Let me be frank with all of you - I have no idea what story I am going to tell you. Looking at the mirror, I don't see a forty year old, 5 feet tall, dark skinned housewife; but a hundred, a thousand girls scattered across the wall; each like a painting on which hours would have been spent. Some of them are bright, brilliant, radiant, colourful, simply magnificent. Some of them, dynamic black and white portraits, that glow in front of your eyes. Some of them are dull and boring. And some of them; pitch black. Maybe red too. But one thing is for sure, not even the brightest of them all will match the beauty and the glory of the of wall of which they hang. Now what story do I tell you?
Maybe that was the only day in my entire life that I woke up earlier than I had to. College started at 10am and I was bent over my study table at 5.30, my Faber Castell making perfect strokes on the A3 sheet. Each line had to be just right, so close to each other, but not overlapping. Once you have the lines done, you draw the lines again in a perpendicular direction, to get the darkness right. This time I had to be really careful. Each line had to be measured, only then will I get the perfect intensity in my portrait. And my assignments should be nothing less than that. Perfect!
"What the? Which is East? Where did the sun rise? Why are you up so early? Who are you?" Funny how Devi shot those questions without a miniscule hint of the slumber she just had. I mean, normally you are like, "Ahhhh.... *yawn*, wha... What are you... Ahhhh... *yawn*, doing?" Never knew Surprises could make you so alert in the morning.
"Assignment Di. Have to submit it today no?"
"Yeah, but you.... Ahhhh... *yawn*", that's better, "completed that already right?"
"I tore that one off." Yes I did.
"WHAT!?" Ouch. That scream hurt my ear. And almost woke the entire hostel up.
"Yeah, I had smudged it with my finger a little. And... It was not perfect. Yuck! Looked disgusting actually. now look at this. 100% strokes, now that's beautiful!"
"You are absolutely crazy! Arathi, the one you did earlier was amazing! And everybody smudges their portraits. John won't say a thing"
"Maybe John Sir won't." I was the good student. Did her work in time and never addressed the professor without a 'Sir' or a 'Madam', as the case may be. "But I will. Just look at this yaar. Can you even compare this one with the earlier work. Nothing doing. Just a couple of strokes more and my work is complete. You get ready now. It's 9.15 already."
"Bloody hell! No bath today then. Let me get dressed. Since when have you been up?"
"5.30" She gave me the "you are crazy" roll of the eyes look and dashed to the toilet, and I put the final stroke to my master-piece. Wallah! Now nicely fold it up, put it in your blue coloured notebook, move the notebook to one corner of the table, and get ready in a jiffy. Have GOT to be the first to submit the assignment. John Sir will have to salute me now. Maybe a tear or to would be fine. That's appreciation enough.
Alright kids, now let me teach you the most important lesson of your student life. When you are done with your homework, put it inside the bag. Because 20 is too young an age to get a heart attack. And if you forget to carry the assignment that you spent an entire sleepless night on to college, you are going to get a Major Heart Attack. Trust me!
My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and they looked that way too, red as fire. Bathed in tears I pulled emptied the bag looking for the green notebook I kept my portrait in. I shoved my hands inside the bag and scanned it thoroughly, again and again and again. It was nowhere. My fingers trembled beyond control. I couldn't catch my breath. Panicked to the point of suffocation I scanned my books one by one. None of them was green. How could it be? I completed my portrait. Argued with Devi for what seemed like an hour, put the final stroke on my work, kept it safely in the notebook and that was it. After getting dressed I threw all the notebooks lying on the table into my bag.... or did I? When did I last see the green note book? "Hey guys, did you see my book", helplessly, with a wavering voice barely able to spell out the words I turned to my classmates. They all shook their heads together. "What happened?", "What's wrong?", "Can I help you?" some of them enquired. I was in no mood for chit chat. How the bloody blundaleomite could I forget it? I almost shouted. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
The entire class stood up to greet Professor John, who wasted no time in signalling all the students to place their assignments on his table. As cleverly as I was trying to avoid his gaze, his eyes spotted me and he said, "Arathy are you alright?"
