It had been a tough month. The stress of final exams had definitely gotten to me. I had no time for anything else other than books. Now that it was done, I was finally free to just enjoy life. I was feeling a little guilty. It had been months since I had gone to my grandparent’s house that meant I had not seen Rocky in months. I wondered if he had changed, if he was angry, if he would even recognize me anymore. I also felt a pang of guilt for not trying to write letters. I was hoping I could go meet him the next day, a Saturday, a holiday for my mum.
With all this guilt and excitement all bundled up, I approached my mother who had just come home from office and was sipping her hot coffee. I went and hugged her from and I could still smell the office on her.
She asked me, “Hi chinnu..yen aythu …ishTondhu Preethi ivathu”(Hi love, How come I am being showered with so much love?”.
I asked, “Ammmaaa, can we go to ajji mane naaLE?”. She looked at me and heaved a sigh.
She replied consolingly, “Look tomorrow is the 1st of the month. I have to go to the bank withdraw cash and do some shopping. I am not sure if we’ll have time.” The refusal was surprising. Before I knew my eyes welled up.
I told her, “It has been so long amma since I went to ajji mane. I have just been studying the last month. I am so bored now. All my friends have gone away. Please Maaa. Why don’t you just drop me off and I’ll stay at ajji mane. You go finish all your work”. Amma was too tired to argue. She downed her coffee and got up and said the faintest of okay. I jumped with joy and hugged her.
I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night. I was so excited. I was twisting and turning in the bed so much. The morning couldn’t come soon enough. I would finally get to see him and talk to him and tell him everything that has happened last month. Anyway, I woke up even before amma and nudged her awake. She reluctantly got up. We got ready and I had picked my favorite red dress. I ate breakfast quickly and I didn’t even complain about the upma. We had to catch the bus at 9 am. As we walked to the bus stand, my mother checked her purse and she couldn’t find her passbook. We were almost at the bus stop.
She said, “I must have left it in the other purse. Let’s go back and get it.”
I said, “Why don’t I run and get it. That way we won’t miss the bus.” She was not so sure about it.
She replied, “What if it is in the almari? How will you get it?”.
I reassured her, “Don’t worry I’ll find it. I’ll go like a rocket and come back”.
Our apartment was about a 10 minute walk from the bus stand and four flight of stairs. But the killer was the steep slope up on the way back. I just made a quick dash. I reached home and I noticed the passbook was in the purse. I grabbed it and I started running back. I was jumping 3 steps at a time. As I started to run up the slope I felt a painful stitch near my right rib. Then his face flashed in front of my eyes again. I started running. I finally made it to the bus stand and was breathing heavily. I gave the passbook to my mother.
She looked at me and said, “Sorry Putta the bus left 2 minutes ago. We have to wait for the next bus.” I was so angry. I stomped my feet. My mother couldn’t understand my frustration. She consoled me anyway, “Parvagilla, the next bus will come here in half an hour.”
That was the longest half an hour of my life. Finally, the slow poke bus came and stopped. As we got in, I saw the bus driver change the gear and the noise of the bus engine being switched off almost killed my spirit. He took his hankey and wiped his forehead opened the door of the bus and jumped down. Luckily, we found two seats and I just sat on the seat quietly and put my head on the window. The next hour passed uneventfully but excruciatingly slowly. As my hair blew with the wind I closed my eyes thought of his hair in the wind. He looked so handsome. At one point, my mom offered to share our seat with another aunty and we had to squeeze uncomfortably together. I just wanted to get to ajji mane and then everything would be fine.
We got off at the city center. My mom looked at me and said “We are already late. I won’t be able to drop you at Ajji mane and then come back to the bank again. Why don’t we finish my bank work?”. I just agreed because it made sense. The bank was not far away from the bus stand. We walked past the bus stand. I remember seeing the fluorescent orange Jangeer that was surrounded by a swarm of flies and I felt weirdly tempted. We walked over to the bank.
