Mmmm ... Mmmm ... Mmmm ...
"What the hell ... ?"
Mitushi opened her eyes sleepily. Something was making a weird vibrating sound, right under her pillow. She wondered what it was, then suddenly remembered.
"Damn!" she muttered. "Phone? Abhi kaun hai yaar?" She glanced at the digital clock on her table ... the digits gleamed in the dark--- 5.55 AM.
Angry at being woken up at that time, she didn't even check the number and picked up.
"'Ello?" she groaned.
"Hey Mitu? So rahi hai kya yaar?" the voice at the other end asked cheerfully. "Itni der baad uthaya?" It was Sameer, her classmate.
No, I'm sitting wide awake at six in the morning, she thought, gritting her teeth. Aloud she said, "Subah 6 baje log in general kya kar rahe hote hain?"
"Main toh jaga hua hun," Sameer went on with his usual cheer.
"Tu toh haiwaan hai ... maine general logon ki baat poochhi." Mitushi was still irritated. "Chhor ... what happened?"
"Aaj tuition aa rahi hai, na?"
"Haan, kyun?"
"Bio class ka notes le aana. Xerox karna hai ..."
"Tu class mein nahin tha? Unbelievable!"
"Well ..." Sameer sounded guilty, "Woh actually ... Sumita ma'am ne bulaya tha ..."
"Kyun?"
"Kehti hain Social Science ke liye model banao."
"Doob maro! Jab dekho she's after her own subject only ..." She glanced at the clock again--- two minutes past six.
"Main le aaungi ... ab sone de."
"Kitna soyegi?" he teased. "Class mein bhi soti hai, ghar pe bhi---"
"Tujhse permission leni padegi kya?" She was losing her temper now. Sameer seemed to have sensed it.
"Okay, okay! Ja, so ja," he said in a hurried way, so that she doesn't flare up. "Aaj phir se late ho gayi toh don't complain ... samjhi?"
"FINE!" Mitushi hung up and buried her face in her pillow.
"It's no use," she thought after a while. "Abhi kya khaak neend aayegi ... dhat! Anyways I have to get up at half past six."
She dragged herself out of her bed slowly and put on her slippers. Sunlight was already streaming in through her bedroom window. Summer mornings ... She thought of the bright, sunny day ahead and smiled to herself. She loved the summer season.
An hour later, she stepped out of her house. As she closed the main gate, she thought of what Sameer had said earlier. "Aaj phir se late ho gayi toh don't complain ... samjhi?"
"Aaj toh late nahin hone waali. Pehle se ja kar baithi rahungi," she thought. "Gadhe ne jaga jo diya hai!"
***
"Surprise, surprise!" said Sameer from the sofa as Mitushi stepped into the drawing room of her english teacher's apartment. "Kya baat hai madam? Aaj itni jaldi?"
"Tu yahan iss waqt kya kar raha hai?" she asked, bewildered. "Class start hone mein 40 minutes baaki hain, na?"
"Main toh hamesha jaldi aa jaata hun," he grinned. Mitushi shook her head. "Hopeless creature ..." she muttered to herself, sitting on the farther end of the sofa and eyeing him cautiously.
"Aise kya dekh rahi hai?" he asked, noticing her gaze.
"Main tere aas-paas nahin aane waali," she replied, waving him off. "Contagious hai ... padhai-likhai ki bimaari lag gayi toh?" She asked in mock concern.
"Chup reh," he snapped. "Bahut bolti hai ... Maano khud padhti hi--- Woh kya hai?"
Mitushi turned round to check the reason behind the abrupt change of subject. He was pointing at a weird showpiece with floral patterns, up on the shelf.
"Hoga kuch," she shrugged. "Sir ke paas toh aise namoone rehte hi hain." She indicated something else below it--- a laughing buddha figure.
"Arre, woh toh Feng-Shui related hai," he said, ignoring it. "Lekin ye toh bada ajeeb hai!" He walked up to the shelf and picked it up.
"Wapas rakh de," Mitushi warned him. "Kya kar raha hai?"