"Yes sir. I was just" I struggled to stutter. Let alone speak.
"You are wanted in the staff-room. Susmita is looking for you" He didn't wait for me to elaborate. Or should I say, he cut me short. Literally.
Mrs. Susmita Chandran, Head of Arts Department at our college had asked me to meet her that morning, to discuss about the college fest. I would be performing a solo dance and also leading a group performance. Well, if shivering were a dance move, I was Shobhana that morning.
"Will it kill you to wake up a little bit early one morning. Didn't I tell you to meet me a little early this morning?" If there is a God, I am pretty sure he is planning all this on purpose. And I am sure its a he because only a guy could be this cruel. In all that tension about the missing green notebook, I forgot that I had to meet her that morning. And Susmita Maam was one person you didn't want to anger.
"Madam, I was a little,"
"What Madam Madam? You are a dancer ad tomorrow on I might ask you for early morning dancing sessions. You should be a little disciplined Arathy." She was a really nice woman actually. But a voice as hoarse as a peacock and her really irritating mood swings which aggravated the effects of her voice, made her a personality anyone would hate. A personality who could spoil your day.
"S-Sorry Maam", I stuttered. But now there was a slight relief. I had escaped John Sir's Class. Which meant, time to go and get the assignment from the hostel. Yee-Haw!
"Alright, so you have practice all day today. Go and get your stuff from the hostel and gather all your team members. We will start right away." The doctor prescribed just what the patient wanted. I ran towards my hostel like a bullet from a gun.
Shining, brighter than the sun, greener than the forest, resting in peace, awaiting its unison with its master, the green notebook lay on my study table in solitude. I quickly flipped the pages to look for my portrait and it wasn't there. A bolt of lightning went through my head. My legs became weak and my fingers became numb. Everything became empty.
There was no time to waste. Gather your stuff and dash. And for the day, stay out of John Sir's sight. If Susmita doesn't have any plans for tomorrow morning I will complete my work once again and submit it tomorrow. Will tell him that I completed it the previous day itself and that I couldn't submit it because I was busy with all this dancing and stuff. That's that. Now let's focus on'next issue at hand. College Fest - Dance Program. I swiftly picked up my stuff, double checked the bag to make sure that I didn't miss anything and ran towards the practice room in the basement of our school building.
"Where are the others?" Susmita, busy setting the music player, asked me.
"Uh, I" But she wouldn't give me a chance to complete, would she?
"Now, do I have to ask you to do everything one by one. Go and call everybody. Fast! You have wasted enough time!"
"Alright Maam", like an obedient student and quickly walked off, only to stopped by her.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Uhh...", without making the pause too long for her to thrash me again, "I will assemble everybody maam"
"Do you have the team list with you?" Fish! How could I forget to get that from her!? "Wake up already Arathi. Be alert!" Dear God, I hope you are enjoying all this.
I gathered the list of 8 students from her and started towards the first year classes. Most of the participants were first years. Only one of them from the second year, my classmate - Neha. And collecting her would mean, facing John Sir. Uh oh.
"Maam, can I have Lakshmi?" I asked the professor, peeping into one of the first year classes. He politely signaled the chubby, fair skinned girl and she came out of the class to meet me. I explained to her about the dance practice, stopped her from screaming with excitement, introduced her to the other 7 girls including myself and gave her a life saving task.
"Lakshmi, now can you do me a little favour. Just go to this classroom, ask for Neha and bring her to the basement. There will be one John Sir in the class, just tell him its for the dance practice for the college fest."
"Okay!" She said, still not being able to contain her excitement and walked away, while I led the other girls to the basement for dance practice.
"Where are Lakshmi and Neha?" Does she get paid to scold me?
"Maam, I have sent Lakshmi to get Neha."
