Eleventh Hour Blues- Poems, Quotes And More

Pied Piper Of Parel

Babsy was 6 years old when he first saw 'Khan chicha' as he stepped out of his school. Chicha was barely 5 foot tall, but to a child who was a little more than half his height, he seemed colossal. His leathery wrinkled face made him seem a hundred years old, but he had a demonic youthful energy bubbling inside.

He stood amongst a cackle of school boys, moving his hands frantically and musically along the beats of the clapping. The children stood mesmerized by his chanting as he waved his hands over his aluminum cauldron that was perched upon a bamboo stave. As he continued with his witchcraft, his cauldron hummed like a machine, like a storm brewing in its belly. Every few minutes he would stop his talismanic voodoo and the children would go into a frenzy of claps and cheers. One of the children would ruffle through their pockets and the clinking of coins exchanging hands would be heard. The child who paid the remuneration would walk out of the circle with a smile.

Such a fearsome mystical power, to chant a few words and make people happy seemed harmless to Babsy. But like every child with an active imagination, he stayed away, terrified of the man using his powers to curse him.

Once Babsy dared to go closer to the circle, to see why all the older kids stood there. Maybe he would gain a sight of true magic. Curiosity trumped his fears as he inched closer to the commotion. That was when he first heard his devilish chant.

"Di do do ru pi ko ya lee aa me taa, di do do ru pi ko ya lee aa me taa", the old man chanted it over and over again. Babsy felt like he was in a hypnotic trance as the chanting echoed in his ears. Each time he chanted, it layered over the echoes of the previous chants and became progressively louder. Babsy began to walk closer, mesmerized by the chanting. With every step his mind grew more and more irrational. Until he was standing just behind the crowd.

The person ahead of him shifted a bit and Babsy caught a glance of the evil incarnate. The wizard looked square at Babsy with his yellow eyes and smiled. He showed all his crooked brown teeth as he stared. Babsy felt a hole being burned inside his body, his heart began to race and he was overcome with fear. He shrieked in fear, "Ahhhhh" and Khan chicha stopped his chanting. Without the sound of the chant, Babsy escaped his hypnosis and ran for dear life.

For years after that incident Babsy went out of school from the other gate to avoid turning into a rodent or a frog under the Pied Piper of Parel's black magic. As the years grew, so did his sense of reasoning and disbelief in superstition. One day as it poured cats and dogs, the whole locality of Parel was flooded. Babsy was forced to use the other gate. He walked slowly, as slow as he could. He wondered if there was any other way to escape the school premises but there was none. He saw the man at a distance, still as wrinkled as a feline's behind and not aged a single day. 'Perhaps he gained immortality', Babsy thought for a moment before his rational mind took over and dismissed the idea.

As he passed by the usual crowd of children, Babsy's subconscious mind began to speak out. 'There is no such thing as Magic, and wizards can't exist', he said to himself. Babsy was now a lot taller, he could now look above the shoulders of the crowd and at the man who was in between his conjuring act. Babsy braved a look.

Wisps of thin pink strands danced in the breeze as his hands swirled it around his wand. The cloud of pink grew progressively larger as he continued to shape it into a ball of fluff. 'That's no wizard' he said to himself as he came to realize how silly he was as a child.

The man twirled the ball of cotton candy in his hands and spoke, "De do, do rupiya, ke liye mitha", (which translates to 'Give me two rupees for this sweet'). The old man then looked into the crowd and smiled, a smile that no longer looked demonic. He took the ball of cotton candy off the stick it was wrapped around and started pressing it in his hands. Within seconds, he had moulded one half of the cotton candy into the shape of a rose and the other into the shape of a bird. The children clapped and cheered in glee, and Babsy found a little smile breaking out on his face.

One child bought the rose, and the old man raised the bird in his hands to attract a patron. Babsy found loose change from his pockets and marched into the crowd. He dropped the change into the old man's rough palms and took the bird.

Babsy walked out of the crowd beaming. Khan chicha had sold him some sweets but gifted him enough joy to last a day and more. That was when Babsy realized that Magic really exists, and it lies in the hands of those who spread smiles.