THE WINKING LIGHT

“There is a better road to God’s abode than religion!”

Religion is just a signboard, and not the road!”

Abu asked Aziya to do the ritual cleansing and come to the prayer room soon.

Aziya rushed towards the rear of the house, washed her hands from the tap, rubbed her feet using her tiny toes and soft heels, splashed some water on her face, and quickly returned to the room, after wiping the water droplets off her face using her long sleeves.

While the prayer lines were recited by Abu who had his eyes closed, Aziya opened hers’ a wee bit by the corner to look at how others prayed.

She loved to do it. ‘Watch others pray, and get amused by it every time.'

There is another reason why Aziya used to do this - a bigger, better reason.

A hidden magic that she swore to herself she won’t tell anyone.

The light winked at Aziya when everyone else in the room would pray with their eyes closed. The prayer room usually has only one candle lit, and when the light winks at her, the room would switch to darkness for a few milliseconds, and return to its light yellow hue.

She started to witness this fantasy ever since her father Abu declared Aziya to be fit enough to attend prayers every day with the family.

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Hazel had a broad smile glued to her face, and eyes gleaming like a pair of cherries on a pastry.

Hazel’s elder sister nudged her and asked her in a whisper. “What? Why are you smiling like an idiot?”

In a sudden change of demeanor, Hazel’s face reddened as she frowned at her sister.

She thought, “Why would she bother to know? She didn’t see the magic! She can’t too. The candle light is my best friend. Only mine!”

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Sahiti closed and opened her eyes at least ten times. She wondered, “Why isn’t it happening today?”

She got irritated and then walked out of the room.

Anjali, Sahiti’s mom, asked her, “Why, what happened to you now? Looks like Gods didn’t give you the candies you asked for.”

Sahiti didn’t enjoy the joke. She just stormed into her room and crashed flat on her face.

It was only after a while that Anjali realised that Sahiti had dozed off. She entered the room and spread a blanket on her daughter.

Kissing Sahiti’s forehead, Anjali lit a candle in the room before she left. It was pouring outside, and anytime she knew, there might be a power cut. And Sahiti would wake up scared in the room.

Sahiti did wake up after a while, and the power had gone.

But she didn’t get scared. Sahiti’s mom and dad were right beside her, sleeping.

Soon, her eyes started protesting, as slowly she drifted back to sleep. But before her eyes shut by itself, she saw the light inside the room; the candle light to be precise; flicker once.

Sahiti smiled and fell asleep.

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Four years passed by and Aziya, Hazel and Sahiti were no longer the little ones they used to be. 

They went to school every week day, did their homework, played in the streets with their friends, and helped their parents in household chores in whatever ways possible.

But this was not the telling difference in the way they lived. Something else was different - something that they missed, something they yearned for a glimpse.

Every time a candle is lit, they would expect the miracle to happen. But it never did.

What was regular became intermittent, and then very rare. Then after a couple of years it had stopped.

The winking light didn’t even bid a nice goodbye before leaving once and for all.

The trio was stricken with grief whenever they saw candlelight. But they were moving on, slowly, learning to cope up, making it a habit not to stare at the burning beauty.

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3 decades later, Sahiti’s little son Anay fought with his dad for a Labrador pup.  

As always Anay had his way. He got the pup, and lost his interest in it, within just a few days.

Cleaning the poop, feeding the pup, and taking care of it, which includes even cuddling – all the responsibilities were on Sahiti now.

She got fed-up cleaning up the leftovers of what the pup used to bite or rather tear down in the house.

Finally, she came up with a plan. Sahiti would lock the pup inside a room, with only a mat and nothing else for the pup nearby to chew on. And this worked!

Sahiti would provide the pup with enough water in a bowl before she slept. When it rained, she would light a candle in the room before she goes to sleep – similar to what her mother used to do for her.

Sahiti had grown to like the pup in a way.

One day, before Sahiti closed the door behind her, the power went off. She turned to double check if the candlelight was on.

When she turned, she saw her Lab staring at the candle light with some curiosity.

Before she could turn her attention to the candle, she saw a short but perfect flickering of the light inside the room – just like old times...

Sahiti opened her mouth in awe and stared at the candle in disbelief.

Then she looked at the pup, which was fidgeting and nibbling at the floor mat. It looked up at her. The kind of expression that says, “What? You have something to eat?”

“It didn’t even realise it was magic!”

 Hemanth Sreekumar 

hemanthsreekumar.89@gmail.com