Burn

To him, it came naturally . He cupped his hands expertly around the tiny flame , and blew , ever so gently . The flame , quivered , hesitated and went underground . The charred area of hay remained silent , and she was happy that the fire had burnt out . It unnerved her . Flames , fires . He revelled in them . She caught him panting , with excitement . Why so ? His tears had not yet dried . His eyelashes , long and curved , stuck to each other , moist . 

Then, a wisp of smoke , emerged ,from the other end of the hay filled thatch roof . He was grim , and satisfied , almost happy . Then, he had dragged her away , from the scene of crime .

She should have raised an alarm then , she would later recount, tearfully , to her parents , siblings , several times . What she was witnessing was an act of arson , and she didn’t know it . She thought it was just a prank , another one of his . How was one to know the devastating consequences of what was to follow?

  

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It was another routine Sunday . Panditji had gone and plucked flowers from the school garden , for his pooja . Kept them on the doorway , and was washing his hands and feet . Panditji was old and he used a lathi , to support himself , when he walked . Now Panditji had a grandson named Bhoja , who had , recently adopted a stray dog . He called him Bhajana , and the two became quickly inseparable . Panditji was famous for his mercurial temper , and Bhoja always bore the brunt of his rages . Both loathed each other . 

    

A dog , that too pariah , curled up in panditjis path , to and fro the temple , was not at all acceptable . Bhajana  bore several lathi swings stoically , and learned to give the old man , wide berth . Bhoja's unflattering report card had arrived on saturday night . Raucous sounds of beratings emananted from Pandit's household ,in the night , for a long time . 

Bhoja ran away in the morning . He forgot to feed Bhajana. Hunger is a  great motivator . Bhajana didn't see Panditji, neither was he aware of his seething temper. And he nosed the flower basket , looking for concealed treats . 

What followed next , was explosive . The entire locality gathered . People tut-tutted , and moved on , unable to intervene , and unable to witness such brutality. It was an oath , a thud of the lathi swing and a piteous yelp . Million times over . 

Anju covered her ears with her blanket , as she wept into her pillow , waiting for the yelping and the beating to stop. Anju was Bhoja's classmate , friend , and partner-in -crime . Eventually , she couldn't take it any more. She raced to the fruit orchard , where she found him , perched on his favourite jack -fruit tree , chewing a twig . She narrated , he jumped , wide eyed , and ran home , heart -in -the -mouth. 

The dog was reduced to a pulp almost , Bhoja jumped infront of his grandfather , who didn't discriminate . In his blind rage , he continued to swing , till the thuds had stopped eliciting yelps , as they fell on Bhoja now.  His daughter-in-law , had broken purdah rules , and plucked her son into her arms , screaming at the "mad old man ". The crowd dispersed , as the old man , now contrite , withdrew. 

Bhoja refused food , or to come inside . He fetched an old blanket , covered up Bhajana, and stayed up with him , whole night ,till he breathed his last , in the wee hours of the morning . 

Anju , intermittently , came to give him company , and an occasional glass of water , which he offered to the still snout of his beloved friend . Finally , a kind neighbour , helped Bhoja dig a grave , and bury Bhajana , along with his few worldly possessions , a rattle , Bhoja's old school shoes and some bread (on Bhoja's insistence). 

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It was a change that Anju noticed , when he was patting the soil on top of Bhajana's grave . Bhoja stopped sobbing , took a deep breath , and became still . As if he had come to a resolution . 

She knew he was hurting , and she couldn't leave him alone .

So , when he brought matchbox out at dusk , and told her "Do you want to see some thing ?" She agreed to go with him . She even , with profound guilt , remembers giggling , as he set fire to the thatch roof of his grandfather's hut . 

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The fire raged all night , and threatened to swallow the paint factory , next door. So , it was the factory owner who got fire engines to screech into the small village, dousing fires in the "Pandit Mohalla". The old man was admitted to the General Hospital with 65% burns . 

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Anju belonged to a conscientious family. Her father , the school teacher , took her to the pandit mohalla , when Police came for interrogation . Anju spilled the beans . Bhoja , stood stoic , arms folded , and refused to acknowledge . He said Anju was "lying " , and that "he didn't know her ". Pandit family accused Anju of being a corrupt influence on their beloved son . The policeman smiled and dismissed both the kids and their parents . 

Anju went crying home .

That fire had burnt up a great deal . 

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