His cowboy hat lay reversed on the sidewalk. Carl stood behind the hat playing his saxophone. The sounds that came out of this conical shaped instrument was magical, it relaxed everyone walking by. He was playing on the intersection of Postal Street and the City Administrative office. This was right in the middle of the Business district of Xylopur. Xylopur is a small town on the outer edge of the Upar Hill range, about 100 miles from Preethban. The town was bustling with activity. It was a Monday and there was a surge of young professionals rushing to their daily grind. They walked by Carl in rapid long strides but they always felt a calm passing by the raggedy musician's intersection. The music was like the only entertainment in their long ardous day. Carl enjoyed this attention and he knew they wanted him to keep playing. He got a lot of tips to buy food, as these young professionals were all heavy pursed in their high powered stressful jobs. Playing music on the sidewalk was illegal, but the cops let it slide, as they enjoyed his music too.

Carl was a lean middleaged man with a goatee and long salt and pepper hair. The hair was held together by an old headband. The writing on the headband was blurred by sweat and use. He had light creases on his forehead and was always found wearing a polka dot T-shirt and Cargo shorts. He had a couple of tattoos to show his wild side. He had musical notes tattoed on his right forearm. He wore a Cowboy hat which lay on the floor in front of him. He played his music from sunrise to sunset with a lot of breaks, which he spent sitting on his foldable chair scribbling in his old brown book. He had been playing music on the streets from the past two years. He had suddenly appeared on the sidewalk to enlighten many lives. He mostly kept to himself just smiling at the passerby whenever they drop a coin or two. He chatted with a few interesting people. One of them was a conservationist who hailed from a tiny village in the Upar Hill ranges.


In the after hours he walked back through the tall buildings and beautiful architecture towards the darker part of the town towards his abode. He lived in a make shift abode using sticks and large plastic sheets. This dark place was called the Shuniya slums, it was an old deserted factory converted to a place of stay for the migrants of this town who did not make it big. Life was hard here. Carl always met up with some of his more needy neighbours and got them a loaf of bread and cheese when he had the chance. One of the lucky dwellers who got his charity was an old lady called Martha. She was about 79 years, she had trouble walking due to arthiritis. It looked like she was plumb in her youth but she had withered away and had been a shadow of herself.
"Marthaaa..!!" he said in a loud tone
"Carl!! Stop shouting, I am old not deaf" said Martha in a loud but playful voice.
"Ok Ok.. I got you some bread and cheese, you silly old bat" chuckled Carl.
"Again the same thing, when are you going to get me the flat noodles I asked for Sonny boy" she said with a naughty smile.
"I have ordered it and they will be delivering it to you in about never" said Carl.
"You are good for nothing Sonny boy" said Martha munching on the bread and the cheese.
He did not wait for her to say bye, he just left and went back to his abode of plastic and sticks. It was a well guarded fort surrounded by a pack of dogs. He walked among the dogs and threw small pieces of bread and cheese at them. He had also managed to scavenge a couple of dozen bones left behind in the bin at the local eatery in front of the post office. The dogs were really happy, they were all wagging their tails at Carl and looked at him with thankful eyes. After the food was gorged upon, they went back to their seats continuing their guard duty. Carl looked like the Alpha dog or a celebrity with a 24/7 posse of guards surrounding his stick and plastic castle. Not that he had anything in there to guard. It only had a lamp, a couple of brown books, a dozen pencils, a sharpner,an erazer and a photo of a beautiful woman dressed in a expensive flowing dress.