"Dikhne mein it's like ..." He started fiddling with it.
"Bola na Sameer, rakh de." By this time, he had walked up to the window and was holding it to the light.
"Bahut ajeeb hai ... kaisa dikhta hai dekh! Ekdum China clay pot ke neck portion jaisa!"
"Pagla gaya hai kya?" she retorted. "Poora pot kidhar gaya jo usski gardan yahan padi hai?" She started taking her notebook out of her bag.
"Pata nahin ... Aur kisi cheez ka part toh lagta hi nahin hai. Tu--- HEY!!" Mitushi whipped round.
"Kya hua?" she asked.
Sameer looked horror-struck. At last he muttered in a low voice, "Building se niche gir gaya ..."
"Heh?" Her eyebrows were raise in an Are-You-Nuts way.
"Haan. Haath se phisal gaya!" He started peering out of the window, trying to spot it.
"Niche chal." Mitushi's voice came from a distance and he turned to look. She was already at the door, zipping her bag shut.
"Kahan ja rahi hai?" he asked, confused.
"Uss cheez ke tukde dhoondne," she scowled at him. "Chal niche ... aur bag saath mein le."
A few minutes later, they were staring at a heap of sand outside the apartment building, right below the drawing room window out of which the showpeice had fallen. There was nothing there.
"Yahin pe toh girna chahiye," Mitushi muttered, completely lost. "Tune kahin pakad ke phenka toh nahin tha na?" She looked doubtfully at Sameer.
"Of course not!" he retorted angrily. "Main phenkoonga kyun bhala?" He started thinking seriously. "Kahan gayi ... seedha niche hi toh giri thi ..."
"Oye Sameer..." Mitushi called him.
"Sochne de."
"Sun na ..."
"Sochne de na yaar!"
"Arre idhar toh dekh!" She caught him by the arm and wheeled him around. A dog was playing in the street, rolling an object across the road ... something which had floral patterns on it ...
"Arre yeh toh wahi showpiece hai!" Sameer exclaimed, pointing at the dog.
"Haan," Mitushi sighed. "Aur yeh kutta isey lekar apni wife ko gift karne waala hai."
"Isski wife bhi hai?" he asked, unconvinced.
"Hogi ... Brahmachaari toh nahin lagta."
"Tujhe kaise pata?"
Mitushi slapped her forehead.
"Bakwaas band kar aur uss cheez ko wapas le aa!"
"Main akele jaaun?" He glanced at the dog again, this time clearly unimpressed by it's dirty looks.
"Haan, main sadak-chhaap kutton ke aas-paas nahin jaane waali. Main yahin rahungi!" She was firm on her point.
"Theek hai ... Ja raha hun ..." He slouched off slowly, the prospect was very uninviting. Still, he had no choice. He had dropped the showpiece in the first place and he had to get it back while it was still in one piece!
But it turned out that the dog wasn't really willing to help. As Sameer approached it, noticinghim, it quietly picked up it's priced possesion in it's mouth and took off towards the nearby park, leaving him and Mitushi totally dumbfounded.
"Bhagaya kyun usey?" She almost shouted at him.
"Maine nahin bhagaya, khud bhaag gaya!" Sameer seemed to be at a complete loss of what to say or do.
"Chalo," she said finally, striding off towards the park. "Ab ek kutte ka peechha karte firte hain."
He followed her, muttering under his breath, "Aur kuch nahin mila wife ko gift karne ke liye ..."
Once they entered the park, the dog was nowhere to be seen. There were a lot of kids--- playing, yelling at each other, on the swings, the slides, around the fountain ... but they couldn't find the dog anywhere.
"Ab ye kidhar gaya?" Mitushi said in an exasperated way. She walked up to the fountain and sat on it's edge, tired of the chase.
"Kya pata ... idhar hi toh ghusa tha," Sameer replied, equally confused about the whole thing. "Yahin kahin hona chahiye ..." He sat down beside her.
"Ab kya karen?" she asked, wishing nothing more than to go back home.
