Gillu Sunder

Gillu Sunder - Part I
He came to me one fine evening in the most unpremeditated way. I loved him from the moment I saw him. My evenings were brightened  by his presence. After college I would rush to him and spend time talking to him and feeding him. Slowly he trusted me.  He would snuggle down inside my palms, some times nibble my nails. Then one day, my carelessness, he jumped out of  the cage. I was inconsolable. Amini  tried to console me saying  he would be  come back. My  partner as usual kept a studied silence. I kept a bright face telling him repeatedly its  good he escaped. He will be happy in his  new found freedom. He listened patiently never making a comment  Inside I was crying thinking of what dangers he would be facing and how untutored he was in the ways of the wild. I saw him in my mind's eye cuddling inside the coconut shell which was his home in his spacious cage. By 6.30 pm he would retire even blocking the entrance with coconut husk. Every night I would go and bid him goodnight and tell Our father... silently .He would pull aside the husk and peep at me, and then disappear, an apparent dismissal.
I couldn't sleep that night  I rolled on my bed. Finally my partner queried "Its the squirrel isn't it?" "Yes." I whimpered."where will he sleep tonight? "Don't you worry, he will find some safe place, may be he will come back." I was not convinced. I shut my eyes and pretended to sleep. But sleep evaded me.and my eyes were full of my handsome Gillu.
 Morning  after our prayers, I sat despondently. Suddenly I caught his glance on me. He smiled at me 'Cheer up, I shall buy another one for you". Then we heard a tumult outside and  the frantic chirping of a squirrel. Lassie was chasing him and he was clinging frantically on to a coconut tree -  as he was not skilled in climbing..The boy who sold him to me had found him from a fallen nest  a teeny weeny one with his eyes hardly open. He had been hand fed and so he  never knew the ways of the wild. We caught him. He did not struggle, he just  went limb -  with joy or relief - I don't know what... I took him back to his cage and  fed him. He seemed quite unperturbed as if nothing had  happened. My face lit up as if thousands of poothiri had exploded in my heart.