When The Birds Chirp

When the birds chirp

Rohan is a seven-year-old kid living in the posh southern New Delhi. He’s, by his nature, utterly curious about the life, in general, that has confounded him throughout his small, but well-spent seven years. Equally curious he is about the people who have constantly surprised him with their idiosyncrasies. In the process of slaking his curiosity, he finds new things to apply his small brain to and consequently learn about them; he just loves to learn things by asking questions. Wherever he finds a reason to explore, a reason to ransack his repository of ideas and to complement it with something new, he doesn’t shy away from the opportunity. He pounces on every chance to improve his way of understanding the complex world which has grown in complexity ever since he has tried to unravel it. Apart from jokingly learning new things, he likes to argue. When it comes to arguing, the only person whom he values as a smart, reasonable confidant is his brother Gaurav. Every time Rohan has anything rattling him, making him stupidly crazy, he would turn to his brother and smile away at the triviality of the content that was making him go nuts before he had had a chat with his bro.

Sitting in the living room, nibbling at a pizza, Rohan is glued to the television. He likes to watch television; of course, apart from playing Cricket. Cricket has remained his favorite ever since he felt an urge to run away from home as its gigantic boredom started to crush him under its weight. Everyday, he goes outside in the park, close to his house, where people from families not as rich as his engage themselves in a friendly game of soft-ball Cricket. Just before he reaches there, he changes into a shirt not as glossy as he wears at home, and then, pulls out a cap, as rugged as one can imagine, soaked with great cricketing ideas along with the sweat that has made it his favorite cap. By changing his clothes, he becomes one of the other guys playing there. As soon as he reaches the ground, other guys shoot a greeting towards him which he returns with a poise of a twenty-five-year-old man; he just nods at their approval of his joining the game.

“There is no one at home,” Rohan says in the mouth of the telephone.

“Why? Where is mum?” someone responds from the other side.

“She has gone to Aunt Sheila’s house. She was saying something about someone new arriving in their house,” completes Rohan.

“Oh! I see. What are you doing?”

“I was watching television, when you called.”

“Ok, then. I’m going to Simran’s house. I would be late to come home. If mum asks about me just tell her that I am studying in the library.”

“Why?” Rohan replies.

“What why,” Gaurav says smilingly.
“Why did you ask me to tell mum that you are at the library, and not at this girl’s place,” utters Rohan with some conviction.

“Because my dear baby bro, I don’t want mum to ask me thousand questions about staying alone at my girlfriend’s place when her mother has also gone to the same place where our mum has gone.”

“I don’t see any point in her mother being home, or not, to do anything with your being at the library, and what about this girl that you have started to take her name every other second. If you know, you, also, have a bro who wants to talk to you every now and then. Tell me what else you get from her apart from just talking? Or is it something that you do with her that is so interesting that you have forgotten your old-blood, matey bro. I am sorry for eavesdropping, but the last time she came to our house, I saw her face flushed with so much blood that I couldn’t help thinking about what you guys might be doing, and I even heard something like ‘stop it, stop it, please’, do you guys play some sort of a game,” says Rohan puzzled with what’s happening with his bro.

Listening to that Gaurav couldn’t stop smiling and tells him to hold onto his queries for a little while, as he would answer them all as soon as possible. “Ok, have fun,” pronounces Rohan very politely.

A little while later, Rohan receives another phone call. This time his mother speaks to him, “Rohan, when dad comes tell him that I would come home a little late, as there is no one to accompany Aunt Sheila. Or perhaps, you can tell your father that I have gone to fetch the book he wanted to read from the library.”

Listening to that, Rohan replies, “What’s going on with the library today, why everyone wants to go to the library? Ok mum I will do as you said, and you, also, have fun with the thing you will do with Aunt Sheila when no one is there.”

A little confused with what Rohan had just said his mum hangs up the phone. Seething with curiosity, Rohan calls his friend Sophia to know what she’s doing.

“Hi Sophia, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, Rohan, I was just getting bored because no one is home. Hey, if you want, you can come over to my place.”

“Yeah, I think it’s a nice idea to go to your place and talk for a while,” drawls Rohan.

“But don’t tell it your mum that you had come to my house, if your mum asks you about where you went, just tell her that you had gone to the library. I don’t want my mum to know that when I was supposed to study, I was playing with you.”

