A Day in Memory

Cramming stale bread into my mouth, hands busy pushing my phone inside I ran out of the gate. The weight of my bag was cutting into my shoulders. Gritting my teeth and trying to finish my ‘breakfast’ I rushed along , amidst noisy and irritable traffic. I slowed down once I reached the French institute, my usual spot where I recognised that I still had five solid minutes to reach college. I allowed the dense sunlight to wash my face as I let out my breath and relaxed a bit. It was the year end. I had no major things to worry about then. All assignments completed and handed over now we just had the impending exams waiting.

Distracted by a small noise, I turned round to see a girl about three to four years of age, tugging onto her mother’s saree pointing at the cotton candy kept nearby. She had jet black hair, neatly plaited on both sides laid with orange flowers which deeply contrasted with her blue uniform. Her mother got a real big candy and passed it down to her. She greeted it with a wide smile which made her even more cute with one teeth jutting out re positioning the others. She tagged along sucking at it and watching her mother devotedly. Somehow, her innocent eyes took me around ten years back.

Impatiently stamping my foot, I glanced worriedly at the clock in my drawing room. Amma came along carrying my lunch bag shouting that she will be back in a few minutes. She met my indignant stare with a watery smile and we set out to school me holding the bottle. I was eager to make her known to the most exciting things happening in my school. The school captain had been elected and what more it was someone I KNEW! My tiffin gave a dangerous wobble as I jumped around shaking my head, chattering loudly to the perfect nods of my mother. Sometimes, she irritably engaged herself in tightening my pony or straightening the creases of my already well-ironed skirt while I was going on about the way Rohit snatched Sanju’s notebook and threw it at Lakshmi’s head. We had almost reached the house with a big furry black dog who always gave a threatening growl at the sight of anybody. While ranting out my innocent worries, I suddenly felt something press hard on my head. My mother uttered a little scream and the bystanders gave out a silent laugh. A crow had sat on my head, pressed its claws and flown away at the sound produced by Amma.  I slowly, touched my hair eyes wide with shock. Stifling her laugh with difficulty, she soothingly brushed my hair and led me along after which I was silent partly due to shock and partly, wonder.

A firm utterance of my name brought me back to my present senses, also to face one of the worst luck you can ever have in your academic life. I stood up, having absolutely no idea of what exactly the teacher had inquired, let alone the response I was supposed to give. Snide remarks complimented by harsh glares followed and I heaved a sigh of relief as one of the nightmares of our department walked out muttering curses for students who oddly resembled ‘lazy idiots’ in her dictionary. Waking my pal, who had dozed off and was blissfully unaware of the scene that had just taken place, we trudged along to the Auditorium programmed for the installation of the new Senate. Ninety minutes of report reading fairly good enough to put a human, who has already slept for ten hours the previous night, to sleep was staged under the shade of the pomp and pride of the not-so-good institution of ours, introduced to us by an emotionally hysterical principal. Susan’s head dropped onto my shoulder as she drooled on. I gave a dangerous yawn and immediately one of those annoying committee members warned me not to sleep.  Scowling, I folded my hands and stared at the stage.

But here, instead of seeing the white clad student leaders led by the little devil on earth, I saw a different auditorium, and on it, fourteen captains, just fourteen, with their badges and sashes, ready to give up for the next set. My glasses glinted in the yellow light along with the badge pinned onto the collar of my short. This had been my pride, my identity for the one year which had thrust me with experiences each of which taught me a valuable lesson in life. My group, my Ganga house had been my goal which had successfully emerged out tonnes of sweat and toil. Placing my badge on the plate, I saluted my school and walked out with my companions realizing with a slight pang that despite all the pains and hardships endured during the past year, somewhere in my mind I still felt , I will miss it.

Walking back to class, my friend stopped to have tea, her last solution to avoid sleeping and I walked along in my trance. She pulled at my little finger and I glanced at her widely, passionately. She made me sit, doubtful expressions lining her face. How could she not because her gesture made me slip maybe, just a few months back.

We had not seen each other. Or I will rephrase it. We had not seen each other after knowing each other so much. My heart was in my mouth when I saw him grinning at a distance with the same naughty twinkle in his eyes. It had been a day worth reliving, where we walked shoulder to shoulder, finding pleasure in the smallest of things, talking, breaking all the rules of normal conversation, words tumbling over one another due to excitement. Places, situations, people and the whole wide world did not matter as long as we were with one another. He tugged at my little finger pulling me into the game store, with a wink. I smiled mischief evident in my finest weapon and his greatest weakness...

Chennai does have moderately pleasant breezes, in fact, one of it just blew across my face as I closed my eyelids and allowed it to whiz past. Opening them, I saw her at a distance. The only gift I had inherited from my school to my college in the same proportions. She hurried along, the familiar anxiety drowning her beautiful features. Evidently, her project on Dyslexia had not reached up to the mark and was dissatisfied about it. Complaining loudly, we walked along busy roads and irritable traffic. A day of past, no, maybe a few days or events of the past, had intervened in my dull and uneventful procession of degree completion in a city far from my loved ones. I sighed to myself and smiled at the thought of the memories in my life, worth reminiscing about. Looking up I saw the accusing stare of my best soul. Apparently, my expression had not been in tune with the news she had just proclaimed. Quickly clearing my throat I nodded fervently replacing the grin with a frown, our static mood almost at every moment spent in My College.