The Window - a true story

I wanted to share one of the most astonishing true incident my two decade older cousin told me when I visited his village. In the sleepy town of XYZ, in the 1980s, there was this teenager called Mahesh. Mahesh was mentally slow. He was a little slow to react to everything, couldn't add 2 and 2, stammered as he spoke and had an unclear voice. He was pretty popular and everyone made fun of him. His father owned a small shop and Mahesh, helped him often in doing simple tasks. When all the boys played cricket, he sat under a tree and watched the game. Although he could play well, he never was interested. Facing this ground, was a water tank and beside the water tank, was a two-storied house which was the quarters in which the supervisor lived. A small pathway leading to the water tank separated this house from the tree under which Mahesh sat.  

One of those days in Summer, someone prompted him to climb up the tree and he readily agreed. He had climbed the tree for the first time and he enjoyed it. The next day onwards, whenever there was a game in progress, he used to climb up the tree and sit. One day, the supervisor of the water tank changed and a new family had occupied that house.  The supervisor had a beautiful looking daughter and she, had occupied the room on the first floor, whose window opened towards the playground. The moment Mahesh saw that girl, he fell for her.  That day onwards, he continued to climb that tree and but faced the opposite direction - towards her window. He didn't even know her name and neither did he have the capability to go and ask her. He just used to wait for the game to start and when it did, he climbed the tree and saw her. 


I am not sure what must have gone through his mind at that time, but he surely was mesmerized by her. In about two weeks time, things changed for Mahesh. He didn't have anything to do with the game or any of the boys. He started coming to the ground at about seven in the morning and sat there till the afternoon. He went back, had lunch and then came back again. And in the evening, his brother would come looking for him to take him home. By then, everyone was aware of what Mahesh did on the branch of that tree near the ground. They knew he was mentally unstable. But probably, deep inside, he had fell in love with that girl. He spent about twelve hours on that tree everyday looking for her. As if it was a duty.

At this stage, no one was sure whether the girl looked at him or not.  Only Mahesh knew. One day it was raining heavily and the supervisor noticed the young boy climbing the tree despite the rain. He saw that after climbing up a few branches, the boy positioned himself facing the window where his daughter lived. He was enraged and screamed at him. He asked him to get down. When Mahesh heard him, he got down. The supervisor asked him, 

"Why are you climbing this tree?"

"I like it up there" he stammered in his hardly comprehensible voice

"What? But in this rain? What are you doing there?"

"I am looking at that girl"

"Which girl?"

"The one who lives in that room" and pointed it towards the window. 

The supervisor got pissed off to the core and slapped him. Mahesh stood there unmoved. He slapped him again. Yet, there was no movement in his eyes. He was slapped multiple times and was grounded. He found a stick and started beating him. But nothing pained him. Multiple blows and abuses later, the supervisor warned him and left. The moment he went inside and closed the gate, Mahesh climbed back onto the tree and stayed there till it was dark. But, the window was closed. He stayed there, hoping the window would open. 

The next morning, sharp at seven, he came and climbed the tree again. When the supervisor noticed him, he urged him to get down. This time, he gathered a couple of other workers and they all beat him up. One of the boys noticed this and informed Mahesh's father. He came rushing along with a couple of others and there was a huge argument. He tried to explain that his son was a bit abnormal but to no avail. Somehow, he managed to take his son away.

Two days passed. Boys playing cricket noticed that neither did the window open nor was Mahesh seen. Supervisor seemed to be satisfied. But the third day, again at seven o clock, Mahesh came and climbed the tree. He kept looking towards the window and hoped it will open. But it didn't. The mentally unstable teenager had a lot of patience. He kept waiting and waiting but nothing resulted from it. Suddenly, he noticed that a police jeep had arrived and stopped under the tree. They forced Mahesh down and took him away. For a whole day, he was inside the police station. Mahesh's father was called for and was made to sign a note saying that if his son is seen around that house again, he could be held responsible. When he took his son home and fed him, he begged to his son to stay away from that girl or that house or that tree. He seemed to have agreed and nodded his head.

But, the next morning, again, Mahesh was back on to the tree. He climbed onto his favorite branch and sat there, looking towards that window. The supervisor noticed it. He didn't say a word. He didn't even inform the police. He didn't nothing. He spent a couple of weeks in denial of Mahesh. Then, one day, a truck was parked in front of the quarters as Mahesh climbed up to his favorite spot. He saw that one by one all the items were being loaded into the truck and at about twelve in the afternoon,  the truck left. A cycle-rickshaw in which the supervisor, his wife and the beautiful daughter were seated, followed. Mahesh stayed there and kept staring at the vehicles until he couldn't see them anymore.

Nobody knows what the girl felt about Mahesh. After about two years, the water-tank was abandoned and a new one was built outside the village. But Mahesh continued to climb that tree for the next seventeen years, morning till night. One day when he was bout thirty five years old, he fell asleep on that branch and slipped. He fell down and broke his leg. He was lucky to survive that fall. Today, Mahesh is about forty-eight and walks using crutches. Nothing has changed. He doesn't speak much. Often, he goes to the ground and sits under that tree smoking beedis.

- Deepak Karamungikar
  (My book, 'Love at first sight & other stories' is available here)

I have met Mahesh (name changed) a couple of years back and have seen the playground, the window and the water-tank. Boys still play cricket there. Mahesh is still mentally unstable. I didn't dare to speak to him or ask him anything, but I thought that was quite a love story.