The village of Luniyas where Chandu stayed was just a mile away from the river bed where he had brought his flock of sheep to graze. It was his daily routine to bring his father?s sheep to graze by the river bed which at this time of the year was practically dry.

Chandu would sit and muse for hours about the villagers, the local priest, the old woman whom his mother called a witch, and his favourite dog Tommy ? since for him all dogs were Tommy and all Tommys dogs! At times he would relish the memories of his elder brother?s marriage and all the laddus that he had eaten on that day. Why couldn?t all days be wedding days, he wondered. He would think of his own marriage. Yes, he would get married too. He would get more laddus made than anyone in the village had ever seen. But hadn?t he heard his father tell his brother that they hardly had any money left for Chandu?s marriage? Chandu shrugged away his depression by deciding that when the time came he had to be firm and make his views clear. Either they would have to have more laddus or else he wouldn?t marry.

Today, however, Chandu?s thoughts had taken wing. It was just coincidence that an eagle had come and rested its weight on the small tree below which Chandu was lying. They both stared at each other for a moment but then the eagle decided that Chandu was too small and lazy to be dangerous, and shifted its gaze elsewhere.

But Chandu wouldn?t stop staring. He wasn?t admiring the bird, just observing it casually when it took wing once again. The flapping of the wings sent currents of wind that made the leaves quiver furiously as if in a great storm. Chandu?s eyes followed the eagle?s path as it ascended in a wide sweeping arc and disappeared behind his field of vision. Chandu was too lazy to turn his head or get up to see if it had gone. There were other things he had to think of.

To be continued

Manu Mahadevan’s short story, Black Hole first appeared in the children’s magazine Target edited by Rosalind Wilson. It was later published in the short story collection, The Carpenter’s Apprentice, by Katha, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation and publishing house