The sensation of a tooth
being loose in one’s mouth is something everyone is familiar with. It can be a
curiously engrossing for many people. One’s especially meddlesome human nature tempts
him to run his tongue across a loose tooth all day long. The squishy feeling at
the root of a loose tooth and the pain on being forced beyond its range of
mobility is an exhilarating feeling for many.
Our protagonist is not an
exception. In fact he spends an entire day meddling with his loose upper left
canine. The dull pain that spreads from
his gums, through the mandibles, down his neck, through his spine almost
intoxicates him. He starts prying the canine with his finger. The metallic
ferrous taste of fresh blood on his tongue stimulates his primitive instincts
no end. He pries and sucks harder finally bringing the canine to the brink of
falling off. The canine eventually gives in. He examines the fallen tooth
closely. The conical crown is gracefully shaped, widening down to its root,
with some gum tissues attached to it. He tongues the newly formed cavity in his
gum and suddenly realizes that the neighboring premolar and incisor are also
loose.
He starts prying the
incisor and it comes off; the premolar comes off too. He has lost three of his
teeth in succession. To his horror, he finds the other teeth on his upper jaw
becoming loose and as he moves his tongue over them, they start moving too. Now
this is no longer funny for him. He is scared. Suddenly he feels two of his
molars drop off, he spits them out. The force with which he spits causes one
more incisor to get uprooted. It seems to him as if his gums are giving in. All
his teeth are simply dropping off. He is petrified, he runs out of his room,
his mouth full of blood and fallen teeth.
His small sister is
playing with her dolls in the hall. He tells her of his predicament. She does not
understand anything and resumes her game. He runs out of the hall into the
kitchen, calling out to his mom. He starts sobbing and tries to speak but his
mouth is full of blood and some more teeth have fallen off.
“Just go out of the
kitchen. Can’t you see I am busy? We are having guests coming over in the
evening. I have plenty of work now, don’t disturb me,” she says.
In utter despair he runs
out of the room into the verandah where his father is sitting with his
newspaper. He spits out a mouthful of blood and teeth and tries telling his
father, but he can’t speak. With every effort one more tooth is coming out. He
shows his almost bare gum and a couple of freshly fallen teeth to his father,
with tears rolling down his eyes and blood trickling down the side of his lips.
His father looks at him
with anger on his face as he says,
“That happens when you don’t
look after your dental hygiene. Since the last twenty two years I have been
teaching you how to brush your teeth, to floss properly after every meal, but
you have never listened; now I can’t do anything.”
So saying, his father angrily
puts his glasses back on and goes back to reading his newspaper.
Our protagonist feels that
the world has ended for him, he sobs inconsolably as he runs out of the house
spitting out a tooth after every few minutes. He runs hard across the road, up
the hill. He keeps on running beyond the hill, across the green meadows. He
stumbles and falls, but picks himself up and keeps running. Suddenly it starts
to rain, he runs unheeding the downpour, his drenched long hair cascading over
his face. All of a sudden he sees the girl in blue salwar kameez with an umbrella in
her hand. She looks at him with her sad eyes. He drops down on his knees, face
streaming with rain, tears and blood, a desolate look in his eyes, chest
heaving with sobs, heart thumping out loudly. He stretches out his arm towards
the girl. But with the same sad expression in her eyes she slowly walks away
into the rain, into the wilderness.
Suddenly the earth starts
shaking heavily; he tries to stand up but falls back; large trees around him
seem to be falling down straight on top of him. He closes his eyes in fear.
“Abhi, hey Abhi, what’s
the matter, get up,” he hears distant voices.
He opens his eyes and
stares blankly at the three pairs of curious eyes peering down at him.
“What happened, are you
okay?” they ask.
His eyes hurt, his head is
groggy, and he tries to sit up but feels sapped of all his energy. He raises
his hand with a lot of effort and feels his face, his mouth, and his teeth.
They are intact. He is lying on his hostel bed and had been dreaming. A huge
load of unhappiness and fear comes out in the form of a huge sigh of relief and
he cries out. His friends are totally clueless. Tears of joy and relief stream
down his pale face as he tells his bewildered friends about his dream.
He comes out of his room.
The sky is overcast, it is going to rain. He puts on his shirt and runs out. He
runs across the corridors, down the flight of stairs, across the entrance to
the hostel, onto the street. It starts to rain, he runs unheeding the downpour,
his drenched long hair cascading over his face. All of a sudden he sees the
girl in blue salwar kameez with an umbrella in her hand. She is with her friends. They
cross near the Telephone booth by the big Jamun tree. For a brief moment she
looks at him, their eyes meet for a split second. To him the split second seems
like centuries of togetherness. His heart brims over with indescribable happiness.
He walks as if under a
spell, unmindful of the rain, into the football ground by the side of the road.
He drops down on his knees and spreading out his arms, looks up at the sky. With
all his being, he absorbs the downpour of heavenly bliss. His heart full of
happiness, his mind calm, he feels so balanced, so ‘one’ with everything around.
