Chust had Durust and Ikki had Duggi but Sust didn’t have anybody, which is probably why he was the way he was: sad and sluggish and forever hanging around the bottom of the tank. If you haven’t guessed it already (which - I’m sorry to say - means you haven’t been paying attention) all five of them were fish that Manu mama had so thoughtfully gifted Isha with on her 11th birthday. But then, just like everything else, that was a matter of perspective. Mom, who was a busy doctor, felt it was quite thoughtless of him since it meant extra work cleaning up the tank, changing the water and ensuring they got their tonic in time when she already had so many other things to do. But the birthday girl, who had been yearning for a puppy for a long time, had been thrilled and Manu mama had shrugged Mom’s complaints off with a grin and a slice of rich chocolate cake lowered gracefully into his mouth. His popularity ratings with the little niece had soared.
Since she was 11 now (almost a teenager), he reasoned with Mom that she was old enough to own a pet. Or five. Dad saw the logic immediately, but added, rather seriously, that with new powers came new responsibilities. So Isha would have to clean the tank everyday to ensure that the glass was sparkling at all times. She would also have to feed her new pets the specified number of tiny balls of coloured food that came out of a tall cylindrical box. She had tasted a few one day when Mom was not around and they felt like chalk dust on her tongue. No wonder, she thought, Sust never wanted to eat any. His lack of appetite had started worrying her. She asked Mom if she could give him some chocoflakes or maybe even an earthworm that she could easily catch from the puddle near the park where she had seen a few slithering around, after the rain. But Mom told her not to. Since Sust was born and brought up in an artificial environment (which meant a tank in a pet shop instead of a river or a lake) he would not be able to eat anything else. It made Isha a bit sad but then she told herself that maybe Sust was just a small eater, like Dad. Chust and Durust, the frisky goldfish couple, loved the fish food. The moment the little pink and white globules were dropped into the tank, they would dart across like bullets, outswimming the one-finned Ikki and arriving neck and neck with the double-finned Duggi who would have to resort to pushing and shoving by breathlessly flapping her two fins and nudging the pair to get at the food. They would then splash around in the water and chase tails for a while in celebration of a good meal. The slower Ikki would dart around swallowing leftover granules that were gently making their way to the bottom of the tank.
Sust would just hang around the bottom rubbing his mouth mournfully along the glass or gaze silently at Jack Sparrow the plastic crab that would twitch a lip every few minutes and emit a stream of tiny bubbles into the tank. Sust reminded Isha of the two love birds her dad had got for her one day when mom had sent him to the pet shop to check about a dog. Nani, who had been visiting at that time, had named the birds Pheuli and Hariyali (one of them was bright yellow like pheuli the pretty flower that bloomed in the hills of Garhwal, while the other was bright green like the hariyali (greenness) that filled forests after the monsoons). Both Pheuli and Hariyali were not very social. They rudely turned their backs to people in the room and would abruptly stop their loud chirpy conversation as soon as Isha approached their cage, making her feel they were discussing her. One day when Mom tried to put a hand in to coax them to come out of the cage, Hariyali lowered its neck and gave her a sharp peck that hurt for two days and had to be covered with a bandaid. When Isha pushed in an empty toilet paper roll for them to play with, Pheuli promptly put her head inside it and refused to take it out for one whole day, preferring to be a recluse than to mix around with humans in the household. Then for a few more hours she just hopped around, wearing it on her head like a big crown that fell right over her eyes. Finally, the pair were given away to an uncle in Jaipur who had a big aviary of his own and Isha hoped they were happier with other birds for company.
Now Sust was displaying similar anti-social behaviour and it made Isha unhappy too. She would think about his sadness in school and even when she went for a swim in the pool in the basement. Then one day she got a parcel. It had been sent by Nanaji all the way from Lansdowne. She tore open the cardboard binding and out popped a colourful hardback titled A Fishy Tale. Isha flipped through the pictures and the beautiful illustrations that showed her how fish breathe (from small slits called gills) and how they swim. Suddenly, she came across a picture that made her stop turning pages. Staring back at her from the page, looking characteristically sad and depressed, was Sust, or someone who looked just like him. Suckermouth catfish (said the caption at the bottom of the picture): Slow and sluggish fish that stay near the bottom of the aquarium and feed on algae. They are shy and help keep tanks clean by eating algae deposited on the tank floor. Great additions for freshwater aquariums.
A wide smile spread across Isha’s face. She ran down to the sitting room where a light was on in the aquarium. Chust and Durust were taking their usual laps around the tank. The single-finned Ikki was nibbling Duggi’s second fin enviously. And Sust was sprawled at the bottom on the tank, as usual, soulfully nibbling away, completely disinterested in the world around. She peered in at him and he peered back at her. Was it her imagination or did she see him wink? Tonight, he didn’t look sad to Isha, just seriously busy at work.
