Pic-OSthon #2: Part 2 of TS by pretty_h on Pg 48 - Page 5

"Ishima.. Ishima!" She went running to her mother into the kitchen, her pigtails flying behind her.

"Yes, Ru beta, what is it?" Ishita looked at her daughter fondly, as she came chirping towards her.

"I need your help, Ishima. What are you doing?"

"I'm making tea for everyone, Ruhi. Tell me, what do you need help with?"

"It's about my homework. I have to write an essay on my best friend, and submit it by Monday. But, Ishima, I can't decide who my best friend is." Ruhi replied with a frown.

"Hmm, now that's certainly a problem!" said Ishita, and picking Ruhi in her arms, she perched her on the kitchen counter.

"Do you know who a best friend is, Ruhi?"

Ruhi tapped a finger on her forehead and thought for a while. "A best friend is someone with whom we talk the most, right Ishima?"

"Well," Ishita answered, "Not just someone we talk the most to, but your best friend is someone you can say anything to! More importantly, your best friend will make you smile when you're sad, and will always be there for you, helping you whenever you are in need!"

"But then, who is my best friend, Ishima?"

Ishita laughed at that, and replied, "I'm afraid that's for you to decide, bachcha. How about Tanya, your bench partner?"

"Oh ya, we also eat our tiffins together. I guess she could be my best friend!" She looked unconvinced, though, so Ishita suggested, "Tell you what, Ru. Go up to your room now and prepare a list of all those people who you think could be your best friends. Then once you've decided, I'll help you write the essay. We could also stick a photo of the two of you along with the essay. What say?"

"Wow Ishima, a photo too? I'll go and prepare the list right away!"

Placing a kiss on her Ishima's cheek, she jumped down from the counter, and sauntered off to her room.

Ruhi sat on her bed, with a notebook and pencil in hand, and tried to remember all the names that she could jot down in her list. Engrossed in her thoughts, she failed to hear the sudden patter of paws in the room, or the soft plonk on her bed, and looked up only in time to be smothered with wet licks all over her face.

"Muthuu..", she screamed, "Get off, Muthu!" She pushed him off her playfully, and said, "If Ishima sees you on the bed, she'll scold both of us!"

She might as well have been talking to a wall, though, as he lept onto the other side of the bed, his tail wagging wildly.

"Get down, Muthu, please, pretty please?"

He slowed down at the change of her tone, and jumping down from the bed, lay on the floor, with his head on his paws, looking at her expectantly. She sighed, and unable to resist the charms of her adorable mutt, sat down beside him, gathered him in her lap, and ruffled his soft fur to her heart's content.

"You know, Muthu, I have a very important decision to make. And I'm really confused!"

He laid his head on her lap, with his ears perked up, while she continued, "I have to decide who my best friend is, and Ishima says a best friend is someone who always helps you. But, Muthu, Tanya has never helped me. In fact, the other day, she didn't even share her chocolate with me. So she can't be my best friend, can she? Then there's Shravu. He helps me, but he is always picking a fight with me! So no, not Shravu either." She said with a frown.

"Muthu, help me decide na," she pleaded.

He looked up in response, and began licking her face again.

She burst into giggles and held him off. "Not helping, Muthu!"

After pondering for a few more minutes, she spoke up, "I give up! Only Ishima can help me now.. Ishima has an answer to everything! And do you know, Muthu, even Papa goes to her for ALL his answers. But he never admits it, he only keeps saying that Ishima lectures a lot" she added with a chuckle.

Suddenly, they heard loud, angry voices from the adjoining room.

Ruhi looked at Muthu and rolled her eyes. "Uff, sounds like Papa and Ishima are fighting again! Lets go see what its about this time." she said, and left towards her parents' room, with Muthu trailing close behind.

She peeked through the slightly open door to the bedroom, to find her parents in the middle of yet another screaming match.

"You forgot, Raman? You had promised to buy the tickets. Now, everything's booked for the weekend. What will we tell Ruhi?"

