~~~@~~~ THE RAKHI INCIDENT ~~~@~~~

       
(PART 4)

            Senthil and John were intently listening to their conversation and excitedly leaned forward to what’s going to happen next. They were certain either Harini or Aman was going to go back on their agreement and they would confess their hidden love. They were eagerly waiting for it to happen and prove that they always knew something was there between the two star crossed lovers who needed a push, which they had provided. The excitement within them was increasing minute-by-minute, their eyes were glued on the arguing couple and ears were finely tuned to their voices.

           Meanwhile, in the heat of the moment, at the back of Aman’s and Harini’s mind, the awkwardness of the Raakhi had crept-in.

Aman’s mind was like “How, how did I get into this situation? That you too, in front of everyone, I can’t escape also. What to tell to escape out of this situation. Only solution is if that teacher comes and we have to break this conversation. Where is that teacher? Why is she taking so much time to come today, every time she comes bang on time? I always hated her for it but now when I need her to come, she doesn’t come. Hate her! She has never helped me with putting extra marks for me but this simple thing also she couldn’t do. God only help me from this, please God please! Rakhi ! That too from Harini !!??!! God Please! Please!”

           Though all the pleading was going on in Aman’s mind voice unreached to anyone’s ears over there, he had pulled up a straight face. No one could imagine that he was restlessly thinking of a way out. Harini was no way different, only thing was, she was scared the teacher would enter when she would be tying the rakhi and that made her more anxious to get it over, however half-minded she was about the rakhi.

Harini’s mind was not following the words she had blurted out few minutes back. It was going on, “Really Harini, you are going to tie a rakhi to AMAN, Aman ! Seriously? Great ! You yourself, with your very own hands, close the doors. Great going! Keep it up! Not like as if something great was happening between you and him but still there was room, both of us know if we wanted it, it could have grown into something. Now you are going back to square zero with no one. There is no scope of love in your life now or in near future. Congratulations Harini!”

          Seeing them lost in their thoughts, the boys behind all this were quite certain that Aman might break and open up about his feelings towards Harini.

           Suddenly one of the classroom’s window closed with a loud bang due to the wind, this noise woke them up from there zoning out and they looked at each other with eyes questioning, “ So what’s next?”

Aman took a deep breath and said ok and extended his hand as before, “ok, go ahead, do it.”

           Aman’s words had shocked Senthil, John caught his wrist with a comforting touch insisting not all is lost. Harini’s reaction was still pending and that could save their mission, which had just got a jerk from Aman.

Harini still trying to believe the reality, replied, “Do What?”. She was so into her thoughts and zoned out completely in a matter of few minutes that she took some time to come back.

“Rakhi, Harini!”, he reminded her.

“Oh yes! Rakhi! Yes yes. Just a second. Let me check where it is”, Harini fumbled and trying to search where she had lost that Rakhi which had created all this commotion.

“Found it”, she exclaimed but not so happily.

              She was catching both the loose strings of the Rakhi in each hand; she didn’t want to see the Rakhi also. Aman had given the green signal and she had to go ahead with it.

“Can you come a little closer?” she requested with leaning forward from her desk and trying to reach his hand.

“Harini! Harini! Harini!”, she could hear someone shouting out her name.

             The whole class was seated in the classroom, as 10 mimutes had passed since the class was to start but due to the absence of the teacher, everyone was jitter-jabbering away and adding up the noise level. Even through all the noise, Harini could hear her name being called out, it was faint in the being but it had become louder. She looked back thinking Senthil or John was calling her, but she was wrong. She couldn’t recognize the voice in the noise so she turning her head left and right, trying to figure out who it was.

