Hours passed by turning her more dirty and weak. The only miracle was the fathom of her courage to fight that fragment of time. The girl was yet hopeful that someone, might eye her and present her a candid smile. Three travelers happened to pass by that innocent ankle-biter that day. The very first one was a 17-year-old girl, who was playing around with other children of her age. The infant had already fainted out of extreme heat and lack of water in the body. Therefore, no movements could be felt in the vicinity of those sky-kissing grasses. The 17-year-old girl was hiding behind a tree some 10 cm ahead of the fingers of the bijou. When a boy of the playing group caught her from behind, crushing the tender fingers of the infant by his bare dirty feet. The pain was felt in silence, but the jeopardized physical state interdicted the painful shouts of the infant’s soul. A new seeker was identified by the bunch of children playing in the willow. So, the game shifted to some other place. The children made their move and the poor girl was still playing hide and seek with the dried leaves and dusty winds.
The sun had made it’s leap, it was late afternoon already, when a traveler lost his way in the dense willow. Drops of perspiration were dribbling down his forehead and he was falling scanty of water. A long gaze to the willow backdrop, but all in vain! No source of water was discernible as far as the eyes could see. The traveler finally decided to take some rest and cut down some branches for drops of water. He was familiar with the forest aura, so searched for the Matt tree (Terminalia Arjuna) around. He was fortunate enough to finally spot the tree. It was some 4 mtrs far from him, which he didn’t mind to traverse. It is said that the fortune favors the brave and so was equally applicable to this new-born. The latitudes and longitudes of the location of the ankle-biter was just below the Matt tree. The traveler looked for some sharp-edged instrument, to trim the trunk of the tree. After minutes of search, he finally found an iron rod scantily covered with rust. It appeared to be some broken part of an iron table. The traveler holding his stoop, picked up the rod, gazed it for seconds and made the first strike on the trunk. No sooner, the edge of the iron-rod touched the trunk, a gush of water drenched him and also the grasses at the vicinity. The water was showered like the wealth of Midas. The traveler, sat in-front of the fountain of water and gulped as much as water his throat could collect. The sparkles of water were reaching the hapless girl lying on the grasses. The shower wiped up her of all the dirt and the dust and a dazzling face was shining brighter than diamond. She appeared to be lifeless, but her heart had not given up beating. The big-eyed girl still had hope that she might win this battle against the knocks of time. The water was plethora in quantity and so the traveler had the best of his day near the tree. An hour later, even the traveler searched for his way without eyeing upon the craving little infant. The girl was once again aloof in the middle of the willow but her will to fight was accompanied with lots of hopes and aspirations.
The sun bade a good-bye to the world and the moon kissed hello with the silver sheen. Peeping through the branches of the Matt tree, the Moon managed to serve the ankle-biter with it’s spotlight. The girl recovered her conscious in the coolness of the silver light and the symphony of help in the form of her cries started echoing around the willow. The melodious symphony grabbed the attention of a middle aged man who was some 2 kms away from the valiant infant. Following the rhythm of the cries, the man managed to reach the vicinity of the sound-source. But couldn’t spot the source of the cries. Left or right, even up and down he had no clue where that sound was advancing. He then patiently focused and found that every time he turned left, the intensity of the cries increases exponentially. He finally reached the Matt tree and was amazed to see a beautiful infant calling for help. The child was glimmering by the sheen of the moonlight as if she was stealing the show and every tree in the forest was singing in her praise. The discovery of a child in the dense willow was a subject of great curiosity for that man and he had a wicked smile on his face.