Chapter Two
Day two
Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A shrill cacophony pierced the cold dawn air'..
Mitali opened her eyes in annoyance and looked up to see a
fresh, eager Sujala standing at her feet, beaming at her.
She turned the other way, trying to burrow deep into the
warmth of her blanket'..The ground underneath was cold and hard, and the first
night of sleeping on the ground with a few blankets under and above did not
help.
Somebody whipped the blanket away from her body and the
frosty, bitter air worked as effectively as a bucket of icy water.
She sat up; astonished at the courage of the person, and
shaken by the sudden cold'..It was Piyush.
He had a half amused half exasperated smile on his face as he
looked down at the irate and confused Mitali.
She pushed her red dyed curly locks away from her eyes.
He was another volunteer who had traveled with them'Although
they had traveled in the same vehicle for nearly two hours; they had not
exchanged a single word'.
Exchanging pleasantries when they had been introduced,
coldness followed in his demeanor towards her.
But at night, he quietly gave her a large jug of water as
she sat down to dinner, which she ignored with a coldness matching to his own.
The food was served in a large steel plate, and she sat on
the floor, her legs crossed in the traditional Indian style'She fidgeted in her
jeans, and tried looking around'Her eyes were watering, a bonus accompanied by
the stuffy smell due to the chulha,
the mud fireplace, where Sumitrabai, Sujala's mother was making hot bhakris.
The reason behind the action soon became clear'. A round,
hot brown nachni (finger millet) bhakri
landed in her plate.
Reluctantly, she broke off a morsel.
The seemingly innocent vegetables turned out to be red hot,
burning the mouth as they went down her throat'.. Eyes watering and nose
running, she quickly stuffed a morsel of chutney to lessen the spicy flavor'..But
the chutney was more piquant'.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!" she groaned inspite of
herself''..
He silently pushed the jug of water towards her. Without
pausing for further contemplation, she lifted it to her mouth and drank it like
someone who had not seen water for days.
She struggled
to get ready and roamed around the house with bleary eyes, searching for her
rucksack'..A neatly folded salwaar kameez was draped over it'.She fingered it
frowning.
"You will need to wear it."
She spun around. Devshri was looking at her over her gold
rimmed spectacles'..
She laughed. "No way'..I am not'..Never. Ever."
Devashri weighed her up and down with the full force of her
dark eyes.
"Here, when I say, you obey. No questions asked."
"But why?"
Devashri considered her for a moment. "It will help you
merge in. When in Paris,
do as the Parisians do."
Mitali glared back at her. But the dark eyes were unbudging.
Recognizing someone she could not defeat, Mitali backed off
silently'.Picking up the salwaar kameez, she entered the bathroom.
The day was a sunny one. She stepped out of the house and
stood in the porch' The air was fresh, likes of which were unfamiliar with her
city nose'She sniffed the air eagerly'.
Sujala pointed to the house on the top of a hill. "We start
there."
She picked up a small bag and smiled at Mitali uncertainly.
They trudged upwards through the village.
The cool shade of the house seemed inviting after the long
trek in the harsh sun. A woman, clad in a sari offered them water. Mitali
looked inside, while sipping the water meditatively.
Her eyes turned to large orbs as she saw a large hulking
outline framed in the doorway that lead through the house to the backyard.
Narrowing her eyes, she stared intently, trying to make out
the figure.
"Is that- is that'..a buffalo?"
The woman looked at her surprised, before turning back to
answer the questions Sujala had been asking her. "Of course it is. Everybody
has buffaloes"
She gripped Sujala's arm tightly.
"I am afraid of buffaloes." She whispered her childhood
memory surfacing.
"It's all right." Sujala patted her hand absently,
continuing with the questionnaire.
When the sun set, Mitali was quite glad for the hot millet
bhakris, rice and a thick blanket to ease the pain in her aching legs.
She sat down on the carpet.
A cacophony ensured from the back of the house. Sujala was chasing
the hens back into their coops. She watched for a moment before joining her.
Catching a hen is not as easy as they show on television.
Not at all easy.
There were ten hens and a couple ofsmall chickens. In
daytime they wandered in the backyard, but at night, they were locked up in the
coop for protection from hungry dogs and wolves.
Eight were already inside. Sujala conquered another one.
Only one large proud hen stood, looking at each of them in
turn. Mitali advanced on it.
It ran from between her legs. Desperately, she ran after it.
She accidentally chased it into the house. Squawking in
protest the red and yellow commotion entered the kitchen, the nearest room from
the back, upturned all the utensils and a box of full of recently shelled peas.
Sujala and Mitali looked at each other, their feet submerged
in a sea of small, round green peas.
The hen ran out in the living room, with Sujala and Mitali
hot on its trail. They finally cornered it on the outer porch.
The bird looked at each of them in turn and preened its red
and yellow feathers.
Mitali looked at the hen with a wicked gleam in her eye. She
readied herself to pounce on it, when somebody else did.
Piyush picked up the hen with ease and returned the offender
back to its coop.
It gave a loud squawk of protest at the sorry end of the
chase.
Mitali looked daggers at Piyush.
"It was my hen. Why did you catch it?"
He rolled his eyes at her ire. "Look at the trail of
destruction you both have left in the house."
He looked at the other girl. "Sujala, I am better than you
at this now! Your student excels the teacher! And by the way, pick up the peas
in the kitchen before Sumitra kaku returns from the panchayat meeting with
Devashri maushi'or'."
"Or what?" Mitali asked haughtily.
He just shrugged.
Sujala asked timidly, "Mind helping us?"
He shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled. "It's none
of my business. Besides, it was her hen."
When they were picking up the peas, Mitali noticed Piyush
sneak in to help them. She smiled inside, keeping her face straight.
Filling out questionnaires in a relevant pattern, regarding
the health status of eighty three villagers of every age did not exactly leave
you with bountiful energy. Nor did crawling on all fours to pick up reprobate
peas in the nooks and cranny of the kitchen after chasing a hen the entire
length of the house add anything other than extreme weariness.
Devashri silently put an extra blanket on Mitali's
slumbering form before switching off the emergency lamp.
Edited by Pooj@ - 14 years ago
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