Dragon Flies

Foreword

I wrote and posted Dragon Flies in 'gather' in October 2008. It invited a few encouraging comments. I am sharing it once again post some minor edit. Hope this would be welcome. Dragon flies wait all the Circle of Karma to fly free......

Dragon Flies

A COUPLE appeared on top of the steps. I put out the ‘beedi' on the edge of the step and tucked it behind my ear and lifted the bamboo pole. When I stepped into the boat, it nodded and juddered, even as it quivered on the waves. There were not many in the Ferry. Some were idling on the steps, two each. They were working on their cells. The couple stood for a while watching the river and across the shores and now started down the steps, hand in hand.

I asked the others, "any coming?" Only one of the two at the extreme left answered. "We are waiting for one more" he said. I drew up the pole, dropped its end to the water and held the boat, closer to the steps as it started drifting when I removed the coir from the stone to which it was tied. It jolted like a horse.

The man helped the woman into the boat. I asked them to sit in the middle row. There were no more to come with us. I shoved the pole to release the boat far into the river. The river seemed to part ways for the boat. I had oiled it only last week. It was jet black now. The new bamboo carpet lay neat on the bed. She was sleek.

It was an extremely sunny afternoon. The sun light was twinkling on the surf like a million pearls dropped from a necklace. The river was the goddess with a thousand anklets.  "Is it deep?" the woman asked me. "Not much" I said. "It is still dangerous as there are strong under currents". The water was crystal clear. In the middle it looked deep emerald. Now the waves were bigger as the wind blew across the river. The boat started wavering." Is the water, good?" the woman asked again. I said, "Yes". "The whole district is drinking this water. It is being treated down the river by the Municipality"

Now the man said. "Yes, I will show that to you. There is a garden, there. It is a beautiful place". "See, you can see the Palace clearly, now". He was referring to the Palace, which is now the guest house, on our side of the river.  They were building a new annexe. "Palace was where the film shootings used to be. You can also see the pier where the boat in the film came, you remember?" He continued. The woman said something negatively. He pointed to the two temples on either side. "It is a pity, we forgot the camera". He said. "And we could have bathed had we brought the towel".

The sand bank was coming nearer. The temple on the bank was being renovated. "Actually there is no sanctum sanctorum here as usual in a temple; during the yearly floods these sand banks and the temple is submerged". It was right. But then the flood season was over. During the ‘Bali' (offerings for the dead) days, millions come to these banks. "Even now some are doing it." He had spotted red ashoka flowers in the water. The floods then would clean the entire place to be ready again for the next season. It was also a ritual.

"Here we are". He said. "Before we can think about it, we are there". The boat tilted to the shore. The man again stepped out first to the bank and held his hands to support the woman. I used the pole to keep the boat close to the shore. I tied the boat even as the couple moved to the temple putting a ten on the boat.

There were dragon flies everywhere. They were playing in the sun like bees in a hive. They were dark, big, and vulgar and were not colourful like the ones we have in the garden.

A few people were bathing in the river. The sun was still extremely hot. In the eastern sky, the clouds looked like heaps of hay spread in the sky. There appeared an aero plane and its burr. It was shining like silver. I simply followed the couple as there was nobody to return. It will be evening when the workers would want to return. I can have a cup of tea from the upper shop.

There were only a few trees and they were not planted long ago on the sand banks. The shade was little. There were workers doing construction in front of the temple. The couple stopped in front of the temple to pray and then moved up again.

"Dragon flies are everywhere, I haven't seen so many, together". The woman said.

I was in the shop, when the man came to buy banana from the shop. He bought half a kilo. I came to the edge of the steps to see what they are doing. The woman was sitting close to a bull resting on the steps. The man went to them and offered the banana to the bull. "As good as offering to the deity" he said. A man who was standing on the other side of the steps now came forward and said the bull was offered only a week before, to the temple. "Oh! Do they offer such big ones" our man asked as it was usual to offer calves and not grown up ones. "So long as offered, what difference it makes if it is raised for a few years more?"

When the bull finished one by one, it sniffed the grounds and started moving to them. The two now stood up and went back to the banks and read a notice board put up there. I followed a little behind. There was a statue of the River Goddess and some verse on a board, reminding those who took the bathe to be wary of the treacherous sand pits. If you slipped, you are gone. Many had lost their lives. It is ironic that the shores are also used to give ‘bali' for the dead!

The sun was still blazing on the sand banks and we moved back close to the tree shade. There was already another couple under the little shade of the banyan tree. Our couple rested close to them despite the sparse shade. I sat near a person clad in saffron.

There were all dragon flies around. They were an immense number wheezing back and forth, playing around. The whole sand banks were a play ground for them. "We have never seen so many dragon flies" said the woman from the other couple. The man put her hand around her shoulder and said, "It is often said that the sinned becomes dragon flies after death and wanders around!"

I went back to the river and sat on my boat. As the sun went further down, the river was yet more sparkling. The sun was a blazing silver plate in the western sky. The old bridge visible at the far end of the river looked like a large python. There was another one being built on the same shape.

The couple came back to the boat when they saw another one starting from the other side. I took up the pole again and supported the boat. They sat again on the middle row. One who was bathing in the river called out that he is also coming. "Quick", I said, "It is still hot to sit on the boat, waiting". We could not however, start until the boat from the other side joined us.

The man was again complaining that they should have brought a towel. His cough and sneeze was now showing. He put his fingers into the water and put it back on his head and eyes. "At least this much" He said. He violently coughed again. "You did not take the syrup" She said. "It is from the throat and not from the lungs" He said. "Now I must have a running nose as well, we had all the sun light". "A bath in this river is holy". To the east, a railway bridge was there. A fast train passed on it now. In a minute, the bridge was empty.

We came close to the bank and before I could settle the boat to a stop, the man pushed a ten into my pocket and jumped outside. They were going up hand in hand. At one point the man looked back into the river and to the other bank. The shade of the temple was becoming longer. He could not see the dragon flies from this side.
*      *      *
Top of the steps, the man stopped again, held her hands and said; "as much as I wished" They both looked down to the pier at the same time. There was no boat or the boat man. It was empty. It was empty except for a lone dragon fly that flew past them.

They started walking through the road hand in hand. A lone dragon fly followed. They walked past the palace. The dark interiors of the palace orchard with large trees gave it a dreaded look. They walked up the road, in front of the ashram next to the palace, in front of the college, through the railway over bridge and turned right. Many students, mostly girls were on the road. New buildings have popped up on the sides. The lone dragon fly followed them. The woman was now tired. They stopped. The dragon fly rested on a bush.

They crossed the street and walked to the bus stop. It was full of students. Several buses were coming. The dragon fly watched them getting into a bus.

Now it started. It crossed the street flying high up with such a merry that it started wilting past the turning when it looked back again. The buses were gone. The students were gone. The street was now empty, just empty.
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