"Paamo, Giftin, Nantu And Their Afternoon Adventure"

Manojendu Choudhury

1 August 2007, 03:42

Paamo held on to the rails, Giftin on the left also held on, giving all the support to Nantu who was wedged in between, trying to find his foothold. For a fraction of a second both his feet were dangling in mid air, but the three year old found his left foot touching the window ledge before slipping away.

Instinctively he knew where to direct his other foot while the left one moved back and down. He lurched his right foot up and forward and caught hold of the narrow ledge, and quickly he balanced his left foot, dangling behind, and brought it up on the ledge, and stood up.

Paamo and Giftin were near the ends of their strength, but they had held on, when Nantu was dangling mid air. The ledge was not wide enough to accommodate the whole length of Nantu’s foot, but he managed to make himself as comfortable as possible.

Nantu was breathing hard, that brief sense of free fall had knocked the breath out of tender lungs. He let Paamo and Giftin hold him very close to the window grille, standing on the ledge four feet from the ground. He had climbed up the ledge from the bed, but while following the antics of a couple of kittens on the road just beyond the window he had walked along the ledge to the other end of the long window where the bed didn’t exist.

It was a sheer drop of four feet onto the hard ground. All along, as always, Paamo and Giftin were by his side. The kittens and their antics were getting outside the field of view and Nantu was prompted to crane his head along the window sill, it was then that his feet slipped and Paamo and Giftin prevented the fall.

Very slowly, and carefully, Giftin slid the hold on the metal framework of the window towards the direction of the bed and Nantu took a careful step, followed by Paamo sliding along the metal grille after him.

For the three year old, the journey along the narrow ledge, towards the end of the long window from where he could jump onto the bed, was the equivalent of an expert mountaineer climbing the Everest. He had to summon all his faculties to keep his calm. Awareness of the drop below made him nervous as he recalled his fall from the bed a few days earlier; and that had hurt.

He realised that Giftin, on his left, leading the walk back was wet with perspiration and the grip was slipping a bit. Paamo at his right was still strong with a rock solid grip, despite the sweat and the enormous strength that was being exerted. He relied on them for support, for life.

After a couple of half steps along the ledge, Nantu was distracted by sweet meowing sounds. He turned to peer outside the window where the mother cat had joined the kittens and they were now rolling all over the mother, all three happily contended. Nantu was transfixed with fascination. He wanted to roll along with them.

The sight elicited a squeal of laughter from the boy, startling the cat family. Ma-cat stood up on all fours and observed the window, the kittens snuggled into her belly. Once they observed the source of the noise, they relaxed, Ma-cat dozed off again, and the kittens, sensing the relaxed state of affairs, snuggled into their mother for an afternoon siesta.

The sight of a mother and two kids, albeit cats, happily dozing off is very infectious, and Nantu felt his eyelids getting heavier with sleep. He looked inside the room, and was jerked back into awareness of his situation. Nantu took stock: he was still a good couple of metres or so away from the spot from where he could jump onto the soft cushions of the bed. He instinctively thought of shouting for help, but knew how unlikely it was his feeble voice would elicit any response from the sleeping household.

It was because everyone was sleeping that he had crept into this spare bedroom to have some fun, along with his trusted lieutenants Paamo and Giftin. He looked at his companions, on either side, and realised that they have to come out of this mess unscathed on their own.

They looked at each other. With a silent understanding they conveyed to each other the next set of tactical steps. Slowly Giftin released his grip from the window grille, Nantu sensed the loss of support, but Paamo from behind held on. Nantu took a small step along the edge, only a few inches toward the bed, and sensed that Paamo’s hold behind had slacked that small amount.

Quickly Giftin grabbed the next metal rail that formed a part of the simple design of the grille. Now came the tricky part, Paamo behind him needed to let go of the grip and come forward. Nantu turned around halfway, Paamo loosened the grip and was quickly pulled forward, where Paamo now held a semicircular piece of metal.

Now Nantu turned towards the direction of the bed again, and the whole procedure was repeated. Minutes passed, slowly Giftin, Nantu and Paamo grafted their way forward, inches were overcome with extreme caution and concentration. Nantu started to feel a bit dizzy when they were about a couple of feet away from the bed’s edge. Nantu steadied himself, looked out of the window, and let the breeze soothe his nerves.

Giftin was sweating and slipping, but managed to hold on. Paamo, as usual, was the stronger and the firmer one. Nantu didn’t realize that unconsciously he was learning to rely more on Paamo, especially on such difficult circumstances. Feeling the breeze on his face, Nantu looked out.

Ma-cat was nibbling the furry coat of one of the kittens, the other was trying to feel brave in her presence by peering into the underground drainage system from the spot where the concrete slab meant to cover the drain was missing. Nantu was intrigued. The evening before while returning home with his mother he had tried the same experiment.

He had slipped off his mother’s grasp and walked to the edge of the drain and tried to peep in. The rotten smell of moss and dried up slush had conjured up a sickening vision out of the darkness that engulfed the drain. He was indeed happy when his mother had rescued him by pulling him off into the house, while chiding him for always running off to some mischief.

