My heart jumped at this thought. Those items were to be the prizes for Rajat’s games. If they weren’t there, three things would happen simultaneously. First, Rajat might not get enough time to bring his prizes which meant his stall wouldn’t get the same kind of attention on the third day like the previous two days. Second, my stall would be a complete failure. Third, but the most dreaded of all, Rajat would lose his trust in me. What would he think of me? That I was too careless to handle a simple tray? That I was not sincere? He had put in so much effort but this morning had ruined it all. I could bear my failure but not his. I started to pray that he’d show up with his prize items.
After half an hour of frantic searching, I sat down and covered my face with my hands. My head felt heavy and my veins were throbbing like giant hammers. I didn’t have the guts to tell Rajat. I felt helpless. I was on the verge of crying. We had both put in our best efforts and here some crazy insensitive person had not only stolen our precious items but also our hours of effort and hope. My eyes started to brim with tears when I heard Rajat’s voice.
“Morning, Maya! What happened?” he said touching my head.
I looked up and my heart jumped at what I saw. He was holding the tray in his hands. I was aghast to see the tray in his hands. It meant Rajat was the one who had taken away the tray. Why? And why on earth didn’t he tell me? Damn it!
Though I was hugely shaken at the sight, a deluge of happiness flowed through me as I saw the tray in front of me. Suppressing the flood of tears, I asked sternly, “You had taken the tray, Rajat? Why? I was searching for it like a maniac; I thought someone had stolen it. I was so worried. Why did you take the tray away and why didn’t you tell me about it?”
Rajat was startled at my reaction. He was not expecting such a reaction. He smiled, put the tray aside and said politely,
“I am sorry, Maya and please stop worrying. I had taken the tray for I was afraid the items wouldn’t dry on time. This would completely ruin the effort and thus, your confidence. I had seen you how dejected you were yesterday and I didn’t want the same to happen today. I also could not afford to lose such beautiful prizes. So I got an idea after dropping you last night. I came back and took the tray to my room. I put the pots in front of the heater. I couldn’t tell you as I don’t have your phone number. Now look at them, Maya. They are completely ready to be given away as prizes. See.” And he placed the tray on my lap.
One look at the items and tears started to stream down my cheeks. He had painted them as well. The lines weren’t accurate but these days, zigzag lines are considered to be modern art. His naïve painting had added a lustre that had enhanced the beauty of the pots. I marvelled at his efforts. He was right. They were completely ready and looked really very attractive. I was so happy. Overcome by relief and joy, I hugged Rajat.
“Oh, Rajat! You are so thoughtful. Thank you so much. You don’t have any idea how much this whole thing matters to me. You are simply adorable.”
“Well…you are always welcome, madam. Now if you control your emotions, we should start setting up our stalls as we have only five minutes left for the event to begin,” he said hugging me back.
I instantly realised what I had done in my sheer happiness. I took a few steps back and said sheepishly, “Oops! I am sorry, Rajat. I was mad with happiness and got carried away” and started to unpack my stall to avoid any more embarrassment.
“It’s okay, Maya. You don’t worry. And yes, I will let you know the response of the people,” he said smiling as he went back to his stall with the tray in his hands.
After five minutes, all the stalls were ready to attract the crowds. This time I was hopeful. I saw a couple entering Rajat’s stall. They played a musical game and the girl won. She was happy and I could make out that she was asking for her prize. I got curious and wondered what Rajat would give her. Rajat gave her a wonderful yellow hanging flower pot with colourful strips all around its body. She beamed with happiness. I saw the girl asking Rajat something and after few seconds Rajat pointed to my stall. I was alerted and pretended to be busy. Then Rajat packed the pot carefully in a box and gave it to her. I found the pair walking towards my stall. A little smile stretched on my face. I stole a glance at Rajat and he winked at me with thumbs up gesture. I smiled and welcomed my first guests on the third day of the fest.
“Hi! Did you make this pot?” the girl asked uncovering the pot.
