CHAPTER 10: Jungle mein Mangal
"Oh my God, oh my God," chanted Angie under her breath as she looked around frantically trying to figure out which way they should go.
"It's alright, Anjali," Atul tried to calm her down. "Don't worry! We'll find a way out of this problem."
"Atul, do you SEE any way out right now? How should I not worry??! This is…wait! my cellphone" she hurriedly reached towards her shoulder for her purse, and realized that it wasn't there. "Oh god! I forgot it at the camp! We were in such a rush and everything….damn it!" she cursed in frustration.
"Anjaliii, please don't panic! I'll figure a way out!" Atul tried to reassure her again. He walked forward and looked around once again, trying to get an idea of which path to follow, but it looked like almost impenetrable jungle in every direction.
He looked in each direction, tapping his finger on his lips as he tried to make an educated guess about the right direction to follow. Angie meanwhile got more and more frustrated, and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, as she waited for him to figure the way out.
"That's it! That's the direction we need to go in!" he said suddenly, pointing towards the north-east after much deliberation.
Anjali walked forward and joined him now. "Are you sure?" she asked, with very obvious skepticism in her voice.
"Of course I'm sure, Anjali! Our Mumbai Nature Lovers Club organizes a camping trip once every month! And I actually won the Best Navigator prize on our last trip out!" he said with obvious pride in his voice.
Anjali looked at him in bemusement. "Very impressive, Dr. Atul. Well, lead on then." She said, her tone mocking him slightly. "I guess that's our best option right now."
And so they both set off in the north-east direction.
*********************************************************
Twenty Minutes Later:
They were much deeper into the jungle now, and still no sign of the camp. Anjali had been growing more and more irritated steadily as they walked with seemingly no end to the jungle. On top of that her feet were killing her now; apparently her "sensible" heels weren't intended for a little unexpected jungle detour. On top of that, the Happy Camper accompanying her seemed to be completely unperturbed and kept on pausing to point out some kind of plant or tree every few minutes.
"That's it!" she said, suddenly stopping and rounding on him in frustration. "We've been walking for God knows how long now, Mr. Star Navigator! And we are yet to see the camp anywhere in sight!"
"Anjali, I…"
"I what??!" she interrupted him, her frustration at its peak, "What now?? Did you see another "amazing" plant??" she asked sarcastically.
"Anjali," he tried again, trying to calm her down, "I can understand your frustration…"
"Can you?" she interrupted him again. "Can you really, Dr. Atull? Because you seem pretty happy skipping along merrily like there's nothing to worry about at all! Do you think this is another one of your fun camping trips?? We can barely see a THING in front of us! Oh my God! How are we going to get back?" she said, almost close to tears of helpless frustration now.
He stepped a little closer to her now, trying to figure out a way to reassure her. "Don't worry, Anjali! Trust me, we'll find a way out soon! I think we're generally in the right direction only, but the dark is making it a little difficult to…"
"This is all YOUR fault!" she cut in, not letting him finish once again, so caught up was she in venting her frustration. "Trust me, Anjali" she mimicked him, "I won the best navigator prize!" "Yes, I can see how well deserved that was!" she snapped at him sarcastically. "Now you can stay here and have fun watching your plants. I am going to go find my own way!" she finished, and then started walking away in a huff.
"Anjali!" he called after her. "Stop! Where are you going? You're going to get even more lost this way. Come back!"
"No thanks, Dr. Atull!" she said, turning her head back once to address him, "I think it's time I test my own navigation…" "Owwww!" she cried suddenly, and completely collapsed onto the ground.
"Anjali!" he cried, and hurried over to her.
She was sitting on the ground holding her left ankle and grimacing in pain.
"Anjali, are you ok?" he asked, sinking down to his knees next to her and unconsciously reaching a hand out towards her ankle, before realizing and then withdrawing it without her having noticed at all.
"I'm fine." She said, "Stupid little ditch!" she cursed under her breath, and tried to get up, gritting her teeth against the pain. But as soon as she put a little weight on her foot, she couldn't help but cry out in pain, and collapsed once again.
He flinched a little inwardly at her cry of pain, and then reached a hand put unconsciously again, "Is it a fracture? Are you not being able to put any weight on it at all?"
She probed the ankle with her fingers, trying to check for any signs of a fracture, "No, I don't think it's a fracture. I think it's a sprain, that's all."
"But it looks like a pretty bad sprain," he said worriedly as he kneeled next to her on the ground. "You won't be able to walk like this. We need to find a place to rest for a bit." he said, looking carefully in every direction until suddenly he saw what looked like a dilapidated shack a bit off in the distance. "There!" he said, "Do you see that? I think we can rest there for a bit." He pointed towards it.
He got up, and offered her a hand to help her up. She looked at it for a moment again, and he felt a sense of dj vu from earlier in the day on the bus. But this time, she extended her hand slowly and placed it in his. A current seemed to leap from their joined hands suddenly, and their eyes jumped to each other simultaneously for a split second before she suddenly withdrew her hand. "Static?" she said in a little confusion as she shook her hand for a bit before placing it in his again, and gingerly getting up. She gritted her teeth as the wave of pain hit her even when she only placed just a bit of her foot on the ground. She leaned on him a bit as he held her hand and they both started to move forward a bit.
*********************************************************
Atul watched her as she tried to walk. She was obviously in great pain, and little dots of perspiration had already broken out on her forehead with the effort it was taking her to walk even a few baby steps.
"Anjali, uhhh…If you're not being able to walk, I can carry you." He said a little hesitantly.
