Beside him sat his best friend, Rainbow. Rainbow had come as a birthday gift to Zenny from her uncle who lived in the city. Zenny had decided to call her Rainbow for her pretty dress which had almost all the colours of a Rainbow.
However, Kaloo thought otherwise. Rainbow was a porcelain doll who had the fairest of complexions and round rosy cheeks. Her luxurious dark hair was tied in two long braids which fell on the front adding to her dress the one colour that was missing. But most beautiful of her were the eyes. Kaloo was often amazed by the sheer variety of emotions they could exhuberate. Rainbow was never without animation on her face. All the time Kaloo noticed her, she was either smiling or blushing, either lost in dreams or her eyes would shine with innocent mischief. Rainbow had come to Kaloo as a blessing in his bland, uneventful life. She was the one who brought him colours for his yellowing canvas. She was one reason Kaloo had, to look forward to each day.
Initially when Rainbow was first brought to the shelf where Kaloo sat, she had been skeptical about the big bear. He was silent and ugly as she thought and made awful noises while he slept. It was on that occasion when one night while dozing on their shelf, Rainbow had a nightmare and she screamed. That made Kaloo jump out of his sleep only to find her falling off the shelf. Kaloo had caught her just in time and comforted her as she sobbed away, her face hidden in his arms. Since then, she had been indebted to Kaloo and they had held each other every night as they slept. Since then and forever, they had been best of friends.
It was summer vacations. Zenny's aunt with her daughter came to spend few days at her sisters. Cherry, Zenny's cousin, who was only but two years younger to Zenny loved to spend her vacations with her cousin. It was always fun as they would play dolls all day, go swimming, picnic their afternoons away under the shade of the tree in the garden. Spending the summer together was a bliss for these young girls as they were so fond of each other.
It had never occured to Cherry but this summer when she came to visit, she found herself completely lost with Kaloo. All summer she had adored Kaloo as he sat majestically on his shelf. On the day she bade goodbye, she sweetly asked Zenny with an embarassed hope, if she would want to part with him. To Zenny however, it came as a mild surprize. She was happy that she could do something for her cousin who was so but nice to her. So Cherry had Kaloo to take him with her home and Kaloo with tears blurring his tiny eyes, bade a sad farewell to his Rainbow and left with Cherry to a new life.
Life at Cherry's was however very different from what Kaloo had expected. Cherry had a large room. Much larger than Zenny's which only accomodated a bed, a study table, a shelf and many books. Cherry's room was vast in stature and as magnificient. It had a large bed in a corner with many coloured quilt making it look more cosy. Large shelves covered the remaining walls and they were brimming with toys. There were several more soft figures like Kaloo himself. Though they were not teddy bears, they were bunnys with long ears and red carrots in their mouths, elephants with cute trunks and white tusks. There were plastic dolls with fair hair and blue eyes. A toy train which could hoot, Cars of many sizes, furry clockwork pups and kittys, Bounce balls, skip ropes, skettles. There was an entire troop of men dressed in red and carrying musical instruments.
On one of the walls, was a large mirror in which Kaloo observed how odd he looked with the new background, but nevertheless Cherry always made sure that he never felt out of place.
Cherry unlike Zenny took immense care to give Kaloo all possible comforts. He was her companion everywhere she went. To the supermarket, to the playground, to the family outings. Sometimes even to lay beside her in bed. She even sneaked him to her school once and Kaloo was amazed by the blackboard, the neatly dressed students and the glossy eyes of the stern looking but kind teacher. With Cherry Kaloo saw the world he had never known. He experienced realms which were but beyond his imagination.
Absorved in his new life, Kaloo never for once thought about what he had left behind. He lived here so happy and content that there was nothing he missed, until the blossoms in the garden began to shed their finery and the sun began to shine mightier than ever. It was time Cherry visited her sister again, and indeed they went back to Zenny's together. Cherry and her mother took the evening train, thus by the time they reached, it was almost bedtime. After supper the girls and Kaloo were tucked in bed, when Kaloo began looking around his old home. Everything there was still the same, Kaloo thought. The bed had not been moved, the table was now piled with a few more books, the shelf still had the exact number of toys. How few they now appeared to Kaloo and how very dusty. Suddenly it dawned on him. Wait a minute, there was a little change. Where was the little doll who should have been sitting on that top shelf? On the top shelf were Rainbow should have been sitting sat a pink piggy bank. Rainbow was gone.
The world seemed to turn in Kaloo's mind and it began making him dizzy. The dizzier he was guiltier he felt. How could he have ever forgotten his little girl. How could he have ever ditched his best friend. She had brought him happiness when he had been sitting on the shelf for years in despair. How could he now let go of her love for a little chance of material mirth. How could he become so selfish.
Kaloo shed tears of bitterness. He cried and cried. For the first time since he had left Zenny's room, he realised the incompleteness of his life. But perhaps it was too late. He tried to think but couldnot in his mind dare to even contemplate what must have happened to Rainbow.
The clock out in the dining hall struck twelve. The girls must be in deep sleep by now, Kaloo thought. He freed himself from Cherry's grasp and softly slid down the bed. There was very little possibility that Rainbow would be around, but kaloo had to take a chance. Else he would have had to stay for the rest of his life regreting his mistake. With enormous hope for the slightest miracle he began walking around the room. He checked under the bed. Lifted the table cloth with great caution, so as to avoid the great pile of books sliding over him, and gazed under the study table. With a heavy heart he peered into the dustbin, praying each time he removed a piece of garbage there. He searched for a long time but with hard luck. Rainbow was nowhere to be found.
Tired, Kaloo sat down on the floor. Cursing himself he held his head in his chubby palms and wept. A gloom began to fall around him. Life would no longer be fun for him he thought. His heart was stinging with severe ache. Suddenly he heard faint sobs. Kaloo first thought his sadness was driving him insane but then, the sobs echoed again through the silent room. Kaloo's heart lept with joy. "Rainbow Rainbow" Kaloo began whispering in the still air. He strained his ears and listened carefully.
While Kaloo was gone, Rainbow spent her days sitting on the shelf heartbroken. She missed him every second the big clock in the dinner hall ticked away. Her face began to wear off all the animation. Her eyes lost their shine and slowly she forgot how she once smiled. one night while she was sleeping, rainbow dreamt of Kaloo and that he was falling in a deep dark pit. She saw herself screaming his name, stretching out her little hands to hold his but alas he fell and went far far away from her. She lost him in the darkness of the pit.
Rainbow had indeed screamed as she felt the nightmare shake her bones. But there was no one to hold her. Since then she had spent her life in the cabinet under the shelf, hidden away from the eyes of Zenny's mother, hidden away from the sun.
She stared strangely in to Kaloo's tear soaked happy face, as if she was trying hard not to believe this was a dream. As Kaloo found her lying in the cabinet he was shocked. There was a large ugly crack on the side of her face. Her fine nose was now bruised flat and a large chunk was missing from her knee and her porcelain dress of many colours. Stuffed away in the cabinet, Rainbow had lost all her charms but very myteriously, her presence in the cabinet gave the dark place a pleasant aura. Kaloo held her in his arms. He wanted to apologise with all his heart but only found his voice was choked in his throat. Rainbow had buried her cracked vanity and her hurt soul in his large furry chest. And Once again, they sat together in the darkness, as silent as the moonbeams were, in the lawn outside.
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