‘When?’
Onni had not thought of that when he was picking up the drawing papers and the pencils. Onni had never thought that it was going to be this easy to make Noor a subject.
‘Today?’ he said without thinking.
‘Let’s go...’
‘Maa and Baba are out of station... The house is empty. But is my room ‘sit-with-a-sexy-female-and-sketch-and-maybe-do-other-things’ ready? Will I be good with the sketch? What if Noor hates it? How should I make my move if she likes it?’ Onni thought as he paid for the drawing papers and pencils. Swati had trained the young man to be ready to become Deepjoy anytime. But strangely, this once Onni felt unprepared.
‘Nicely done up house!’ Noor said.
Onni smiled. ‘Sit. I’ll get you something.’ He poured some scalding hot chicken coriander soup into two porcelain bowls. The authentic Japanese bowls had red and white Koi painted on the sides. ‘Poor things! The soup is so hot, those fish would have gotten cooked just being there,’ he contemplated. He had actually bought that set of exotic bowls because of his intense love for finned aquatic creatures. Obviously the bowls were fiercely guarded by him and had never been used. Onni had pulled them out just for Noor.
As the young lady enjoyed her jade-coloured soup, the only noise that broke the silence was the light tinkling of the delicate spoons against the sides of the bowls. ‘This is a nice appetizer for the sketching session,’ thought a satisfied Onni.
‘Could I just use the washroom?’ Noor asked.
‘Sure. Here, this way,’ Onni got up and held the door open for her gallantly.
There on the bathroom floor, lay his curled up underwear.
‘Help! Onni got out of me and left me lying in this contorted position on the bathroom floor,’ it seemed to scream. Onni wanted to kill himself. Things like this made him score points when he was at work as Deepjoy. But right now he was Onniruddh. He had fallen for Noor. The last thing he needed between her and him was his underwear. He stole an apologetic glance at her. Noor had a smile on her face.
As the door closed behind her, Onni scanned his room to try and pick up any other embarrassing bits that he might have left around.
‘Lie against this wall. Its whitewashed emptiness will frame you quite well. And the azure sheets will add some texture.’
Noor did as she was told. Onni realised how striking her features were. It reminded him of the evening he was dropping her home and her face was close to his as she slept on his shoulder. Today she was on his bed, covered in the crisp and washed blue bed linen that he had just laid out for her. ‘Good work, Onni!’ he told himself.
He straightened out the sheets and sharpened the pencils.
The lines flowed. His eyes studied her eyes and his fingers replicated them. Every wisp of hair fell just like it was on her. As he used his fingers to smudge out certain parts on the sketch, he could almost feel her in the drawing paper. It was almost like he was touching her. His eyes moved fast and his hands faster.
Suddenly, Noor moved. With some flicks, her buttons came off. Then her shirt. Onni couldn’t keep his eyes away.
‘Smooth underarms... Voluptuous... Violet lace plunge bra with skin showing through... Hypnotic eyes... Unflinching gaze... Slight pout... No smile...’ he noted in silence. But he continued sketching. He did look up at her a little too often though.
There was no sound in the room. Just the intermittent, soft crackle of some pages was heard. As the lead left its dark mark on the paper, Onni felt very close to his subject. He could imagine every breath of hers from the distance. Her perfume also helped him bring her alive on paper.
‘Spraying this sheet with Noor’s cologne once my sketch is done will lock this moment here forever,’ Onni smiled.
Noor remained supine in front of him, in a silence that was deafening.
The artist in Onni wanted to capture every curve of his subject. The man in him wanted Noor. ‘I’m still quite good at sketching...’ the narcissist in Onni reflected staring at his own work. With a lot of restraint, he kept working with his pencil. As he studied and detailed out with finesse the intricacies of the lady’s minimal clothing, he felt the tool in his fingers and the tool in his trousers come to life.
But Noor moved again. When she was done, the lacy violet bits were lying by her side. ‘You’ll have to make some changes,’ she said breaking her silence.
