Shiny Hoque

Arpita was returning from her school that day. Like every day she relished the last drop of tamarind chatni and looked for a dustbin to throw the paper. The narrow lanes of New Alipore are always clean and tidy. Arpita had no wish to make them dirty. Hadn’t teacher asked to keep our own city clean? She saw a dustbin and ran towards it. Then she stood amazed. It was so beautiful; a blue dress. Last month she was gifted a school bag by an NGO. It had on it painted the “Frozen” princess wearing that blue dress. Arpita had imagined herself in that dress thousand times over. The shop was new. May be it was their inauguration day. They were eating and drinking happily. All the people were laughing and chatting. Children were running around here and there touching the new colourful dresses. Arpita smiled as she watched. She felt as if she was part of the event. She pushed open the glass door and walked towards the blue dress. Suddenly someone grabbed her hand tightly. She turned back and saw everyone was looking at her. “ How dare you enter the shop you nasty girl?”, said one of them. “See her dirty hands. She was going to touch that dress” , said another. Many other rude comments were thrown. “ You never know when these thieves steal your stuff and run away” ,said a very kind hearted gentleman. Poor girl could not answer. Her lips quivered and tears rolled down her eyes. Arpita ran down the street wiping her tears. when she reached home she found a new packet. She opened it and saw a new dress. Her mother works in a house. They give her puja dress every year. But unlike other times she was not happy. She was burning inside. She cried and cried until her mother came. “Maa I want to take revenge” , cried Arpita. “ Look arpita don’t cry my baby. You are not alone in this. There are thousands and millions of kids who suffer daily for low social status. I work as a maid but I want you to study. Not to uplift your social position but to help those kids who suffer like you suffer today. Don’t let the flame inside you die. This will help you stick to your goal” That night mother and daughter cried a lot in each others arm. Arpita dozed off peacefully on her mothers bosom. After some days as light started to engulf the dark night sky, someone tuned on radio in high volume. All the little rooms of the slum filled with the essence of puja with mesmerizing “ mahishashurmardini” . Arpita wore her new dress and admired her own look. She is happy now. She has got more than a new dress. She has got a purpose of living.