Zubu laughed when others cried.
Zubu cracked up when he saw someone falling down and getting hurt.
Zubu became happy when he saw people sad.
Such was Zubu.
People detested him. And called him The Little Devil.
Whenever Zubu walked on the streets people shunned him and ignored him. Zubu used to chuckle taking great pride in this treatment.
Zubu had no friends. And no family. As a kid he lived with a wretched, unloving aunt who had died too leaving him alone.
Zubu used to spend his day laughing at other’s miseries and then just before the sun had set he used to sit on the cliff overlooking the sea watching the orange yolk sink in the waters. Somehow this routine made him happy. But not the happiest.
Once Zubu was walking on the street when a bus sped and stopped a few feet away. The bus sped away as fast as it had stopped. There was only one person who got off. The bus almost knocked down the person’s luggage. Seeing this Zubu roared with laughter. The person turned and looked angrily at Zubu.
Zubu stopped howling and stared and stared. It was a girl. He had never seen such an expression looking so lovely on someone’s face. He forgot about laughing at her misery and gazed and gazed. The girl swore under her breath and asked, “What kind of a person are you? Aren’t you even going to help me?” Zubu couldn’t find any words. Moreover he bent and helped pick the girl’s luggage. The girl walked away in a huff without thanking him.
Suddenly Zubu found himself smiling. He could feel the colour of his cheeks was turning pink. Rest of the day that silly smile did not leave his face. Whoever saw him were taken aback, “I saw Zubu smiling today.”
“I saw it too. It was weird. But was different.”
“Zubu looked happy for real!”
That evening Zubu did not laugh at the sun but just smiled at it.
The sun too wondered, “Why is he smiling so kindly at me?”
Zubu was indeed feeling the happiest that night. He wondered why.
Next day Zubu saw the same girl buying flowers from a florist. The way she smiled when she held the flowers. The way she smiled when she smelt them. That made Zubu smile wider. That day he followed her everywhere and watched her from a distance. To the little school where she waved out to the kids, to the dance studio where he watched her dance, to the riverside where he saw her filling her bottle and watering the flowering plants some distance away. Zubu realized he had started feeling different. He had started feeling warmer and happiest.
And just when she was filling in more water she slipped and fell onto the riverbed dirtying and wetting all her clothes. Watching her slip Zubu suddenly started to laugh. The girl saw Zubu laughing at her and she felt so miserable that she began to cry.
Zubu stopped laughing. He did not like to see her cry. He told her to shush. This scared the girl all the more and she began to cry more. Zubu didn’t know what to do. He went and plucked the flowers from the flowering plants but she was still crying. He remembered how dancing had made the girl happy. He danced and showed her. But he ended up slinging more mud on the girl. The girl started sobbing now. Zubu didn’t know what to do. He had tried and aped whatever had made the girl happy before. He had never known how to make anyone happy. How would he? All he knew was laughing at others misery. The girl got up crying and ran away feeling scared and upset.
That night Zubu thought a lot. How should he make the girl happy? He thought and thought.
The next morning he bought the same flowers that the girl had bought for herself and which had made her happy and went to see the girl. The girl was waiting for a bus. He went up to her and gave her flowers but she screamed on his face and threw the flowers down and stomping on it boarded the bus. Zubu’s smile disappeared. He had never felt so gloomy.
And then he heard someone giggling behind his back. He turned to see another girl. She was guffawing seeing Zubu’s sorry state. This made him madder. Watching Zubu’s face turn red the girl roared more with laughter. Zubu kept on looking angrily at her. And then their eyes met. Zubu’s anger disappeared and he smiled at her. She smiled back. Zubu felt his cheeks turning pink. Again. He had started feeling happiest. Again :)
-AP :)
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