The girl at the park

It was a tuesday morning that day. Since tasks at office were a little less, I decided to take the day off from work. I greeted my daughter with a good morning hug , ate our breakfast together and decided to go to the park.

Nishka broke herself free the moment she saw the play area and ran towards the swing. But unfortunately there was an older girl , about 10 years or age, already sitting on the swing.

It was a swing meant for below 5 year olds - so I was surprised to see the girl sitting on it.

I looked at the girl a little closely, and I noticed that I had never seen her in the park before. The girl must have recently moved into the apartment I thought. I did not want to be rude to the girl, so I told Nishka, "Its ok dear. Akka wants to play on the swing. Why don't you play on the slide?

But Nishka wouldn't pay heed. And insisted on playing on the swing.

I turned to look at the girl again. She was tall for her age and thin. She had a dark complexion and her oily hair was cut short. She was wearing black coloured tights and a faded shining orange short kurta. She had clipped her hair and was wearing a cheap glass necklace on her neck. From the way she dressed, it seemed to me, that she must be one of the caretakers of the little children who came down. Most of the residents in the apartment, who had small babies, had a live-in caretaker for their children.

I was about to pacify my daughter again, when the girl got up from the swing, smiled at me, turned to look at a cute little two year old playing nearby and said  "Keerthu.. Illi baa.. "( Keerthu, come here ) in kannada. I smiled back .

I put Nishka on the swing and had started swinging her, when I heard someone from the back asking , "What is the time aunty? "

I turned back and to my surprise it was the girl from the swing. I was surprised because she had asked that question in very clear and polished english. Maybe the hosts had put her in a good school, I thought.

"9.30 " I said to her and got back to swinging.

"What is her name aunty?" I heard the voice again.

"Nishka ", I said.

But I couldn't hold my curiosity any longer and I asked the girl, "Do you go to an english medium school?"

She nodded with a smile, confirming what I thought. I couldn't help noticing her pretty smile. Though dark and not dressed very well, she looked sharp. She carried herself with surety and poise. I continued to watch her for sometime.


Another girl about her age came to her and said,  "Baaa Bhakti… Slide hogans…"( Come Bhakti…Lets go to the slide.. ) It was obvious the two girls knew each other very well.  This girl was slightly plump, had a wheat-ish complexion, and wore a well fitting cotton dress. Her long hair was neatly plaited into two plaits. Maybe Bhakti stayed in her house, I thought.


"Beda… Ivaga baralla…."( No… I don't feel like it right now… ) Bhakti replied back.

There was a silent confidence about the way she spoke and the girl turned back to find some other friends.

I was taken aback by the authority in Bhakti's voice and I asked her, "Are you new here?"

"Yes aunty, We are from Bijapur, a town about 500 KMs from Bangalore.. "

"The girl who just left and the two year old girl, Keerthu are my cousins," she replied back with the pretty smile.