Understanding what Sophia had just said Rohan replies back, “I think this way everyone would be in the library and no one would actually be there. I think I have started to like telling lies; lies conjure up a world equally mysterious and complex as one shown in Matrix. This way I can create my own Matrix and have fun. About Matrix, the other day when I told you that in Matrix small kids were grown just like plants, and you had smiled at my inanity by saying that it is the way kids are produced in the real world, also. And you said your parents chose you from thousands and thousands of other children because you were very beautiful and well-behaved. I asked my bro about it and he told me that whatever you said was all crap. He told me the truth, he said our parents play games first to decide if they want any babies or not, and if they want, they just go to sleep. In their sleep, unlike in Matrix, the father puts his seeds in the womb of the mother, who nourishes the child for nine months before the child is ready to come out. ”

“And where does the child come out from?” says Sophia highly incensed.

“That I don’t know; my bro said he will tell me later. But I guess the baby comes out from some kind of a huge opening. I thought I would have something similar to that in my body, too, but I didn’t find anything. Perhaps, the doctor drills a hole, or they buy some machine that could take out the baby without any hole; I just don’t know how they do it. The whole business looks so stupid” argues Rohan lacking confidence for the first time.

“I think I should ask you to shut up, because you know nothing. How a kid as big as us can come out of an opening. You know nothing, you moron”, snaps back Sophia with a sense of angered pertinence in her voice.

“Ok; don’t believe what I am saying. I am sure you not the only imbecile in this world. I think it is not worth talking to you. You consider yourself to be a queen of something that you feel people shall take orders from you. I say instead of pretending that you know everything start reading something. Going gaga over what to wear and what to eat will take to no where, go to the library for a change. If you want we can go to the library now.”

“Don’t make fun of me. I will start crying. You are very bad”, whiningly announces Sophia.

“Ok, I am sorry. Do you want to go to the library”, says Rohan with aplomb.

“Ok, let’s meet there in half an hour.”

So Rohan and Sophia meet up in the library. There, rohan, first, regrets his making fun of her over the phone. Sophia smilingly forgives him, and then both of them sit snugly to read about the human anatomy. Rohan brings a book named ‘We Humans: A guide for beginners’. In the book, they read about various organs present in human beings and their specific functionality. Both of them show great wonder when they read about the organ heart. They look at each other in deep amazement, silently batting their eyes as if asking each other the question about this heart being the same that they get to hear in the movies. Finding no answer, they keep on flipping through pages. Eventually, they embark on the chapter ‘Human Reproduction’. Thrilled to know the possibility to understand many unknown phenomena, both of them devour the pages with whatever understanding they have of what they are reading. They read a lot only to understand nothing too much. Through their grueling one hour long session, the only thing they understand is something termed as sex involved in the whole process. They find a lot of things in the book that they find absent in themselves. Addled with the complexity of the subject, and the doubts on its genuineness aroused due to its non-applicability to them, they close the book and fall asleep on the couch until Sophia gets up and proposes the idea of eating an ice cream.

Reaching home, Rohan finds Gaurav spread on the couch avidly watching television. Rohan sits close to Gaurav and passionately says, “So you spend time with Simran because you have sex with her.”

“What?” mumbles Gaurav, caught unguarded by his sweet little bro.

“I and Sophia went to the library today, and there, we read about why a guy gets attracted to a girl, or vice-versa. According to the book, one of the reasons is to have sex with each other. And the reason the guy, or the girl, wants to have sex is to reproduce. As you told me the other day about the game our parents play before conceiving a baby. As per the book, that game is called sex,” explains Rohan with sheer wisdom.
“Man, you are one genius. If you need to know something, you will go anywhere to find the dickens out of it,” replies Gaurav sheepishly.
“But what do you do with her all that time? The act of sex lasts only for a several minutes,” inquires rohan.

“What? Do you think I just have sex with her all the time? Man, that would be awesome, but unfortunately that is not true. We talk a lot and work very little” says Gaurav smilingly.

“Oh! Is it fun to do it? And why I never get to do it?” asks rohan with the blank face.

“You are impossible. Sweet little pie, you are very young to think about all these things. Don’t you worry, when you would be my age, you would have done it ample number of times. But yeah, it is very exciting to do it,” answers Gaurav.

“Does everyone do it? And when would I get to see a baby coming out of Simran’s body?” questions Rohan watching the television.

“What? Don’t be so harsh to me, baby! There are ways through which you can stop impregnating the girl. I will show you one when you are a little older. The thing is just like a glove you wear in Cricket. And yes, everyone does it because it’s so fun that you stop liking all other things and start loving it intensely,” clarifies Gaurav.

