Siddhachalam NJ 1990 04 Mahavir Jayanti

Author(s): Siddhachalam NJ
Publisher: USA International Mahavir Jain Mission Siddhachalam

Page 32

things slided again in deep grooves of rou- drab and somehow offensive to the eyes. tine.
Tom pressed his mother's hand. They are Tom was full of questions. How ugly. I don't like these. Don't want to see did the water get pushed out of the foun- this stuff." tains, why were there no stray blades of
Madhavi directed her look away grass in the flowerbeds? Who designed from the object and looked at his earnest these gardens? What is the name of this face. Are you sure? Some of these exhibpurple flower? Mom was supposed to be an its you will find interesting. You have encyclopaedia. She answered Similingly never seen these things before!" Mother as best as she could and as correctly as coaxed a bit. He stilltugged at her arm.. Let possible. Quickly the sun was covered by us go home. No fun. I am tired." He pulled clouds and within the next hour, the drizzle her arm. "I hate fighting. I hate wars and I made it impossible to be amidst this natural never want to fight mom." "Let us hope panorama.
there never would be a use for these." They "I guess we should now go inside walked away. oand see the palace and the museum." She
Studying in the school, enjoying caught his hand and got up from the bench. music, watching television and munching She bought the tickets and went inside. chocolate. Tom grew into a fine student
It was Tom's first visit to the very much a normal boy. He was now in palace. They had only arrived in this city eighth grade. It happened then. His world two days back. His mother had moved of fancies changed. One day his friends
through these halls several times accompa- told him that they had to register in the army Smt. KAMLESH KAPUR
nied by his father, just after their marriage. at the age of eighteen. "There is a draft law,
The colorful paintings and the silence in the you know. And all of us have to join and POET, WRITER and THINKER
halls were awe inspiring. The clicking of serve in the army if there was a war, the heels of visiters as well as the squeeking
That night he asked his mother wooden floors were the silence breakers. about draft and compulsory military serv
From room to room, he eagerly looked all ice. As he closed his eyes, the frightful SHORT STORY
around. He glutinously swallowed the de- picture of weapons and the hedious artails of sculpture. Tom was an inquisitive mored soldiers became vivid. In his dreams boy. So far the plunge into history was he heard cannonballs. He saw the soldiers exciting and rewarding. He wowed at the romped by frightened horses exactly like big harp. He rounded his eyes at the imar- those in the paintings in the museums. The velously carved chess table, Everything was enemies had no faces, only odd sizes and too engaging, to be wonderful. Was it pos- shapes. Trembling, he got up and ran to his sible to narate these wonders to his friends mother's room. He was crying. His mother
at home? “How could anyone buy such soothed him, stroked his hair and wiped his Here was today the day of visit to
stuff?" Finally, he asked this question. tears. The fear of war or the fighting did the royal palace and the museum.. Nine
"With the royal treasury and, of course, not go away but he did sleep, his mother year old thomas got up earlier than his usual
when you order the workers to make some- still patting his head. The years passed, the hour of waking up. The sun was brihgt and
thing for their king. Those poor workers ghoulish night mares stayed. His motherhis mood was cheerful. In an hour he
charge very little.." "What is a treasury?" explained serveral times that the modern arrived with his mother at the entrance of
Mother explained. "Do you pay taxes?" warfare was different. "There are no ground the royal gardens. The colors were resplen
"Yes, we all do and people always did" dent. In the middle of the summer the glory
combats and horses are rarely used. "She "For what?" Rounding the logic he camewas complete. The flawless beds of bego
also suggested that he could enter military back to the same point. "The Kings's academy and by plunging into reality he nias in neat patterns, the geometric shapes
pleasures and comforts -- to fight wars......" might conquer his worst fears. Life in the of grass with the symmetry in trees in the
"We don't have a king!” Tom flaunted the army is interesting and if there are no wars, background -- all were a balm for the soul.
information importantly. "Yes, but some- all their life, soldiers just move from station His mother liked this. It healed her near
one has to manage the govt. and rule the ruptured nerves. it filled the caters in her
to station drilling, learning manoevers and country. Now, we have the president as excercising. heart. The raysages done to the mind by the head of the government."
During the summer after he gradustressfull busy routine of a doctor and a
They chatted in the connecting ated from high school, he went to Europe single parent usually got temporarily re
court yards and moved through the halls. with his friends. He saw more military paired during such visits. Madhavi was a
The next section was ammunitions, armors, museums. This time he did not feel his single parent because her husband, a police
shields and statues dressed in the metallic stomach churn in its own gastric juices. captain, was killed in the violence of the
uniforms of soldiers and generals. The underworld of drugs. Since then every year
They sang outside the museums. They she visited different countries for one month
black metallic objects were hanging inside made fun of paintings. At night they made
the glass cases. The iron masks, helmets, caricatures of those kings. The experience with Tom. During these visits her time be
and the covers on the soldiers's bodies were was good. While in foreign land, a new longed entirely to Tom. Back to the states
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