Fiction & Nonfiction

Lohit's Birthday

Lohit’s Birthday

Lohit is absolutely excited about the birthday party he is going to have on Sunday next.
Mom gave him full freedom to invite whomever he likes.

‘Lohit babu (little darling) have you made a list of your friends?’ mom asked from the kitchen. Lohit was sitting on the front porch watching for the school bus.
‘Yes mom. Can I call them today?’
‘Sure darling.’
‘Mom, can I ask Monu?’
‘He is your senior beta (son)!’
Monu is eight years old and he is in grade four. Lohit is going to be six and he is in grade two.
‘I like him mom. He lends me his art book and comics. I want to call him Mom?’ he appealed to his mother with his big brown eyes.
Mothers are angels who grant quite a few wishes of their kids. This mom said ‘yes’ too.

Lohit sighted the blue and yellow ‘All Saints School Bus’ turning around the corner and skipped away with a ‘Bye mom’.

The family went shopping for Lohit’s Birthday party. All of them put their heads together the previous night and made a list.
‘Mom, dad, I don’t want pink balloons.’
‘Why Lohit?’ asked his mom, a little puzzled.
‘“Pink is for girls and blue is for boys” says our teacher.’
‘Oh, is that so? Ok, go ahead and pick whatever you like, pet.’
None pointed out these differences as insistently to me, thought Janice as she led the family out into another section of the mall.

On a fine Sunday at four in the evening at Lohit’s home.
It was a lovely cool evening, the sky a clear blue, the Sun a gentle glow.
The chocolate-vanilla fruitcake stood enticingly delicious in the middle of a round rosewood table. (A gift from mom’s dad) The three layers of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry looked inviting with six birthday candles in different colors arranged around.
.
Mom and dad moved the table to the parlor behind the kitchen. That would give room enough for the kids to move around and play caroms and Chinese checkers. They decorated the place with balloons of Lohit’s choice and hung colored ribbons across the room with sequins lending sparkle to the room. The small, cute-looking chandelier emitted lights as a prism would, their colorful reflections, glancing off in all directions.

Soon Lohit’s friends, little guys and girls in their best clothes marched in. They carried cute gifts for Lohit.
Amelia, Izzy (Isabella), Ann, Jimmy, Ron, Jack, Kate, Lina and her little brother came by five O’clock. Mom loved the company of these kids, their faces shining, cherubic and charming.

‘Ronnie, Izzy, and everyone, come let’s go and see the hen and her chicks’ shouted Lohit.
All the kids ran to the backyard behind the Magnolia tree.
‘Oh, look Jordan, the white flowers. Mmm! They smell so nice’, said Izzy with her nose close to a blossom. ‘Like Lemons’.
Jordan pointed out a Jasmine bush covered in tiny white flowers to Izzy ‘those flowers smell even better’ she said sagely.
All the kids grouped around the green and white hen made with mud and her six chicks painted in yellow and red. The kids loved them all. Credit goes to Lohit and mom who painted them over a few weeks.

The kids played ball in the backyard and then some hide-and-seek. They enjoyed hiding behind the tall maple trees and went running around the willow. The patch of green grass under tiny feet, felt clean and soft.

‘Come on kids! Come on over’, called mom after an hour.
‘It’s time for cutting the cake’, said dad. The children trooped inside. Monu the tall big boy, led them all.
‘Hi fellas! How do you do?’ said dad. The kids are delighted to meet dad, a tall man coming down to their height to talk to. They don’t have to look up craning their necks, as they do, to talk to other men.  He gave them each an affectionate pat.

‘Lohit babu come on beta (son), your friends are here’ Mom raised her voice by a few decibels. No answer.
‘Lohit that’s enough of hide-and-seek! We are waiting for you and Jack,’ said dad.
Still there is no answer.
Mom walked out to the porch decisively. She couldn’t find the kids. She went around the house, calling out their names, ‘Lohit, Jack, where are you guys?’
Monu followed her.
‘Aunt Jan, can I go upstairs and look for them?’
‘Yes Monu. You can go and see.’ Said mom, now a little more than worried. Her concern is rising by the minute.

