Chattchitto

He climbed to the highest branch and uncorked the gourd. First came the mynah’s laugh: “Chi-chi-chi!” The silence cracked. A baby monkey smiled. Then came the turtle’s sigh: “Lowly… lowly…” The rain slowed, as if listening. Then came a thousand forgotten sounds: a mother’s call, a frog’s joke, a falling star’s fizz.

In the crook of an ancient banyan tree, where sunlight dripped like honey through the leaves, lived ChattChitto. He was not a squirrel, though he had a squirrel’s twitchy nose. He was not a bird, though he loved to sing. He was, simply, ChattChitto — a gatherer of tiny things: fallen jackfruit seeds, raindrops on a leaf, and most dangerously, words . chattchitto

ChattChitto froze. He had spent so long holding others’ words that he had hidden his own ache inside the Heart-Pot. Now the entire jungle knew: the cheerful gatherer was lonely. He climbed to the highest branch and uncorked the gourd