As Onniruddh and as Deepjoy, he had seen many in states of undress. ‘This is what I call physical perfection!’ he admired. His hands did not want to move. The sketch too remained frozen in time.
‘Make your move, Onni!’ everything in the room told him.
Onni put the pencil and the drawing board down. He got up and pulled his t-shirt off over his shoulders. He almost tripped on his jeans in his hurry to get out of them. He straightened up in front of Noor.
Seeing him standing ready for a different purpose, Noor mischievously smiled. ‘What about my sketch?’ she asked.
Onni did not answer. He just kept looking at Noor with a faint smile. This was the corner he had run to from memories of Mr. Kamath. This was the bed he had slept peacefully on after he handed in that bad Physics answer sheet. This was the floor on which he let his clothes fall off after returning from Swati’s and his clients. This was the ceiling he had stared at and prayed when Arun disappeared into the manhole.
Unclothed, undisguised and unbridled he took his first step towards Noor.
Suddenly, a mobile phone rang noisily on the table. It was Noor’s. Onni walked to the table outside to get it. The name that flashed on the display was ‘HITENDRA’.
He could see Noor hold her hand out, guessing who it was.
The cataclysm that Onni long awaited was perfectly brewed. He casually answered the phone. ‘Hello?’
There was silence at the other end. A beeping sound followed that told him that call had ended. Putting the phone down, he came close to his bed, closer to Noor. She shrunk into herself and looked very distant from him.
‘Sorry, Noor.’
‘You don’t know what it means, Onni... You just don’t know what it means. Hitendra and I are tied with very fragile strings... We won’t survive this,’ Noor said as her lips trembled. The tears were not far behind.
Onni knew exactly what it meant though. He knew perfectly well what he had done. Years ago, it was for Heena. Today it was for Noor. ‘Poor Hitendra!’ he thought.
Pulling herself together, Noor reached out for her shirt. Sliding her hands in, she clicked two of the press-buttons together. The others remained open. Her eyeliner had smudged a little, thanks to her tears. There was a faint trail that they had left on her left cheek.
Noor did not look at Onni even once. But he kept staring at her. ‘What an awesome subject she would make even like this,’ he thought.
She reached for her phone and a swarm of soft beeps followed her as she left the room. ‘She’s texting him,’ he figured.
Onni looked around his bedroom. It looked quite dishevelled... The sheets, his clothes, the drawing papers, the pencils, everything was strewn across. He picked up a bed sheet and wrapping it around his waist, he knotted it in place. The half-finished sketch lay in front of him too. Twisting and turning, he stared and viewed it from various angles.
Right then, a very familiar mobile phone ringtone told him that somebody needed him. It was Swati.
‘She’s divorced. She has a sprawling flat. She’s forty-five. And she’s rich. I think Deepjoy should be free tonight,’ Swati informed Onni on the phone. But Onni was not in the mood. ‘Don’t be silly, boy. This is a lot of money!’ Swati exclaimed.
‘I’m really down.’
‘Don’t worry; she’ll get you up. Plus, she’s a cash-cow.’
‘No, I can’t do this. Please, Swati? Not tonight.’
‘Okay. Suit y
ourself. Someone else will!’ she said curtly and disconnected the call.
For the very first time, Onni had turned down an offer from Swati. Although Noor was in the next room, suddenly he felt like she was quite far.
Eleven
‘W hatever is far comes very close. See?’ Baba said to Onni as he stared through the binoculars.
The shiny black plastic binoculars hung around the boy’s neck. He and his father had come down to look around the funfair that happened in the playground every year a little away from Didima’s house.
‘Hmmm, we can bring everything closer now, Baba! The chairs will come closer. The glass of water will come closer. The eagles will be closer. Even the local trains we used to see from our balcony will be closer... Will their loud horns and noise be louder then?’ Onni asked as he walked to Didima’s house with Mr. Ray.