"Pata nahin," he said and checked his watch. "20 minute aur baki hain. Agar utne mein nahin mila toh wapas chale jaayenge."
"Ghar?" she asked, surprised.
"Nahin re, tuition wapas jaayenge." She groaned at the idea ... Same old studious guy!
"Agar sir ne showpiece ke baare mein poochha toh?" she argued. "Ye nahin keh sakte ki hum abhi pahunche hain kyunki aunty ne toh hamen pehle dekha hi hai."
"Keh denge bio ka naotes xerox karwaane gaye they Main Road tak," he replied flatly.
"Par xerox toh hamare paas hai nahin ..."
"Dukaan band hai." Again came a flat reply.
"Fine!" she said, defeated. "Baithe raho 20 minute yahin pe!"
"Teri jagah uss bachche ko mere saath hona chahiye tha uss time," Sameer spoke up suddenly after a few long minutes of silence. Mitushi turned round to look--- a small kid, hardly two years old, was playing under a tree with his mother by his side who was watching over him. The kid was giggling happily, his giggles mixed up with the yells and shouts of the other kids around.
"Kis time?" Mitushi asked, eyeing the kid in a confused way. Sameer was really fond of kids for some reason. "At least, abhi toh chup raho yaar ..." she thought, irritated.
"Jab woh kutta dikha tha. Tune toh usske paas jaane se inkaar kar diya tha. Uss bachche ko dekh--- jo cheez uss kutte ke muh mein thi, usi ko lekar khel raha hai."
"Heh?" Mitushi looked at the kid carefully. Of course, he was playing with the weird showpiece they were searching for!
"Yahan pe kya baitha hai! Chal, ja kar uss manhoos cheez ko wapas le aate hain!" She got to her feet.
"Aise mat ja," he said, shaking his head in disapproval. "Woh bachcha uss cheez se khel raha hai. Agar chheenegi toh rone lagega aur usski maa daudi chali aayegi ... Casual approach better hai. Just ja kar bolna hai ki woh cheez ek sadak chhaap kutte ke muh mein thi."
Slowly, after a lot of argument, Mitushi finally decided to go up to the kid's mother. She casually walked up to the kid and watched him for a moment. He was still playing with the showpiece and giggling. Suddenly, she said, "Arre ..."
"Keya (kya) hua?" the kid's mother asked in a bengali accent. Bong, huh? Mitushi smiled to herself.
"Aunty, eta apnaar chhele (Aunty, is this your kid)?" she asked the woman in a worried tone.
"Hain (yes)," the woman replied. "Keno (why)?"
"Ei jinish ta ke niye khelchhe (playing with this object)?" Mitushi went on. "Eta toh ektu agei ekta kukur er mukhe dekhlam (I saw it just a while ago in a dog's mouth)!"
"Tai naki (really)?" the mother said in a panicky voice.
"Hain (yes)," Mitushi nodded, wrinkling her nose a bit to show disgust. "Ektu agei baire dekhlam (saw it just a while ago outside)."
"Shona, ota phele dao (sweetie, throw it away)," the mother said, hurrying over to her kid. "She pried it out of his hands and immediately he started crying. "Na Shona, ota nongra ... nite nei (no sweetie, that's dirty ... you shouldn't take it)." Saying this, she raised the showpiece and, to Mitushi's horror, threw it away! Before she could run and see where it fell, the kid's mother started talking to her again.
"Bhaagyish, tumi bolle boley (thank God, you told me)!" she said, while Mitushi gave her a polite Anyone-Else-Would-Have-Done-the-Same smile. "Eijonyo bachchader chokhe-chokhe rakhte hoy (that's why you should never let children out of your sight)." The kid was still sobbing. She took him up in her arms and said, "Cholo Shona, ghure ashi (let's go sweetie, let's go for a stroll."
Panicking about the fate of the showpiece, Mitushi hurried back towards the fountain where Sameer was standing.
"Uss aunty ne toh utha ke phenk hi diya!" she said in a helpless voice.
"Haan, pata hai," he muttered. "Seedhe fountain mein gira."