Now the kitten, which was white with brown spots (Nantu knew all the colours that were in his colour box) jumped into the black mouth of the drain. Nantu was paralysed with suspense. He felt the urge of adventure pumping his heart, the kitten was exploring the darkness that was both frightening as well as irresistible.

Nantu wondered what immense source of surprises lay beyond that darkness. His supple and sensitive imagination evoked unimaginable images and sensations of fear and wonder that might greet the kitten as it explores the darkness.

Amidst his reverie, Nantu realised that his feet were complaining of strain. In the last half hour, he had put enormous strain on his legs. The calf muscles were now demanding rest. He again braced himself up for the next phase of his journey to safety. Paamo and Giftin, were there, ready, with the sweat dried, and the relaxation of the last few minutes refurbishing some strength.

Slowly, Giftin released its grip and lurched ahead, followed by Nantu and last by Paamo. As the inches were being covered, Nantu was developing a hysterical urge to jump ahead. He felt Giftin was not eager to hold a hard grip on the grille anymore and Paamo too was urging him fast forward. His legs were giving away, the edge of the bed was about half a foot away. His generally cautious self was losing control, disappearing into some dark corner, as his urge to jump was becoming overbearing.

Nantu was feeling dizzy, he had covered a long distance along the ledge, the vision of the kitten disappearing the dark hole of the drain was engulfing him. He imagined he was the kitten, and was peeping into the drain as he did last evening, and then he was about to jump into the hole as the kitten did. That urge to jump was the only reality in his mind, and he didn’t know exactly when he took the plunge into the darkness.

He knew that Giftin and Paamo had released their grips simultaneously with his jump, and he felt the soft cushion of the bed hit his head, then his back and at last his feet. He felt the thump of Paamo’s hand hitting the side of the bed, and as usual he also felt the hurt himself. He lay on the bed, slowly waking to the fact that he had dived onto the bed, and not into the hole of the dark drain like the kitten. The familiar softness of the bed comforted him. With his eyes closed, Nantu realised that Giftin was slowly rubbing the back of Paamo’s hand, which had banged the side of the bed. As was his habit, he whispered, “Don’t worry Paamo, you are a strong boy!”

Slowly Nantu raised himself, the comfort of the bed had recovered his composure, and he was ready to explore the world again. The shock of the jump had invigorated him, and he didn’t feel sleepy at all.

He romped around the house, his mother was in the bed, mildly snoring, his father was lying in the couch with a book, loudly snoring, his uncle was in front of the television showing some football match (whose sound was muted, as was the norm during the afternoons), eyes blissfully closed. Nantu saw that the world was its own usual self, while he had had his adventure that made his day.

With a feeling of accomplishment he climbed up the table, took a tin of biscuits. Giftin held the bottom of the tin while Paamo wrenched the lid open. Nantu indulgently let Paamo and Giftin take out cream biscuits. Giftin and Paamo combined their efforts together to remove the two halves of the biscuits to reveal the cream inside.

With the cream savoured, the biscuits crunched and devoured, the hunger satisfied, the adventure relished, Nantu went to snuggle with his mother. Suddenly the heavy eyelids drooped, as he stumbled down the free fall of slumber. His last feeling was that of Giftin rubbing Paamo’s back as they drifted into the world of rest and dreams.

In the evening Nantu was enjoying his fried potato snack, with Paamo and Giftin both fighting to grab the potato pieces from the bowl, Nantu’s mouth was chock-full of potatoes. As Nantu glanced towards Paamo and Giftin lurching towards the bowl and coming out with irresistible pieces of potatoes, he felt that life was indeed blissful. Munching the snack very contentedly, he was woken out of his blissful reverie by his mother accompanied by a jovial lady.

“Will Nantu give Ma and auntie some potatoes?” his mother beamed at him. Nantu put his right hand into the bowl and grabbed a couple of pieces, and said, “Paamo will give auntie!”, and proffered his right hand clutching the potato pieces towards the lady. The lady, with a smilingly quizzical look accepted the potatoes. “Paamo is very nice,” the mother smiled. Nantu delved his left hand into the bowl and pulled out a couple of potatoes, “Giftin will give Ma,” Nantu said. Ma took the potatoes and caressed the left hand and said, “Giftin is also very nice!”

The lady raised her eyebrows at the mother, who explained, “Nantu calls his right hand Paamo, and his left hand Giftin. He has named them himself!”, and the ladies broke into wide indulgent grins.

Suddenly Nantu squealed in delight, they turned to see Nantu vigorously wringing his two hands together. Nantu, flushed with excitement, exclaimed, “Ma! Paamo and Giftin are fighting!” Ma smiled and said, “Paamo and Giftin are being naughty!” Nantu separated his hands to delve both of them into the bowl to grab a few potato pieces, filled his mouth, and continued wringing hi hands together.

Paamo and Giftin were being naughty, and were fighting each other…....

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