Moral of the story: Someone you think is a fish out of water might just be chasing different goals
Or: Believe it or not, some people prefer eating greens to processed food
Chust: Agile; Durust: Correct; Ikki: Single; Duggi: Double; Sust: Lazy; Pheuli: A yellow flower that blooms in Garhwal; Hariyali: Greenery; Nani: Grandmother; Nanaji: Grandfather
Since she was 11 now (almost a teenager), he reasoned with Mom that she was old enough to own a pet. Or five. Dad saw the logic immediately, but added, rather seriously, that with new powers came new responsibilities. So Isha would have to clean the tank everyday to ensure that the glass was sparkling at all times. She would also have to feed her new pets the specified number of tiny balls of coloured food that came out of a tall cylindrical box. She had tasted a few one day when Mom was not around and they felt like chalk dust on her tongue. No wonder, she thought, Sust never wanted to eat any. His lack of appetite had started worrying her. She asked Mom if she could give him some chocoflakes or maybe even an earthworm that she could easily catch from the puddle near the park where she had seen a few slithering around, after the rain. But Mom told her not to. Since Sust was born and brought up in an artificial environment (which meant a tank in a pet shop instead of a river or a lake) he would not be able to eat anything else. It made Isha a bit sad but then she told herself that maybe Sust was just a small eater, like Dad. Chust and Durust, the frisky goldfish couple, loved the fish food. The moment the little pink and white globules were dropped into the tank, they would dart across like bullets, outswimming the one-finned Ikki and arriving neck and neck with the double-finned Duggi who would have to resort to pushing and shoving by breathlessly flapping her two fins and nudging the pair to get at the food. They would then splash around in the water and chase tails for a while in celebration of a good meal. The slower Ikki would dart around swallowing leftover granules that were gently making their way to the bottom of the tank.
Sust would just hang around the bottom rubbing his mouth mournfully along the glass or gaze silently at Jack Sparrow the plastic crab that would twitch a lip every few minutes and emit a stream of tiny bubbles into the tank. Sust reminded Isha of the two love birds her dad had got for her one day when mom had sent him to the pet shop to check about a dog. Nani, who had been visiting at that time, had named the birds Pheuli and Hariyali (one of them was bright yellow like pheuli the pretty flower that bloomed in the hills of Garhwal, while the other was bright green like the hariyali (greenness) that filled forests after the monsoons). Both Pheuli and Hariyali were not very social. They rudely turned their backs to people in the room and would abruptly stop their loud chirpy conversation as soon as Isha approached their cage, making her feel they were discussing her. One day when Mom tried to put a hand in to coax them to come out of the cage, Hariyali lowered its neck and gave her a sharp peck that hurt for two days and had to be covered with a bandaid. When Isha pushed in an empty toilet paper roll for them to play with, Pheuli promptly put her head inside it and refused to take it out for one whole day, preferring to be a recluse than to mix around with humans in the household. Then for a few more hours she just hopped around, wearing it on her head like a big crown that fell right over her eyes. Finally, the pair were given away to an uncle in Jaipur who had a big aviary of his own and Isha hoped they were happier with other birds for company.
Now Sust was displaying similar anti-social behaviour and it made Isha unhappy too. She would think about his sadness in school and even when she went for a swim in the pool in the basement. Then one day she got a parcel. It had been sent by Nanaji all the way from Lansdowne. She tore open the cardboard binding and out popped a colourful hardback titled A Fishy Tale. Isha flipped through the pictures and the beautiful illustrations that showed her how fish breathe (from small slits called gills) and how they swim. Suddenly, she came across a picture that made her stop turning pages. Staring back at her from the page, looking characteristically sad and depressed, was Sust, or someone who looked just like him. Suckermouth catfish (said the caption at the bottom of the picture): Slow and sluggish fish that stay near the bottom of the aquarium and feed on algae. They are shy and help keep tanks clean by eating algae deposited on the tank floor. Great additions for freshwater aquariums.
A wide smile spread across Isha’s face. She ran down to the sitting room where a light was on in the aquarium. Chust and Durust were taking their usual laps around the tank. The single-finned Ikki was nibbling Duggi’s second fin enviously. And Sust was sprawled at the bottom on the tank, as usual, soulfully nibbling away, completely disinterested in the world around. She peered in at him and he peered back at her. Was it her imagination or did she see him wink? Tonight, he didn’t look sad to Isha, just seriously busy at work.
Moral of the story: Someone you think is a fish out of water might just be chasing different goals
Or: Believe it or not, some people prefer eating greens to processed food
Chust: Agile; Durust: Correct; Ikki: Single; Duggi: Double; Sust: Lazy; Pheuli: A yellow flower that blooms in Garhwal; Hariyali: Greenery; Nani: Grandmother; Nanaji: Grandfather
RSS Feed
