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PART 3
CHILDHOOD JEALOUSIES
"Hello Little Archu!" said Little Manav, looking fondly at Kittu, his caterpillar, as he came and sat next to Little Archu behind the mulberry bush in the next lunch interval. He fed Kittu a big green leaf, and was rather astonished when for a long time, he didn't hear the cute, happy voice of Little Archu replying back to his greeting.
"What happened?" he asked, looking up at her. She was sitting quietly, looking very annoyed, pulling grass out of the soil. His heart pained. "Why are you hurting the plants?" he said.
Little Archu didn't answer. Two tears rolled down her fair, plump cheeks.
Little Manav sighed. In every lunch interval, Little Archu HAD to weep!! Oh gosh! What was it with little girls??? Why did they weep so much?
"What's the matter Little Archu?" he said, patting her on the back. "Come on now, be a good girl and tell me who hurt you? Did someone snatch your lollypop?"
Little Archu shook her head.
"Did the teacher scold? Did you lose your teeth? Did Little Dharmu tease you again? OR..." he shuddered. "Did Little Shravani say something to you about playing with me?"
Again a shake of the head.
"Well, what then? Tell na Little Archu... you are Kittu's Aai na... how can you weep? Aais are not supposed to cry."
Little Archu quickly wiped her tears. She looked longingly at her friends playing on the swings. "They won't play with me anymore."
"Who?"
"They!" Little Archu pointed out to her friends. "They refused to play with me."
"Why?"
Little Archu blew her nose into her hanky. "They said that I have got a new friend now- you! For the last two lunch breaks I have been playing with you and not with them. Now suddenly today when I went to them, they were irritated and said 'now go and play with him only. Don't play with us.'"
And a fresh round of wailing started again, as Little Archu held her skipping rope. Little Manav tried to think. Good God!!! Thinking was so difficult when you had so little brains.
"Be quiet, Little Archu!" said Little Manav, caressing her cheek. "Go and tell your friends that you will not play with me now."
Little Archu looked horrified. "But I want to play with you as well. And I can't leave my baby Kittu!!" she said, taking the matchbox in her hand. "What will he do without me, his Aai? Hai na puchu?"
Little Manav thought hard, putting strain on his little brain. "Okay done." he said, smiling at her. "From today you play with me and all my friends."
Little Archu quietened up a little. "They will play with me?" she asked.
Little Manav felt relieved. Yes! Little Archu had stopped crying!!! "Of course they will play with you! Come along." he said.
Hand in hand, both the children trotted to the group of boys who were playing cricket. They stopped playing when Little Manav approached them. "Hey, both of us will also play."
The boys looked doubtful. "Does Little Archu know how to play cricket?"
Little Archu did not know. But she nodded. She had seen her Dada play at home, and she did not think it was so difficult.
Besides, if Little Manav can play, I can also play, she thought furtively.
The children started playing. Little Manav took position to field. He looked at Little Archu who was pushing back her little braids and adjusting her fringe. She then used her hanky to wipe off her sweat. "Its so hot." she frowned. She was then reminded of Kittu in the matchbox, and like a dutiful Aai, she rushed to make sure he was comfortable. She put the box in the shade and put a flower with a big leaf near it.
"Hey Little Archu!" said Little Manav, waving to her, "Come and play!"
"Coming!" she said, trotting at her own sweet pace, looking at the butterflies. By the time she came back, four balls had already been bowled. The boys were whispering amongst themselves.
"She is worse than me." said Little Dharmu proudly. "I'm much faster."
"Why can't we play in the shade?" Little Archu pouted. "Why do you all want to play in the heat and get all hot and dirty?"
The boys looked at each other. "We LIKE it this way!" said Little Meanie Prakash, grinning.
"Yeah!" said another, nodding his head up and down. They resumed game. The ball came towards Little Archu. "Catch catch!" shouted everyone excitedly. Little Archu dropped it.
"She doesn't know how to play!" complained one boy.
Little Manav smiled sheepishly. "First day guys!!!" he reminded. "Be good to her."
"Why don't we play something else?" asked Little Archu. "Lets play with my skipping rope."
The boys looked as if she had asked them to eat worms. "We don't like playing with skipping rope."
"Oh comeon! Little Manav, ask them to play na!" she said, tugging the sleeve of his shirt.
Little Manav was royally trapped. He looked up at his friends, they were looking at him to say something in their favour. Inwardly, he felt angry on Little Archu. She was spoiling the game.
"Ummm... Little Archu, lets play, you'll like it slowly." Little Archu frowned and got back to her position.
They started playing again. Two boys got out. Little Archu got bored with all the fielding. "Hey I want to bat too!" she shouted.
"Its not your chance!" said Little Dharmu. "Wait for yours!!!"
She looked at Little Manav with sorrowful eyes. "Pleeeeese!!!"
Little Manav was touched. "Let her do batting!" he said, "I will bat in the end."