               After few minutes of searching who was calling her, she gave up and moved her attention to the task at hand – tying the Rakhi to Aman. She heaved a deep breath and looked at the rakhi and then her eyes moved towards Aman’s face. She was staring at his face and suddenly his face got blurred, her focus was lost and drifted to hands waving in the air impatiently. Like a camera lens focusing at the backend and blurring out the frontend image, her eyes was trying to capture the person whose hands were up in the air. Those hands were of a boy, who was seated at far end of the classroom near the door but was just visible only when her line-of-sight from Aman was shifted by an angle or two. Now she was able to match the face to the voice calling her out, it was Ramesh. Soon as it had registered in her brain that it was Ramesh calling her and waving her to catch her attention, she was puzzled.

              She didn’t know why Ramesh was behaving like that and what was so important that he was frantically waving his hand continuously to get her to see him. The urgency with which Ramesh was showing towards her was confusing her more. Even after he had seen her looking at him, it didn’t stop him from repeatedly saying, “Harini, No. No”.

Harini looking at Ramesh asked, “What no? Why are you calling my name like this?”

                Her eyes were frowning up when she saw someone hurriedly scuffling up his mouth and pulling him to avoid her from seeing him. That someone had actually gotten up from two rows behind Ramesh to come and sit next to him.

Ramesh was trying to break free from his capturer, when he got a moment of freedom, he screamed, “Harini, don’t do it. Look… at your… hand. Look… at the …. Ra...”

               He was struggling to free his mouth, so his words were coming out at broken intervals and his last word was left incomplete. This made it harder to figure out what he was trying to convey to her. Only three words she had heard – Don’t, look, hand. Harini then looked down at her hand but still puzzled turned to Ramesh and back to her hand.

Ramesh at last screamed, “R...Rakhi!”

               Harini glanced at the rakhi at her hand, her eyes were blurred, and she couldn’t find anything. She saw a shape at the center of the rakhi, all rakhis usually have a round center which has a design on it. She then intently looked at the rakhi again; she saw that it had a heart shaped design. Again she could hear Ramesh’s voice, but clearly now without any disturbance; the capturer had left him free now.

“Look at the rakhi first Harini before tying it”, Harini was checking it properly while Ramesh continued to say, “Read what’s written on it properly. Don’t tie the rakhi.”

              After Ramesh’s insistence, she found out that there was something written on the rakhi which was not usual. The design was very fine and delicate, so it made it hard to figure out the words. She brought it closer and found the words - “Will you marry me?” written inside the heart shape.

              Harini couldn’t believe the words and read once again. Seeing those words infuriated her like a dangerous rocket had been launched into the sky. She crumpled the rakhi inside the fist, turned towards Senthil and John and gave them a red hot blazing stare and threw the rakhi to the dustbin present near the blackboard. Surprisingly her aim was bang on even though it was far away.

In amidst all this, Aman was cluelessly looking at Harini.

Harini told to Aman, “No rakhi, Aman. You can turn back, in slightly rude tone, as she was angry because of what Senthil and John had done.

Aman gave a sarcastic look and said, “Hmph! What a waste of time!” He had turned back and was looking down at his open book and gave a sigh of relief and a smile.

Harini turned and scolded Senthil and John, “You two…. How dare you do this! I’m going to kill both of you!!”

             She understood that they had sent someone to stop Ramesh from revealing the truth to her. She had to thank Ramesh for being like a guardian angel for her and for successfully stopping her from making such an embarrassing step.

“Ramesh, thank you so much, for saving me today. Thank you for being a true friend”, Harini said from the bottom of her heart and gave a disgusting look to the so-called-friends-turned-schemers.

Senthil with a smirk said, “Harini, Sorry. But why Ramesh stopped you from tying that rakhi to Aman. Don’t you want to know, Harini?”

“You guys will not stop I guess!” Harini without turning to them laughed and exclaimed.

“Ramesh might not be just a “friend”, why should it affect him if you propose to Aman? Think Harini, he might have some feelings for you. Ask him why did told you the truth about the rakhi.”

Harini just chuckled and thought, “These boys are never going to change.”

Just then the teacher entered the classroom.

             <> (*-*) <> The End  <>  (*-*)  <> 

