the leaf

it was 4.45 in the evening.Though it was early December,the air hadn't acquired the freezing chill that was the identity of Delhi's winters.Even the fog was seemingly lazy this year,and arrived around midnight,leaving the daytime alone with comfort and warmth.He was sitting on a bench in the open air theater of the India habitat center.The bench was surrounded by a garden of trees on three side,and the fourth side,right in front of him,was an open passageway through which a couple of people came about across every three minutes discussing from the band performing in the hard rock cafe that weekend to the new script of hansraj college's new drama.He was smoking a cigarette,and was factually blank in the head.He saw every puff leave his mouth as he tried to slow down his exhaling,to let the smoke become a part of his blood.The sudden turn of events in the morning had left him numb and he couldn't come to any conclusion regarding the steps to be taken now.And then suddenly,as if out of nowhere,he found a long leaf lying right in front of him,just beside the bench behind a which a 5 feet tall tree was leaning forwards.The leaf was the same as the others on that tree,except that it was on the ground and the others still clanged to the parent.He stared at that leaf for a few moments,with an adamant gaze,as if to request the leaf to wake up and talk to him.But the leaf dint move.He was just staring at it.He started thinking,sometime back,maybe in the spring this year,this leaf would have been born on that adjacent tree below which it now laid.This tree,which would've kept the leaf close to its branches,hidden from the bright and hot sun of Delhi's summers,to protect its sheath from turning brown.The tree,that would've provided this leaf with the water it got from its roots.And this leaf,which would've provided this tree with food and life.Together,the tree and the leaf would've seen so many seasons together,battling the adversities of winters out,basking in the times of pleasant springs,and drenching in the joy of the monsoons.For the leaf,the tree would've been the parent,and the leaf its child.Why then,suddenly one day,the tree decided to detach the leaf from itself,and throw it away on the ground leaving it to struggle on its own,without even looking at it once.Maybe that tree had a lot of other leaves to nourish,to nurture,and to provide protection to,but for the leaf,there were no other trees.For that tree would've been the place of its existence.The place it could call home.the place where it belonged.Now how the tree would be feeling.He wondered.He was the leaf for a few moments.Snapped and stuck between the dilemma of leaving the place which gave him the identity of his own,the feeling of physical presence and materialistic being.And still he felt a surge of loathe towards the tree.How easily it snapped him off.Had he not embraced it for his whole life,the life they had spent together.And now,being thrown away like a rag,he felt disgusted towards the tree.
He looked at the tree.He looked at the leaf.His cigarette had finished.He had to go buy a new one.He had to think where to spend this night and the coming ones too,and had to think about the ways for survival.For he had never been kicked out of home before this.