The warm ocean waters tempted Hemadri to dip herself into its depth and luxuriate in its abyss. Often, Hemadri and her boyfriend, Rauf had swum in the sea. A wistful sigh escaped her as she wished that Rauf was by her side. At once, she censured herself for the self-indulgent yearning. How wicked could she get?

Turning her face away from the ocean, her gaze fell on the flock of birds that were taking off to another place. These birds followed the coastline to migrate. They had no borders or boundaries to cross. They moved freely and nested in a place they could survive. Hemadri wished humans too had similar freedom. With an indulgent smile, she watched the flock till she lost sight of them.

She crossed the verdant stretch of land that was home to the rarest flora and fauna and came across River Ichamati, the river that formed a natural border between India and Bangladesh. The trans-boundary watercourse meandered its way through parts of India and Bangladesh forming a natural boundary between the two countries. Hemadri did not have to worry about crossing the border because the boundary did not exist for her. She was happy to wander in a borderless world where one did not have to fill endless forms or count on the officials guarding the boundary, for permission.

As an immigrant in the UK, she had faced innumerable difficulties. Like they say, adversities impel humans to migrate and seek shelter elsewhere. Similarly, around the time when the Windrush generation fled the Caribbean countries to the United Kingdom, Hemadri’s grandparents too sought refuge, escaping the terrible aftermath of a newly partitioned India. United Kingdom had then formed a new act which gave right of settlement to any native migrating from a British colony. Hence, Hemadri had grown up in an environment where she was not certain if she was a Brit, a British Indian, an Indian or an Indian Briton. She had spent her school years trying to fathom her identity. Consequently, she began to dislike questions on her ethnicity despite having friends from all races.

Hemadri’s social network profiles showed her location as Planet Earth. In one forum, she wrote her current place of location as somewhere in the northern hemisphere of the planet, and in the column where she had to write her home-town, she wrote “hailing from the youngest ranges of mountains on the earth.” Her parents had named her after the mountains. Her profile described her as homosapien, for she believed in the human species rather than the nationality.

Hemadri’s radical beliefs often sent her on a warpath with her peers, colleagues, and sometimes even her mother. Hemadri wished that instead of creating more boundaries, the world would unite as one to save the planet.

Rauf hailed from Bangladesh. He was an illegal immigrant in the UK and struggled to get a proper job. His family lived in Bangladesh. Often, when Hemadri and Rauf met, he would describe his homeland with nostalgia. His village was located on the banks of the river Ichamati and he would lovingly draw a picture of the river for Hemadri. His parents longed to cross the boundary and move to India so that they could earn a better life. Many a time, Rauf had voiced his frustration at the boundaries created by the prevailing politics. With boundaries arose conflicting needs to gain access to natural and mineral wealth. When borders were formed, some were stranded in nations left with nothing and others were nurtured by the fortunes that rose to abundance in their part of the region. Ultimately, it resulted in one being in the right place at the right time.

A year ago, Rauf’s parents died as their boat capsized in Ichamati river while trying to enter India. Rauf was detained at Heathrow airport immediately upon trying to leave the country for his parents’ funeral. He was taken to a detention centre and Hemadri hadn’t met him since then.

Now, as she sat on the banks of the river, she remembered the terrible year with forlorn agony. Unable to watch her parents’ depression, she had travelled to this part of the world. Thoughts of her family directed her to her mother’s explanation about borders. Hemadri had been an excellent artist and she used to make rangolis with admirable skill. Her mother had initiated her into the art of making rangolis. And whenever she had made them, her mother would insist that she draw a border around the rangoli. Hemadri and her mother used to argue about the border. Hemadri would claim that borders take away the beauty of the art and her mother would snap back that borders ensured that the drawing was not marred by any external disruption.

Each time they debated about it, Hemadri would end up losing the argument. Hemadri could never discern her mother’s logic. So, to prove her point, Hemadri would take part in rangoli competitions conducted by the Indian diaspora and draw designs without borders. Ironically, the only time she won the contest was when she had made a border.

That day, her mother had explained, “Beta, we draw borders to discourage aggression. It would not give others freedom to walk over our space.”

Hemadri had not been convinced. Her mother had been naïve enough to rely on the notion that borders kept one safe but Hemadri believed that one’s safety was violated by one’s own homegrown reign of terror. And she had not been wrong.

Hemadri’s dream to travel in a borderless world was fulfilled soon. No margin stopped her now. She looked at the Earth as one country; the countless borders and boundaries were not visible to her.

She wished even Rauf and her parents lived in a borderless world like her.

Six months ago, in a terrorist attack in London, Hemadri’s young life had ended, liberating her soul to enjoy a borderless world.

-Viji
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