Meena is a 12 year old girl. She is staying with her mother. No one was there for their help. One day a stranger came to Meena's house. Her mother was not in the house at that time. The man caught hold of Meena. She began to cry loudly. But no one was there to hear her. (10 marks) Complete the story in about 150-200 words.
Answers
All kinds of weird thoughts crossed Meena’s mind, especially as stories of children being kidnapped spread across the city. Why had this evil man come to their house? What did he expect to get from the house? They were poor and had very few possessions, so she thought it couldn’t be for material gain. She went on crying profusely and battled to set herself free.
After a while, the man let her go and sat on a stool, which was one of a very few pieces of furniture Meena and her mother could boast of. The young girl kept at the man, even though she was overcome with fear. The man had dishevelled long hair and overgrown, unkempt beard. He was of average height and slightly built.
A little while later, the man asked Meena to fetch him a glass of water. With a trembling hand she held an aluminium glass, that had seen better days, poured water from the earthen pitcher, which she tilted with great difficulty.
As the man was drinking water, Meena’s mother walked in. She was surprised to see the stranger. Her daughter was still trembling. She asked the man, ”Who are you? What do you want?” The man appeared to be calm and poised. He looked at the older female with distraught eyes. After finishing the water, he replied, “ You are Basanti, right? Do you remember Ramesh? Who’s this girl?” A long conversation ensued, after the lady’s initial shock had melted away. At the end of the dialogue, both the man and the woman were in tears.
Meena had heard the name Ramesh on numerous occasions in the past. It was the name of her long lost father, who was separated from his wife in the famous fair in their native Bihar, which is an annual affair and attracts a very, very large gathering of humans and animals. Meena was posthumously born, after which mother and daughter struck their roots in a slum near Kolkata, with a little help from Meena’s late maternal grandparents.