“Is it even better than Cricket? Ok, now, I understand why did you stop playing Cricket with me and asked me to play in the park. I understand why you chased me away each time Simran came to our house when mum wasn’t here. Well, to tell you frankly, I don’t want anything to come between me and Cricket. Screw everything, even sex,” proclaims Rohan with a strong determination.

“Ok, don’t have it if you don’t want. By the way, People were asking about you when I came. They said they would play cricket around this time.”

“Yeah, I have to leave, now. So when is she coming?” utters Rohan hiding his face behind his hands lest his brother sees him giggling.

“You are such a smart swine. She would be here in ten minutes.”

“Ok, then. Have fun doing that stupid thing; and don’t forget to wear your glove,” simperingly bids Rohan.

While going out he sees Simran going in. He smiles at her which she reciprocates genuinely. He stops himself, but falls to the temptation of asking her if she has brought her glove. No sooner than he asks the question, he runs away from her sight thinking she might show him her glove and this may hurt his bro, since his bro has promised to show him once he is a little older.

Playing on the field, he notices that whenever any girl goes around the field, all the players stop playing and start staring at her. For some time, he argues that they also want to have sex, and it is not bad to think like that. However, with due course of time, he loses his patience and once they get finished with the game, he shouts at everyone, “when you guys want to have sex, then why did you come to play in the first place?” listening to that, other players ask him not to talk about sex in public, as it is not good. According to them, someone may overhear it, and it may cause unnecessary complications. He struggles to understand that why does anything as pleasant as sex may cause any trouble. He thinks very hard but to no avail. He looks at his watch, and understands that if he goes home now, he will be half an hour earlier than what his brother would have estimated as his return time. He straddles between going home, or not. Finally, he decides to go to Sophia’s place till his brother is done with Simran. While walking towards Sophia’s building, he finds every guy and girl sharing glances with each other. Aghast at his recent discovery, he decides to imagine a scene in which everyone is engaged in sex everywhere. He shudders at this thought, as it dawns on him that no one will play Cricket with him, then. Walking briskly, he runs into a guy.

“I am sorry,” admits Rohan.

“It’s ok. You are not the first person to dream about having sex with the girl walking beside you. You look very young. This world is perverted,” remarks the guy.

“See, I am sorry for what I did to you. And I was not thinking about sex. I have come to know about the word just today. To tell you the truth, I don’t want it,” regains Rohan some of his pride.

“Yeah, yeah, everyone says that. You all are moron. It is because of people like me that you are able to live. Do you know-who I am? How would you know? I am a scientist who works for Indian Nuclear Energy Department. And the books that you just spilled are the precious books using which we would make the mightiest nuclear power reactor in the world. I don’t know why I am talking to you. You must be thinking- what a great idiot I am. But to tell you the truth, most of the youngsters in this country are base, ungrateful, contemptible parasites. Best of luck for your humdrum life.”

Before the man could finish talking, Rohan starts running backwards towards his building. It has been a long, mentally exhaustive day for him. He wants to sleep to stave off the colossal weight of the word sex falling on him.

Taking the stairs to his house, he finds Simran going home. Looking at him, she finds his being petrified. She stoops down on her knees and plants a kiss on his cheeks. Looking at her coruscating face, he feels warmth in his heart. He utters thanks and runs to open the door to his house.

“What happened? Why are you looking as if you have peed in your pants,” jokingly indicates Gaurav seeing his red face.

“Nothing, Simran just kissed me. And Before that I met a guy who was saying bad things about sex; actually, he was a scientist who was saying that youngsters of our country don’t do anything except for thinking about sex. And before that the people with whom I play were going balls over girls. I think I cannot sustain the concept of sex anymore. This world is so complex, I don’t want to think about it anymore,” confesses Rohan in front of his favorite comrade.

“So now you think you have had enough of this world. It happens with everyone my dear softy. Sex is just one thing that has ruffled you to the limits of delirium. Once you grow up, things much trivial than it would reverberate your mind with their sheer uselessness. The most important lesson is to have your own perspective about things, things that you like. Don’t feel pressured from what others are doing, and what others say. Just relax and forget about anything. About sex, People would say motley of things about it meaning absolutely opposite. Every time, you hear everthing on it, just smile away. You will learn things better if you are not to listen to what others say. Listen to what your brain says. Now, I guess we both have to eat an ice cream. I want my little, innocent bro to be happy. Let’s go,” finishes Gaurav with a deep smile on his face.