She was standing in front of Raman, arms folded, glaring menacingly at him.

"Ishita, it's just a movie, not the end of the world! She'll understand."

"That's not the point, Raman. We had promised to take her out tomorrow. And I don't like disappointing my daughter!"

Ruhi looked looked back and forth between Raman and Ishita, as the shouting continued, and finally smacked her palm on her forehead, realizing that it wasn't going to end anytime soon!

She bent down and whispered to Muthu, "You know what to do, right? Go, Muthu!" She gave him a wink, and ushered him in, while she waited outside with a mischievous smile.

Muthu scampered into the room with an excited whoof, and began running around them in circles. Ishita looked down at him and tried to move away, in order to avoid hurting him, but instead, she fell forward and collided with Raman, who held on to her, hands around her waist, to stop both of them from falling backwards.

Ruhi amused herself for a few moments, as she watched her parents lovingly gaze into each other's eyes, and tried to walk away, unnoticed. But just then, Muthu began barking madly, looking in her direction. Broken out of their trance, Raman and Ishita spotted Ruhi at the door, and stepped back from each other, mortified.

"Umm, Ru, what are you doing at the door? Come in, beta," said Ishita, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Its nothing, Ishima, I had come in search of Muthu."

"Oh, good thing you came. Papa needs to tell you something." she looked at Raman with a wry smile, signalling him to inform Ruhi about their cancelled plans.

He gave her a withering look, but turned towards Ruhi and picked her up in his arms.

"I'm sorry Ruhi, but you know that movie we were supposed to watch tomorrow? Papa forgot to buy the tickets. Now Ishima is angry with Papa because Papa broke his promise, and she won't speak to Papa until Ruhi forgives him. Ruhi is a good girl, isn't she? She'll forgive Papa?"

Ruhi let out a giggle at his antics and replied, "Okay, Papa, but on one condition. There's a new amusement park that's opened near my school. My friends told me that they have many rides there. Could we go there tomorrow?"

Glad for an opportunity to redeem himself, he said, "Of course, we could! Anything for my princess!"

"Our princess!" Ishita corrected him, and walking over to the them, she linked an arm through his, and gave Ruhi a kiss on each of her cheeks, while Muthu bounded around them, wagging his tail gleefully.

Ruhi loved amusement parks! So she couldn't help but jump in joy at the sight of the majestic giant wheel, the musical carousels and the bumper car rides, interspersed with numerous stalls of her favourite pink cotton candy.

"Ruhi, please hold on to my hand!" Ishita warned her, and turning to Raman, added, "Did we have to get Muthu along?"

"Relax Ishita! Ruhi insisted, and I couldn't refuse. Besides, I have his leash right here. And the poor thing is so happy. Just look at him."

They looked over at Muthu, who was jumping in the air, a few feet away, trying to catch hold of some floating bubbles. She laughed and shook her head at the hilarity of the sight.

"Don't worry, everything'll be fine." he assured her.

The balmy evening had given way to a cool, star filled night sky, and Ishita began insisting that they should get back home.

"Ishima, please, some more time."

Ishita sighed and relented. "Okay, but only half an hour more, Ruhi."

Wandering around the stalls, Ishita stopped, with Ruhi behind her, at a stall that had some beautiful handicrafts on display. She saw Raman, at a distance, holding Muthu by his leash, in one hand, and his cell phone in the other. He had been on a work related call since the past few minutes, so Ishita decided to wait at the stall until he got off the phone. She had selected a few gifts to take back home, and turned back, only to find that Ruhi was not with her. She hurried out of the stall, but found that her daughter was nowhere to be seen. Panic gripped her insides, and her breath caught in her chest, as she feared the worst.

"Raman," she screamed, and ran towards her husband.

Ruhi had been bored at the lack of activity inside the stall when she had noticed two life-sized clown statues outside, on the opposite side. They were huge and colourful, and she yearned to take a closer look at them. Turning to her Ishima, she saw that she was busy talking to the sales lady at the counter, and so stepped out by herself towards the clowns. It was then that she noticed that both the statues were placed strategically at the entrance of a tent-like structure, as a welcome gesture.

