Anushka Paints
Multicolor Appu the
Elephant.
Chapter 7: Miserable Week
All Desperately Waiting for Reversal of Magic
That night was very lonely and miserable for all in the jungle and in the Palace.
Next day
morning was not better.
Early in the morning Appu
come in the jungle. One by one he knocked the doors and called his friends. But
only the parents of his friends came out. On seeing Appu alone they all started
shouting.
“Oh, Appu! Where are our
children?”
“What has happened to
them? Yesterday they went to Anushka’s Palace with you.”
“We thought, you were
staying at the palace overnight and will be back today morning. Now you are
here and where are our children?
“Oh! We were late yesterday,” Appu said. “But
I left them here. Were they not at home?”
“Oh, no! Where are they?”
Everybody started
searching and they found all his friends lying in the grass outside the doors
of their houses. They were so weak that they couldn’t even get up and call
their parents.
“Oh! But they are not our
children!! They look so weird!!!” cried all the parents.
“Yes, they are! This is
Tuntin, this is Pancharangi, he is Neelu and he is Grogor.” Then Appu explained
how everybody wanted to change their features, how they called Sevening, the
fairy, how she did the Magic that changed their features for the whole week and
all that had happened yesterday.
“But have you not changed
your features?” all parents asked.
“No. I am satisfied with
what I have. And I was warning them also against doing such dangerous thing.
Even Anushka and Sevening were also warning them. But they didn’t listen.”
“Oh! We are very sorry
Mom and Dad”, everybody was crying. “We will not do such foolishness again. But
please pardon us and accept us now. We are very hungry, thirsty and miserable.
And we have spent all the night outside, without you.”
The parents accepted them
and they all went into their homes. But they still couldn’t eat. They could only
drink some water, sweet lime juice, vegetable soup and mutton soup. For the whole week
they couldn’t move or do anything. They were hungry, weak, sad and miserable.
And they were desperately waiting for the next Sunday.
Pancharangi couldn’t even
do that so his parents had to admit him in the Jungle hospital. The Doctor had
to keep him on IV saline for next 6 days.
In the palace, Anushka
was miserable too. In the morning, to her surprise, she found herself in the
heap of hair, in an unfamiliar room. She was feeling dizzy. Somehow she stud up
and looked around. There was a big mirror and an unknown girl with blue eyes
and very long golden hair was looking at her. To her shock, she was her, her
image looking at her through the mirror.
But then she again started
admiring herself, “Oh! How golden and long are my hair and how dazzling blue
are my eyes and how beautiful I am.” But then with weakness she fell down in
her hair.
At breakfast Sonal
was crying, “where is my dear Anushka? Where has she gone?” King Abhi was also
very worried. But he was the King. So he couldn’t cry.
Then Saya
remembered, “Oh! Anushka had also changed her features. When I last saw her
yesterday, she had long golden hair and blue eyes. She was looking very
different.”
“Oh! But where is
she?” Sonal asked.
“She must be in the
palace. Let’s search all the rooms.” So they all started to search all the
rooms.
In the 100th
room Anushka was still looking in the mirror. But then, with weakness she was falling
down in her hair. Then she was trying again to stand up and look into the mirror.
This happened many times during the day. At last she fell down and couldn’t
stand up.
In the evening she
was lying in her tangled hair, very weak and unable to get up. For two days she
had no food and water. Now she was missing her Mom and Dad and Saya. She felt
miserable and lonely. She started crying. She remembered what had happened
yesterday, the magic, change of features, her advice to all against changing
the features and at last her own demand to change the color of her eyes and
hair. She remembered all and regretted. She shouldn’t have changed her
characters. But what could she do now? Except to wait for 1 whole week and hope
for the reversal of magic.
When Saya, Abhi and
Sonal reached the 100th room, they found a girl with golden hair,
lying in the heap of hair, crying and calling her Mommy.
“This is Anushka.” Saya
said. “Now I remember. After magic, she was looking very different with blue
eyes and long golden hair. I saw her leaving the garden and running towards the
Palace.”
At first Sonal
couldn’t recognize Anushka. But then she recognized Anushka’s voice and cry.
1: King Abhi
& Queen Sonal Find Anushka in the Room 100
“Oh! Anushka, my baby, what has happened? What have you done to yourself?” Sonal asked. She was also crying.
“It was my mistake.
I was advising others against changing their features and then I myself did the
same mistake. Now the magic won’t get reversed till next Sunday. What can I do?
My friends must also be miserable like me.”
“And what is this
dirty smell,” Sonal asked.
“I think that is of
long unwashed tangled hair.” Saya said.
“Okay! Don’t worry.
We will take care of you. First of all, have some drink and food and have some
rest. Tomorrow morning we will wash your hair. Don’t worry now.” Sonal said.
On the third day
Sonal had to spend all morning untangling, combing and washing, ‘Ghassun,
Pussoon’, Anushka’s hair. They were long, golden and initially beautiful but
now they had become dirty and foul smelling. Both were tired after hair
management program.
“Mommy, now I
understand why you always tell me to cut them short and manageable” Anushka
said.
“At least till you
manage them by yourself. Long hairs look good but need continuous and proper
maintenance. Now that you have to spend much time, for next few years, for MORE
IMPORTANT THINGS like Study, Games, your Singing lessons, Jujitsu and good
health, you can’t afford to waste time for hair maintenance.” Sonal said.
“Yes Mom. It was
very foolish of me to wish for long golden hair and blue eyes. ”
“As such you are
beautiful and we all love you as you are. You don’t have to do anything more or
foolish for that.”
On the 4th
day Appu came from Jungle and told Anushka about her friends and their
miserable condition.
“Oh! I am very
sorry. I shouldn’t have called Sevening.” Anushka said.
“No. It was not
your fault. You were telling them against doing such thing. But they were not
in a mood to listen.” Appu said.
“You and Saya are
really wise not to do such dangerous thing.”
“Oh! But it was you
who told me the other day when I came to you to change my color. You told me
the importance of what we have and why we should be satisfied with it.”
“Yes. But what a
shame, I forgot it myself.”
Till lunch time Appu
and Saya played with Anushka. In the afternoon Appu told her other funny stories
from the Jungle and tried to lessen Anushka’s misery. Next day Appu and Saya went
to the Jungle to play with friends. They were very weak to play. But Saya spent
all the day with them. So they felt better.
During the whole
week everybody experienced many problems. They couldn’t eat and couldn’t drink
properly. They had to remain in their homes, near their parents, because they
were unable to defend themselves. They were very conspicuous and could not hide
because of their changed characters. They had no camouflage. They could not
move fast and properly to run away from danger.
But now they all realized
the importance of unique gifts everybody naturally had. They realized the importance
of their unique characters. And they realized how it was more important to be
with parents; to have water and food; to movie easily and fast; to have a sound
sleep and, most of all, to be safe.
Now they were very
eager to come back to their normal appearance. Everybody was waiting for the
end of that week when the magic would be over.
It was Friday
evening when Saya went home after spending the whole day with them.
The countdown had
started. Everybody said – now we will have dinner and go to sleep. Tomorrow
will be Saturday.
Saturday morning …
afternoon … evening … dinner … sleep … and …
Wow! YES!! It is
Sunday morning! In a short while from now, we will see Appu coming. We will go
to Anushka’s Palace and wait for Sevening to reverse the magic.
End of Chapter 7
Told by
Rajan Aaba & Anushka
Illustrated by
Rajan
No comments:
Post a Comment