Little Archu cheered up. She was handed the bat by the boys, even as Little Dharmu stood frowning. "Little Manav and Little Archu bend the rules of the playground for each other." he said. "Not done."
"This bat is heavy!!!" protested Little Archu. "I can't even move it!!!"
"Well, try!!!"
The ball came. Little Archu tried to hit it but ended up hitting her foot.
"Waaaannnn!!!" she wailed. "Oh Bappa!!! Gone! Gone! My foot is gone!!!"
"Why did we let her play in the first place." said Little Dharmu. The boys cornered Little Manav. "She cannot play with us."
"But why not?" asked Little Manav, his kind soul stirred from within. "Cos she doesn't know how to play! She is goofing up! She better play with a skipping rope!"
"And she is not proffessional!" chipped in Little Dharmu. Go on idiot Little Archu! Push me in the mud now!!!
"But now what do I do with her?" asked Little Manav. What had Little Archu done! She had turned all his friends against her, and him as well.
"Play with her." said his friends, handing him the skipping rope. And they went back to their game.
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"So what do we do now?"
Little Manav looked at Little Archu. She seemed to be feeling better now, and was sucking her lollypop. "Everybody banished us." she said sadly, tugging her hanky.
They were sitting on the see saw now, the see saw going up and down as Little Archu and Manav rocked it. Little Manav sighed. "Its all cause of Little Dharmu, he is angry with you. We need to do something about him. But as of now, I guess we should play with each other .. or maybe we could look for allies."
"Allies?" asked Little Archu frowning. What in the world did it mean? "Is allies the opposite of lies?"
"Allies is... forget it. Tell me- don't you have other friends?"
Little Archu turned sheepish. "I don't like them. Lets play with Little Shravani instead."
Little Manav was horrified at this suggestion. He looked around the playground to see if he could locate Little Shravani anywhere. "She is still angry over yesterday." he said. "I don't wanna play with her. She will drag me to play kitchen set."
"Hmmm...." thought Archu, looking cute as she pretended to think, the way she had seen elders do, with her hand under her chin.
"From whom have you been hiding behind the bush the last two days?" asked Little Manav suddenly. Little Archu's face turned crimson. She looked down. "Little Jay. There he is."
Little Manav craned to have a look. He could see a tall, brown boy who was doing somersaults in front of the crowd. Everyone was clapping for him. "He's so entertaining." said Little Jaanu. Little Saffy nodded her head vigorously. "Once again Little Jay! Once again!"
"Why don't you like him?" asked Little Manav. "Everyone else does."
"He pulls my cheeks." said Little Archu. "I don't like him."
Little Manav was shocked. Even he pulled Baby Vandu's roly poly cheeks at home. "Like this?" he asked, extending his hands towards Little Archu's cheeks. She smacked him on the hand. "Don't you do it!" she said angrily. "Everyone pulls my cheeks, they will stretch and hang down one day." said Little Archu in a horrified tone.
"Oh okay!" said Little Manav, secretly planning to pull them one day. "We won't ask Little Jay to play with us. Who else... hey Little Tarun... come and play with us!!"
"Sure!" said Little Tarun, grinning, showing his little white unorderly teeth, and a few gaps. "But I don't come to school on a regular basis. Whenever you need me, you can call."
He trotted off. "Useless fellow!!" grumbled Little Manav. Little Archu's eyes scanned the playground. "Hey there's my sis!" she exclaimed. "Little Varshu!! Here! Here!"
Little Manav looked at Little Varshu, amused. Even though she was in senior kindergarten, she looked older, and very tomboyish with boy cut hair. She had a stubborn expression on her face.
"Will you play with me, Little Varshu?" asked Little Archu.
"Sure!" said Little Varshu. "But only if he lets me play on the see saw."
Little Manav was stumped. He got down carefully. "Help me sit on it!" commanded Little Varshu. Little Manav helped her sit and then adjusted the see saw from the middle, since Little Archu was heavier. "Yay!" squealed Little Varshu. "This is so much fun!"
Yeah sure it is, grumbled Little Manav. On the pretext of playing along, she has stolen my see saw from me!!! Bossy Little Varshu will always ask for things to be done her way only.
He saw Little Satish sitting on the stairs studying and called out to him. "Hey Little Satish! Come here."
Little Satish was a fair, cute boy with rosy pink lips and a sweet smile, and big round glasses on his little flat nose. He came immediately. "What is it Little Manav? Do you need my help? I will gladly help you."
"Will you play with us Little Satish?"
Little Satish thought hard. "Ummm... okay... my Mom told me good boys should help others."
Little Archu was impressed. "So correct she is. But what is this book you are reading?"
He held it up for everyone to see. "Manners of speech." he said. "My Mom wants me to be the most perfect boy in every aspect- decent and mature. So that when I grow up, every girl and Aunty should sigh at me and say, 'Oh, he's just so sweet and perfect!!!'"
