(Original& coyrighted)
Chapter 4
The storm had wiped the sky clean. The sun shone brilliantly, the birds sang
breathlessly. the world it seemed had renewed itself.
Mrs Akhtar squinted in the mid-morning sun shine as she looked at Anushka .
A warm , friendly smile lit up Mrs Akhtar's elderly face. Anushka was perched
advertised in the newspapers- that of a trainee lecturer with in the Botany
Being elderly and about to retire in an year's time, Mrs Akhtar needed an
"You are very early this morning Anu !" Mrs Akhtar called from a distance.
" 'Morning Mrs Akhtar" Anu stood up, " I just wanted to prepare the slides for
this afternoon's lesson ,that's why I came early." If Mrs Akhtar thought it peculiar that Anu should come early to do something
she could have easily done later, she did not say so. Nodding her elderly head,
she smiled and made her way to her office.
Not happy that she had to lie to Mrs Akhtar , Anu raised her eyes guiltily ,
watching Mrs Akhtar stop and talk to some students. Pleasantly plump , full of
good humour and with a face that reflected her wisdom as well as her good
It seemed that not one person but an entire army or rather the entire Air force
had camped in Sareen uncle s house. From the minute Minty Aunty had
his nephew. As for Sareen uncle's best friend, Shastri ji, he was asked to come
Shastri ji who was the more calm and serene of the two friends, smiled
"Do you know Anu, Sareen's nephew has been awarded a medal for his
distinguished services to the Air Force. No wonder Sareen is over the moon with
pride& joy- after all, his nephew has come home for the first time after such a great achievement" Anu had listened quietly.
People had luncheon parties, dinner parties, tea parties, whoever had heard of
breakfast parties?
Quickly making an excuse about needing to be early to work Anu had slipped out of the house.
At Sareen House, Minty was not happy that Sareen had extended the invitation to Anu as well -she did not mind Shastri ji -after all he was Sareen's closest friend but A nu -she couldn't stand that girl. Anu's simple dress sense , her disinterested approach to make-up and jewellery puzzled Minty. As for Anu's academic brilliance it simply annoyed her. On both counts, Minty's own character was the exact opposite of Anu's. Minty had never been good with her studies and was well known in her school for taking and re-taking exams year after year. As for make-up and jewellery-Minty lived for them! Anu was a fake, arrogant , impertinent girl , Minty concluded and this conclusion gave her a lot of solace whenever she met Anu or someone praised Anu.
Sareen was disappointed to see that Anu could not come to breakfast . He was not alone. Rajat was disappointed too -he wanted to see Anu again -for some inexplicable reason he wanted to see her again -well and clearly in daylight. Last night seemed like fleeting imagery-almost unreal . And this morning Minty Aunty's sudden , boisterous entry hadn't given him an opportunity to so much
as turn towards Anu.
At breakfast, he thought he would see her again -did she really look like a painting -like an artist's imagination? Or was it all just his own imagination- one of the many tricks the storm had played? He was not to know. Anu, apparently had to leave early for work- a college topper in Botany he was told.
"Beauty with brains then " he said to himself. Somehow the thought both amused and awed him. He would have been shocked to know that right then the object of his musings was thinking about him.
In the rush to leave early, Anu hadn't had much of a breakfast and she was hungry now. On her way out from home she had managed to thrust a handful of those Swiss chocolates into her handbag .
Remembering the man who gave her the chocolates reminded Anu of their presence in her bag.
Quickly she withdrew a handful, unwrapped a couple of them and started eating them, unaware of the astonished gaze of her boss.
M rs Akhtar had never known Anu to eat out of lunch time and even for lunch she brought healthy little packed lunches but today something was odd. She had turned up too early-quite unnecessarily and on top of it she was munching chocolates between lectures.
"Those look yummy" Mrs Akhtar said over Anu's shoulder. Anu quickly offered her some.
Mrs Akhtar popped one into her mouth and savoured the taste.
" Swiss aren't they? Lovely flavour" she said, " where did you get them Anu? At the luxury Chocolatiers in town?"
For a second, Anu looked lost and then " Yes..no. Actually I don't ..know...somebody gave them to me"
Anu finished uncomfortably.
Mrs Akhtar watched Anu's reaction with interest. Although a scientist by profession, Mrs Akhtar had quite an imagination and this combined with her experience and perceptive skills told her that one way or another Anu's extraordinary behaviour today had something to do with these chocolates.
Or perhaps with 'the somebody' who gave her the chocolates.
And this thought was very much consolidated late that afternoon when all students and most staff members had left. As Mrs Akhtar was walking out of the departmental office she found a little sticky note by Anu's table along with a chocolate wrapper. On that note was written something which must have been written by a man in a tearing hurry- Thank you' ,a smiley face- signed Rajat.
A smile creased Mrs Akhtar's face. It seemed like there was a rather sweet story behind the chocolates and looking at Anu's behaviour it was only going to get sweeter!
Shastri ji had called his daughter Anu twice on her mobile phone. Had she eaten lunch at the college canteen? Why was she not at home yet.?
It was only a 15-20 minutes walk to the college from home .It was not only a safe but a lovely path that went through a park and across a church yard lined with shady, blossoming trees.
"Should I pick you up?" asked Shastri ji.
"No Papa. I am on my way-in fact I am nearing the house" said Anu who enjoyed her daily walk through the church yard . Besides she did not want her papa to have to come downstairs and start the car again. When the house came into sight , Anu quickly opened the gate. She could hear laughter and a loud hum of conversation coming from the ground floor . She wanted to go up quickly, but somehow she did not want to go up the staircase where she would be in full view of everyone sitting in the lounge of Sareen uncle's house. So she sneaked into the back garden where there was the old rickety staircase -half wood and half stone that would take her upstarirs -into the balcony behind her bedroom.
It was twenty past eight in the night. Rajat looked at his watch. What college opened at the crack of dawn and did not send home it's trainees until eight in the night? He was tired of watching the staircase to the front of the house. He had sat in the same sofa all evening so he would not miss the sight of Anu when she came home- and he was sure that nobody other than Shastri uncle had gone
up or come down those stairs this evening.Hang on, somebody was coming down now. It was Shastri uncle.
"Good evening Uncle" Rajat called.
"Good evening , Son" shastri ji waved.
"Going out so late uncle?" Rajat asked
"I am just going for my after- dinner walk" came the reply.
"Alone, Uncle?" Rajat looked around.
"Yes. Who would go with me?" Shastri ji smiled, " My daughter sleeps early-she has gone to bed. Sometimes Sareen comes along..."
"Can I come today , uncle?"
"Ofcourse " said Shastri ji and they walked towards the park talking about the beauty of the season, the political climate , the Air force - everything except the one thing that was pecking non-stop at Rajat's mind. How and when did Anu leave for work? How and when did she get back? ,
Apparently, she had had her dinner and went straight to bed! Inspite of keeping watch all afternoon and evening how did he not see her? Had she some divine powers to become invisible by day?
Tomorrow he would find out.
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