"Why do you do this Arathy? Who is the team leader, you or Lakshmi? That first year girl might not even know where the class is. Why do you let your juniors go run such errands? How many times to I have to ask you to be a little more responsible?"
"Alright Maam, I will go and get her." I had seen the limits of my temper and patience. I mean, there is a limit for things. I am not an 8th grader!
Tying my shawl around, ready to start shaking my feet, I walked out of the room, up the stairs, and found my two comrades headed towards me. With a jerk I turned around and Ouch.
"She has sprained her ankle", the doctor said, inspecting the swollen foot. "You will have to rest for a week. No dancing", the doctor gave his verdict and disappeared. And I didn't have the courage to lift my eyes from the swollen feet. Susmita was counting on me for the Dance program and this time I let her down Big Time. I knew that if I missed an entire week of practice, there was no way I could be ready for the fest. Which meant the team would not have a leader. Which meant I let down all the 8 girls. If the program got cancelled, then.... I could feel Lakshmi's anxiety over my head.
My eyes had swollen more than my feet. My heart reached my throat as I prepared myself to face Susmita who would invariably throw a tanrum. Or maybe just kill me! "How are you feeling honey?" The hoarse voice whispered over me. I jerked my neck to turn towards her face, just to make sure it was her itself. And it was Mrs. Susmita Chandran. A kind face, eyes full of sympathy looking at me. "Don't worry. You take rest. I will ask two girls to help you to your class."
"No!" Susmita looked at me dubiously. Now what do I say. "Maam", words tumbled out of my mouth. My brain didn't play a role over here, I am sure, "I don't think we have to waste a whole day of practice just because of me. I know I am the leader and without me practice will be of no use. But... umm... we will atleast teach these girls the basics. Get them used to the song. Get them ready. I can help out. My leg will be alright by tonight I am sure. So tomorrow when I get started, even they will be ready. We can practice today"
"Are you sure?" Was she asking about the practice for the day or my being ready by the next day. I still do not know. But I nodded the strongest nod ever in the history of nods, "Positive"
We practiced until John Sir's class got over. And for the rest of the day I sat in my class doing some tragic introspection, which led me to more trouble for not concentrating in class, which led me to do some more introspection which led me to more trouble. And by the end of the day I was completely washed out. With one hand over Devi's shoulder I dragged myself towards my hostel room, seriously considering the option of throwing myself out of the window that night.
"Surprise!" I never knew my room could host 500 girls! An entire army of women, what looked like 500 but could not have been more than 15, walked out of my room hugging and kissing me one by one. And the last of them walked towards me with a cake bearing 21 candles. 21, I guess is a good age to get a heart attack. And I was getting one. "Happy Birthday", all of them sang. My eyes turned wet again.
The entire hostel celebrated for me, an evnt I myself had forgotten.. Well, God is a gal I guess then.
"Happy Birthday!" Professor John walked up to me. "And let me tell you. The portrait was absolutely fabulous!"
Now, should I ask him what portrait he is talking about. Nahh, never mind. However, later I found out that it was the blue book I has kept my assignment in, and that I had carried it to class and that after I left for dance practice one of my neighbours in class found it lying on the able and gave it to Sir and he loved it.
"And I loved it. So, I took it to the Principal and he has approved of this portrait as our entry to the National Fest to be held at Delhi on 20th May. And you, will be leaving to Delhi on the 18th."
Now, should I scream "YAHOOOO!!!" which I guess I did. Or should I inform him that 18th is the date of our college fest. Yeah, I think I should ask that.
"Yes, principal sir told me that you will be leading a dance team. But then later I came to know that you sprained your ankle and won't be able to practice for dance. So I talked to Susmita Miss and she agreed to send you. She just wants your help to audition for a new team leader and train the new team. Guess you will have enough time for that."
"Sure, yes sir. That would be great!"
