Chapter 4The Silent Spectator
A clear sunny morning starts off the students daily activities, jog, exercise and dance like the few days. But mid-week is yoga day. The students are asked to pick up yoga mats from the gym and gather in the ground for mixed lessons. The boys spread their mats on one side while the girls spread theirs on another. The session starts off with padmasana, where the students have to cross their legs as they sit on the floor and meditate for five minutes. And as everyone gets into the correct posture and position, Rahul whistles softly as he tries to be naughty. This makes a mischievous Vibha smile and she opens one of her eyes to look at Rahul. But instead, she sees the calm, peaceful face of Parth. She stares at him for a few seconds remembers how a girl mentioned he was hot. She was starting to see her words were not completely untrue!
Parth could not stand the sight of Rahul, not because he was close to Vibha, but because he was always up to no good. If he was so popular and if all the guys wanted to be as cool as him, then why couldn't he be a role model for them and stick to the rules? As much as Vibha laughed off Rahul's playboy nature, she really liked his vividness, his tendency to be mischievous and make her laugh at the drop of a hat. She however did think that he took some of his jokes too far at times. Either he was oblivious to the limits, or he just had a blatant disregard for them. And though she thought the former was the case, as she had shared so many childhood memories with him, she couldn't help but feel the latter could also be true in the light of some of his recent stints.
The afternoon classes ended early as preparations got under way for the talent round. The auditorium was equipped with lights and sound fittings for all kinds of student performances, ranging from singing, dancing, to tricks, drama, etc. The only sports display was going to be the boxing match between Parth and Rahul, one wanting to win simply cause he hadn't lost a fight before. And another cause he wanted to win the contest, becoming the Junior HeadBoy was a prestige issue for him.
The students gathered around in the auditorium as the talent round kicked off. Some sang songs, some danced to rocky tunes, some performed dialogues from their favourite period dramas, one student showed off his flexibility by bending his body parts, one composed a poem, one rapped to a whimsical set of beats, and one showed martial arts moves. Lastly, it was Vibha's turn. She wanted to make sure her impression of dancing away seamlessly made a permanent imprint on everyone's minds, so that the teachers as well as the students would think she was the best. She knew she was the best, and now she just needed to show everyone that she was what she thought she was. The song bairi piya, bada bedardi' started to play and out came Vibha, onto the stage, clad in a bright red traditional costume. With painful expressions, meaningful movements and elegant grace, she danced along to each word and mimicked each expression perfectly. And as she lay on the ground at the end when the music stopped, everyone clapped voraciously. She looked at Rahul who was smiling and clapping along with the rest of them, and as he saw her looking at him, he gave her a big thumbs' up. Her eyes then inadvertently started looking for Parth. She wanted to see him appreciate and applaud her talent, she didn't know why, but she felt the need to get some reaction out of him. She deepened her stare at the crowd of students, but couldn't locate his face. And just as she started walking away, she saw him standing by himself, next to a pillar with his eyes wide open. He sure was stunned by her unsurpassable dance skills, but he wasn't clapping. But Vibha didn't know that he hadn't clapped for anyone. He was just there as a silent spectator.
The smile on Vibha's face faded as she saw Parth. She wanted an answer. She wanted to ask him why he wasn't clapping. Did he dislike her? Did he not like her dance? She was burning to ask him these questions, and many more. She walked down towards the crowd, and as the boys gathered around her to praise her again, she made way and tried to coolly pass by Parth. She went past him once and noticed he didn't say anything. He didn't even look at her or pay any notice to her proximity.
Vibha: Ahem...
She cleared her throat and walked past him again. No word from him again.
Vibha: Mera dance kaisa tha?
Parth looked at her and then looked around him to check who she was talking to. Upon finding no one around him, he tilted his head and raised his eyebrows to gesture if she was asking him something.
Vibha: Ha, main tumhi se puch rahi hu!
Parth: Kya?
Ab ye dumb hone ke saath saath deaf bhi ho gaya hai kya?' she thought to herself.
Vibha: Dance...
'What else could I be talking about, and that too with someone like you', she thought to herself.
Parth: Dance?
He said with a puzzled look on his face as he'd clearly not paid attention to a single word she'd uttered, except for the buzz word 'dance'. He was mesmerised by her traditional look, he hadn't paid attention to girls or anything related to them before. And he could go on avoiding Vibha, but she kept coming back to him, she kept making conservation with him. She didn't seem to be interested in him, but what was it that kept bringing her to him? Why was his opinion so important to her? Perhaps it wasn't, perhaps she was just trying to reassure herself that she had pleased everyone with her brilliant performance.
Vibha: Uff... chodo!
She had a faint tone of annoyance in the last sentence she spoke to him. 'Is he doing this on purpose?' She thought to herself. 'Is this his cleverly thought of way to make me think about him more and more and go try to talk to him more and more?' And just as she heard herself think this, she realised that it was working! If it indeed was a plan on his part to make her fall for him, then it was perhaps not having the desired effect, but she was starting and ending ask get thoughts with him. 'Mujhe yeh sab bandh karna hoga, warna woh toh mujhe pagal karke chodega', she thought, 'khud to pehle se hi hain'.
She kept walking and thinking when the results of the aptitude test would be announced, not that she was worried about them, but she was merely trying to distract her mind with anything but Parth. But she couldn't control her mind for long. As she was getting changed in her room, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and started taking to herself.
Vibha: Woh mujhe silent treatment de raha hai, main use dikhaungi silent treatment kya hoti hai!
She then paused, 'par kaise', she thought. 'Mujhe toh Rahul ke liye cheer karna hai, toh phir main chup kaise rahungi?', she thought with a confused look. And as she glanced into the mirror once again, she saw her eyes turning red.
Vibha: Yeh main kya soch rahi hu. Woh ajeeb hai iska matlab yeh nahi ki main bhi uski tarah ban jau? I'm better than that. I will not let him affect me.
She told herself that she will not be like him, she will not be the silent spectator, ever!
Edited by rosabelle - 10 years ago
Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