The lady in the photo was giving a reassured smile to the camera and the photo seemed to have captured the glint in her eye. Every time Carl looked at the photo he started teary eyed but ended up with a smile. He never knew why he had this reaction. He looked away, started scribbling in his brown book under his led light. Thought for a while and then went to sleep. The next day he woke up to the barking of his gang of hounds. They were barking at a rat or a squirrel. He woke up dusted his clothes. He said bye to Martha and headed back to the Town square. He set up his seat and speaker and was ready to begin before the young crowd began their march towards their destinations. The crowd started to march through then suddenly a man passed by and suddenly stopped. He stood there staring at Carl. Carl did not have a lot of spectators in the morning, he continued playing one of his masterpieces. The young man was overjoyed he couldn't stop smiling. He did not move he listened to him intently and then when Carl stopped, he came forward and started to him with a very friendly and respectable voice.
"Hi Edward" said the young man
"Hi, but I am not Edward, my name is Carl, you must be mistaking me for somebody" said Carl
"Hi Carl, I am Gregory. I am your son." said the young man
"Gregory? I dont know anybody called Gregory, you might be mistaking me for somebody else" said Carl
"That tune that you played just now, is the tune that you played to me when I was a kid" said Gregory
Carl was confused and started feeling uneasy. Gregory was hunting for a picture in his purse for a photo. He took out a photo from his purse and showed it to Carl. It was Carl (younger version where he had short hair and clean shaved face) wearing a formal suit. The photo also had the beautiful woman from the photo he had and a little rolly polly little brat. Carl was shocked he did not remember this photo ever being taken. But alas he never remembered anything else about his past too. He refused to listen to Gregory and started playing again. Gregory sat on the parapet of the post office and listened to him play, he sat there till the sunset and when Carl finished his set. He approached him again and gave him a couple hundred rupees and left. Carl went to the Indo-chinese vendor near the post office and picked up a two packs of flat noodles, a plate of tandoori and let for his abode. He entered Martha's tent and called out in a loud voice
"Marthaaa!!! You asked for flat noodles and here they are" said Carl
"Don't fool an old lady who is almost on her death bed Sonny boy" said Martha
She got up and put on her spectacles and looked closely at Carl's hand, the box had some chinese looking alpabets on them. She couldn't believe her eyes. She had not had good nourishing tasty food for ages now. Her mouth was used to bread and cheese and nothing else for the past two years. Carl and Martha used to eat only cheese and bread.
She slowly came forward in the tent and got the box from Carl. Opened it and with closed eyes enjoyed the smell of the noodles for about five minutes. Then she ate it really slowly till the box was empty and clean.
"Why did you get me just one box, now I will not be able to eat cheese and bread tomorrow" yelled Martha and hugged Carl
He had finished his noodles too and he bid her goodbye and left her tent. His pack was waiting for him. They smelled the food on their leader, he immediately threw the tandoori pieces among his posse. They had the best meals of their lives too. Carl went to the tent and sat on his chair, looked at the picture and thought of the good samaratin who had allowed him to treat his family to the a scrumptious meal. He was also curious of the photo of the beautiful woman the stranger had in his pocket. Who is that kid.. Is that stranger named Gregory his son? Why does he feel the sensation of happiness whenever he looked into the eyes of the beautiful woman in the photograph. He switched of the light and went into a deep slumber.

