Feature

A Piece of Heaven

Fahima Bintee Jamal

It was all melting away too quickly, after having toiled
so hard for it, she didn't want it to be over so soon. The cheap orange ice-lolly tasted too good to let go. But what did she know about its worth? Everything was expensive to her, even this two taka worth lolly. From the very beginning of the day, it was too hot, when she had opened her eyes early, at 5 o'clock, she knew it would be a hard day. She slipped out of the tiny tent made out every scrap available long before her parents stirred from their sleep. It was steaming hot with 6 people crammed inside, there was hardly any space to breathe and much less sleep. For her the waking hours were better than the ones spent sleeping, because most of the time she didn't get any sleep at all for the heat and the noise of the street.

There was obviously no breakfast in her daily routine as her parents had told her that it was a luxury for the upper classes, the kind that abba carried in his almost crippled rickshaw, or the kind for which amma worked as a day labourer, building magnificent buildings in which people like them were never meant to set foot.

So she had set off on her daily wanderings, through the parks where people jogged and walked in the hope of losing the excess weight they gained. "If they had shared some of their extra food with people like us, perhaps they wouldn't have to waste their time doing all that." It was something that really intrigued her that how people manage to get so fat? Her parents hardly managed two square meals a day, everything cost so much these days, and here, these people didn't know what to do with their extra weight. It was so amusing to her keen eyes. But observing such people were not going to reduce the increasing heat, her throat was already parched and the sun had only risen. She had to do something maybe have an ice-lolly?? But where would the money come from? Abba and amma never gave her any money, it was something they never thought twice about, what would such a small girl like her do with money? She had so far managed to survive by wandering around the city all day, then what would she do with money?

The only option left to her was, of course, begging. It came to her naturally, she even had a logical explanation for doing it: if they could afford to live in a better condition, eat better food, travel comfortably while abba toiled and live at peace while amma did back-breaking labour, then they could definitely spare a taka. And so, to put this theory into practice she had set off on her mission for the day, which was begging. None of the joggers or walkers would be kind enough to stop and give her a coin because that would ruin the rhythm of their pace. She knew that from experience, but it still thrilled her when she could do something to irritate these people, call it a personal grudge, or just a childish whim. Everyone can afford a whim.

However, she was in for a surprise today, amazingly, the one to donate her a two taka coin wasn't a relatively wealthy person, but a peanut vendor. She hadn't even gone near him, after all, he belonged to her class, and such people often tend to feel sympathy for each other which leads to nothing. She had also learned from experience that all they did was lament their fate, woes and financial crisis, but they actually did nothing to help each other, it's just the way they are.

But there's an exception in every case and this was it. The vendor didn't ask or say anything, he just handed her a coin, which looked like that two-taka note, and then walked off. She grasped the coin tightly in her palm; it was the magic lamp to her treasure, her ice-lolly. Buying the cool piece of artificially colored and flavoured ice was like a dream to her. When the ice cream vendor opened the top of the box, a wave of coolness hit her. In the ever-increasing heat of the day, the whiff of chilled air was more than welcome; it seemed to carry the promise of comfort and leisure with it, something that was rare, if not non-existent in her life. That's why little luxuries like a cheap lolly was something equal to a huge treat for a girl like her, and that's why, she couldn't bear the thought of parting with this little piece of heaven, which is always found on earth, but is beyond her reach most of the time.