Taare Zameen Par – II

I was sitting with my sister in her class, 2^nd standard d-section. Even after spending a year in school, I showed as if I was still homesick. My class tutor dropped in, as usual, to drag my back to the class. That was a regular scene, once in such a struggle I tore her sari. Today she was powered with a maid servant, so I had no other go, other than, biting her hand to run off from them. My parent had enough of my pranks, both in and out of school, hence I was send to a boarding school from my 1^st standard.

(Till the end of my schoolings I didn’t got a “Amir Khan” like teacher, so I made my own strategies to rescue me out of situations)

Once, in my earlier days in hostel, with a plan of going home, I acted as if I was suffering from a unbearable stomach ache. In front of my principal, I crumbled down clutching my stomach and cried at my maximum pitch, but she was unmoved on watching it, as if she is stone hearted. Then on, till end of her tenure she made me, to represent my school in any “Mono-acting” competition.

Chandru was my best pal. He was more loyal than a friend, since my grandpa use to call chandru to share the lunch with me, that he brings from home, on every Sunday. On those days, we considered sunday lunch to be a life saver, being forced and bored with our hostel mess food. We even start fasting from Friday eve with sunday lunch in mind. Most of the time Chandra’s parents fails to visit him on Sunday.

Chandru, even though he doesn’t like, use to back me in local gang war, between fans of “Shakthimaan” and “Superman”

Our science teacher is the only person for whom I feared of, because he is the only person who use “Pencil drill between fingers” to punish. Other teachers will just make me to kneel down out of the class (which I loved, because from there I can look at my first crush, subha ka sitting in 4b).

I was always irregular in completing any of the homework or class work,( I prefer eating in our hostel mass than writing) and often got punished. In class, when ever my science teacher check homework, I’ll keep changing my place. When he checks left side row I‘ll move to right side and vice versa, if he comes to the front I’ll go to back and vice versa. He will show as if he is unaware of my moments, and at the end of the class, he’ll make a special call to me, check my homework which use to be incomplete, and ‘ll go on with “Pencil drill between fingers”.

On a particular Sunday eve, chandru took pity on me and offered to complete my science homework. Since the volume work was high and to get my work done with chandru, when he was writing I kept telling ,sardonically, it’ll be impossible for him to finish the work (boosted his ego, to make him writ fast). At a point, he understood my intension and stopped writing. I brought him back to write after a long hours of begging for pardon. To my satisfaction the work was finished.

To give my science teacher a nose cut, I acted in a regular way. At the end of the class, with a usual pride he had on his judgment, he called me and checked my homework. I thought “Ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it’s done dear science monkey”. He grunted, when he read my thought from my face. When I was about to leave to my desk, a light flashed above his head, his face brightened, and he told “this handwriting is too good to be yours…………….come on little punk, tell me who did it for you” and he took out the pencil……..to be continued

cheers,

deepak p

Send me a reply, attached with ur smile and few commenting words if I entertained u , but if bored you, don’t hesitate to attach kiks and slaps.

Kutti Anna” means “chota bhaiyya

She was naked except the underpants. She came running out of bedroom without knowing I was sitting in the hall. On espying me she froze, a moment later she ran to the nearest curtain and covered her with it. Though she demanded I refused to close my eyes.

With ridicule laugh I rhythmically added “shame, shame, puppy shame”. Unbearably, she mimicked crying, stamping her legs alternatively. Against the unbeatable girls weapon, impending tears, I surrendered and so I covered my eyes with hands. That left her enough time to run back to the bedroom.

Yup, that’s Madhu my next door kiddo and that day was her fourth birthday. Fully dressed she came running, pounced on me and I have to hold her. With her utmost trust she gave a punch on my chest (punishment!), for which I mocked as if I suffered a lavish pain. Discontented with that, childishly she told, “Kutti Anna, I’ll not give you birthday cake” and shouted to her mother who was in the kitchen “mummy, u should not give cake to Kutti Anna”
She checked all my pockets, disappointed on finding nothing; she asked me, “why na, hadn’t you bought me any gift” with her saddened face, out of failed expectation.

Since my conscience told me “Hey, that’s too much for fun”, I took out a toy gun-set I kept hidden behind my back. On seeing it, she sprang out soulfully with an unbearable joy. For that moment of her child delight we can pay anything. Jubilantly she grabbed it from me and checked what it was. Satisfied. With an apologetic care, she creased my chest where she punched and told a stretchy childish “Sorry………”. Then she ran to her mom to show it, out of excitement.

