The Little One

He was so small. Cannot be more than 6 – 10 months old. Wet, soaked in rain water! Scorpio car’s height is quite a bit for the little one to fall down from. Its light brown skin color now 3 shades darker and eyes shining black. In the middle of the subway, this little one fell down from the top of a black scorpio car standing ahead of me in the jam.

It almost looked like I was the only one who noticed his slip. I wondered what he was doing on top of the car? A lizard on a car … not something that we expect to see. And now in the middle of the subway that is jammed with vehicles; wheels and tyres of all sizes will soon start moving zig-zag to be the first to get out of the chaos. He was still motionless. He was just about a foot and half from my Activa’s front wheel. It was raining mildly. I could understand that he wasn’t able to move. One reason being the new surface that was so watery and the other being the shock and impact of the fall.

I peeped to notice that the signal will remain red for another 30 seconds. Will this little one recoup by then? Even if he does, will he survive the wheels? Left or right, he had at least 10 feet to run before he reached safety. Is he capable of making all this calculation or is he still in shock? Is he feeling lost, away from his cosy home?

He probably lived in a big house. The owner has a scorpio! May be some house with many rooms, big kitchen and huge lofts. Many flowing curtains and enough wall furniture and fixtures for him to find warmth. He probably just broke the rules and wandered into the car shed? May be the silvery-white car cover impressed him and he wanted to give it a try. He must have missed the conversation about the family eat-out plan! The driver must have removed the cover with a negligent sway and luckily the little one must have found his balance and clung on to the side of the car. A car is surely a new hide-out for this little one. He couldn’t have known that this is not a good place to live because of the hot engine and rolling tyres. When have the little ones listened to the seniors?

He must have again had two options. Direction 1 or direction 2. One would have taken him closer to the floor and he could have easily marched to safety. He clearly chose the other to land at the top of the car. The engine must have been switched on, the entire family would have rushed in shaking the whole car and needing the little one to keep his grip steady on the soft curves of the car. Zoooop. Now on the roads! Never would he have thought of such speeds. 60 km/hour with no protection and losing grip. It must have felt like a nightmare! But then, little one, you strayed to adventure and so you got your full share! May be!

Big cars hate big jams. Big car drivers hate small cars/bikes in big jams! We were all moving by inches and this driver got really irritated and hit the brake hard when he had to stop. Thlup! This little one fell down and became a part of my life. Feeling lost, away from his cosy home.

The signal is almost green, in 3 seconds it is get-set-go! I waited for the traffic to my right to clear so that I don’t decide the little one’s destiny. He was still immobile. I told myself that I will move to the right and keep going. I don’t have to look back to see what happens to him. As destined.

I moved right and ahead and turned back to see a motorist travel on the line where the little one was lying still. I blinked to keep the rain water away from my eyes and found him gone. The bike just rode past me.

He probably suffered a run-over and got smashed against the front/back wheel and now stuck to the tyre with his limbs extended and he dead! Life’s over even before he lived it full.

It could have also been that he managed to make a knick of the moment leap and got into the insides of the bike’s wheel. He would have found the surface less smooth and easier to grip. It would have been a roller coaster till the motorist reached his home and switched off the engine. After a while, he would have got off the wheel, slowly travelled through the wet park area floor and reached the safety of the walls. He would have entered the house through the small gap in the window. Pink paint, lot of unclosed shelves, kitchen to the right with lot of things in the loft, two school going kids and so lot of books. But no curtains L Wish you a happy life in your new home, little one!