~~~@~~~ THE RAKHI INCIDENT ~~~@~~~

         
(PART 3)

     

       Aman so obediently extended his hand, thinking that she was going to give him something. He did it as soon as he heard the first part of her sentence. Once the words “ I want to tie a Rakhi to you” had reached his ears and up through the neurons cells to the brain, his reaction to it was so fast that it was hard to differentiate if it was a reflex action or a voluntary reaction/response sent by the brain. Aman had quickly taken his extended hand back and hit his head with it and settled down properly in his seat.

       Harini didn’t realize what had happened, for one second his hand was right there and next he was hitting his head and pointing to her as if to indicate that she had gone mad. She turned back to see Senthil’s and John’s reaction. They were still encouraging her not to give up as if she had almost reached the finish line of a race fully devoid of energy and had to only take few steps to reach it. 

She air-mouthed to them telling, “He doesn’t want to tie it”. 

Senthil replied the same way, “Try once again, find out why he doesn’t want to.”

“I don’t care!” replied Harini bluntly. “I cannot go run behind him or anyone to tie a rakhi just because you two are compelling me to do”, was annoyed Harini’s angry reply to them while she was turning her head back to face the blackboard.

       John urged Senthil to add some oil to the burning flames coming out of Harini’s aura. His idea was before Harini calms herself  if they hit the red-hot-iron-rod- like Harini, only then she’ll break her I-don’t-care-attitude and take the next step to find out what Aman’s reaction meant. For those two guys it was like trying to solve a high profile mystery and they just wanted to reach to the end as fast as possible.

Senthil told John, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care. I know what to do.”

He pretended to be talking to John in slightly raised tone and said, “Oh! So it’s like that John! You are right, bro; there is nothing between Harini and Aman. But one thing I didn’t understand If nothing is there, why isn’t Aman co-operating with Harini, when he knows this can put an end to all speculation. Is he using HER!", indirectly calling out to Harini by making sure his voice was loud and clear enough to catch her attention

Now even Harini wanted to know why, she called, “Aman!”

After he turned with an I-don’t-give-a-damn look,  “I want to tie the Rakhi to you, don’t turn back, let me finish”, she started  off with so much determination and hurried up to finish the sentence before he retreats again.

She continued on to say, “See! Everyone’s pressurizing me to do it and anyways we don’t staunchly follow this custom, so why not just do it to get peace of mind?!”

          Aman’s face turned to a clueless look and Harini was unable to judge what he is going on in his mind. Aman didn’t give any herd to her blabbering and this annoyed Harini.

         She was already frustrated with those two boys behind her and now when she had made up her mind to do it, Aman was not co-operating. She just wanted to end it so that she can go back to her assignment work. The silence and the wait for Aman’s words or response was just increasing her tension of whether she had made a stupid move.

“H-E-L-L-O! Aman “, Harini impatiently blurted out.

“What?” , Aman questioned as if he didn’t know that she was waiting for his reply.

 Harini shrugged her shoulders implying she was still waiting.

“Uh! … I mean … What peace of mind are you talking about? Who’s pressurizing you? “, asked Aman.

        Harini with a jerk pointed her thumbs behind towards Senthil and John. Aman’s eyes followed the direction meet those two giggling boy’s faces and gave a sarcastic smile and small upward nod indicating “What’s up with you bro!” to them.

        He turned back to Harini and deject fully said, “You, YOU are falling into their words! I last expected it from you Harini. Do you think by doing all this drama, anything is going to change? I thought you were intelligent and clear minded. I thought all this didn’t affect you. Then, why all this is for?”

          Harini was not the kind to be sitting quietly and listening to all this lectures, that too from a boy like Aman or any boy. She had never seen him talking like all-the-sensible-grown-up-adult, then how the sudden change and why was he saying it to her. If any other girl had done it, she knew very well what his reaction would be; his chocolate boy charm and flirty nature would have come out. She was surprised to see this change in Aman.

So she replied, “If it doesn’t affect you, whether Rakhi or no Rakhi, you shouldn’t be so much bothered. Why are you all of a sudden behaving as if you are so grown up?”