Towards the eve of that day, settled after the birthday party, we both were playing with the toy gun. Though I insisted not to, she kept aiming the gun at to my face. Thankfully I was swifter than the bullet, so I escaped it each time. Since I had tough to wear patience with her and a heart disapproving to scold her on birthday, I just let her as she pleased, ignoring the slender risk involved.

But her father who was sitting beside to us, got annoyed on what she was doing. Sniffing my feel, he pitched in. In a stringent loud pitch, “Madhu, enough of that stupid game, behave like a grown girl” said he, such that she won’t dare to disobey.

Suddenly all the bliss stacked in her face drained off. She dropped off the gun, went to the TV and sat in front of it, aimlessly focusing it. That signaled her injured feel. Sharing a partial blame I felt bad. With that, I was in no mood to stick around there. After a brief chat with her father I decided to leave to my home. When I called her to say bye, she was stone in response. Irked with it, her father came till the door to send off me, continuing his accusing comments on her.

At that moment, sensing that her father is facing the door and not her, she swiftly turned to me and hastily gestured “My papa is always like this, come tomorrow we’ll play” along with a energetic “bye bye” and turned to TV, as if nothing happened, before her father looked her on his way back. I went to home with a smile left in my lips.

cheers,
deepak p
Did I managed a smile in your lips? If so leme kno, that will bring a big smile in mine.

I took her face by her baby soft cheeks

“Among air-hostess, Kingfisher’s are most catchy” a commonly prevailing comment. But I don’t feel so, for that matter I don’t feel any other women appealing to me other than Neethu. I’m suffering from this ‘insensitivity’ problem right from the day I saw her.

We are flying back to Chennai, to celebrate first anniversary of “the day we met”. Sitting next to me, she is sleeping on my shoulder like a child in womb. I’m just enjoying her cuteness overwhelmed in sleep, that will put kitten’s cuteness in shame.

The long flight made her tired, so cautiously I asked the cabin crew not to interrupt us with any offers, hence may disturb her nap. Still, a brief turbulence caused the flight a sharp jerk, ensuingly she shivered-up . In that instant, abrupt pull-off from her deep sleep, left her uncertain, looking all around, expressions filled with questions and a untold fear. The moment her eyes caught me, the emerge of reassurance was vivid. With that she shed her ‘easy smile’ to me, wordlessly conveying “you, complete me”. This ‘smile of her’ often gave color and meaning to my life. After answering her smile with mine, I gently put my hands on her face and made her to lay back on my shoulder again. With my tender pats she slept soon, taking me back to paradise.
A year and a day back……………….

The symptoms of stomach growing into belly made me resolute upon early morning jog. Though I resolute a week before, last night sight of topless me in mirror waked me early in morning. Geared with tracks and shoes, lethargically I walked to the beach road. When I stepped into the beach, the very sight of blazing sun coloring the silver sea with its orange, whipped off my morning sluggishness. The tides were pondering to clear off the footmarks of joggers, as if angered, “how dare you people leave you footprints on my land”.

Wild barking of a dog, took off me from the seduction to nature. A girl, probably counting her teen days, made no match to the size of her pet she was holding, the dalmation. It ran behind every dog in the beach, pissed everywhere it liked, dragging her all the way behind it. Her try to cover-off the slight embarrassment of being troubled like this in front of few boys in beach and her struggle to keep the dog under control, added humor to my fresh morning mood.

An elderly couple were about to cross me, when then lace knot of the old man’s shoes went-off. His aged plump physic demands a painful and heavy effort to sit down to tie the lace. Though his wife too shared the same profile, told, “ I’ll do it for you darling”. When she sat down, there was a brief shrink in her face and bit tip of her tongue out of pain of her back or knees, which I don’t know. But she didn’t advertise it. When she was done, the old chap lifted the gran, after a short moment of unsteadiness. Then they both laughed at each other. That laughter was eternal and life filling.

Before wading-off from the thoughts of merriness of a having a partner, stirred by the elders, I saw Neethu for the first time, too far to recognize the face. In a professional jogging suite, with her friend approaching my side in about fifty feet, even then I could hear the residue of their quibble and giggles over the sound of waves. “MR.BeGoodBoy” in me, told me, ”hey, don’t glue your eyes on the girls” and so I obediently continued as if I had not noticed them.

But when we neared to ten feet, suddenly the converse between the girls stopped. That raised my antennas. My common sense told me, the girls felt my presence. Though I walked unnoticing, when we were about to cross each other, my curiosity trained my eyes on her. And our eyes met. I went thoughtless for that moment. She was the life of the image etched in mind, her look and the confidence & clarity it radiating . Moments later I realized, we both were walking backwards facing each other.