“Hello! Yes, I did,” I said politely suppressing the erupting happiness inside.
‘This is so wonderful. Your friend in that stall explained how you make it. He said it is an easy procedure. I really like it and he suggested I should try my hand at pottery making,” she said pointing towards Rajat who was busy with a gang of girls now.
The girl continued, “He told me the pottery making is quite easy and I want to learn this. How much will you charge?”
My smile turned into a big one. Finally, Rajat’s idea had started to bloom with a good head start. His eloquence had worked well on the couple. Oh! Was he not capable of such thing? He already had won my heart over his idea. I thanked him in my heart and started explaining the process to the girl. She made two items; one small desk pot and a bigger cylindrical earthen pitcher. I helped her along. She merrily showed it to her friend. While I was packing both the items carefully in the boxes, she thanked me with the money in her hands.
“Thank you. This is so very interesting. I will tell my friends to learn this too,” and they walked away.
I was satisfied. I looked at Rajat and thanked him again with all of my heart for it was he who had made it possible.
Teaming up with Rajat had flipped my fortunes. As the day went by, people had started showing up at my stall and I repeated the same procedure to everyone. It was fascinating to see everyone’s reactions. Few people spoiled their clothes in the process but they took it sportingly. All they wanted was to make something with their own hands. Running their hands on the wheel made them go crazy. Girls chirped in excitement while the boys made something for their loved ones. One lady was so fascinated by the art of pottery making that she decided to pursue it as a career. She wanted to open a boutique relevant to Indian tradition and was on search for the perfect theme. My stall just gave her that perfect idea. She thanked me and asked for some details. I told her what I knew about pottery making and its tradition. I was amazed at how wonderfully things were turning out in my favour. Eventually, I was thrilled and flattered with the response I got during the day. The day passed by in a blink.
Rajat came over in the evening as I was busy packing up my stall.
“Ready for snacks?” he smiled broadly.
“Absolutely, mighty lord,” I bowed to him and we both laughed. We walked to the same canteen. We ordered a lot of food this time. As success consumes bodily energy very quickly, we both were very hungry. We used more coupons this time and relished our food thoroughly. The food was delicious and we deserved it after a long day’s work.
“You know, Maya, these food coupons we get for the event? It feeds almost four or five people per coupon,” he laughed chewing his food.
“What? Four to five people? But how? Each coupon is meant for only one person, right?” I asked, while continued chewing a morsel.
“When we come here, we take a plate full of food using the coupon and then our group of friends eat from the same plate. This way one coupon satiates more people than it is intended to,” he laughed revealing one of the boys’ tricks.
I guffawed. Boys are always known for their fun tactics. This was one of them. We finished our food while talking more about his other tricks. It was interesting though to know his secrets. I was satiated by the food as well as with the success of my stall. We chose to promenade along the same walkway.
“So how was it Maya? Are you happy with the results? I saw people worshipping you and your pots at your stall today,” Rajat teased.
“It was just great, Rajat. I never anticipated this. I mean the people were showing such inter
est and curiosity. I was flooded with all of that. I could say it was a success and the entire credit goes to you, mighty lord” I said exuberantly.
“Oh come on, Maya. It was not me who made it all possible. It was basically your effort. You made all the items and I simply showed them to the people. That’s it” he said shyly.
‘How modest he is’ I thought. But I knew it was Rajat’s incredible idea that turned out to be a magical wand for me.
“Nah. I had the same stall and same stuff the previous two days but people didn’t show much interest. But because of your idea, my talent immediately came under the limelight and everything changed like magic. You are the one responsible for all the happiness and no more discussion on it,” I said blocking his way. I couldn’t take the credit for my success. I owed him after all.
He threw his hands up, “Okay okay, Maya! Whatever you say.”
“That’s right. You deserve a treat from me. So I will take you to dinner day after tomorrow night. Tomorrow we can enjoy the last day of our college fest. Okay?