And it was great. Thanks to a sprained ankle, like a classic fairy tale story, this one got a Happy Ending. Guess I should have started off with Once Upon a Time. Well, then again, I didn't end up getting kissed by a prince so its a fair deal.
Now I look at the mirror again, a short, dark skinned, 40 year old housewife, with a hundred paintings in her canvas and many more in the making.
Love
Maybe that was the only day in my entire life that I woke up earlier than I had to. College started at 10am and I was bent over my study table at 5.30, my Faber Castell making perfect strokes on the A3 sheet. Each line had to be just right, so close to each other, but not overlapping. Once you have the lines done, you draw the lines again in a perpendicular direction, to get the darkness right. This time I had to be really careful. Each line had to be measured, only then will I get the perfect intensity in my portrait. And my assignments should be nothing less than that. Perfect!
"What the? Which is East? Where did the sun rise? Why are you up so early? Who are you?" Funny how Devi shot those questions without a miniscule hint of the slumber she just had. I mean, normally you are like, "Ahhhh.... *yawn*, wha... What are you... Ahhhh... *yawn*, doing?" Never knew Surprises could make you so alert in the morning.
"Assignment Di. Have to submit it today no?"
"Yeah, but you.... Ahhhh... *yawn*", that's better, "completed that already right?"
"I tore that one off." Yes I did.
"WHAT!?" Ouch. That scream hurt my ear. And almost woke the entire hostel up.
"Yeah, I had smudged it with my finger a little. And... It was not perfect. Yuck! Looked disgusting actually. now look at this. 100% strokes, now that's beautiful!"
"You are absolutely crazy! Arathi, the one you did earlier was amazing! And everybody smudges their portraits. John won't say a thing"
"Maybe John Sir won't." I was the good student. Did her work in time and never addressed the professor without a 'Sir' or a 'Madam', as the case may be. "But I will. Just look at this yaar. Can you even compare this one with the earlier work. Nothing doing. Just a couple of strokes more and my work is complete. You get ready now. It's 9.15 already."
"Bloody hell! No bath today then. Let me get dressed. Since when have you been up?"
"5.30" She gave me the "you are crazy" roll of the eyes look and dashed to the toilet, and I put the final stroke to my master-piece. Wallah! Now nicely fold it up, put it in your blue coloured notebook, move the notebook to one corner of the table, and get ready in a jiffy. Have GOT to be the first to submit the assignment. John Sir will have to salute me now. Maybe a tear or to would be fine. That's appreciation enough.
Alright kids, now let me teach you the most important lesson of your student life. When you are done with your homework, put it inside the bag. Because 20 is too young an age to get a heart attack. And if you forget to carry the assignment that you spent an entire sleepless night on to college, you are going to get a Major Heart Attack. Trust me!
My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and they looked that way too, red as fire. Bathed in tears I pulled emptied the bag looking for the green notebook I kept my portrait in. I shoved my hands inside the bag and scanned it thoroughly, again and again and again. It was nowhere. My fingers trembled beyond control. I couldn't catch my breath. Panicked to the point of suffocation I scanned my books one by one. None of them was green. How could it be? I completed my portrait. Argued with Devi for what seemed like an hour, put the final stroke on my work, kept it safely in the notebook and that was it. After getting dressed I threw all the notebooks lying on the table into my bag.... or did I? When did I last see the green note book? "Hey guys, did you see my book", helplessly, with a wavering voice barely able to spell out the words I turned to my classmates. They all shook their heads together. "What happened?", "What's wrong?", "Can I help you?" some of them enquired. I was in no mood for chit chat. How the bloody blundaleomite could I forget it? I almost shouted. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
The entire class stood up to greet Professor John, who wasted no time in signalling all the students to place their assignments on his table. As cleverly as I was trying to avoid his gaze, his eyes spotted me and he said, "Arathy are you alright?"
"Yes sir. I was just" I struggled to stutter. Let alone speak.
