Babu and his friends

Babu was a good kid. He listened to his parents and his elders. He used to go to school dressed neatly and was always polite .But none of his teachers in fifth standard really liked him. His teachers would keep punishing him all the time. He knew it was his fault. He would find the classes too boring, preferring to watch the blue sky through the windows and listen to the birds and squirrels.

He had great friends though. They all were really cool. Satya was the class topper and a science genius. Rahul was from a rich family and had been to many foreign countries. Ranjit was a sportsman and excellent cricket player. Akhil was big and strong, but was extremely lazy and always kept sleeping, even in the classroom. Akhil would usually accompany Babu, as both of them would be punished all the time and would have to stand outside of the classroom.

And Babu, well Babu was talented. He would answer questions in the class and was good at anything he did. But he never really thought about it. Satya told him he had no ambition while Ranjit said he lacked killer instinct. But he never really understood what they meant.

It was a fine monday morning. The geography teacher was taking a lecture on Spain. Babu as usual soon found himself drifting off and started looking at the airplane that just flew past. There was an eagle, gliding just behind the airplane, like a shadow beneath the deep blue skies lit up by the sun, brighter than usual. The eagle never flapped its wings like the other birds. It seemed to glide in a circle as it went under some clouds. The clouds formed many different shapes and looked strong and hefty. Just like Akhil he thought, and smiled to himself. The rains are coming soon he thought. He noticed a mynah, tweeting, just outside the window. It had black feathers and skin and bright glimmering eyes surrounded by a thin yellow lining and a beautiful yellow beak. It seemed to be calling out from the window. "Come here Babu" it seemed to say. Completely forgetting where he was Babu just stood up still and smiled and ran towards the bird.

This was it. The geography teacher has had enough. She accosted Babu and scolded him, " What are you doing you foolish boy? I won't tolerate this indiscipline." This time he was scared and a bit irritated but his presence of mind took over. "Mam it was Akhil. He was sleeping and had almost begun to snore. So I tried to wake him up".

"Uff! Both you boys have created too much trouble for long. Get out of the class, now. You will stand for the entire day near the school gate. Out, out. Now!!"

Not too bad, thought Babu, but big Akhil, who had suddenly woken up from his sleep was angry and gave him a threatening look, and all Babu could give back was a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry; the watchman's bench is there near the garden at the school entrance. You can sit there and sleep peacefully under the shade of the tree", he whispered. Akhil was glad and smiled back at him.

No sooner, both of them found themselves standing at the entrance. A few girls giggled at them and a few teachers were giving angry looks. But it hardly seemed to matter. While Akhil had almost started snoring, Babu just noticed a beautiful white flower in the garden. It had a lot many petals, and it was a very large flower. Babu kept staring at it for long, his mind going completely blank, mesmerised by its beauty, until all of a sudden he heard a voice. “Why are you here Babu?"

As if woken up from a trance Babu looked around to see there was no one. Was it Akhil, was he trying to play a prank or something. Well no, he still seemed to be snoring. "Where are you looking Babu? Its me the flower talking to you." The flower? Oh yes of course the flower. The flower was talking to him.

"Oh , hi. Did I err..wake you up? I was staring at you for a long time ...I know. But I couldn't help it. You are so beautiful!"

"Thank you . You are wonderful as well. Then.. tell me, why are you standing here? "

"Oh that was the teacher. Its a punishment. For err.. looking outside!", he said with a smile on his face.

"Punishment?? What is a punishment?"

" err...Hmm. How do I explain. Well, do you remember how they keep cutting off your branches each time you grow beyond the fence, or grow out of shape? Well that is punishment"

"Oh! punishments. Yeah I have heard of it. We are all surprised. We are only trying to spread our fragrance; I don't see why we need punishment? But strange are the ways of you human beings."

"Are you angry?"

"Angry? i don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh have you ever tried to tell other people? Like you are talking to me just now?"

"Oh loads of times. They all seem deaf though. First time I have seen a boy who is not deaf."

"Is it. I am not so sure. I am sure my friends can hear you as well. Wait."

"Akhil, you sloth bear! Wake up, wake up. I want to show you something".

"What you idiot, don't wake me up again." said Akhil as the bell rang. It was lunch break and all his friends walked towards the garden with the lunch boxes. " Oh great. now I can show them all", thought Babu.

"Here comes, Satya. Certainly he would be able to listen to the flower".

"Hi, Babu. So what have you been up to. What do you think you were doing. Running towards the window like that. The geography teacher is very strict you know. She is not going to give you good grades now."

"Err. Don't bother about it. I want to show you something. Come here quickly. Hey flower, this is Satya. He is very intelligent, and great at biology. I am sure he would hear you."

"Hi Satya. Can you hear me?", exclaimed the flower.

"What are you doing you stupid oaf. Talking to a flower?? Standing in the sun has made you go bonkers."

"So you can't hear the flower?"

"Which flower?"

"Err.. this one the big white one with the many petals"

"Oh this one. Its a 'Chrysanthemum indicum'. Often called mums or chrysanths. Its a perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Asia and northeastern Europe. And I am sure it can't talk.", nodded Satya , with a grin on his face.

