At a certain point of life, every human begins to nourish the hidden desire of attaining all the
riches. With all the hardships, one is reminded at least once in the whole span of life that money
determines to a great extent, one’s value.
A tiny drop fell on Aparna’s nose. While raising her dreaming eyes towards her old umbrella, a
sad smile of familiarity touched Aparna’s dry lips, ‘one more hole, this time at the top..’
The market chaos usually attains its peak around the evening. But today it seems her grapes
would not be sold. Though she could easily see through the holes of her umbrella,yet Aparna
lifted it a bit to look at the sky. One more round of heavy rain hidden behind the dark clouds
was about to pour. A stream of cold wind sent shivers down her body. She looked at the
grapes… No, she should not be hungry by now. Trying to ignore the rats in her stomach, she
closed her eyes and a series of snaps formed a train before her closed eyes, her hut, Ma, little
Punakon, their hungry faces.. and at last the jacket. Aparna did not spend another moment to
open her eyes. Her hand automatically went inside her pouch..Rs. 150.. 30 rupees for saaul
(rice) and potatoes.. Aparna had left her high school last year. She counted.. 80 rupees more
and she can buy the beautiful red jacket that she had seen in the market the other day. The
bright color of the jacket became the beautiful rainbow amidst the rain. Aparna felt warm.
Yesterday night she dreamt of attending the Sunday prayers wearing the jacket. Everything was
so bright, every object seemed to have attained charm with her colors. Robin was also there.
She had noticed the admiration in his eyes..it was so warm! Robin’s face..the jacket..she wants
to dream that dream forever..!!
‘How much are you giving the grapes for?’, a rude voice interrupted her day-dream. Aparna
looked up. The lady, an aristocrat in her charms was frowning at Aparnas. With her eyes
adapted to such familiar voices of snobbery, Aparna responded casually. Her luck seemed to be
favoring her today! The lady bought all the grapes! And here our heroine was with Rs. 250 in
the pocket and a dazzling red jacket in her dreams! Suddenly she felt very rich…!
Happiness and hope are such beautiful feelings! They create anything from nowhere and the
captivated mind just dances to their tunes. Aparna did not waste any more time. Closing her
little sky-terraced shop she hurried to the clothe shop. Her lips started humming an old song
which she had heard Robin singing often during the lunch breaks in school, days before. She
tried to tame the smile that just peeped in with the song. She felt like a bird,singing Robin’s
song mesmerisingly. The next moment she saw herself in the church, in the red jacket, and
Robin admiring her from the door.
Hustle of the market interrupted her thoughts. She had already reached the clothe shop.
Aparna stood still for a moment, hesitating. For the first time she was so close to her long
cherished dream…’Uncle, that jacket..’ ,she murmured.
‘Mumma, I want that red jacket. Its so beautiful!’ Suddenly a young girl rushed into that shop.
The lady following her did not bargain. ‘Pack that for my princess!’ The dream value of Rs. 500
walked away to disappear in the crowds.
It was already dark. Aparna looked up at the sky. It had started raining slowly. Ma and Punakon
must be very hungry. Aparna frowned at herself for being so irresponsible. Ma will be very
angry with her for investing time in useless stuff.. Robin’s face gradually disappeared in the
dark. Dreams are too expensive to be real…what took her so long to understand this!?