"You are wanted in the staff-room. Susmita is looking for you" He didn't wait for me to elaborate. Or should I say, he cut me short. Literally.
Mrs. Susmita Chandran, Head of Arts Department at our college had asked me to meet her that morning, to discuss about the college fest. I would be performing a solo dance and also leading a group performance. Well, if shivering were a dance move, I was Shobhana that morning.
"Will it kill you to wake up a little bit early one morning. Didn't I tell you to meet me a little early this morning?" If there is a God, I am pretty sure he is planning all this on purpose. And I am sure its a he because only a guy could be this cruel. In all that tension about the missing green notebook, I forgot that I had to meet her that morning. And Susmita Maam was one person you didn't want to anger.
"Madam, I was a little,"
"What Madam Madam? You are a dancer ad tomorrow on I might ask you for early morning dancing sessions. You should be a little disciplined Arathy." She was a really nice woman actually. But a voice as hoarse as a peacock and her really irritating mood swings which aggravated the effects of her voice, made her a personality anyone would hate. A personality who could spoil your day.
"S-Sorry Maam", I stuttered. But now there was a slight relief. I had escaped John Sir's Class. Which meant, time to go and get the assignment from the hostel. Yee-Haw!
"Alright, so you have practice all day today. Go and get your stuff from the hostel and gather all your team members. We will start right away." The doctor prescribed just what the patient wanted. I ran towards my hostel like a bullet from a gun.
Shining, brighter than the sun, greener than the forest, resting in peace, awaiting its unison with its master, the green notebook lay on my study table in solitude. I quickly flipped the pages to look for my portrait and it wasn't there. A bolt of lightning went through my head. My legs became weak and my fingers became numb. Everything became empty.
There was no time to waste. Gather your stuff and dash. And for the day, stay out of John Sir's sight. If Susmita doesn't have any plans for tomorrow morning I will complete my work once again and submit it tomorrow. Will tell him that I completed it the previous day itself and that I couldn't submit it because I was busy with all this dancing and stuff. That's that. Now let's focus on'next issue at hand. College Fest - Dance Program. I swiftly picked up my stuff, double checked the bag to make sure that I didn't miss anything and ran towards the practice room in the basement of our school building.
"Where are the others?" Susmita, busy setting the music player, asked me.
"Uh, I" But she wouldn't give me a chance to complete, would she?
"Now, do I have to ask you to do everything one by one. Go and call everybody. Fast! You have wasted enough time!"
"Alright Maam", like an obedient student and quickly walked off, only to stopped by her.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Uhh...", without making the pause too long for her to thrash me again, "I will assemble everybody maam"
"Do you have the team list with you?" Fish! How could I forget to get that from her!? "Wake up already Arathi. Be alert!" Dear God, I hope you are enjoying all this.
I gathered the list of 8 students from her and started towards the first year classes. Most of the participants were first years. Only one of them from the second year, my classmate - Neha. And collecting her would mean, facing John Sir. Uh oh.
"Maam, can I have Lakshmi?" I asked the professor, peeping into one of the first year classes. He politely signaled the chubby, fair skinned girl and she came out of the class to meet me. I explained to her about the dance practice, stopped her from screaming with excitement, introduced her to the other 7 girls including myself and gave her a life saving task.
"Lakshmi, now can you do me a little favour. Just go to this classroom, ask for Neha and bring her to the basement. There will be one John Sir in the class, just tell him its for the dance practice for the college fest."
"Okay!" She said, still not being able to contain her excitement and walked away, while I led the other girls to the basement for dance practice.
"Where are Lakshmi and Neha?" Does she get paid to scold me?
"Maam, I have sent Lakshmi to get Neha."
"Why do you do this Arathy? Who is the team leader, you or Lakshmi? That first year girl might not even know where the class is. Why do you let your juniors go run such errands? How many times to I have to ask you to be a little more responsible?"
"Alright Maam, I will go and get her." I had seen the limits of my temper and patience. I mean, there is a limit for things. I am not an 8th grader!