Aman was about to open his mouth to say something but she cut him out and continued her train.

“So you mean to say you are having “peace of mind” with everyone time and again linking our names and pairing us up? Don’t you want all this useless teasing to end, once and for all! I can’t understand why you and I should be adjusting with it when we all know these are all just rumors with no smoke also. Or is it, that there is some truth behind what Senthil and John are telling me for your stalling the rakhi being tied on your hand? I hope you are clever enough to understand the underlying meaning.”

There was again that awkward silence, Harini thought again to break this ice-berg creeping up between them is going to take time.

But to her surprise Aman politely asked her “Hmm, you want to tie to rakhi to me, right?”

“Yes”, she replied and in her mind,” Yes you fool from the last 15 mins that’s what I’m telling.”

Aman after quietly listening to her outburst reply was sadly thinking, “She, really wants to tie a rakhi to me, then there is no reason for me to hang on.”

He took a deep breath and said ok and extended his hand as before, “ok, go ahead, do it.”

( Comment below What do you guys think, will they or won't they tie the rakhi? Will someone's hidden feelings curb up in the last moment? Watch out for this space for the last and final part :) There's a twist at the end ;) )

2016 Calendar

– the year that was...

                 I’m too lazy to have a daily journal so I decided to make a yearly journal instead ;) The fast flashback on the year 2016 was, was the perfect way to bring in the countdown to the year 2017 will be! When I lived it day-by-day, I still remember how much each day was dreadful but still felt it flew by just like the pages being turned while showcasing a cartoon flip-book. Now when I look back I have a feeling of contentment and happiness over the things I have done, achieved and gone through in this year of the Monkey. I guess it rightly suits the way my 2016 went by. I hope my journal not only takes you down the ups and down of the past year plus the positivity we should have for the upcoming year. So let’s take a pee-a-boo into the year that was….

January

                 I’m literally cranking my head up to think of the things I did in this month, only because it’s been so long back. What I do remember distinctly is that we were just recovering from the after effects of serious Flooding of 2015 in my city that had given a hard felt reality check to all who thought money can buy anything and everything and it’s the utmost important.

    We were all getting back to normalcy at home and our workplaces, as most of us had dispersed out of the city. The only perk it provided me was that I was the only one working from the base location and away from my PM and PL’s prying eyes, provided me the liberty of leaving office as early as 5-5:30 pm and catching the Ladies special bus back home. My whole team had been shifted to some other alternate location to provide continuous support to the clients and my absence was left like a tight slap on my seniors, who had taken the work I did so diligently and without any qualms for granted. In a phased out manner my colleagues and friends were oozing back to the city, but still working at different blocks. The craziness they all had, for being together and sharing their half of the stories of the recovery from the floods, led them to take 2mins bike ride daily for lunch from one campus to another which was just a gate away. It was like a new year, a new beginning, a new work location and new levels of craziness.

