It was summer holidays after 6th standard(so lets not talk about results now). Summer holidays were meant to play and forget what ever was taught in the previous year (at least for me). My neighbors had left their house and gone somewhere(thank god he had left…. He never let me or my friends play in front of our house….. would take away our ball even if it just entered his house). I was just praying that a family with a boy of my age would come there so that I could play with him and have no problem of getting scolded for playing on the road in front of his house (probably if I was one more year older I would have prayed that a nice girl would come and stay next door)…..
The day I was waiting for finally arrived…. A family was shifting in to the house next door. And I was very disappointed to see that there was no boy of my age…….. But a girl of my age(thank god it was her)…….. Her name was Abha(it means shine). My old neighbor was nothing compared to her. She would start scolding us for just playing in the street….. I would disturb her(It was summer holidays. What does she expect me to do????? Sit at home and study!!!!!!! If I was disturbing her during summer holidays then I could just not imagine what would happen when school started, cause summer holidays or school time we played daily.)
Like this was not enough, she also joined the same school and mine and that too the same section!!!!!!!( later I found out that I was lucky to have her)
I don’t know why but my mom just loved her…. For her she was the perfect girl next door. Excellent in studies, too good a singer, good in dancing too…….
And when the school started it was my worst dreams come true……. Without fail she used to talk to my mom daily about school(especially the number of times I got scolded….. the number of home works I had missed etc etc)
We were able to play in the street only when she had some class dancing or singing and what not…. She seemed to be waiting to come back from class and scold us for playing on the street….
Adikke avaLu banda takshaNa naavu “Aabbbhaaaa bande bittLu”( as her name was abha) anta ooDi hoogtidvi bere ground ge.
There are some events in life which completely changes the feelings you have towards a person. One such event was waiting to happen in my life too.
We were happily playing in the street as abha had left the city for a day to visit some relatives of her. My friend hit the ball near a pile of bricks and as I went to get it I saw a group of dogs suddenly chasing some animal. I went into hiding in the pile of bricks and the dogs were just barking in front of the pile. Initially I thought I was a cat. I pelted some stones at the dogs and reluctantly they ran away from there. Out of curiosity I went there to find a rabbit afraid to death, shivering there in a small hole. I knew that if left it would not last long. So I took it home
I didn’t know what to do with it. Thought of donating it to the public zoo. If it were a kitten or a pup I would have kept it as my pet. But rabbits!!!!! They are boring. They don’t make any sound. They don’t play with you. You cant teach them any tricks. And their URINE STINKS!!!!!!!
That evening when I was doing my home work(out of great difficulty and waiting for 8 30 cause my study time was till 8 30) abha returned from their relative s place with her family. My mother forced me to visit her and update her with the happenings in school today and about the homework. I too just wanted to get up from my table and go somewhere but of all places my mother made me to go to her house!!!!!!!!( for which I am thankful now)
When I knocked her door her mother opened the door and I saw abha crying, crying like she had failed in her exam or something( at that time I had the image that she was a book worm and what else but failing in some exam could make her cry like that????). I asked her mother as to why she was crying………
It seems she had a rabbit “chinnu” as her pet. And today morning after feeding it she had forgot to lock it in its cage and now it was missing………
I just wanted to get rid of the rabbit I had found(cause if it stayed at my place I had do the cleaning and as I told its urine stinks like hell) so I went back home and got that rabbit which was still shivering hoping that abha would agree to keep it as her pet. And when she saw it in my hand her she was stunned. I had just saved her rabbit. I can still remember her expression as I narrated how I found her rabbit. Then………. She gave me a tight hug, still crying thinking of what would have happened had I not saved it…….. her tears were all over my shirt. And then she gave peck on my cheeks……… I can still feel it on my cheeks……..
From that moment we were friends. In fact best friends….. My grandfather was a teacher. And excellent he was. So abha started visiting my home daily to learn from my grandfather…… I too would study with her. My mother was very happy that I was studying at least a bit.
From that day she would never shout at us for playing in the street….. in fact she would come and try to play with us…… she made us play lagori…. and other games which she could play. But how could a bunch of boys not play cricket!!!!!!! She used to be the umpire when we played cricket….. sometimes even try to play cricket with us…….. and I remember I of all people scolding my friends for teasing her when she got out or misfielded…….
