WHEN DESERTS TALK...

I'd run out of my house, 5 p.m. sharp, every day, reach the corner tea shop and meet my favourite person in the world... Shyam chacha... He owned the tea shop and sold some really creamy biscuits along with it, which I simply adored.... but that wasn't the reason why I'd go to meet him every day... I lived in Rajasthan... amidst the desert, and adding to the beauty of the brown dunes and the dry hot air against your face, was Shyam uncle... and his stories....

Twenty years later I went back to Rajasthan ( I live in Delhi now ) and the first person I went over to meet was him...I took a plate full of the cream biscuits and sat down ... " Raghu, take care of the shop... I'm going over to the bench to sit with my little princess", said Shyam chacha.. and with his broad grin and wrinkled kind face joined me ( though I was all of twenty six, and not little any more).... This was the story he told me that day...

After years of hard work and saving, a farmer couple in a remote village of Rajasthan gave birth to a son.... a son they named Shyam... the day he was born, his father distributed the most expensive sweets his pocket could afford, just to get the blessings of the rich and the poor alike... He did not want his son to be poor like him....

Five years later, Shyam's mother died due to lack of food, something which she gave up to save her son and husband in the time of drought and severe heat... Shyam did not quite understand it then, but he started carving out little pieces of wood his father brought him to satisfy his want for toys and to keep him distracted from his loss.... he carved and people marvelled at how a little child like him could do what he did when he did.... Slowly, tourists poured into the village, and his fame grew as the yound prodigee who could turn wood into gold....

Meanwhile, Shyam's uncle saw the great talent in him and knew he had to put it to better use than for the sake of a few tourists... His father wasn't too keen on wood carving nonsense, and wanted Shyam to concentrate on learning the tricks of the fields, Shyam's uncle planned something very different....

Shyam was still five when he was sold to a man by his uncle... he was now part of a circus... wherever the circus went, his posters were put up... a five year old creating masterpieces with wood?... people came from far and wide just to see whether all this hype was true.. "why a circus, you ask beta?", asked Shyam uncle when i looked surprised at his storyline now... thats because they put up a stall with his carvings near their circus, and there would always be a special show at the end of the show where the six year old would come to the centre of the circus enclosure and pick out another child from the audience, ask what he wanted the wood to be carved into, and within the next eight minutes, the wood would transform into what noone had seen before.... and so it went on... sparrow, peacock, a boat, a battleship, a fairy, a monster, mythological characters; he made it all....

The day had come to shift the circus camp to the next site... caravans were set, and Shyam walked with Ruchi, the acrobat of the circus, held her hands tight and walked.... " Why do we have to move so many times ruchi?", he asked. " Because that's the way circus life is ... you shouldn't be here though.... you have a true gift , you should be out somewhere making a name for yourself and enjoying the life little kids do... not slave out like this...."....

Months had passed, it was same every month.. a new place, but the same tricks, same shows, same carvings....

Neerav, the manager of the circus had managed to get the biggest ever contract... He was to perform in Bombay... amidst the high profile starts that lived there.... this was the time to make real money.... Shyam was still young.... if he grew any older, his talent would be considered "not unusual"....

The night of the show in Bombay, Neerav came upto Shyam and said," You have to be the best today, because if you're not, I'll be disgraced for the rest of my life and you won't get to see another morning"...

"Ladies and Gentlemen... the moment you've been waiting for.... yes, it's the miracle boy.. only five (although he was six now)... an age when your children barely know how to join blocks of the same colour, we have a child who can create magic out of wood....Please welcome... Shyam!!".....Shyam came into the centre of the enclosure... a star came in and asked him to carve him a wizard.... Shyam kept staring at the block of wood ....the star said "ok, if not a wizard, just make me a car"... Shyam continued looking at the wood piece.... ten minutes passed...thirty minutes passed and he did not move a single finger.........................................................

"Sell me the child.. he looks good, has a sweet face... will fetch top money from my foreign clients..", said Arvind to neerav.... Neerav had lost a lot of money, not counting the loss in his pride and fame, and he said" fine, as long as you give me a good price for him... he's yours"...

and so Shyam was sold for the second time now.......

"It's ok Shyam.... just do as the I ask you to do.... we won't harm you...we love you"..... Shyam was told to remove his clothes and pose for a photo... he removed his shirt and posed in his shorts.... " Ok, that's very nice.. enough for today...tomorrow we'll proceed further..."........

The police raided the place that night and Shyam discovered there were fifteen other kids, some as young as three, all who'd been bought by the couple ... He didn't understand why though.....

he spent the night in a tiny room rented by an NGO.... and slept for the first time in that year then....

For the next ten years, the NGO tried to find a couple to adopt Shyam... but nobody did.... he'd grown ... and his face had lost its sweetness and charm.... people wanted beautiful kids to adopt.... He worked at the NGO, and slowly everyone knew Shyam as a hard working and talented boy... He'd organize little programs for the rich people who'd come to visit the NGO, the NGO needed their money and Shyam did everything to entertain them into giving their gold to them....

Shyam was 17 when he got tired of living in one place.... the next day, he boarded the train to Rajasthan.... He'd always wanted to go there.... he didn't remember his father or uncle any more... the only thing he remembered were the brown dunes of the desert....

He went back.... but not to his village... he worked as a labourer, as a salesman, and finally married Sonam... Sonam lived with her father who owned a tea stall..... Her father died a few years later and Shyam came to own the tea stall......

He liked his settled life ..... and I still do, my child....I'm old and weak but I never fail to miss my little girl who'd come to listen to my stories every day.....

" I miss you too, Shyam chacha... and most, I miss these biscuits of yours..."I said, finishing off the plate and three cups of tea to wash it down...