All About Hussain: Reincarnation

REINCARNATION

Kids always find out a way to play being there a “New Rule” or not. It was an interval and as soon as the bell rang, we three friends ran out of the class to the open ground at the back of our school. We had to take a back door as that was the only way to get out. Once we were there we saw an ice cream seller with his hand driven small cubical box full of colorful and cool ice sticks. “Star” ice cream was my favourite. We thought of having it after lunch in ‘lunch period’.

“What shall we play?” asked Kiran.

“Out-out,” I said.

We then held each others hands and formed a circle. After swaying it twice in and out we suddenly put our right palm on the left one, either palm facing the sky or the ground. Since Kiran was left handed he put his left palm on the right one. Kiran and me had put the palm side up and Arun palm side down. So now we had to decide between me and Kiran as who will be the on who had to ‘touch’ first. We played again the same thing, Arun playing just as a deciding factor. And I won this time. And we ran, away from Kiran, for if he touches us we will be ‘out’. The term ‘out’ was borrowed from cricket I think, but actually we were not ‘out’ but now we had to touch someone to be safe. The last one before the bell rings who is in ‘out’ position is the one who loses.

Kiran plunged towards us and at a point where we (Arun and I) moved in different directions, he moved towards Arun. Seeing this I stopped and rested for a while. I saw Kiran chase Arun for a good distance; they climbed the ‘hill’ and came down, they went around the ‘grasslands’ and came back, they went on the ‘little desert’ and came back when both were exhausted. I was bored, they were playing the game and I was a spectator. Just then I saw an insect, a green big insect moving on the ground. I looked for a stone and grabbed one to hit the insect. I didn’t know when Kiran had touched Arun and Arun came after me to ‘touch’ me.

He saw me hit the insect and it was my first hit, to the target. He shouted, “Hey. What have you done!!”

“What? I said, "what happened?”

“You killed an innocent being.”

“Ah. Nothing will happen.”

“No, It is not good.”

Just then Kiran came running and put his arm around Arun and said, “What happened?”

“Hussain killed an insect,” said Arun.

“Haaa,” sighed Kiran, “Bad, very bad, now you will be born as that insect in your next birth and some boy will kill you like this.”

“Ha, No..,” I reacted.

The bell rang just then but Arun continued while we moved back to the class, “Yes Kiran is right, you will not know now, but you will know one day.”

I smiled and moved back to the class and technically Kiran had lost the game that day.

That day I kept on thinking of the insect and the reason that urged me to kill it. I think there was no reason. I thought about it at night also and went to sleep. Next day we all forgot about it.