It was here birthday…….. I didn’t know what to gift her(with the very little money I had)…… finally I got what I was looking for…… a locket with a tiny rabbit( a cheap one of course). She was very happy when she saw it. She stuffed a full piece of cake into my mouth………
A whole year passed by. And my exams too were good( side effect of studying with her I guess)……
It was my birthday. And next day I would be going to “ajji mane” for the holidays (for the first time I didn’t want to leave my home I wanted to spend the whole vacation with her……….)
She gifted me a beautiful photo stand with our photo in it……..
That birthday was the best one I ever had……….
I spent the hole of summer holidays praying for it to get over( for the first time in my life) so that I could go back and see her……..
And finally when I returned home…………. I found out that abha s father was transferred to some other place and she had left the city few days ago……… I didn’t have her address to contact her……… every day when the postman passed by I used to keep my fingers crossed hoping that she would have written to me…….. but that didn’t happen…… I just wanted to meet her for one last time and talk to her…… talk to her for a long time and then say good bye…. One last time……..
My results were good that year. And my mother was happy for that. At the same time she thought I would not study well this year….. but I did something different…….. I wanted to meet her. I knew that she would get into “THE BEST” college which ever it was and I too wanted to make it there…… I studied very hard and for the first time studying looked fun….. I would not only study form the school books but a lot of other books too some which I would never have dreamt of studying and understanding and enjoying a few years back.
Every year when any of my neighbors moved out I used to hope that she move in…….. But that never happed…………
Years passed by and I still have the photo frame she gifted me for my birthday on my study table………. But I never came across her…….
Probably my idea of “THE BEST” college didn’t match with hers so even in college I didn’t meet her(so foolish of me to think that she would study what I would study…… she might never have been interested in engineering……… I somehow didn’t think about this)
Few days ago I went with my cousin to his college to attend a fest. My heart skipped a beat when suddenly someone announced abha s name……. I was stunned………. I could not easily recognize her…….. it was more that 10 years now. But then I was definitely her. So I waited for the function to get over. Then when she passed by I called her…….
She turned back and we were standing face to face. I could easily see from her expression that she was surprised( at that time I thought that she was surprised to see me again after such a long time). Words just didn’t come out of my mouth. And finally after some time I spoke. I asked if she had stayed in the place where I come from and studied in the school where I did study…… But………. She said she could not remember anyone from place cause she had stayed there only for one year and that too it was a long time back…… I was again broken…… she just said she was in a hurry, waved her hand at me and just left without turning back and looking at me even once…….
That night for a long time all I could do was think about the day s incident. Just keep looking at the photo frame……. She was smiling at me……….Ever since she left my neighborhood all I wanted was to meet her……. Meet her for the one last time…………. Wait a minute…….. all I wanted was to meet her for one last time………. And talk to her……. And say good bye…….. and that s what had happened today……… I had met her talked to her and she said good bye……… And so I consoled my self and went to sleep.
Next day I reluctantly went to the fest again(my cousin would not go without me). But this time hoping I would not face her again………
But what we hope always does not happen!!!!!!!
The day was coming to an end without a sight of her……….
And then she was standing in front of me…….. she looked like an angel. She was smiling at me and was expecting me to say something…………. But me!!!!!!!!!! I felt like some one had tied my tongue or made it so heavy that I found it difficult to move. I was cursing my cousin for dragging me to this place.
And then when I could not speak for a long time she started playing with her necklace(I guess even she was getting nervous and could not find words to speak).
Then I realized it!!!!!! How dumb I was!!!!!! She was wearing that same locket that I had given her on her birthday……….. I had so much to say and nothing was coming out of my mouth…….. I was staring at the rabbit locket dumb folded………. I had so many thoughts in my mind which were struggling to come out but my stupid tongue was confused as to which thought should be shot out first…….. my brain was getting only “delivery failed” notices from my tongue………
Taking pity at my state she gave me a sympathetic smile. And in her sweet soft voice told “how could I ever forget you??????”
And then my tongue felt free wanted to pelt out words……… but my brain got switched offJ…………
Then she hugged me.
I now have 2 frames on my study table. One which I got on my birthday and the other one……… well I must say that my cousin takes snaps at the right timeJ
