The princess’s
beautiful pink brocade dress turned into tatters. Her hair, flawlessly done in
braids and beads flung open at once, scattering the ornamented beads all over.
Her feet tripped as she tried to keep her balance on bare feet. Her bejeweled
shoes had disappeared too and she found herself walking with naked feet on the
thorny, pebbly uneven ground. She let out a scream as she saw the walls of her
palace crumbling and collapsing. Her toys and trinkets were all there, about to
be crushed under the weight of the mighty architecture. As if all this was not
enough, some evil power snatched from her hands her most beloved doll. In the
tussle, the doll flew up in the air and the princess strained her head up to
see where it might fall so that she could catch it. She raised her helpless
hands and let out another scream. Her fair skin was tarnished and rough. She
felt pain all over her body as it started showing signs of abuse and neglect.
Her stomach churned making her realize that she had not felt this kind of
hunger before. Forgetting about the doll which seemed to have gone for
eternity, she looked for food and discovered a morsel being taken by a mouse.
She ran after it but the little creature scurried away and the princess
collapsed amidst the ruins of her colossal castle, her lips parched and dry………
“Get up and get going Rani.” Her mother’s voice raised her
from her nightmare. She hastened up the hard floor and rubbed her eyes
vigorously. She looked around. It seemed that she was searching for something.
“You better hurry up. We will not be able to lay our hands
on anything if you remain so lazy”, Rani’s mom spoke angrily.
Rani did not hear. She seemed to walk in a trance and
reached the corner of the hut. She picked up what she called her ‘pitara’, her
treasure box, and opened it. Everything was there as she had kept it – a few
ribbons of different colors, some glossy buttons, a tattered doll, a broken
bow, a torn picture of a princess, an oversized cleft bangle which would not
fit her tiny hands for ages. They were the treasures she had picked while her
mother collected stuff her little mind could never comprehend. She would not
part with them. They were her recipe of make-believe in her world of escape -
the only proof of her childhood in a life that was harsh and heartless.
“What is wrong with you?” Rani’s mother nudged her by her
disheveled hair. The touch of her scabby hands brought Rani back to her senses.
She closed her pitara and hid it in
her place. She got up and tugged along after her mother. It was going to be a
long day before she came back to her trinkets and her princess. She only
thought of one thing while walking – The beautiful princess had looked so much
like her. And how beautiful had she been before the nightmare began. If only things had been normal……
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an
initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