"Fountain mein?" she said in disbelief. Then brightening up a bit, she asked, "Tab toh toota nahin hoga, na?"
"Nahin, nahin toota."
"Toh hai kidhar?" She looked into the rippling water at the bottom of the fountain. It wasn't there.
"Mujhe dekh kar kya lagta hai ki main itni der kya kar raha tha?" Sameer scowled.
Then she noticed. His trouser-ends were folded up several times, he was barefoot and his arms and legs were dripping wet. Even his hair and wire-rimmed glasses were sprayed with tiny water droplets.
"Tu paani main utra tha?" She couldn't believe it.
"Tujhe kya lagta hai?" He held up his left hand to show her--- he had the showpiece!
"Hmm ... Haan, utra tha," she said, after a second or two. Then they both burst out laughing.
***
"Aaj late kaise hua?" their Almost-Reaching-Sixty english teacher asked, as Mitushi and Sameer entered his apartment at five minutes past eight. "Sujata ne toh kaha aap donon pehle hi aa chuke ho?"
"Woh sir ..." Sameer hesitated. "Baat yeh hai ki---"
"Sir, actually ek problem ho gayi thi," Mitushi cut across him. "Main aapka ek showpiece dekh rahi thi---" Sameer blinked at her at this point, not understanding a word "--- aur woh mere haath se gir gaya. Wahi khonjne gaye they niche toh der ho gayi." She held up the weird object to show him.
"Ohh ... Ye?" their teacher laughed. He took it from Mitushi. "Yeh toh bass ek China clay pot ka neck portion hai. Isska baki hissa meri poti ne khel-khel meintod diya. Ajib andaaz mein bana tha issliye baki hissa toot gaya aur bass yeh reh gaya. Isey toh main aaj khud hi phenkne waala tha." And saying that, he flung it out of the drawing room window. A second later, a soft thud told them it had landed on the heap of sand.
Sameer and Mitushi stood rooted there in stunned disbelief. Then Sameer said, "Maine kaha tha, na?"
"What the hell ... ?"
Mitushi opened her eyes sleepily. Something was making a weird vibrating sound, right under her pillow. She wondered what it was, then suddenly remembered.
"Damn!" she muttered. "Phone? Abhi kaun hai yaar?" She glanced at the digital clock on her table ... the digits gleamed in the dark--- 5.55 AM.
Angry at being woken up at that time, she didn't even check the number and picked up.
"'Ello?" she groaned.
"Hey Mitu? So rahi hai kya yaar?" the voice at the other end asked cheerfully. "Itni der baad uthaya?" It was Sameer, her classmate.
No, I'm sitting wide awake at six in the morning, she thought, gritting her teeth. Aloud she said, "Subah 6 baje log in general kya kar rahe hote hain?"
"Main toh jaga hua hun," Sameer went on with his usual cheer.
"Tu toh haiwaan hai ... maine general logon ki baat poochhi." Mitushi was still irritated. "Chhor ... what happened?"
"Aaj tuition aa rahi hai, na?"
"Haan, kyun?"
"Bio class ka notes le aana. Xerox karna hai ..."
"Tu class mein nahin tha? Unbelievable!"
"Well ..." Sameer sounded guilty, "Woh actually ... Sumita ma'am ne bulaya tha ..."
"Kyun?"
"Kehti hain Social Science ke liye model banao."
"Doob maro! Jab dekho she's after her own subject only ..." She glanced at the clock again--- two minutes past six.
"Main le aaungi ... ab sone de."
"Kitna soyegi?" he teased. "Class mein bhi soti hai, ghar pe bhi---"
"Tujhse permission leni padegi kya?" She was losing her temper now. Sameer seemed to have sensed it.
"Okay, okay! Ja, so ja," he said in a hurried way, so that she doesn't flare up. "Aaj phir se late ho gayi toh don't complain ... samjhi?"
"FINE!" Mitushi hung up and buried her face in her pillow.
"It's no use," she thought after a while. "Abhi kya khaak neend aayegi ... dhat! Anyways I have to get up at half past six."
