Puppets of the Magician
by
Asif Uzzaman
My name is
Rehan. I live in Delhi. I have a happy family which includes me, my wife and my
children. I have two sons and they both are good in
academics. They resemble me in appearance. Whenever I look closely at my
younger son, he reminds me of the boy in the mirror of some twenty five years
back. He reminds me of the boy in the mirror who lived in Vaishali district of
Bihar – with a lot of dreams in his eyes. Yes, I lived in Vaishali district of
Bihar in my childhood.
Mine is a story
with a lot of sufferings but at least it ended happily. However, there are
thousands of children across the country whose stories are almost same as mine
but without a happy ending.
***
At that time I
was not even ten year old. I lived in a village in Vaishali of Bihar. I lived
with my parents and an elder brother. The name of my brother was Kalim. I loved
him more than I loved anyone else and the love was reciprocated. We loved each
other so much that we couldn’t live apart. Wherever he’d go, I followed him. We
had never gone out of the village without one another’s company. We were living
happily. All was well until the day had arrived – the day when fate forsook me.
It was a
mid-summer day. I was very happy and why wouldn’t I be? After a long time we
were going to the village funfair which was going on for a couple of weeks and
was expected to end soon.
As that day my father had some important work
to do in the farm, therefore only I, Kalim Bhaiya and Ammi were going to the
fair. I was very excited. We bathed early in the morning and Ammi dressed us up
in the best clothes of ours. Then, after having breakfast, we went off. We
climbed down the steps of the front door of the house and my father waved us good-bye-have-fun
with a smile on his face. I saw my father for the last time. I still remember
that jovial face of my father. He still comes to pamper me in my dreams with
that soothing smile. Although, nothing wrong took place with him. It was I who
never returned home before he left this world.
We went to the
fair. I was amazed to see so much happiness at a time. There were children
playing on the ferry wheels, there were sweet shops, merry-go-rounds filled
with children of my age group. There was a tent of magic show with posters of a
magician – having a parrot in his hand – on the tent. We pleaded Ammi to let us
take a ride on the merry-go-round and she agreed. We were filled with
merriness. We enjoyed a lot on other stalls as well. And finally we went to see
the magic show. The tent was black in colour and shiny in appearance—enough to attract
an innocent and young village-child like me. At the entrance of the tent, stood
two bouncers, who talked with each other with their eyes. We went inside with
our tickets in hand – which Ammi had bought after struggling a lot in the rush
on the counter. As I came near the bouncers, one of them said something to the
other – with his eyes. A wave of dread crossed my mind and my legs shook for
once – I didn’t know why. It might be a divine signal about the things to come.
The reason of that signal became clear to me afterwards—throughout my teen
life.
We entered
inside. A stage was set and before the stage, rows of chairs were arranged for
the audience. I sat on a chair in the third row. Ammi and Kalim Bhaiya sat on
my either side. The curtain was closed and lights were off. People were still
coming in through the gate we had come. After some time the chairs were
completely filled up and the lights turned on. The curtain lifted. I was very excited
and so was Kalim Bhaiya. Of course we didn’t know about the doom that was about
to descent over me.
The stage was
adorned with large colourful metal boxes, ribbons, colourful papers, hoops and
what not. All the children – including me – were filled with joy and
enthusiasm. And then he came – the
magician. A man wearing a black robe with golden strips on it. He wore a
gold-coloured crown and a synthetic smile – maybe to lure the children. He
started showing some tricks – put some papers in a box then burnt it to produce
a white pigeon – on which everyone started hooting and applauding in rejoice.
After that, he brought some puppets – big sized – and showed a puppet-dance
without touching them. He was a magician after all. Then he showed some more
tricks which I don’t exactly remember now, after so many years. Now, it all
seem like a mere nightmare. The only thing that I remember exactly now – and
will never forget – was the face of the magician, no, not when he was on the
stage but when he met me in person after the show was done and dusted. When the
event was over, he showed me the real show—his
real face. When the show was over, people hurried out with pace. All wanted to
go out first, which led to a stampede at the exit. Ammi was holding my hand.
Then after a few minutes of hustling and bustling in midst of the mob, Ammi
lost her hold on my hand and then I was struggling in the middle – surrounded
by grown men – to find Ammi and Kalim Bhaiya. I never succeeded, neither did
Ammi and Kalim Bhaiya until very late in my life.
***
Then the hold of
my mother on my hand was replaced with some other hand. The new hand was big –
no, no, it was real big – and hard.
He was holding my hand firmly as if due to the fear of losing control. Kalim
Bhaiya’s hand was not that big. Then another hand came and covered my face to
shut my eyes and mouth. I don’t remember what happened after that in the rush.
All I remember after my face was covered is that the man who was holding me was
none other than the bouncer who stood at the entrance of the tent. I saw his
face when he pulled me out from the crowd.
As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a room
which had no window. The only opening in the room was a gate of not more than
five feet height. It was dark inside. I was sitting in a corner with some other
children of my age. They all were crying and I too felt a great urge to weep.
