The Flute Boy-RAMESH

Finally I am home ! 12 years gone and here I stand today feeling like a child who returns after a long outdoor game and find a longing mother waiting to bestow love... looking at the child with those bewildered yet love filled eyes commanding to clean up the muddy appearance which the child is accompanied with.
"Baba you can rest for some time, it must have been a tiring journey" Mohan daa got me back from the world of thoughts. "Yes daadaa but not without a cup of tea from you" I reverted. With the same smile full of warmth he went away to do the needful.
My room had been cleaned the same way as I liked ...or just like Maa did when she was alive.
A week had passed since I returned and I have been reliving my childhood days all over again with a joyful heart ,which had been craving for these pleasant moments. But amongst everything he had been missing. Even Mohan daa did not mention him or probably our talks were occupied with the rest of Nainital stories.
I still have a vivid memory of him ...sounds of flute still graved hard in my mind . Wonderful flute player that he was at the age of seven I assume with no home to live,no one to care around and no flute Guru who taught him to create magic with it. A child with inborn quality . Each day on our way to school , he would be there at the Ayarpatta road mesmerising passers-by with the music straight from his heart . Every time our group passed he would pause for a while, smile at our greetings and then would resume back. Although he was blind but I was amazed how he always knew that our group was nearby even before we greeted him . That little interaction with him everyday was so pleasing .He was never tired of playing flute ..after all it was the only boon to him. Locals authorities had many times awarded him with gifts at the annual city functions but those trophies never changed his life and every day he would still be there at the bridge playing his flute and passers-by dropping a coin or two in the box kept near him.As a child I would discuss him with Mohan Daa a lot and Mohan Daa would always tell me that one day he would tell me everything about the flute boy .
In a couple of years my life changed .. I lost my parents in a car accident and my uncle sent me abroad for further studies . And now when I am back memories of him are back too.
Suddenly I find myself moving towards Mohan daa to enquire about him and Mohan daa as if understanding beforehand what I was going to ask said,"Ramesh was adopted by Commissioner sahab after you left, he must be happy with his family now in Kerala." I smiled at him and with a deep contentment in my heart turned back to my room ..may be to find out some old photographs of Ramesh which I had clicked long back as a child photographer.