Suddenly there is a cry piercing through the empty air.
‘Aunt Jan, come on, come quick Lohit....’ mom couldn’t hear the words spoken from the terrace of the house.
She saw dad just coming out into the porch and cried in alarm,
‘There is something wrong there. Lohit and Jack are on the terrace’, so saying she ran up to the rooftop.
Mom and dad went up in a hurry. They saw Monu and Jack but not Lohit. Panic is about to grip them.
‘Where is Lohit! Jack?’ the boy’s face is drained of color and he looked as if he was weeping.
‘Here he is aunty.’ Said Monu pointing out something below.
Mother’s heartbeats stopped for a while. She looked like a lost soul with tears welling up.
Mom and dad ran to the spot and there...Lohit is lying face upwards, unconscious in the jasmine bush!
Dad ran down the steps as fast as his feet allowed him.
He brought the unconscious boy inside and put him on the bed. He immediately rang up Dr. Tilak who lived in the next street.
Mom has just recovered from the shock of seeing the still form of her son. She held herself from bursting forth. She brought a damp cloth and sponged Lohit’s face, and holding him close she softly called ‘Lohit, Lohit darling, look at me son’.
Lohit opened his eyes slowly as if he is just waking up from a deep sleep.
‘Mom I was flying in the air and suddenly I fell “dhan”’ imitating the sound of his fall.
‘Never do that again, Lohit’.
‘No mom, I promise I won’t’ he said. She rocked him in her arms.

In the meantime, some of the kids started crying. Monu hushed them and took them to the parlor to play checkers and other indoor games. Soon they quietened down.

A little later, the doctor arrived with his bag and a stethoscope around his collar. He listened to dad’s version of how Lohit was found. He saw the boy lying quietly.
‘Hi there! Lohit, what’s the matter?’ Lohit just stared at him.
He turned to Jack and asked him as to what exactly happened. Jack, spoke as though a dam holding his words, broke down.

While playing hide-and-seek they went upstairs.
‘Lohit said he could walk on the wall.’
I said, “No it is dangerous”’.
‘Lohit said, “It is easy to get on top” and showed me how to climb up the wall. I was about to go and when I turned to him, he was not there. Then I saw him down there. Then uncle and aunt came up’. Said Jack. Relief is seen in his face. He was through a lot of pressure not knowing what to do when Lohit disappeared.

Dr. Tilak found that there is nothing wrong with Lohit except for a brief spell of shock and giddiness. ‘Real thanks’, he said, ‘should go to mom’s gardening interest’.

She planted the Jasmine at the edge of the wall. Her idea is to let the creeper go up along the wall to the terrace. Jasmine would embalm the whole house with its pleasant smell, she thought. It cushioned her son’s fall and held him in the thick foliage. ‘Thank you Jasmine’ mom muttered.

It was 8 in the night by the time all the tension cleared. The kids’ parents started ringing Lohit’s mom if they could come and get their children. Mom replied explaining the incident.
The small party turned into a big one with the parents joining Lohit’s birthday party.
They are anxious about Lohit.
Lohit cut the cake with mom and dad by his side with the loved notes of ‘Happy Birthday’ surrounding him. Mom and dad, jubilant with Lohit coming back to his normal cheerful self, served drinks and cake to the company. Kids played with balloons and ate the cake as much as their parents allowed.
The parents discussed how the kids slip away from under the watchful eye of the parents and get stuck in messy risky scrapes
Parenting is after all not so easy a task, they philosophically concluded before saying ‘Good night’ and ‘Have a nice sleep Lohit’ to the birthday boy.

‘All’s well that ends well.’

Word count: 1472.

Awarded Honorable mention in Anti formula contest.