Rajat was surprised. “Okay. Sure but why not enjoy ourselves today? Let’s celebrate our little success tonight. We would regret it if we don’t. Let’s go.” He said excitedly and he was right. We immediately headed to the disco organised as part of Antaragni. We danced there for two hours. We had completely forgotten about our tiresome state. It was a lot of fun shaking a leg with the crowd.
Rajat had told me that boys usually danced in groups because it was hard for them to woo a girl and take her to dance let alone ask her out for a date. I laughed. ‘If the boys were all like, Rajat, it would be the girls wooing them instead,’ I thought. Rajat had been benevolent to me. And girls always find such guys sweet who help them without expecting anything in return. But as we all girls know boys will always be… well… boys. They always expect something in return. There were few cherry picks though and I really hoped Rajat was one of them.
I also told him that girls also long for the company of boys but they pretend to be unaffected by their flattery. If anyone could get a chance to peek into girls’ hearts, they would find an endless collage of boys’ pictures and flattering, honey-dipped messages. Girls cherish those messages when they are alone. Rajat grinned at this revelation.
Rajat was dancing at a certain distance to avoid unwanted hooting. I was with the girls and enjoying myself. A famous DJ was there to hit the right chords by playing some popular songs. IIT had taught me the concept of ‘head banging’ where the head automatically moves to and fro along with the music, and soon everything blurred around us as we lost ourselves in the rhythm and beats.
But there was still one more day to go. Then we would be free to enjoy the whole evening of the fest. The famous band Euphoria was coming to perform and we were excited that we would get to see Palash Sen and his band. But there was work to be done this evening. So we headed towards my stall. After around two hours, we were ready with another stock of items. After arranging them on two trays, we were done for the day. This time I took half of them with me to dry. I didn’t want Rajat to take all of them with him. He was already doing so much for me.
The next day was the fourth and the final day of Antaragni. I was completely charged up for the day and so was Rajat. Everything fell in place perfectly and things went off smoothly. The strength of the crowd remarkably increased as the day passed. Every now and then, Rajat and I managed to exchange smiles and winning gestures as we worked.
At the end of the day, I was tired. But this time it was because of handling huge number of people. They say all’s well that ends well. I agreed. This time I packed up my stall quickly and went over to Rajat’s.
“Interested in some coffee and snacks?” I said tapping my foot on the ground.
“Yeah, very much. Do not forget about tomorrow’s dinner treat too,” he winked and laughed.
“I remember that. You don’t have to send me a reminder for everything,” I smiled and we left for the snacks. As we ate I talked incessantly about the whole event. I kept praising him for his efforts and how happy I was that his stall was a success as well. I thanked him over and over again but he kept smiling in return. I liked his silent response. His unspoken responses were more than words could say. They almost stroked my heart with gentle warmth. But today, Rajat was strangely silent except for ‘yes and no’ at random times. I asked him if anything was the matter but he said he just preferred to listen to me. He was a good listener too, I noted.
Then we went to watch Euphoria perform. The band was winning every heart with their songs. ‘Dhoom’ and ‘Kabhi Aana Tu Meri Gali’ were huge hits. They also played some English songs, to which we banged our heads. We screamed, shouted and sang at the highest possible pitches of our vocal chords. There were waves of joy and merriment passing from one student to the other. The whole crowd was swooning, thoroughly enjoying themsleves. We too enjoyed ourselves as much as we could on the last day of Antaragni. After all, we had already missed so much of the fun. It had to be compensated for.
It was late at night by the time we left for our respective rooms amidst all the craziness. We kept singing till I reached my hostel where we said good bye to each other. I came to my room, changed my dress and slipped under the blanket. I was extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. I shut my eyes but Rajat kept coming into my thoughts. He had been so kind to me and his ideas had worked out so well. I wondered why we never chatted earlier. I also wondered what made him to come over and help me. People say girls are so difficult to understand but here, the case was reversed. Rajat seemed to me like a twisted ball of thread which was an absolute necessity to unravel.
