenes of the time that was past went on becoming more and more clear----
Those disturbing days of "Quit India" Movement of 1942 ! The August Revolution was stabilizing with great enthusiasm. There was a great tide all over of nationalism and patriotism. Prashant's father, brothers and he himself the tiny one, were mingled in the