With my logical thinking went blunt, not knowing what to do, I just turned back and walked in my course, in a state of ecstasy. She was filling my mind slowly, and at a point she made the cytoplasm of all my thinking cells. I guess after five minutes, reality took me and told, “hey, you may miss her” and added “go and find her”. But my bad time, I was not able to spot her in the intense crowd of morning walkers. My heart urged me saying “hey, how come, it was just few minutes back she was here, she will be some were here”. But she was perfume sprayed into the air, I was not able to find her.

With an irrational instincts reassuring , we are for each other and so she will come here for me tomorrow, I want to office that day. I lingered with the thoughts of the way we looked each other, the openness in that which deliberately told, “I like you”. That openness is a rare commodity in girls.

When I was preparing to leave the office early, so I can sleep early and hence I can wake-up early in the next day morning, Vibhore, a friend of mine ringed to my mobile, “Nanba”, he started enthusiastically in a heavy accented Tamil and without allowing me to interject continued in English, “I’ll pick you for the dinner, and we can go to theater then”. Ooooooooooooops, that second show for “Shivaji” was planned a long back. Being form north India he was ignorant of our movie star Rajinikanth. It was me who created a great hype for Rajini to Vibhore, and promised to help him with the language to watch the movie. These kind of commitment cannot be give-up.

And it was around 2.30 am when he dropped me in the home. Hardly slept, in the early morning my eyelids refused to open-up, with a feel of eyeballs plunged into the burning acid. But the fear of losing her (and hence seemed like losing the life) brought me to my feet. I went to the beach road and sat along the beach near the road entrance.

After three couple of ten minutes, still without any sign of her, my courage started to sore down. I went to the less frequented entrance on the other side of the road so as not to give any chance. I didn’t wanted the situation or ego to hinder me from reaching her. So to takeover them, I started to wander hastily among the walkers and joggers. The time passed enough, for that the mild morning sun had started to through-off its crouching rays.

I stood beside the sea shore for a while letting the waves to run across my legs as to cool-off the wrath I had on myself , for misreading the girl and for missing even the last bus to office, wandering around beach expecting her.

When I started to walk thought the beach towards the road, a cab came along the beach road and pulled up. To my sky touching joy, it was Neethu who got down from the cab, and the cab left behind her. She stood there looking at me, with no energy left in her even to wave at me, holding her handbag carelessly with one handle while the other swing outside. Her crumpled formals told, it was not just a night shift she worked but well form a day. Slowly she walked (or in better terms, dragged herself) towards the beach, and kneeled on the beach sand, the instant she reached them, with no more potency left in her for another step. I walked to her, kneeled next to her, and after moments of exchanging a assured look, I took her face by her baby soft cheeks. And it was then she smiled her “easy smile” first ever time to me.

cheers :-)
deepak p

this is not a love letter ;-)

Hi,
First of all thanks for not showering me with torn pieces of this letter or (the worst) your sandal’s slaps, a cinematic fear adhered me with the very thought of giving letter to a girl.
“Vellode Birds Sanctuary” (VBS) anchored my heart on my first visit there without explaining me ‘WHY’. I stared hitting VBS twice a week, in spite of 20km of pedaling. The time answered me the ‘WHY’
>Even during red hot sunny afternoon I felt a chill with breeze from its lake into my shirt sleeves.
>The mind-blowing sight, a indispensable proof of why the “Kingfisher” is called so.
>Stupefying scene of Eagle in air for hours without a slightest flap its wing .

It’s the same way, you hooked my mind. I rescheduled my bus timings to match yours, aligned my food habits to your style to take food in same café as you (costly compromises in terms of effort and economy). And these are your “WHY’s”
>Dressing in tomorrow’s trend, yet without breaching the limits(I enjoyed your beauty of choices and the intelligence underneath)
>The gestures and postures that reflects your focused and tough to give up attitude (even now you pretend as if you have never noted me)
>Always surrounded by a mob full of chatter and laughter (and you make the core of the bubbling gang)
>The most prominent, your face that gravitates all my senses towards it (got something new and fresh to captivate me each time I encounter it)

Since being at VBS put me in a cheery mood, I made it close to my heart by being there at all possible chances with my cherished people. It’s the same way I want make you my friend, one with whom I can make fun at my manager, one who will guide me on my next move with my latest crush, one who I can call and cheer about my little cute niece’s first walking step, a perpetual shoulder during my tougher times.
I’m planning a visit to VBS during my next vocation with my friends. Will you join us?

cheers, :-)
deepak p