The cold winds coming down all the way from the Himalayas and the mercury continues to be in and around 2 to 3 degree Celsius in Delhi. North India gets the feel of the icy winds for its closeness to these snowcapped mountains.
In school we learnt “India is a peninsula, with three sides surrounded by water and in the north stands the mighty Himalayan Range with its snow capped mountains acting as a barrier from the enemies”. Gone are those days when technology had not seen so much advancement. Now humans are in a bid to move out of planet earth and are in search of other celestial abode.
It was Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the two climbers to have reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 – the highest peak in the Himalayan Range, also considered the highest peak on earth. Since then men have walked their way up this snowy peak braving all odds. The duo has left this world leaving behind their names for people remember for their heroic feat.
Will it not be funny to ask, “Did Humpty Dumpty climb the wall”? No one saw them, only the nursery rhyme tells their story. Singing their way with these words… “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall …” little do the kids create a visual effect of this happening apart from the what they see in the multicoloured pictures that cover the page along with the written words.
Whatever be it I loved Humpty Dumpty as I grew up. I pictured the eggs sitting on the wall and the splash after the fall. Always thoughts ran up and down the mind to create these two and place them in such a place I could see and at the same time show others my creative Humpty Dumpty.
Soon my mind started working out. Eggs are very common in every household except - if you a strict Hindu vegetarian where the name of eggs creates a churn in the stomach. My sudden interest in eating omelet (everyday) took Ma by surprise. Little did she know her daughter was trying to build up her fancy characters to put them for public view. All this was happening in my life when I was about eleven or twelve years … I don’t remember exactly.
“Whenever you want to break eggs, please Ma, please, let me do it. I want to break the shells”. My words caught Ma by surprise but she had so much to do for the household, she laid aside this uncanny thought of mine.
Next morning Ma asked me to help her in the kitchen with the eggs. I was in a hurry to put my books in my schoolbag, have breakfast and rush to school. It was my personal interest. So I took time out breaking the eggs at the smaller end with just a hole enough for the yolk and white to pour out. I collected the empty egg shells, washed them carefully under running water and left them to dry in the sun.
I put them out in the sun in the morning in a far corner of the courtyard and after school when I came to collect them got no trace of it. I cried within the four walls of the room thinking all the time someone was destroying my creative objects. On a holiday I had five empty egg shells. After careful wash I put them in a safe place and kept a close watch. To my surprise it was the dirty crow that came and pounced upon a shell very neatly in its beak and flew away. Sitting on the branches of the Amra (a berry like fruit) tree, the black bird smashed the shell into pieces with its claws and finished it up within minutes. I did not give a second chance to this black feather, instead collected my prized possession and went to my room.
I had so much work to do. I shared my room with my sister. I had to hide it. In a small cardboard box, I tucked the shells and gently pushed the box into the empty space under the almirah. My sister could see excitement dancing in my eyes.
She gave a smile, came and sat next to me and said, “I know you are working out something. Won’t you share it with me”?
At first I thought to keep it a secret. Next moment I knew I would need her help. I said, “I’m making Humpty Dumpty and …” the rest of the conversation went on for sometime. She helped me with her ideas. Soon we went off to sleep.
Soon after breakfast, we two sat down to give the finishing touch. The paint box was laid out. There was water in a cup with the broken handle. Paint brushes spread out neatly on a newspaper. The eggshells had eyes, nose and mouth drawn on them. Along the sides came lanky hands that gave them the perfect look. We switched on the fan for the paint to dry soon.
The making of the wall.
A hard task indeed. We cut out two rectangular pieces from an old shoe box. Taking the help of glue and white paper we covered both sides of the rectangular pieces. Next was to carefully draw lines along the plane white with red sketch pen, horizontally and vertically, to make it look like bricks placed as on a wall.
“Hurrah, we’ve done it”, I jumped up with excitement. Making Humpty Dumpty sit was mind boggling. My sister was optimistic. “We will make the wall stand up my dear little sis. Let’s think”.
Thinking hard we got a solution at last. A one inch thin slice of cardboard helped to make the two walls stand up erect. Another thin piece of the same size of cardboard, covered with brown paper, placed on the top and the glue worked to give the final shape to the wall. We used glue to make the two pairs of Humpty Dumpty sit on the wall.
I did not want my creativity to go waste. My Humpty Dumpty would never fall off the wall. The glue had done the magic.
Soon we sisters were on our way to the drawing room. Carefully Humpty Dumpty was made to sit on one of the shelf from where they could be publicly viewed.
Gone are those days.
Would it have been possible without my sister’s help?
Will my children like my thought if at all they read this page?
What about my grandchildren?
Puzzle.
Isn’t It?