There was no one in the room except us children. We kept crying but I think the
voice was not going out of the room as there was no window or ventilator. After
some time – which seemed like years – the door opened and a man walked in. At
first I couldn’t make out who he was. But as he came closer, I was surprised to
see that he was the magician himself. He was still smiling the same
plastic-smile in the same way as he was smiling on the stage. He came closer
and bent over me. ‘I am your friend, my child,’ he reached his hand to brush
through my hair, still smiling. ‘Don’t touch me,’ I shouted. ‘Where is Ammi and
Kalim Bhaiya?’ I roared. ‘They must be home by now little boy,’ the intensity
of his smile grew. ‘Where am I?’ I demanded. ‘You should be happy that you are
in Delhi. Such a beautiful place it is. Could your poor family afford to bring
you here, huh?’ he narrowed his eyes and then wore back his smile. Then he
turned to other boys. He gave us a speech on how great he was and how much
favour he had done by taking us to Delhi in his bus after applying chloroform
on us. He then mentioned that he was owner of a restaurant and the purpose of
him bring us there was employing us as workers in his restaurant.
***
There were about
a dozen of us, everyone from different places. One thing that we all had in
common was we all belonged to poor families. Waking up, eating a little,
washing utensils used in the restaurant, eating a little again in the evening,
again washing utensils and then sleeping at night in the very room where we
were kept – this was our daily routine for each day of the year.
The place
where we had to work was a dirty room situated beside our sleeping room. It was
in the back of the restaurant where no one could enter or smell that
child-labour was going on inside. We were not allowed to go out. Except for our
sleeping room and the room where we had to work – which also included an eerie
toilet cum bathroom – we were not supposed to be found anywhere. We didn’t know
what life was. All we knew was, if we didn’t work and remain in the secret
place, we would be killed – for sure. Yes, of course the manager cum magician
used to beat us whenever he’d find an unclean spot on a plate washed by any of
us. We were like toys for him. We were puppets of the magician.
***
Years passed. We
had crossed the age of being crowned as minors. Now most of us were appointed
to work as waiters dealing with the customers. I was one of them. After all we
were no longer minors. We had passed the age where the manager cum magician
could be accused of employing us in the restaurant. Now, we were given some
time in the evening to go out. Of course I could flee but after that? There was
nothing that I could think of doing, once I leave the restaurant – as I was
kidnapped when I was not even ten years old and was kept inside the dirty room
for years until I turned fifteen.
We were taught
how to deal with the customers, how to talk to them with generous smile and all
that. I was performing my job with as much perfection as I could. During all
these years, I had lost the hope of meeting any relative of mine in any point
of my life. Days were passing monotonously when something happened in my life –
something good happened after so many years. A God-sent saviour came to rescue.
What happened was so amazing that even I could not believe that it was actually
happening when it happened.
One fine summer
afternoon when I was working in the restaurant, a man came. There were not much
people on the tables therefore we waiters were busy in gossiping. The man – who
was in his thirties – entered and sat on one of the tables. I went to him with
the menu-card. I bent over him and offered the card with the smile that we were
taught to deliver. He caught a glance of my face and took the menu-card. After
a second or two he looked back at my face almost in a reflex as if he had seen
something extraordinary in me. ‘Rehan? Is it you Rehan?’ he said widening his
eyes. I was taken aback. At first I could not understand what was going on but
it didn’t take me more than a moment to understand who he was. After all I was
familiar with his way of speaking. ‘Kalim Bhaiya? Is it you?’ I said
hesitantly. ‘Yes, it’s me Rehan,’ Kalim Bhaiya’s eyes became wet and so became
mine. We just kept looking at each other’s faces with tears and smiles of joy.
The kind of happiness that filled me was never felt in all the years from the
day I was kidnapped. We talked a little and he asked me to go with him. I told
him I could not because the manager cum magician would never allow me to leave.
Then Kalim Bhaiya gave me an address and asked me to report there in the
evening. He ate nothing and went away. I came and told my fellow workers – with
whom I had spent the years of pain and punishment – that my brother had found
me and that I was going away forever. They became very happy and prayed for
success of my plan and a good life afterwards.
In the evening
when I was leaving I encouraged them by saying that they too would be rescued
very soon. They all cried on my departure as we had become a family. I hugged
all of them and left.
I reached the
place where bhaiya had asked me to come. He was standing there with a welcoming
smile. As I came near, he hugged me and we both filled up with ecstasy. Then we
boarded on a taxi. He took me to an apartment. He told me that this was the
place where our family had settled. I met Ammi. She cried and pampered me in
her arms as she used to do when we lived happily in Vaishali. My father had
passed away. Now, we three started living happily.
Now, as I write
this story I am reliving those days of many years back. Now, I have a wife and
two children. Ammi and Kalim Bhaiya also left the world in later years. Now, I
live happily with my family.
© Asif uzzaman
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