She dragged herself out of her bed slowly and put on her slippers. Sunlight was already streaming in through her bedroom window. Summer mornings ... She thought of the bright, sunny day ahead and smiled to herself. She loved the summer season.
An hour later, she stepped out of her house. As she closed the main gate, she thought of what Sameer had said earlier. "Aaj phir se late ho gayi toh don't complain ... samjhi?"
"Aaj toh late nahin hone waali. Pehle se ja kar baithi rahungi," she thought. "Gadhe ne jaga jo diya hai!"
***
"Surprise, surprise!" said Sameer from the sofa as Mitushi stepped into the drawing room of her english teacher's apartment. "Kya baat hai madam? Aaj itni jaldi?"
"Tu yahan iss waqt kya kar raha hai?" she asked, bewildered. "Class start hone mein 40 minutes baaki hain, na?"
"Main toh hamesha jaldi aa jaata hun," he grinned. Mitushi shook her head. "Hopeless creature ..." she muttered to herself, sitting on the farther end of the sofa and eyeing him cautiously.
"Aise kya dekh rahi hai?" he asked, noticing her gaze.
"Main tere aas-paas nahin aane waali," she replied, waving him off. "Contagious hai ... padhai-likhai ki bimaari lag gayi toh?" She asked in mock concern.
"Chup reh," he snapped. "Bahut bolti hai ... Maano khud padhti hi--- Woh kya hai?"
Mitushi turned round to check the reason behind the abrupt change of subject. He was pointing at a weird showpiece with floral patterns, up on the shelf.
"Hoga kuch," she shrugged. "Sir ke paas toh aise namoone rehte hi hain." She indicated something else below it--- a laughing buddha figure.
"Arre, woh toh Feng-Shui related hai," he said, ignoring it. "Lekin ye toh bada ajeeb hai!" He walked up to the shelf and picked it up.
"Wapas rakh de," Mitushi warned him. "Kya kar raha hai?"
"Dikhne mein it's like ..." He started fiddling with it.
"Bola na Sameer, rakh de." By this time, he had walked up to the window and was holding it to the light.
"Bahut ajeeb hai ... kaisa dikhta hai dekh! Ekdum China clay pot ke neck portion jaisa!"
"Pagla gaya hai kya?" she retorted. "Poora pot kidhar gaya jo usski gardan yahan padi hai?" She started taking her notebook out of her bag.
"Pata nahin ... Aur kisi cheez ka part toh lagta hi nahin hai. Tu--- HEY!!" Mitushi whipped round.
"Kya hua?" she asked.
Sameer looked horror-struck. At last he muttered in a low voice, "Building se niche gir gaya ..."
"Heh?" Her eyebrows were raise in an Are-You-Nuts way.
"Haan. Haath se phisal gaya!" He started peering out of the window, trying to spot it.
"Niche chal." Mitushi's voice came from a distance and he turned to look. She was already at the door, zipping her bag shut.
"Kahan ja rahi hai?" he asked, confused.
"Uss cheez ke tukde dhoondne," she scowled at him. "Chal niche ... aur bag saath mein le."
A few minutes later, they were staring at a heap of sand outside the apartment building, right below the drawing room window out of which the showpeice had fallen. There was nothing there.
"Yahin pe toh girna chahiye," Mitushi muttered, completely lost. "Tune kahin pakad ke phenka toh nahin tha na?" She looked doubtfully at Sameer.
"Of course not!" he retorted angrily. "Main phenkoonga kyun bhala?" He started thinking seriously. "Kahan gayi ... seedha niche hi toh giri thi ..."
"Oye Sameer..." Mitushi called him.
"Sochne de."
"Sun na ..."
"Sochne de na yaar!"
"Arre idhar toh dekh!" She caught him by the arm and wheeled him around. A dog was playing in the street, rolling an object across the road ... something which had floral patterns on it ...
"Arre yeh toh wahi showpiece hai!" Sameer exclaimed, pointing at the dog.
"Haan," Mitushi sighed. "Aur yeh kutta isey lekar apni wife ko gift karne waala hai."
