I am sitting
in the room. There’s a piece of watermelon kept on the plate. I admire nature
that it has given it an incredible color-combination, green on the outside, red
on the inside with black seeds like some beautiful painting. I pick it up to
taste the yummy sugary juicy fruit that suddenly I hear some voice, I recognize
the voice, who is it? What’s this music in the background? I feel a jerk and
come out of my dream. “Wake up, we’ll get late for the class and turn your
alarm off, the sound is annoying!” my roommate says in a bossy manner. I take
my mobile in my hand and turn the alarm off. I am still half-asleep with eyes
almost shut. I crawl on my bed and pick the curtain aside and peep out of the
window. Sunshine just strikes my eyes and I shut them completely. I turn around
and pick up my mobile to check time. “I am not late, I am awfully late”, I tell
myself. I hurry up and get ready for the class.
She starts a
conversation while walking.
She: What’s with this deep sleep? You
usually get up on your own. Who were you dreaming today? Some actor? Some cricketer?
Me (with a smirk): Watermelon.
She: What? (Begins to laugh) Are you all
right?
Me: haha! I don’t know, I guess I need
a break. I have an intuition we might get a break in the coming days. And yeah
I love watermelon more than any actor or cricketer.
We continue
to laugh and walk.
It’ a hot
noon. We are desperately waiting for the
lunch and simultaneously solving the assignment sitting in our room. I get a
call from home. I go out and attend so that she is not disturbed. I join her
after 5 minutes. In the meantime, lunch arrives and she arranges everything and
puts the food in the plates.
She: Why do you look so sad? Missing
family?
Me: YES! You know there’s a wedding in
my neighborhood tonight. So our street is sort of cheery. I wish I was home and
could have been a part of all the fun.
She (playfully): Oh! That means you are
missing your neighbors.
Me (confused):
Damn! Am I missing my neighborhood too? Hey, I hardly interact with them. Oh
God! I am actually behaving nuts.
She (laughing): It’s okay, you haven’t
been home for a long time. May be that is making you very nostalgic. Leave it;
it’s your birthday day-after, what’s the plan?
I smile at
her and look outside the window thinking ‘who cares about birthday’. I just
want to be with my family, it has been such a long time. But I see no hope as practically
there is no likelihood of a short-break anytime soon. But I feel something instinctual.
I continue eating the tasteless food and wondering what would be happening back
home right now.
It’s almost
2:00 pm. It’s hot with no electricity. I hear the message-tone of my phone. I
pick it up and open the message. It reads “No class tomorrow”. The message is
from the institution. I am astonished
and numb for a while. “Hey, just check your message-box, did you get any?” I
inquire her. “We are free tomorrow”, she confirms asking if I would head to
home now.
Me: Oh no. I need a two- day break at
least. I won’t go.
She: Okay. Hey, I have heard there is
some fault due to which electricity may not be there until evening.
We start
laughing. She also informs me that there is a possibility that there’ll be no
water supply in the evening and maybe for another day so I should wash the
clothes without delay if I wanted to.
I
sarcastically reply “What an interesting day, sounds like real fun” and pick up
the bucket and almost half of my stuff from the cupboard and head straight to
the washing area.
I think
about not being able to make it to home and feel disappointed. I switch on the
radio as I always need music in the background while doing the chores. ‘Ab tere bin jee lenge hum’ from Aashiqui
is playing on the channel. I pause for a while, smile to myself and continue. Next song is played and it adds more feel and melancholy to the
atmosphere; ‘Kitni Baatein yaad aati hain’ from Lakshya. I feel
as if radio guys also know my situation and thus they are playing songs that
sound relevant.
After almost
thirty- forty minutes, I get back to my room. I pick up the books and sit by
window side. I put my earphones and change the channel. ‘Baji padi hai band
heer ki ab iss band pe naache kaun’ is what the song says. It’s ‘Heer
toh badi sad hai’ courtesy Tamasha. Now I don’t feel sad, I feel
amused. I look above and say “What’s going on? What is universe trying to indicate?"
It’s almost
3:10 pm. There’s a knock on the door. I look up and see that it’s the new girl
who just shifted to one of the rooms on our floor. “Hi, please come in”, I
invite her inside. “Hello, no thank you, actually I need some help”. She lost
her keys and doubts she has forgotten them in the food court she ate lunch at.
She asks me to come along with her to find the keys. After some twenty minutes we head back to the
building. She found the keys thankfully. It is cloudy outside, seems like it
might rain.
I get back
to my chair and am reminded of the facts I’d almost forgotten a few minutes
back, that I have to be sitting in this isolated place for another indefinite
number of days, miles away from family.
There’s a
sudden vague feeling and I pick up the phone and dial the institution’s phone
number. The receptionist answers it.
Me: I wanted to confirm if there’s
surely no class tomorrow.
She: Yes, it’s confirmed. Next class
will be two days later means you have a two day break now.
Me: Wh-what?
I feel the
adrenaline rush but I literally want to yell at her hearing this at the
irresponsible way of passing on information. I shout in my head with sheer
anger “Why the hell could you not tell this earlier? I would have been halfway
right now. Dammit why did I not call them before?”
I keep it
polite though and continue talking.
Me: You should have written the
complete information in the message.
