There was this door which loved playing pranks. It loved surprising people, catching them off guard, making them wonder where they were and what to do next. It moved around, appeared, disappeared, camouflaged itself into a church entrance , a pub door, a forbidding prison gate.
So John who went regularly to the neighbourhood bar around the corner with a swinging glass door, to down umpteen pints of beer, found himself one day in front of an imposing, carved wooden church doors , slightly ajar, as if inviting him to step in. He shook his head to clear it, blamed it on one too many pints and walked around the block to find himself this time in front of a large wrought iron gate with a signboard proclaiming zoo in fancy lettering. He looked incredulously at the signboard, pinched himself hard to see if he was awake, then decided to rush back home and sleep throughout the day , terribly scared that he would not be able to find the door to his house.
It saw a little girl going to her grandma’s house with a small white elephant on a leash. In a flash it positioned itself in front of granny’s house and sported a sign in bold white letters which read “Strictly No Elephants.”
Mina looked up, saw the sign and stopped on the door step. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t leave Hati behind. He accompanied her wherever she went. And she very much wanted to visit her dear granny who she knew would have never put up such a sign.She looked and looked but the door was exactly like the one in front of her granny’s building and the houses one either side were also exactly the same. It must be someone from the building she thought, someone who’s scared of elephants.
She was in a dilemma. She wanted to see her granny but she did not want to disobey the notice either. So after a while she told Hati, “Let’s pretend you are a dog.” Please, please don’t give me away. Remember to bark and not trumpet when someone pats you on the head.
Arunima Choudhury