Baba laughed and said ‘No, they won’t be louder. But that way, Onni, my office can also come closer with your binoculars!’ Both father and son were enjoying their time together as they walked.
‘I want to show this to all the boys in my new school. That way, I will be friends with everybody and not be the new boy anymore,’ he thought.
The attitude of those elder students scribbling a bad word on Onni’s school bag and spoiling it was not overlooked by Maa and Baba. Something had to be done, they decided.
Almost like an unasked prayer, Mr. Ray’s work responsibilities shifted. So the family of three had to move from the old quarters.
It was goodbye to Ankit, Arpit, Star and the finches.
It was goodbye to the old house and the sound of the trains.
Mrs. and Mr. Ray were most happy about Onni having to say goodbye to the old school and those vile elder boys.
As planned and arranged, the new place where Onni would go for schooling was also close to Didima’s house. So, Onni got busier with new timings, but the family visits continued.
As Onni and his Baba got closer to Didima’s, the eleven year-old boy felt like all eyes were on his new binoculars. He decided to hold them even though the strap was around him.
Suddenly, they came face to face with Kalpana auntie. She was one of Didima’s and Dadu’s neighbours. ‘How sweet!’ she screamed and reached out towards Onni with both her hands. ‘Is she going to take my binoculars?’ was the first thing he thought and pulled back a little. ‘No! She’s doing what she does always,’ he consoled himself and bravely clenched his jaws and waited. The lady held Onni’s cheeks and pinched them hard. Mr. Ray just smiled politely and the two were on their way again.
Onni turned holding his cheeks that were still paining from the tight squeeze. The first thing that he saw was Kalpana auntie’s huge behind wobbling away. He dared not see it through his shiny binoculars. ‘The binoculars will bring her bum here, close to my face… Chee! ’ he thought. The boy pointed the lens at everything around him. The lens brought everything closer to him.
‘Even my feet are looking like they are closer! It feels like the ground is nearer and I am shorter. Baba, you are looking like you are my height… Ha ha… This is fun,’ Onni exclaimed as he walked slowly.
‘If I look at Heena, she also will come close to me,’ he remembered the girl from his old school.
‘But what about Mr. Kamath? He too would come so much closer again!’ Onni shuddered and finally brought the binoculars down.
‘Dadu! See what I got from the funfair!’
Onni’s grandfather held the little boy close and admired his binoculars. ‘So nice… What does it do, Onni?’
‘Binoculars, Dadu... It brings things close. You can see things that are far and they will appear as if they are near! See...’ Onni explained.
Dadu took a look through the binoculars. ‘Ooohhh!’ the old man feigned surprise and laughed out loud. ‘Give it to me, no… It will be good for my eyes. I will wear them all the time,’ he smiled.
‘But you have your thick spectacles. You wear those.’
‘No, I want these binoculars instead. They will look better on me,’ Dadu continued talking to the little boy like a little boy himself.
‘Baba bought those for me. Ask him,’ Onni argued holding his prized plastic possession.
‘No, they are yours now. So I’m asking you,’ the old man teased him. Onni just kept quiet. Everyone in the room was smiling. Everyone, except Baba.
Didima came to Onni’s rescue finally. ‘You are so old, yet you have to tease my little boy?’ she frowned. Onni breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally, picking up his school bag and his binoculars Onni said bye and left for home with Maa and Baba. Like every evening, Didima kept waving ‘ta-ta’ to him from the window, till they were very far.
An idea struck Onni. He put the binoculars to his eyes. Didima was so much closer, and was still waving out. ‘There she is!’ Onni waved back wildly as they walked to the taxi stand.
When the taxi reached the new house, they all got off. Mr. Ray suddenly reached out for the binoculars. He pulled hard and the weak strap that was around Onni’s neck gave way.
CRASH!
He slammed the toy on the stone pavement.
The plastic binoculars disintegrated into a million pieces. One of the lenses rolled away and came to a noisy halt a little away. Onni didn’t understand what was happening.