"Well you seem to know a lot about it. I wonder why you can't hear it!"

“Confirm. You are crazy. Come let's eat lunch."

" Maybe Akhil can hear, but he is always sleeping and I certainly can't disturb him when he's eating" ,he said and both of them laughed out loudly as Rahul walked in with his "high tech transformers" lunch box.

"Whatya you idiots? What's the joke, come on share it with me!"

"Err. Rahul, our friend Babu heard this flower talking. And he claims it is talking to us as well and we just can't hear it. ha ha."

"What? This big white one. "

"Yes, Rahul.trust me. Wait i'll ask her to talk to you as well. Dear flower. Look this is Rahul. He has been to many countries and seen a lot of things. I am sure he can hear you. ", said Babu.

"Hi Rahul. How are you?" , the flower obliged.

"What the hell happened to you dude. Yes I have been to many places. And this includes the Alahambra gardens in Europe, and the worlds biggest garden in UAE. I have seen flowers of all shapes sizes and colours. I have seen flowers that can eat insects. None of them could talk. And you expect this ordinary flower in our school to talk??"

Babu was disappointed. His only hope was Ranjit now. And somehow he knew Ranjit won't be able to hear the flower as well.

But Ranjit wasn't even prepared to listen to him. "Shut up you idiot. I am not going to listen to any of your flowers. I have a match with the section B team tomorrow, I need to finish my lunch quickly and go practise. We need a good batsman and you better come along and play for us. We must win this match and show those guys their place and you would be a match winner for us."

"Allright, as you wish.", said Babu, resigned to his fate now. He really was worried why none of his friends could talk to the flower. He decided to set this straight.

"Hey, flower. I'll meet you after school and don’t disappear eh. I need to ask you some questions." The flower gave a nod and a smile, as Babu proceeded for lunch with his friends. As they attacked the sleeping Akhil's lunch box, Akhil woke up and snatched it away. They all laughed out together, as Akhil stuffed his mouth with the maggi.

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It was evening now. The school was almost empty except for the staff cleaners and the watchman. It looked entirely different as the sparrows chirped along on the dead leaves beneath the oak tree and the evening breeze blew freely along, filling Babu with pleasure and happiness and a deep silence. He walked calmly towards the flower which surprisingly looked as fresh as it was in the morning. He had a lot of unanswered question in his mind, by they could wait. The flowers astonishing beauty was still there, and he couldn't help but be mesmerised.

"Oh Babu! You are back. I was expecting you, or else I would have withered away usually by this time of the evening."

"Wow. You waited for me. Thank you!"

"How could I not, you love me so much and so do I. I couldn't wither away since you wanted to talk to me."

"Thanks I am glad you . I have a few questions please!"

"Go ahead!"

"I am worried. I can hear you talk. But none of my friends can. Am I like.. weird?"

"Err..On the contrary i think your friends are weird"

"What?? No no, Satya you saw him. He is a genius. He is in fifth standard and he knew your biological name and everything about you. How come He couldn’t hear you. I'll vouch that he ain't weird at all."

"Biological name??? I don't have a biological name. It’s you humans who have given this name. It means nothing to me."

"Hmm. And what about Rahul? He has seen so many different flowers and none of them talk it seems."

"Well i am sure they all do. But If he can't hear me talk how would he listen to the other ones, eh? And as far as your friend err.... Ranjith right? Well he was too busy thinking about something he had to do after lunch. Some cricket match. He didn't even bother to look at me. How do you expect him to listen?"

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Akhil as well. He was also too busy sleeping. But you still haven't explained why Satya and Rahul didn't hear you. They tried to listen. "

"Are you sure they did. Look at Satya. He didn't even watch me closely enough before he told my biological name or something. He was saying things about me I didn’t even know."

"Ha ha. Yeah something like 'family Asteraceae, native to Asia' and all that stuff."

"Of course. His mind was too busy, in continuous chatter. I don't expect him to hear anyone, forget a flower like me whom very few listen to.”, said the flower with a naughty yet compassionate smile.

Babu smiled back. He still had questions though.

"What about Rahul. He aint having anything to do with biology!"

"Oh that boy. He is living in the past. And full of pride. I could sense it. He kept talking about some beautiful garden he had seen. From his memory. But he fails to see my beauty that lies in front of him. All the time."

Babu semed to understand. He did not feel weird anymore. He felt reassured. And he was always happy.

He had always thought as the flower did. Whenever Satya was tense over his grades or Ranjith was all worked up after a cricket match he wondered what their problem was. Rahul on the other hand was always in an imaginary world of his travels, adventures and high tech toys, while Akhil was the one to be pitied most. He never woke up from sleep.

He bid the flower good bye and walked back to his bicycle with his school bag. The same mynah that had tweeted near the classroom window, was now sitting on his cycle's handle. He smiled at it. It seemed to give him a look, tweet, and suddenly flew away fluttering its wings vigorously towards the green tinged evening sky, with the sunset beneath. As he glanced upward, he somehow knew it all at that moment, in his heart. It was all, in one simple word, universal.