Next Day he went to the Town square and Gregory was waiting on the parapet. Carl went to him and decided he was ready to talk to him but he wanted to meet the lady in the picture. Gregory was excited and happy. He immediately held Carl by his hands and started walking towards the Parking Garage. The army of young people were all looking at Carl, expecting the soothing music of the Saxophone. But today there was silence. Carl followed Gregory towards the Parking Garage. This was a major change of route for Carl. He had alway stuck to a routine and it had not changed for two years. This was the first time he was walking away from his abode, his place of music and his life. He sat in the Car alongside Gregory. Gregory was like a little kid continously looking at Carl and smiling with jerky movements. He started his car and drove about 100 miles from Xylopur and about 200 miles from the Upar Hill Range. They eventually arrived at a large mansion with a huge porch and Gregory parked his car in the porch while a valet took the keys from Gregory and parked the car somewhere in the large property. Carl climbed the huge stairway and entered the huge door behind Gregory.
"Mom!!! Mom!!" shouted Gregory
"Hold on, dont shout honey, I'm coming down" said the woman from the top floor
The woman started coming down the stairs, Carl looked into her eyes, he saw the same glint. Carl rushed towards her and hugged her. He felt a sense of completeness. The woman also started crying. Gregory, his mom and Carl all went to the living room and sat there.
"Carl, this is your wife, Linda. Mom and you were involved in an accident two years ago and we found mom but never found you. The police did a search all across the three districts but they thought u were either lost in the Preethban forest where the accident happened or eaten by a wild animal. We dont know how you reached Xylopur" explained Gregory
"I dont know how I reached Xylopur, but I am happy to be with Linda, I looked at her every night for those two years" said Carl
Next day Gregory took Carl to the Doctor and did some checks, he had Post Traumatic Amnesia, he had forgotten everything in the past but had held on to Linda's face. He had to build his life again. Gregory explained to him that Edward was a CEO of a manufacturing company and was doing really well before the accident. Gregory had taken over the business after Edward was lost.
"Please call me Carl son, I dont remember Edward" said Carl
Gregory nodded with agreement. His father had changed in the course of these two years. He was now a musican and not a high powered businessman. Carl wanted to go back to his abode in Xylopur and help out Martha, his posse and also collect his brown books.
Carl got a clean shave and fresh pair of clothes and shoes.
Gregory accompanied Carl to Shuniya slums, they took one of their Vans with them.
When Carl entered the Shuniya slums he was stared at, he looked completely different.
Carl went straight to Martha's tent. Put his head inside and shouted
"Marthaaaaa!! You old bat get out of that tent of yours, I am going to feed you enough flat noodles till you die"
Martha crawled out and looked at him and said "Who are you Mister" and then she rubbed her eyes again and looked at him with more clarity and said "Sonny boy is that you? What happened to you? Did you find a treasure hidden under your tent or somethin"
"Something like that" said Carl
Gregory and Carl helped her into the front of the Van.
He then went to his tent and lured his pack with a couple of tandoori pieces to the back of the Van. They then drove to his palatial house. He released the dogs in his huge garden to run freely. They never went hungry again and Carl made it a point to meet them every evening at Sunset.



Martha was given a room in their house and was given the best food. She was also treated by the best doctors. She had happiest time in her life. Then in about three years one Friday,she died in her sleep.
Carl enjoyed a relaxed family life with Linda and visited Xylopur couple of times in a week to play for his eager audience.
His brown books contained a lot of compositions he had written in the two years he was lost.
Life was good for Carl.

Splash! The pebble just disappeared beneath the film of clear water. That was my third attempt at stone skipping. I can be considered one of the worst stone skippers in the village. My school had just finished and I was under my favorite banyan tree by the lake passing time. The village did not have a lot of recreational activities for kids, we busied ourselves with mundane games like stone skipping, marbles or gilli danda. Our village was tiny settlement of farmers with the Preethban forest in the south and the Upar hill range on the north. A wide opening in the hill range provided us with a connection to the outside world. But hardly any kids ventured out of the village as there was nothing much outside except a path that went on till the eyes could meet. Our villagers were used to cutting down the forest and farming their lands. Every year a tiny portion of the forest would be consumed by our village. It was like a monster biting into a big loaf of bread. Every year I could see animals getting pushed back into a little box or hunted down. Every year the villagers blamed the animals of encroaching into their land. The land on which they were born and the land which was their home. I always empathized with the animals as I was like them. My parents had a house, a farm and I had toys, but one day when I was little I saw my dad being dragged out of the house by the village head, I never saw him again. My mom followed him and I did not see her too. Some villagers took me out of the house and I could hear people shouting loudly and destroying my house. Then some villagers brought fire sticks and lit fire to our house and our farms, everything was ablaze. I was homeless, I was deserted, I had no where to go. I felt like the poor innocent animals of the forest. I was shifted to this community home where other kids like me stayed. The villagers said my parents had done something really wrong and had left the village and were never going to come back, but I knew they would be back for me. The animals always returned to their homes, even though they were hunted, why would my parents not return. The community home was nice, the lady taking care of us was a middle aged lady who always wore a white sari. Her name was Nirmala, she cooked average tasting food and provided us with clothes, books and took care of us when we were sick. I liked her a lot.