  I also got to experience a new kind of an alumni meet in the form of HOD’s daughter wedding reception. Everyone from our department from lab assistants to secretaries, from old and new staff to seniors and super-super seniors, all packaged in one hall; the only difference being the college auditorium was replaced with a wedding hall and a few extra unfamiliar faces who were the relatives of the couple. It was surprising that even after 5-6 years of passing out of college, more than half of the staff remembered me by name( I was good student but not so popular). It really felt good to meet all of them in one roof and not having to sit through some boring lectures. Meeting up with my college friends was the icing on the cake. We all made it a point to meet their after a number of failed reunion plans. Though it was a short time and after don’t know how many months, the way we picked up from where we left didn’t make us realize the distance. Of course we all were in touch through various means, but nothing in this virtual world can beat the face-to-face meet ups.

~~~@~~~ The Rakhi Incident ~~~@~~~

         
(PART 2)

           Just then Samantha had successfully tied a Rakhi to Arjun, with no hassles inside the classroom. John, Senthil and Harini had witnessed it too and everyone was getting back to what they were doing before the distraction of Arjun’s branding. Senthil again called out to Harini, it was like those two boys were on a mission and wouldn’t sit down quietly like Dennis the Menace, until their mission was accomplished.

 Senthil raised both his eyebrows and said, “ So?? … You saw Samantha and Arjun right? Sam also doesn’t celebrate Raksha Bandhan, but see she did it, to stop the rumors because it was irritating her.”

Moving her head disappointingly from left to right for three or four times, she said, “You guys are not going to give up it looks like!” Before they could give any reply, she turned herself fully to face them and the confidence with which she did it, it showed she had something up her sleeves.

Harini questioned them with a twinkle in her eye and naughtiness in her voice, “I’m willingly to tie the Rakhi, if you guys tell me why you are so keen on me tying Rakhi to Aman. Do you have feelings for ME or AMAN?

Both of them gave a sarcastic laugh and Senthil moving his index finger replied, “Don’t try to change the topic. We, over  here are doing social service only and trying to make things clear for everyone. Who knows someone might have real feelings for either you or Aman, but because of these strong rumors, might not convey their feelings “.

“Ha ha ha, Social service it seems!!  Who only told girls gossip more than boys, here it’s totally opposite”, damned Harini.

          She saw how innocently Senthil had claimed his curiosity as a matter of good will he was doing for Aman and her; crushes or lovers-to-be. Harini gave up and knew the only way to end it was to tie a Rakhi. She hadn’t decided to do it under those two boy’s compulsion; she had given it a moment of thought. She herself was getting tired of hearing those rumors, not that it affected her in anyway but everywhere she goes, everyone she meets, everything she does; somehow people connect it to Aman or bring him into the picture. She was literally sick of hearing the word “AMAN”, and not the stories that were being broadcasted as rumors. She told herself, “Yes let’s do it. Once and for all everyone’s mouth will be zipped”. The last comment of Senthil’s social service had hit the right place, as she thought if nothing is there between Aman and her and if tying Rakhi helps in paving the path for either of their’s romantic future, it’s all for the good. She couldn’t see any downside of doing it.

Harini said, “Ok, I’ll do it; but I don’t have a Rakhi. You guys arrange for it, then I’ll do it.”

The boys looked at each other and smiled. “We don’t have one, but we’ll arrange it. Some girls will have a spare one, you can ask them also”, John said.

“That and all I don’t know, you guys suggested me to do it, you’ll only arrange it. Anyways, I doubt at this point of the day anyone will have a spare Rakhi, as half the day is over. Good luck boys!” challenged Harini to Senthil and John. Now Harini had thrown the ball into their court, she chuckled in her mind and turned around.

 After five minutes, Senthil excitedly shouted, “Here Harini, we found one”, waving the Rakhi in the air, as if it was a medal won after a tough competition.

Harini was surprised that they had got one so soon, but she didn’t want to read between the lines. She shrugged and told them to pass it on to her.

John and Senthil were so excited like toddlers who was going to get their toy after throwing so much of tantrums. After it reached Harini’s hand, they didn’t want her to waste time, so they kept on chanting “Come on, do it! Do it now!” Harini had to literally make them calm down so as to not to attract too much attention from the other students in the classroom.

Senthil said, “See Aman has come to his seat now. Perfect time, come on go tie it to him, before the class teacher enters the class”. Both of them were hurrying Harini up, she also felt, the faster it’s done, the better it is.

She called out to Aman, who was seated at the corner of his desk just one row apart from her. He had just reached his desk and turned immediately.

Harini took a deep breath and told, “Can you extend your hand? …… I want to tie a Rakhi to you.”

(To be continued... Check out the next post to see Aman's reaction:))

खमभख़्त यादें !

बीती बातें को याद करने की खोशिश कि तो 

याद आया ,

प्यार की बातें हम भी किया करते थे ,

सुबह-शाम , रात -दिन ,

इतना की सूरज भी शर्म के मारे डुब जाता था 

ओर प्यार की लाली आसमान में भिखैर देता था ,

पर !

ये खमभख़्त प्यार किस काम कि ,

जो तुम्हें आँसू दे दी ,

इतना दुख दीया की ,

ये प्यार था ,

हमें कहने में शर्म आ गई । 

ये खमभख़्त प्यार किस काम कि ,

जिसने हमें आशिक़ से बेवफ़ा बना दी । 

भाईयों हमें इतना बता दो , हम कहाँ छुक गए ,

उसकी पर्वाह करके , हम बेवफ़ा बन गए !

उस पर खुशियाँ लूटाने की खोशिश में ,

हम ही लूट गए । 

उस पर तोफों लूटाने की खोशिश में , 

हम ही भिखारी बन गए। 

उसे खिलाने की खोशिश में ,

हम ही भुखें रह गए । 

उसकी पर्वाह करके , हम बेवफ़ा बन गए,

भाईयों हमें इतना बता दो , हम कहाँ छुक गए ?!