She:
Actually I wasn’t the one who messaged the students. But we have informed
everyone now. Check your inbox.
Me: Okay thank you.
I keep the
phone down and run towards the hall to see my roomie. “Hey it’s off for two
days”. She reacts the same way as I did in my head while on the phone earlier.
“Going then?” she asks. “I don’t know, it’s already 4:15 pm and I won’t reach
before dark. I have never travelled alone so late before plus look at the
weather. If I go tomorrow morning I’ll have so much less time to stay there.
Why does there have to be a catch in all my stories”. I feel perplexed and
waste five more minutes. I call my mother and tell her the scene. She asks me
to leave right away if I really wanted to and not worry about getting late and
stuff. I disconnect the call and by mistake press the music key of my phone
that directly opens the last-playing song. The song is midway and it says “Jo
karna hai wo aaj kar, na iss ko taal baawre… Kyon” from Barfi. I
tilt my head to look up and smile and say ‘Okay and thank you’ to God.
“Packing?”
she asks. “Who cares? Anyway half of my stuff is getting dried up outside.” I
change quickly but avoid combing hair. I don’t want to waste another second, I
have already wasted enough. I put some required things in my bag and take a
deep breath before departing.
“Wanna come along?”
I ask her. She smiles and declines saying that she is planning to go to her
relatives’ place that stay in the same city.
Me: Okay take care.
She: You too. Have fun.
We share a
brief hug and I take her leave.
I rush
towards the local bus stop and wait for few minutes for the local bus to go to main Bus-stand. There is no sight of it anywhere close. I don’t waste time and choose
to go by an auto-rickshaw. It’s already loaded and I get little space but I
don’t really care. I sit uncomfortably but somehow manage. It gets windy
outside. The dust flies and gets decorated on my face. I feel the sandy layer
on my face. “Ughh... Well, my sunscreen should take care of it”, I think to
myself. I take out my dupatta from the bag and cover my face. The child
sitting on the seat opposite to mine stares funnily at me while I’m still
covering. ‘Guess I look like a Ninja’, I think while laughing at myself and
looking outside.
I reach the stop;
pay the driver and pace towards the counter which is jam-packed. I sneak
out of the crowd to board the packed bus. I awkwardly get inside and grab the
last unoccupied seat. ‘Yes!’ I murmur like I just conquered something. Bus
leaves after a few minutes.
A girl,
almost my age or perhaps younger, sits next to me on the window seat. She is constantly
engrossed in her phone with earphones on. A few stations later, a ticket
checker enters the bus. When he comes towards us I take out my ticket to show.
The girl on my side is lost and busy talking on phone looking outside. I tap on
her shoulder and point towards checker when she turns around. She checks her
bag and replies “I don’t have the tickets, I think I threw them.” I instantly
turn towards her stunned at her words and the ease with which she said that. Passengers
in the proximity also watch. The checker asks her to pay for the ticket again
and the bus- conductor gives her another one. She looks outside, her hair
flying due to wind. I feel she is in tears so I rub her shoulder in order to calm
her and tell her not to be upset. She turns around and I see she is not teary and
is perfectly well. She says ‘arey I am fine, I know myself, and I am
like that only, haha’.She again indulges in her mobile phone. I smile weirdly and look on the other side. I am
astounded at her recklessness.
She departs
at the next stop and I take the window seat. It starts to rain after some time.
I feel the droplets falling on my face. It is soothing and the fragrance of mud
is refreshing. I close the window as the rain gets heavier. Suddenly the bus
comes to halt a few minutes later. People chatter that it’s a traffic jam due
to ongoing construction work and rain has added to the turbulence. ‘Am I on
some adventure spree today?’ I think to myself. Fortunately traffic gets
cleared after sometime and finally I get closer to the destination. The rain
stops but it is still drizzly.
I eventually
reach and feel delighted to be in my city. My brother waits for me at the
counter. At home, I meet everyone although they look busy getting ready for the
wedding. Two hours later, I find myself sitting in the wedding hall; I was
compelled to come here. I see all the familiar faces and greet them. It’s nice
to be here finally. People dance on the beats of “Mauja hi Mauja”, that plays
on DJ. I giggle after hearing it and only I understand why. “What a filmy life
I have”, I say.
It’s the
birthday noon. We are watching T.V and there is some news that’s sensationalized
like anything, they are discussing the fruit-adulteration. It says “Kya aap
jaante hain jo tarbooz aap kha rahe hain uske andar kyaa hai” , I immediately
change the channel saying that these people only tell problems but never give
any way out to erase them. ‘‘Anyway, what do you want to eat today? It’s your
day”, they ask me. “Watermelon”, I reply and we all laugh together.
I look up,
smile and say “Thank you” to the almighty.
P.S : This piece of work is part real, part fiction.
P.P.S :I wouldn’t have imagined that morning that I would get to spend the evening with family. This is life, full of surprises and fun. And universe is all the time trying to help us out. So, go with your instincts and learn to make fun of even the most dreadful situations.
P.P.S :I wouldn’t have imagined that morning that I would get to spend the evening with family. This is life, full of surprises and fun. And universe is all the time trying to help us out. So, go with your instincts and learn to make fun of even the most dreadful situations.