"House of mirrors", she read on a banner atop the tent.

However, she failed to notice the "Closed for Repair" sign at the side, and entered the tent out of curiosity. The numerous mirrors spread throughout the room dazzled her, and she let out an excited laugh at the series of her own reflections that the mirrors threw back at her. She also let out a few "oohs" and "aahs" when she saw her reflections change shape as she moved from one mirror to another. She wandered through the winding passages for a few minutes, gripped by fascination, and once satisfied that she had more or less explored all the mirrors that the place possessed, decided to go back outside. However, she saw the various confusing pathways around her and suddenly understood that the entire place was actually a maze. She walked around for some time, but saw no sign of an exit, and with a sense of dawning horror, realised that she was lost. With tears pricking at her eyelids, she called out to her parents a few times, but when they didn't turn up, she sat on the floor, defeated, and let her tears flow.

It might have been minutes or hours; she did not know for how long she sat there, sobbing silently, when she heard a familiar barking sound and the next moment, Muthu had knocked her on to the floor and straddled her, licking her face in delight.

"Oh, Muthu," she cried out, between her sobs and hugged him, making sure that he was not a figment of her imagination. Her parents appeared next, and taking her into their arms, stroked her and kissed her, and held her tight between them, assuring each other that she was safe..

The next morning, Ruhi woke up to the warmth of her bed, slightly dazed from the harrowing experience of the previous night, but relieved, at the same time, to be back home. She remembered how Ishima had refused to part with her, and had slept with her in her bed, holding on to her until sleep had taken over her. She was glad for it, though, and promised herself that she would never leave her parents' side and wander off, ever again.

Clad in her pyjamas, she crept to her parents' room to find her Ishima in tears.

"Mummy ji, it was all my fault," she said to Daadi, tears streaming down her face. "She was right beside me, and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't even know that she was gone!"

Her Daadi was patting her Ishima's head reassuringly.

"It was the worst half hour of my life! If Muthu hadn't caught her scent, we would have never found her. And to think, I wasn't even going to take him along with us."

"Puttar, stop blaming yourself. Ruhi is fine, and she is with us, and that is what matters."

Ruhi slipped away from the room, slightly overwhelmed. Ishima's words rang in her head. If Muthu hadn't found her.. She shuddered as she remembered the deserted maze and the unending rows of mirrors. She broke into a run, in search of Muthu, and found him in the hall, chasing his own tail. She laughed and went over to him. Bending down on her knees, she picked him up and held him lovingly in her arms. "Thank you, Muthu," she whispered, placing kisses on his soft fur.

Later that day, Ruhi spotted her mother in the kitchen and hopped over to her smilingly. Ishita looked down at her daughter, dressed prettily in a red and white polka-dotted frock, and said, "Arey wah! You're all dressed up today, Ru! What's up?"

"You forgot, Ishima, you have to take my photo today for the best friend essay."

"Oh yes, Ru, I'm so sorry. Come, we'll take a photo, and then get down to working on that essay. But..", Ishita looked around, "haven't you called Tanya? For the photo?"

"Offo Ishima, Tanya is not my best friend!"

"She's not?" asked Ishita, surprised.

In reply, Ruhi led her to one of the sofas in the hall, and there Ishita saw Muthu, sitting obediently with his paws propped up on a pile of cushions. Ruhi walked over, and throwing an arm around Muthu, sat beside him.

"Now, Ishima, please click a photo of mine along with my best friend!"

Her eyes shining with joy and pride, Ishita obliged, and clicked a few pretty pictures of the duo.

"Ru, can I ask you something?" asked Ishita, later, once they had completed preparing the essay.

"Sure, Ishima."

"How did you decide that Muthu was your best friend?"

Ruhi thought for a while, and answered her, "I only needed to remember all the points you had told me, Ishima. And I realised that you hadn't mentioned that my best friend should be a person. So, it had to be Muthu, Ishima, it just had to be him!"