"Isski wife bhi hai?" he asked, unconvinced.
"Hogi ... Brahmachaari toh nahin lagta."
"Tujhe kaise pata?"
Mitushi slapped her forehead.
"Bakwaas band kar aur uss cheez ko wapas le aa!"
"Main akele jaaun?" He glanced at the dog again, this time clearly unimpressed by it's dirty looks.
"Haan, main sadak-chhaap kutton ke aas-paas nahin jaane waali. Main yahin rahungi!" She was firm on her point.
"Theek hai ... Ja raha hun ..." He slouched off slowly, the prospect was very uninviting. Still, he had no choice. He had dropped the showpiece in the first place and he had to get it back while it was still in one piece!
But it turned out that the dog wasn't really willing to help. As Sameer approached it, noticinghim, it quietly picked up it's priced possesion in it's mouth and took off towards the nearby park, leaving him and Mitushi totally dumbfounded.
"Bhagaya kyun usey?" She almost shouted at him.
"Maine nahin bhagaya, khud bhaag gaya!" Sameer seemed to be at a complete loss of what to say or do.
"Chalo," she said finally, striding off towards the park. "Ab ek kutte ka peechha karte firte hain."
He followed her, muttering under his breath, "Aur kuch nahin mila wife ko gift karne ke liye ..."
Once they entered the park, the dog was nowhere to be seen. There were a lot of kids--- playing, yelling at each other, on the swings, the slides, around the fountain ... but they couldn't find the dog anywhere.
"Ab ye kidhar gaya?" Mitushi said in an exasperated way. She walked up to the fountain and sat on it's edge, tired of the chase.
"Kya pata ... idhar hi toh ghusa tha," Sameer replied, equally confused about the whole thing. "Yahin kahin hona chahiye ..." He sat down beside her.
"Ab kya karen?" she asked, wishing nothing more than to go back home.
"Pata nahin," he said and checked his watch. "20 minute aur baki hain. Agar utne mein nahin mila toh wapas chale jaayenge."
"Ghar?" she asked, surprised.
"Nahin re, tuition wapas jaayenge." She groaned at the idea ... Same old studious guy!
"Agar sir ne showpiece ke baare mein poochha toh?" she argued. "Ye nahin keh sakte ki hum abhi pahunche hain kyunki aunty ne toh hamen pehle dekha hi hai."
"Keh denge bio ka naotes xerox karwaane gaye they Main Road tak," he replied flatly.
"Par xerox toh hamare paas hai nahin ..."
"Dukaan band hai." Again came a flat reply.
"Fine!" she said, defeated. "Baithe raho 20 minute yahin pe!"
"Teri jagah uss bachche ko mere saath hona chahiye tha uss time," Sameer spoke up suddenly after a few long minutes of silence. Mitushi turned round to look--- a small kid, hardly two years old, was playing under a tree with his mother by his side who was watching over him. The kid was giggling happily, his giggles mixed up with the yells and shouts of the other kids around.
"Kis time?" Mitushi asked, eyeing the kid in a confused way. Sameer was really fond of kids for some reason. "At least, abhi toh chup raho yaar ..." she thought, irritated.
"Jab woh kutta dikha tha. Tune toh usske paas jaane se inkaar kar diya tha. Uss bachche ko dekh--- jo cheez uss kutte ke muh mein thi, usi ko lekar khel raha hai."
"Heh?" Mitushi looked at the kid carefully. Of course, he was playing with the weird showpiece they were searching for!
"Yahan pe kya baitha hai! Chal, ja kar uss manhoos cheez ko wapas le aate hain!" She got to her feet.
"Aise mat ja," he said, shaking his head in disapproval. "Woh bachcha uss cheez se khel raha hai. Agar chheenegi toh rone lagega aur usski maa daudi chali aayegi ... Casual approach better hai. Just ja kar bolna hai ki woh cheez ek sadak chhaap kutte ke muh mein thi."
