ARYA AND THE CARNIVAL

“Aiya we are going to be late!” Jocelyn, Arya’s sister shouted at the top of her lungs in the front yard. Arya was trying to find his favourite shirt and was combing through the cupboard to find it. It was a special occasion after all, so he had to wear his special shirt for it. After weeks of begging their mother and finally getting permission and then collecting enough money for it, Arya and Jocelyn were going for the carnival that had arrived in their village.

“It’s going to be the best thing in the world isn’t it aiya?” Jocelyn jumped up and down as her brother joined her finally after finding his shirt.

Arya grinned, “I think we just ought to go see it first before deciding,” he said playfully pulling at her plaited hair. It was normally a ten minute walk to the village grounds where the carnival was being held, but today they made it in five as they ran all the way.

They met their friends, Sanju and Manju at the entrance to the carnival, which was bedecked with balloons and streamers. There were a few vendors with balloons of their own, selling them along by the gate, with a few toys.

“Let’s try and get something afterwards, if we have any money left,” Arya told his sister who was looking longingly at a toy drum one of the vendors had. She nodded her head and taking her friend Sanju’s hand they walked through into the carnival.

“Look ! Look! It’s the merry-go-round,” Manju pointed at the brightly coloured horses and swans that were circling about. The music came from a group of people who were sitting in the middle of it playing a clarinet and beating drums.

The children awaited their turn in line and eagerly ran to find the best place to sit.

A bit of pushing and shoving went along before Arya and Jocelyn managed to get two of the horses, and Sanju and Manju got two swans. When the music started, the horses began to move up and down, much to their delight.

The next thing they found was the Ferris wheel, and for their luck there were two seats empty. The men who were turning it from its lever, got each seat at ground level and got people to get in. Arya and Manju who shared one seat, laughed at how their sisters were closing their eyes and screaming as they got higher and higher.

But when the Ferris wheel began turning even the boys felt their bravery ebbing away.

Coming down from the dizzying height the four children decided to try the game stalls, and they picked the one where you try to get a ball into a bottle from a distance. Everyone failed at it except Sanju, who not only managed to do it once, but twice winning a doll and a big rubber ball.

At the Lucky Dip stall, each of them managed to fish out four exercise books. “I saw some others actually win a toy car,” grumbled Manju.

Their bad luck were soon forgotten when they came across the food stall. They chose one big candy floss on a stick and some fried Kadala. Munching it along the way the boys stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the sign: ‘Wall of death – come see our brave stuntman on his motorcycle’.

“I don’t think I want to go,” said Sanju and Jocelyn almost together. But the boys insisted and they followed quite unhappily after paying a small entrance fee. When they got inside, it looked like a fence surrounding a large pit. At the very bottom was a man on his motorcycle, helmet on, revving up his engine.

Fears forgotten, the children eagerly clung on to the fence and looked below. Soon the bicycle rider started circling the pit and then he got faster and faster and he soon almost reached the top, whizzing around so fast he was almost a blur. There were screams, shouts and some even closed their eyes, but soon the motorcycle and the man came to a halt and the audience began clapping and asking for more.

“I think I want to be a motorcycle rider like that,” said Sanju her eyes glowing.

The children happy and satisfied, full of Kadala and candy floss slowly began making their way home. “One day I think I want to run a carnival,” said Arya.

“Then we can ride on the Ferris wheel every day,” said Manju.

“Play games too,” said Jocelyn.

“And maybe have twenty turns on the merry-go-round,” said Sanju.

Till they reached their destinations, the four relived the night and built their imaginary carnival to be the best the ‘world would ever see’. And when they got home, their parents scolded them for not leaving any space for their dinners, but it had been one of the best days of their lives and they hoped there would be many more like it.