It was the first of the month. Everybody was down at the bank to withdraw money. The lines were longer than I had ever seen before. My mom asked me to go grab the pink withdrawal form as she stood at the tail end of a line. I could feel her eyes tracking me as I went to the other end of the corridor and got the form back to her. She quickly filled out the form. Then we waited in line. The line was hardly moving and there were a few sneaky people who would go to the front and somehow sneak into the line. It was making my blood boil. I told my amma, “Look at that uncle. He sneaked into the front of the line. Say something ma”. She just hushed me and told me to go sit on the empty bench. As I sat there all I could think of was sitting on the bench with him. I wonder how much longer do I have to wait.
After what felt like eternity mom came back and said, “You must be hungry. Let’s go get you sugar cane juice”.
I looked at her and said, “I don’t feel like drinking juice today. Can’t we just go to ajji mane right away”. She was puzzled by my reaction because she knew how much I liked sugar cane juice. Anyway she did not insist much. We decided to take a rickshaw instead of the bus because it was really hot. As we finally headed to ajji mane, I couldn’t stop smiling. It was going to be such fun.
We finally reached the corner of the house. Usually mom makes the rickshaw stop at the bus stand but I guess she was also tired so we stopped very close to the house. As soon as the rickshaw stopped. I leaped out of the other end and ran toward the big green gate. I was finally here. I was ready to run towards the compound on the other side to meet him. But my mom called out and said, “Wait for me. Don’t run”. Thatha was waiting for us at the gate. As soon as he saw me he opened the gate and it creaked in protest. We were not a family of huggers. I just said a quick hi and raced ahead. My aunt was waiting in the Veranda.
She quickly said,”Heeeelllooo, I have a surprise for you. Come inside”. At this very moment I couldn’t care less for any surprise or anything I just wanted to see him. But I saw her face and she was so excited that I decided to along with her.
I quickly freshened up. As I came to the drawing room, there was a glass of passion fruit juice waiting for me. It was so fragrant that I always felt I was drinking shampoo. I just gulped it down. I was looking around for the surprise. I couldn’t find any package. I really wanted to hurry it along, so I could finally be free. She was frying Hapla (papad) for lunch and thatha was laying down small bamboo mats in the dining hall. This meant it was time for lunch and there was no way I could get out of it. I was hungry anyway. In a way it was good, nobody would disturb us after lunch. Thatha asked me to fetch the jug of water and serve it to all the empty tumblers. I knew better than to serve it for him because he always drank hot water. Amma also had freshened up and was busy helping my aunt and catching up on the family gossip.
I sat beside thatha, I always sat beside me. He looked at me and asked,” how were your exams? Will you pass?”.
I looked at him annoyingly and replied,”Of course, I’ll get at least 90% but I don’t know if I’ll get 95. I think I might have made a few silly mistakes”. I could see he was proud of me.
My aunt walked up to me and said, “Tada! I made your favorite sweet Gulab Jamoon. That is the surprise.” I was kind of happy to see it.
Then they started asking me about my school but I was too distracted to give any proper answers.
At some point my mother got irritated and said, “What happened to you suddenly. She was so excited to come here and suddenly it is like she has to pay for words.”
I said, “Oh! I am just tired is all. I am really happy to be here.”
The lunch was very good. It always is here. After we were done, we all went to the hall. I could see all of them yawning one by one. I could finally get out. My thatha was first to excuse himself and headed to his room for siesta. Then aunt escorted mom to her room. She asked me if I wanted to nap.
I said, “Of course not! Do you mind if I play outside with Rocky? I have not seen him since I came”.
My mom wasn’t really fond of him but she understood how much I liked him. She said, “Just don’t mess up your frock”.
I was finally free. At once, I took the biscuits that is usually kept in the kitchen and ran towards the compound. I guess he must have heard my footsteps.
As I ran towards him, I could see his excitement in his eyes. I bent down and hugged him. Oh, I missed him so much. He was wagging his tail faster than I had ever seen before. He even let out a bark or two of excitement.
I told him, “I am so sorry I didn’t come to meet you right away. I missed you so much this month. The exams were really stressful. I can’t believe I am done with 3rd standard. I have so much to tell you. But before I forget. Here are some biscuits that I smuggled from home.”
Rocky gobbled it up in an instant. Then we spent rest of the afternoon on a bench beside his kennel with his head on my lap as I told him all the stories.