‘When Dadu asked you for the binoculars, why didn’t you give it to him, you fool?’ Mr. Ray yelled.
The boy just kept staring at the shards of the binoculars lying all around.
‘Is all your homework done?’ Maa asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied. Onni had quietly packed his bag with books arranged according to the new time-table. His school uniform for the next day was ready. Dinner too was had in silence. ‘Do you like your new teachers and your new friends?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied.
Maa’s questions continued. So did Onni’s monosyllabic answers.
Nothing shook him out of his sad mood.
The dining table was the same. The chairs were the same. The beds were the same. The study table was the same. Everything in the new house was the same as before. Just that the new house was very different from the earlier one.
‘Are you missing your binoculars?’ Baba finally asked. His temper had mellowed. His tone confessed that he regretted his action.
‘No,’ was Onni’s brave answer.
‘Then are you missing the sound of the trains?’ Mummy asked.
Onni didn’t answer. His Maa and Baba had finally hit the mark. His cold exterior finally began melting.
The eleven year-old had held back his tears for long. His eyes turned moist. He remembered the train announcements that would be on till late, far from the old house but still faintly audible. The train rides every day had stopped. And so had the chance to stare at the trains and locomotives. The shifting of houses had derailed him. He was still holding a brave face. But the crescendo was the shattering of the binoculars.
Baba stood up and went to his cupboard. Pulling it open, he took out something. Onni kept thinking of the amazing time he had shared with him that evening at the funfair.
Silently Mr. Ray held out a box towards Mrs. Ray.
One look at the box and Onni went speechless. It was a toy train set — he could tell from the prints
on it.
Maa opened the box. Onni jumped up and came close. Baba smiled and looked on.
They lay the tracks over the room. The locomotive, the tender, the caboose and the carrier were all lined up. As Onni turned the set in motion, the dull rhythm of the chugging train filled the room. The boy laughed and clapped.
After a while, Maa and Baba found Onni deep asleep on his bed, with the toy train next to him.
Twenty-five
Onni was lying in bed, with Noor on him. They both were fast asleep.
The young
man’s hand was around the lady’s ample buttocks. Even in a deep slumber, he held on to her protectively. The other hand was raised and folded behind his head. Noor’s sweet face rested nestled on Onni’s chest. It moved every time his torso swelled as he breathed in. Her frame was small enough and was cradled face down on him. Her locks, which had grown very long, beautifully fell across and framed her face. The right palm lay as if measuring the impressive diameter of Onni’s left bicep. Her other hand casually rested on the man’s chest. The twisting pose of Noor’s body personified the languid fluidity she shared with this man. The playful yet erotic notes of their lovemaking earlier still echoed in their pose. Clothes lay scattered from the corridor to the bedroom, some on the floor and some on the bed, almost telling the story of how and where they were peeled off and dropped.
Rubbing away the remnants of sleep from their eyes, the two finally moved.
‘Good morning, Morning Glory!’ Noor said. Onni smiled, knowing that the reason she called him that was between his legs, making its unavoidable and unmistakable presence known. Instinctively, they gave the day a long, wet, passionate beginning.
As they started playing tonsil-hockey all over again, Onni suddenly remembered he had somewhere to go. ‘Ohhh... Can work wait?’ he thought.
Noor rolled off Onni and pulled one of the sheets along to cover herself. The story of the entire night had gotten ironed on to the crumpled sheets. Onni just lay there face up, all of him now visible. Noor smiled to herself.
Loosely wrapped in the bed linen, Noor tried to make her way from the bedroom. But she was unable to. Something held her back. ‘Onni, let me go,’ she argued without looking back. There was no answer. She turned. The other end of the sheet she had wound around herself lay firmly held under the man sprawled over it. His eyes were closed. His lips had a smile. The sheet was pulled around her highlighting the lady’s shapely outline.
‘I’m hungry, Onni...’
‘Eat me.’
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