I still wanted to know the motive behind his helpful gesture and decided to ask him over dinner the next day. This time, there were no doubts in my heart. What he said was correct. He had proved me wrong at the end and had vindicated me. His face brought a smile to my lips. I felt something different for him. I had a lot of friends but Rajat was different. So this different feeling was obviously entitled for someone different. I had never anticipated this before meeting him but a lot of unexpected things anyway were happening to me these days. I thought it was the two days of our companionship that was the fount of my sprouting infatuation towards him. I was completely oblivious that this something different would entirely sweep me towards a new direction.
*****************
I was lost in the smooth ride of my memories when I got a call from Rajat. I ran inside to pick up my phone. He told me that Kavya di would be getting married after two months in Mysore and she had invited all three of us. Kavya di was six years younger to Rajat but still he preferred to call her ‘Di’ as if addressing a big sister. I was happy when I heard the news as she was one of my favourite in-laws. She was Rajat’s cousin. I was joyous to receive the wedding invitation and started thinking about what things I’d have to get ready. The three of us would have to get new clothes for the different occasions like Mehandi, Mahila Sangeet and of course for the wedding. A gift for the newlywed couple topped the list. I had a lot of work ahead of me and I got up to complete my chores. The tea I was drinking was cold now. I proceeded to the kitchen to make another cup and the shopping list.
We began shopping for the wedding. We bought an expensive present for the newlywed couple. We had decided to drive down to Mysore in our car. This way we could enjoy the journey as well. It had been many days since we had gone to visit some place together. Therefore this Mysore trip was very much awaited. To add to this merriment, we were not only going to attend the wedding but other ceremonies too. Indian marriages are unique potpourris. Families, friends and relatives come to take part in the auspicious occasion. Right from the applying of henna on the hands and legs to all the female guests to the flower canopy under which the bride and groom takes their vows and completes the seven pheras; from delicious mouth watering meals to twenty four hours of full-on entertainment, from the giggles of guests to the bride’s ginger look during the vidaai; they are integral to a wedding. P
eople hum traditional Indian wedding songs amidst the other rituals; the playful act of bridesmaids stealing the groom’s shoes and then demanding hefty cash in exchange are all part of the fun. Finally the poignant farewell of the bride leaving behind her parents and her loved ones; these all are the essential parts of an Indian wedding. Thus, I was specially looking forward to attend Kavya di’s wedding.
We were very excited but just at the start of the next month. I twisted my ankle one day while coming back from the grocery shop. The pain worsened as the day passed. I called Rajat and he hurriedly left his office to take me to the doctor.
The doctor analysed my ankle and said I had suffered sprain. I would be okay in a few days’ time. I relaxed. The wedding was a month away and I didn’t want to miss it. But within the next three days, I became feverish and developed a severe cough; I couldn’t sleep at all at nights because of continuous coughing. Such fits sometimes resulted in vomiting. Gradually my joints began to hurt as well. Rajat took me to another doctor who advised us to get some x-rays done. When the reports came, the doctor feared it was tuberculosis. It was curable but it would take months to complete its course and I would have to remain isolated. I prayed hard for the thought of suffering from tuberculosis was a nightmare.
It took almost three weeks to get the final reports. In the meanwhile, my health had started to deteriorate. Kavya di’s wedding was approaching and our plans were falling apart. Rajat had decided not to go without me. He couldn’t leave me behind, especially now when there were clear chances of me suffering from tuberculosis. When the results finally came in, they were negative. I cursed that impertinent doctor for worrying us and we stopped visiting him. His false diagnosis had almost sent me into a coma. But the problem didn’t end here. We still did not know the reason behind my illness. We went to one of the best physicians in the city and then he prescribed another set of blood tests. I assumed if things kept going like this, I’d soon run out of blood in my body! This went on for a month. Because of medications, I made a little progress and was feeling better but was far from completely fine.
It’s Never Too Late Page 4