As I put on my slippers, I couldn’t for the life of me recall what day of the week it was. May be it was Thursday, but the kids did not have tuition today. So it must be Wednesday. Anyway, how does it matter what day it is? They all are the same, same chores, same people, same complaints. But today was different, I was going on an evening walk with my friend. She had been away for a week to attend a wedding. I could see her rushing towards me and her eyes told me, she couldn’t wait to tell me details about the wedding, We walked on the usual route. She was chattering away and I was phasing in and out of the conversation (Not on purpose) I caught every third sentence but I knew the stories and today was just part one. It was going to go on for the next week like the usual daily soaps. I just would make occasional sounds and agree and disagree emphatically when I was cued. I was paying more attention to the cold breeze today, it felt so pleasant after the last few hot summer days .
It had been the first rain of the summer. It had been one of those rains that came out of nowhere and the only sign it left behind was the wet ground strewn with leaves and small branches. There were no puddles. The thirsty ground had lapped up every last drop of the rain. There was a pleasant breeze blowing and trees were grooving to the song of the birds on them. A giant water drop from one of the trees fell on my forehead. As I wiped the water on my forehead with my pallu, I realized I must have messed up my bindi and probably had a streak across my forehead. My friend who was busy chattering stopped on her tracks and quickly helped me. In the process, she looked at her watch and realized she was running late and decided she wanted to head back. But the weather was too pleasant and I thought I was not ready to return home. I would be sucked into an universe where the same day seem to be repeating. I decided I would continue on the walk. I told her I would see her tomorrow and we headed in opposite directions.
As I turned a corner, I was suddenly engulfed by the sweet smelling fragrance of jasmine. I did not see flowers anywhere close by. I looked around there was no flower seller with a basket on their head or on the handle of the bicycle nor could I hear them yelling,”Mallige .malle…Jaaji”.I looked up to the balconies to see if there was a creeper hidden in one of them. I couldn’t spot anything. The breeze slowed down and the scent mysteriously disappeared. I figured it must be close by but because the wind had shifted and the scent had disappeared. I couldn’t stop myself. I had to find the mallige creeper. These tiny starlets were luring me with their scent and I had to find it. I retraced my steps till the crossroad and there was a small gully on the right and I never even knew it existed before today.
As I entered it, the scent completely overwhelmed me. There it was … a giant gate and a green luscious canopy with thousands of tiny white enchantresses who had enticed me to their lair. As I got closer, I realized how pristine their color was. I was in a state of trance. Before I knew it, I was looking to pick some. I wanted to take it with me, make a tiny garland and wear it. I guess these starlets had quite a few visitors like me, because only the buds remained in all the low hanging branches. I looked around and couldn’t find one flower. I thought about heading back but their scent was just too intoxicating, I wanted to capture the scent and trap it in a bottle and hold on to it forever. Anyway, I decided to at least grab a few of them.
I peaked into the gate made of wood, there was a mud path that divided the garden and the house. There didn’t seem to be anyone around. Just a couple of sparrows hopping around the playing. A squirrel who was munching on the guava. I looked carefully again and found a branch just hovering inside the gate with at least a dozen jasmine flowers on it. I would have to climb on to the green gate on the outside and then reach in to get the flowers. I looked around again and slowly lifted up my saree and tucked it into my waist so I wouldn’t trip. I took the end pallu and also secured it in my waist. I kept my sandals on the side and grabbed on to the railings of the gate and slowly climbed up. The gate creaked in protest. As I reached out to grab the branch, I noticed the web and a giant spider and it scurried away in a hurry. The branch was still out of reach. I looked around and took another step on the next level of railing. I could now feel the gate swinging.
I bent forward and finally I got hold of the branch. I saw them surrender and as I started to pluck the flowers one by one, I noticed the squirrel running and the sparrows flying away . All of a sudden out of nowhere, I saw a giant dog that looked like a wolf running towards me and I heard the loudest bark and notice the sharpest teeth. As it leaped at me, I could almost see my life flash before my eyes. The next few seconds happened in slow motion. I lost my balance and slipped from the gate, however, I had not let go of the branch yet. As I went down, I pulled the branch with me. The creeper put up a fight and I did not have a choice but to let go. I fell down to the muddy ground. But the creeper was agitated and lone behold the entire canopy shook and before I know it I was being showered with flowers. I sat their in the mud with my saree ruined and an angry dog barking at me and all I did was quickly opened up my pallu held it out to collect these tiny white flowers.