Little Archu listened, fascinated. "I think he's boring." whispered Little Varshu. "I have a good mind to pull off 'whatever' on his nose."
"Shhh..." said Little Archu.
"Little Satish is the most intelligent person in my class." said Little Manav proudly. "He has a magic book which has an answer to every question. Show them!!"
Little Satish took out another book from his pocket. 'Pocket Encyclopaedia' was written in large letters.
"Wow!" said Little Archu. "Little Satish, do you know cricket?"
Little Satish pouted. "I don't like Little Dharmu. He says I shouldn'y play cricket cos I am chicken hearted and cry when I or anyone else gets hurt. He is a brat! I only like Little Manav!" he leaned in to give Little Manav a Little hug. Little Manav beamed. He loved this guy- who was so brainy, unlike him. Truly a great chap.
"I will call my other friend." he waved a hand to a little boy with a crooked nose, with dancing black eyes and unkempt hair, looking very mischievous. "This is little Ajit. And he's very smart."
Smart Little Ajit gave everyone a devilish grin. "Isn't he the one who was punished by the Principal a few days back?" whispered Little Archu to Little Manav.
Little Ajit's face fell. "Everyone knows!!!" he wailed. "But it was a nice trick that I played- I burst a cracker under the teacer's chair and it was FUN." he said, grinning happily. "By the by, why arent you playing with your usual clan today?"
"Her girls deserted her." said Little Manav sullenly. "They're irritated with her cos she has been playing with me and not them since 2 intervals. And now my boys won't play with me cos they don't think Little Archu can play with them."
"Little Archu, you should go back to playing with the girls!!!" advised Little Ajit. Little Satish nodded, adjusting specs. "Poor dears got upset Little Archu, after all they played with you all these years!!"
"But they won't let me play with them!" protested Little Archu. "And I want to play with Little Manav and Kittu too..!!!"
"Kittu?" asked Little Ajit. Little Manav pointed to the matchbox.
Little Ajit slapped his forehead, the way he had seen elders do when they were frustrated of foolish people. "Give it to me, you coconut- heads!! I'll solve this problem."
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A little later, all the little girls had gathered near the see saw in the playground.
"Does it eat leaves only?"
"Why don't you give it daal-chawal?"
"You should give it milk!"
"I don't give Kittu all this." said Little Archu proudly, holding the matchbox for everyone to see. "I feed it fresh green leaves so that it can become more wooly and greeny. And I sing it lullabies. Very soon he will get injections like Baby Vaishu."
"Vaccines- Little Archu." Little Satish spoke up.
"Aww... I want to touch it..."
Little Ajit intervened. "Girls, if you want to play with Kittu daily, then you need to let Little Archu play with you too."
The girls looked at each other. "Okay!" they said, and went back to staring at Kittu. Little Archu cheered up. "You're such a star Little Ajit."
"He's my hero!" said Little Kools, tugging her little skirt. Little Ajit gave another devilish grin. He had a special one for every occasion.
"Little Manav, did you catch it?" asked Little Sid. Little Manav nodded shyly.
"Aww... how sweet of you to keep it with you." The little girls gushed. Little Manav twisted about with a sloppy cute smile on his face.
"He is so kind." said Little Bonne with stars in her eyes.
"And brave." said Little Sid.
"And intelligent." said Little Piya.
"Little Manav, will you teach us how to catch them?" asked Little Niki. "We will play with you too."
"Sure," said Little Manav happily. "I will gladly help." Little Archu, who had been noticing all this from a corner, got angry.
"Go away everyone!" she said, annoyed. "Go and play by yourselves."
"But we want to play with Little Manav and Kittu!!!"
"Kittu is tired." said Little Archu angrily. "And Little Manav and I have to do a little planning about Little Dharmu. Go now!"
The girls went away grumbling. Little Manav stood shocked. "What?"
"Aren't you MY friend first?" asked Little Archu, her hands on her hips. "You should solve my problem first rather than helping my friends!!! Go away, I don't want to talk."
She faced away from him pouting.. Poor Little Manav felt miserable. "Sorry, sorry," he said. "Okay I will help you against Little Dharmu and Little Jay as well."
"Really?" asked Little Archu brightening up.
"Yes!" he said. "I'll save you whenever he runs behind you to pull your cheeks."
"Hmm..." said Little Ajit. "I will make some plan to wreck that Little fatty Dharmu and his stooge Little Jay. I love getting people into trouble."
"And I will save you from punishment. The teacher loves and trusts me." said Little Satish excitedly. He turned to Little Varshu. "What will you do Little Varshu?"
Little Varshu didn't look interested. She saw an empty swing and ran to catch it.
The class bell rang. "Fine mates." said Little Manav. "Tomorrow again, we gather to make new plans and implement old ones, to help a friend of ours." the children cheered by clapping their hands, and ran off to their classes.
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It was great fun to read your stories and comments last time. This time again, would like to know if any part of the FF reminded you of your childhood.
Comments and feedback welcome.😃
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