Slowly, after a lot of argument, Mitushi finally decided to go up to the kid's mother. She casually walked up to the kid and watched him for a moment. He was still playing with the showpiece and giggling. Suddenly, she said, "Arre ..."
"Keya (kya) hua?" the kid's mother asked in a bengali accent. Bong, huh? Mitushi smiled to herself.
"Aunty, eta apnaar chhele (Aunty, is this your kid)?" she asked the woman in a worried tone.
"Hain (yes)," the woman replied. "Keno (why)?"
"Ei jinish ta ke niye khelchhe (playing with this object)?" Mitushi went on. "Eta toh ektu agei ekta kukur er mukhe dekhlam (I saw it just a while ago in a dog's mouth)!"
"Tai naki (really)?" the mother said in a panicky voice.
"Hain (yes)," Mitushi nodded, wrinkling her nose a bit to show disgust. "Ektu agei baire dekhlam (saw it just a while ago outside)."
"Shona, ota phele dao (sweetie, throw it away)," the mother said, hurrying over to her kid. "She pried it out of his hands and immediately he started crying. "Na Shona, ota nongra ... nite nei (no sweetie, that's dirty ... you shouldn't take it)." Saying this, she raised the showpiece and, to Mitushi's horror, threw it away! Before she could run and see where it fell, the kid's mother started talking to her again.
"Bhaagyish, tumi bolle boley (thank God, you told me)!" she said, while Mitushi gave her a polite Anyone-Else-Would-Have-Done-the-Same smile. "Eijonyo bachchader chokhe-chokhe rakhte hoy (that's why you should never let children out of your sight)." The kid was still sobbing. She took him up in her arms and said, "Cholo Shona, ghure ashi (let's go sweetie, let's go for a stroll."
Panicking about the fate of the showpiece, Mitushi hurried back towards the fountain where Sameer was standing.
"Uss aunty ne toh utha ke phenk hi diya!" she said in a helpless voice.
"Haan, pata hai," he muttered. "Seedhe fountain mein gira."
"Fountain mein?" she said in disbelief. Then brightening up a bit, she asked, "Tab toh toota nahin hoga, na?"
"Nahin, nahin toota."
"Toh hai kidhar?" She looked into the rippling water at the bottom of the fountain. It wasn't there.
"Mujhe dekh kar kya lagta hai ki main itni der kya kar raha tha?" Sameer scowled.
Then she noticed. His trouser-ends were folded up several times, he was barefoot and his arms and legs were dripping wet. Even his hair and wire-rimmed glasses were sprayed with tiny water droplets.
"Tu paani main utra tha?" She couldn't believe it.
"Tujhe kya lagta hai?" He held up his left hand to show her--- he had the showpiece!
"Hmm ... Haan, utra tha," she said, after a second or two. Then they both burst out laughing.
***
"Aaj late kaise hua?" their Almost-Reaching-Sixty english teacher asked, as Mitushi and Sameer entered his apartment at five minutes past eight. "Sujata ne toh kaha aap donon pehle hi aa chuke ho?"
"Woh sir ..." Sameer hesitated. "Baat yeh hai ki---"
"Sir, actually ek problem ho gayi thi," Mitushi cut across him. "Main aapka ek showpiece dekh rahi thi---" Sameer blinked at her at this point, not understanding a word "--- aur woh mere haath se gir gaya. Wahi khonjne gaye they niche toh der ho gayi." She held up the weird object to show him.
"Ohh ... Ye?" their teacher laughed. He took it from Mitushi. "Yeh toh bass ek China clay pot ka neck portion hai. Isska baki hissa meri poti ne khel-khel meintod diya. Ajib andaaz mein bana tha issliye baki hissa toot gaya aur bass yeh reh gaya. Isey toh main aaj khud hi phenkne waala tha." And saying that, he flung it out of the drawing room window. A second later, a soft thud told them it had landed on the heap of sand.
Sameer and Mitushi stood rooted there in stunned disbelief. Then Sameer said, "Maine kaha tha, na?"
3 comments:
hey! ur drawings r too gud..much like ur stories...love them!! :)
thanks ... :)
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