Ata Kota It was dusk. We sat just a meter away from each other on the wooden floor. He started speaking. I kept listening. “Brother, my brother, me is happy. Yes, me is very happy you in Thimphu. You working in office, me very happy. Thimphu peoples all good.” My wife came in and upon seeing brothers spending time to each other left us immediately. He continued in a deplorable but happy tone. “Mathang very beauty. Good woman. Me likes.” Before I could cogitate he truly saw my wife in aphrodisiac manner, he said, “Me likes you both, both. Me no wife. Choden good but not love me. Me no angry.” There was no chance for me to ask who Choden was. The monologue continued. “Thimphu girls all beauty. No pregnant. Village girls small small all pregnant. Government people making them pregnant and running away. Not good. Me very sad. Choden no pregnant. Me very happy. Me loves Choden. My brother, me is happy in Thimphu. But me have work. Maize, trees, potatoes, cows, many many works. Me going home. My home is beauty. Me no like Thimphu. Money giving to shops, 5000.” I filled his glass and looked at his face. Three years younger to me seemed just the opposite. His hands were crude like logs, deep scars in his knees, shabby skin, tired eyes and weary heart, all inside the old clothes I had sent few years back. The strong regret of dropping him from class III to look after the ancestor house and land in the village remains in his heart. After losing both the parents, it was due to him I could continue my studies and if I am anything now, I owe everything, almost everything to my little brother. He stood silent the next day. I sensed he missed home; land, crops and cattle. When he spoke, he blatantly told me to get a ticket to home. It was because he knew I would not let him go. He profusely refused the drinks that evening. In the corner I saw his old green bag kept ready to make journey any time. I bought him clothes and crockery. When I picked a set of kera, wonju and tego, he simply thought I was buying it for my wife. I asked him the size of Choden. He blushed but I was consistent making comparisons on the size with my wife. To make it more emphatic, I uttered myself that Choden must not be fatter ordering shopkeeper to pack the set. When there was no resistance from him, I paid for the set and handed him the gift to Choden. Early next day, I gave him enough money to pay the due to shopkeeper and for his expense. And when bus started to move I held his hand tight, smiled and said, “My brother, me loves you very much. You and Choden marry, me is very happy, yes very very happy.” I saw a big smile flaunting over my brothers face as bus tunnelled out from the terminal. Alone, me cries seeing my brother gone.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 07:11:23 +0000
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