Spash Splash! I was able to get two bounces out of that flat rock. I had just sprung about 50 places in the top ranked stone skippers in the village. I was accompanied by Karun, Kriti and Aparajith under the banyan tree. They were witness to history. We always visited the edge of the forest near the lake after school. The banyan tree was our hangout spot where we discussed our futures. We all had quests to leave the village and do something about our lives. My quest was to search my parents and save the animals. Suddenly I spotted a reddish orange streak of fur among the tall grass on the edge of the
forest. It was then followed by a black streak. I froze and asked the others to keep quiet.
"What's going on there" shouted Karun
I just Shhhh'ed him. He got the message and he simmered down. I could see two gem colored eyes with black lines staring right at me. I stood still and looked at them. It felt like I looked into them for minutes, while it was just a glance. It looked at me again and then hustled through the bushes into the forest. We were scared and excited at the same time. The other's also saw him. We fell in love with that elegant beast. It was a confusing feeling.
"Dont tell Mukhiya" I said to the other's."This is our secret". Mukhiya was our village head
"Why??!!" said Karun and Kriti
"They will hunt him down and we will never see him again"
I got them all to promise and they agreed. Also this made us feel proud and happy. We now had something to look forward to. Every day after school we visited the banyan tree, wait for the tiger till sunset and leave. We saw him once every five days or sometimes alternate days, there was no set schedule. The tiger made his own destiny, he didn't have to follow a routine. He does what he wishes. A couple of times we made eye contact. A somber eye contact but with no aggression, as if he understood me. We named him Preeth, after the forest. I wanted to be like him free, not shackled by the village, making my own rules and riding into the open world not knowing what I encounter next.

A couple of years went by, the village was again ready to slice up the forest and burn the beautiful green trees. They had exhausted all the land and now were ready to gorge some more. They chopped down a kilometer of forest and nothing was left, I could see bird's nest and some small animals in the debris. It was a massacre, the tiny birds who stood their ground, did not have a chance. We still visited our banyan tree, but we could only see barren land now. Days joined together to form months, we did not see Preeth. I grew sadder everyday but was happy he did not come to the lake as the villagers were ruthless. The season turned to summer and the earth was parched. I was thirsty all the time. The river provided us with water. The river was now part of the village. We were sitting in our community house with our study books when I suddenly heard loud noises and people running with sticks. It spawned bad memories and I did not like it, I was afraid and scared, but also sad and I had that strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. Karun, Kriti, Aparijith and me all came out of our house and asked the passing villagers what happened.
One of them stopped and said "A tiger was spotted near the lake in front of the banyan tree. It was here to hunt our children and lifestock and we will not let it do so." and then he began running towards our banyan tree with that look of mad rage. We stood there shocked. None of us uttered a word. They all knew how much I loved Preeth. We went into our community house and sat there hopeful that Preeth goes back into the forest and never comes out again. After an hour the voices became louder near our house, we heard a thud in our courtyard. I could see a huge majestic beast standing in our courtyard with a shiny orange-yellow sheen and black lines painted on it. He was looking around searching for something. Our room doors were locked and we saw him through the window. He looked right into my eyes, he found me. He shouldn't have but he did. I started tearing up but I composed myself. I tried getting out of the room door but Nirmala did not allow that. Preeth just jumped through a small gap in the terrace and left. Everyone in the community house was relieved, except me. I was sad and hoped Preeth escaped. The villagers continued their hunt and eventually found him near a tank drinking water and shot him. They were happy the hunters were revered as heroes. Everything went back to how it was. Preeth had just wanted some water from his lake. He was the king of the jungle, he was not going to back off, it was not in his nature and that led to his death. I missed him.

I eventually finished my school, went to the city and studied hard and finished my college and became a Wildlife conservationist. I traveled the whole world and visited many forests in the hopes of rescuing as many Preeth's as I could. My search for my parents ended very fast, as I learned that the villagers had killed my parents due to some petty village politics. My ultimate revenge on the villagers was the conversion of the Preethban into a nature reserve. The lake was freed from the villagers. The banyan tree stood strong and the grass grew back. My childhood view from the banyan tree was restored.