She paused, and turned to look at him, "Carry me?" she asked in surprise. She looked over his somewhat short and slender frame for a moment, and then said, "Umm…I'm fine, Atul."
Atul noticed her giving him the once-over and smiled to himself. "She thinks I won't be able to carry her?"
"Anjali, please…I can see that you are in really great pain, and I don't think it's good to put any kind of weight on your ankle right now in case it gets worse."
"But.." she said, looking at him in an unsure way again.
"Trust me. I won't drop you." He said, smiling at her.
She looked at him for a moment, and then nodded an alright with a resigned sigh. He bent and lifted her up in one smooth movement, catching her completely by surprise. She looked up at him with clear astonishment on her face. He bobbed both his eyebrows at her in response as if to say, "What did you think?", and then he started walking towards the shack, holding her as easily in his arms as if she were a light doll. She found herself feeling oddly delicate and vulnerable in his arms, and that disconcerted her for some reason that she wasn't able to pinpoint.
Trying to shake herself out of her strange thoughts, she turned her head and tried to strain her neck a bit to see where the shack was exactly. The movement brought her hair close to his face, and he was helpless but to breathe in the scent of her appreciatively once again. The punch it always brought with it hit him again, and he felt lightheaded for a moment almost tripping over a branch lying on the ground.
"Atul!" she cried as she felt like she was going to be dropped and clung onto his neck in fright for a moment.
"Sorry, Anjali!" he said in contrition, "I didn't see that branch lying on the ground."
She realized that she was still clinging onto his neck for dear life, and loosened her grip, "It's alright," she murmured.
After a few minutes, she turned her head towards him and said, "I'm sorry, Atul."
Now THAT shocked him so much that he almost DID drop her. "What?" he asked in shock, wondering if he'd heard correctly.
"I said…I..I'm sorry," she repeated, not quite able to look at him, "…for blowing up at you earlier. It really wasn't your fault at all." She paused for a bit, and glanced up to find him looking at her with that expression that seemed to disconcert her a lot these days. She looked away, and continued, "I…I was just so frustrated because we'd been walking around for what felt like ages! And…"
"It's alright, Anjali," he said softly, "I can understand. She glanced at him again. "Really," he repeated, "I understand."
They had now reached the shack, and they both looked over it for a moment. It looked like some kind of deserted storage shed.
"Now this is an interesting location for a shed," said Angie with a hint of sarcasm.
"Maybe it's some kind of seasonal storage shed," he said, "Raghu did mention that they use this shortcut very often to get to the main road from the village a lot."
He walked over to the door and was relieved to see that it wasn't locked. He maneuvered the bolt open with one hand, and the door slowly creaked open. Moonlight filtered in through one tiny window and illuminated the small shed. There was nothing much in it except straw strewn all over the floor. He walked inside, and carefully deposited her on a small mound of straw.
"How's your ankle feeling now?" he asked.
"It's ok.." she replied with a wince as she probed it with one finger. The ankle was now swollen up and looked very tender.
"I don't think we'll be able to find our way properly in this dark, so maybe it will be better if we just stay here for the rest of the night. That way you can rest your ankle as well. And then in the morning, we can head back" He said.
"Hmmm…yeah, I guess you're right. I doubt we'll be able to find our way out right now either." She said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms subconsciously.
"Are you cold?" he asked her.
"Hmmm? Yeah, a little I guess."
He looked around the shed carefully again and noticed an old blanket lying in a corner almost covered by the straw. He walked over, picked it up and dusted it as much as he could.
"Here, you can use this," he said, bending down to place it around her, but she looked up at him as he did so, and that stopped him for some reason and he just handed it to her hesitantly instead.
"Thanks," she said, taking it and wrapping it around herself.
"Umm…I'll go and see if I can find some wood to build a fire, ok?" he said awkwardly.
"Alright," she said, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand as the day finally started catching up with her.
He walked out and started searching for some sticks and little broken branches lying around to use as firewood. As he collected some sticks, he recalled that moment when her eyes had leapt up to look at his when she'd given him her hand to help her up. "Unse nazrein kya mileen, roshan fizaayen ho gayeen," he smiled and hummed to himself, "Aaj jaana pyar ki jaadugari kya cheez hai" And the way she'd said sorry to him. How was it possible to fall more and more in love with her everyday? he wondered yet again. "Hoshwalon ko khabar kya, bekhudi kya cheez hai. Ishq keeje, phir samajhiye zindagi kya cheez hai" he continued to hum, as he walked back towards the shed.
***************************************************
As he backed into the door with his arms full of sticks, the sight that greeted him made him stop in his tracks instantly. She was lying down on the makeshift straw bed, fast asleep. The moonlight filtering in through the tiny window cast almost ethereal glow around her, and he was helplessly bedazzled. As if in a trance, he walked in slowly and carefully deposited the firewood in a corner, not able to take his eyes off of her for even a moment. He walked over and slowly sank down to his knees next to her. She was curled up in a little ball as if cold again. He took the blanket which had slipped off her, and pulled it up on her again. She shifted a bit as she did so, and he held his breath lest he wake her up. But she didn't wake up. A strand of hair had fallen across her face when she'd shifted and he unconsciously reached out to brush it away from her face, but stopped at the last moment.
"Gumsum chandni ho, nazneen ho, ya koi hoor ho. Dil nasheen ho, dilkashin ho, ya jannat ka noor ho tum," he hummed very softly under his breath as he looked at her. Then he bent down towards her, and softly blew the strand away from her face. "Masha Allah," he breathed.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open, and they both stared at each other in shock
Anupamaa
Pocket Mein Aasman
43