Tying my shawl around, ready to start shaking my feet, I walked out of the room, up the stairs, and found my two comrades headed towards me. With a jerk I turned around and Ouch.
"She has sprained her ankle", the doctor said, inspecting the swollen foot. "You will have to rest for a week. No dancing", the doctor gave his verdict and disappeared. And I didn't have the courage to lift my eyes from the swollen feet. Susmita was counting on me for the Dance program and this time I let her down Big Time. I knew that if I missed an entire week of practice, there was no way I could be ready for the fest. Which meant the team would not have a leader. Which meant I let down all the 8 girls. If the program got cancelled, then.... I could feel Lakshmi's anxiety over my head.
My eyes had swollen more than my feet. My heart reached my throat as I prepared myself to face Susmita who would invariably throw a tanrum. Or maybe just kill me! "How are you feeling honey?" The hoarse voice whispered over me. I jerked my neck to turn towards her face, just to make sure it was her itself. And it was Mrs. Susmita Chandran. A kind face, eyes full of sympathy looking at me. "Don't worry. You take rest. I will ask two girls to help you to your class."
"No!" Susmita looked at me dubiously. Now what do I say. "Maam", words tumbled out of my mouth. My brain didn't play a role over here, I am sure, "I don't think we have to waste a whole day of practice just because of me. I know I am the leader and without me practice will be of no use. But... umm... we will atleast teach these girls the basics. Get them used to the song. Get them ready. I can help out. My leg will be alright by tonight I am sure. So tomorrow when I get started, even they will be ready. We can practice today"
"Are you sure?" Was she asking about the practice for the day or my being ready by the next day. I still do not know. But I nodded the strongest nod ever in the history of nods, "Positive"
We practiced until John Sir's class got over. And for the rest of the day I sat in my class doing some tragic introspection, which led me to more trouble for not concentrating in class, which led me to do some more introspection which led me to more trouble. And by the end of the day I was completely washed out. With one hand over Devi's shoulder I dragged myself towards my hostel room, seriously considering the option of throwing myself out of the window that night.
"Surprise!" I never knew my room could host 500 girls! An entire army of women, what looked like 500 but could not have been more than 15, walked out of my room hugging and kissing me one by one. And the last of them walked towards me with a cake bearing 21 candles. 21, I guess is a good age to get a heart attack. And I was getting one. "Happy Birthday", all of them sang. My eyes turned wet again.
The entire hostel celebrated for me, an evnt I myself had forgotten.. Well, God is a gal I guess then.
"Happy Birthday!" Professor John walked up to me. "And let me tell you. The portrait was absolutely fabulous!"
Now, should I ask him what portrait he is talking about. Nahh, never mind. However, later I found out that it was the blue book I has kept my assignment in, and that I had carried it to class and that after I left for dance practice one of my neighbours in class found it lying on the able and gave it to Sir and he loved it.
"And I loved it. So, I took it to the Principal and he has approved of this portrait as our entry to the National Fest to be held at Delhi on 20th May. And you, will be leaving to Delhi on the 18th."
Now, should I scream "YAHOOOO!!!" which I guess I did. Or should I inform him that 18th is the date of our college fest. Yeah, I think I should ask that.
"Yes, principal sir told me that you will be leading a dance team. But then later I came to know that you sprained your ankle and won't be able to practice for dance. So I talked to Susmita Miss and she agreed to send you. She just wants your help to audition for a new team leader and train the new team. Guess you will have enough time for that."
"Sure, yes sir. That would be great!"
And it was great. Thanks to a sprained ankle, like a classic fairy tale story, this one got a Happy Ending. Guess I should have started off with Once Upon a Time. Well, then again, I didn't end up getting kissed by a prince so its a fair deal.
Now I look at the mirror again, a short, dark skinned, 40 year old housewife, with a hundred paintings in her canvas and many more in the making.
Love