~~~@~~~ The Rakhi Incident ~~~@~~~

(Part 1)

           Most of us would have had some funny Raksha Bandhan experiences, especially when we were young and immature. Either we would have been an on-looker, laughing at the boy who is getting tagged as a "brother" by his dream girl or we would have been the unfortunate ones who were being looked-on to while participating in the tagging. Let’s face it; it's not easy for a girl to take the step to tie a Rakhi to a boy just for the sake of not getting teased together. Not only does the girl has to think over the decision an umpteen number of times but also has to run after the guy to pin him down and tie it. It's the last moment of glory the guy can have by comforting himself and showing off to his friends after gracefully accepting the Rakhi by saying, "Dude! At least she ran behind me for once, whatever may be the reason ;) ".

         These kinds of crazy incidents happen only at school and colleges. The same happened in the first year of college. Raksha Bandhan was the day the girls in my class were excited for, to put an end to their weird teasing/pairing up dramas they had to withstand throughout the year. It was naive for the girls to think to voice out the opinion that they weren't interested, they had to wait for Raksha Bandhan to officially brand the guy as their brother. Hopefully when they grow up, they don't wait so long and think that this is the way to do it. So here is how the story goes.....

         A bunch of girls had immaculately planned for the day and bought exactly the number of Rakhi's they had to tie. The ritual of girls and boys running around the college corridors started before the morning bell. It continued till the lunch, some were successful, some yet to taste the success. After lunch, when everyone were getting settled into the class, two boys from the second last bench called on to Harini, who was seated three rows from them. Here, the boys were seated in one column of rows and girls separately, with a walking passage acting as the separation.

 John and Senthil asked Harini if she tied a Rakhi to anyone. To which Harini replied, “I don’t believe in this kind of stupid gestures, I have an own brother and that’s enough for me”.

 Senthil inquired, “Do you think whoever is getting tied, is going to become a brother? It’s only to put an end to the teasing. Don’t you want to put an end to people who tease you with some guy?”

 “There is no one as such and I don’t care”, Harini said matter-of-factly.

“Oh ho!” exclaimed the two guys in unison.

 John went on to say, “Are you sure Harini? There is ‘NO ONE’ with whom you are teased with and you want to get rid of it?”

Senthil gave John a friendly jab on his chest and told with a slight grin, “Hey, why are you pressurizing her. She is clearly saying she doesn’t want to get rid of the teasing with Aman. Looks like we guys are not simply teasing, there is some smoke between them”, while waving his hand as if some smoke had come in front of him.

Harini exclaimed, “Oh please! I don’t celebrate Raksha Bandhan and so it hadn’t struck me.”

Senthil budged in saying, “Yes obviously if you like Aman and have some kind of romantic feelings towards him, the idea to tie a Rakhi to him, would not have occurred to you.”

John nodded to say, “Yes Harini, we understood fair and square”, and winked to give a thumbs-up while tilting his head towards Aman.

 “You guys will not accept anything I say, I don’t want to waste my time on such silly talks”, annoyed Harini turned back to face the black board.

(to be continued....)