It was a winter afternoon.
The last paper - Biology - was over. Blissfully blank minds could now indulge in elfin treks to our haunts : the sea , the Hut , the malls ; they would retain the echoes of our wandering footsteps mingled with the tinkling of girlish chortles.
The ground seemed firm , undisturbed ; alas!
Squelch!
The shoes went through water-laden sand. Walk with her often and be certain to carry home a momento : mud-covered , grim shoes. She would grin and trot off unconcerned and I would sigh ruefully at the mess I would have to wipe clean without a tissue paper....
Why did we not learn to keep tissues handy ? Being girls that too : for inkdrops , for drops of water after washing under the cooler (the uniform tie served the purpose often) , for food smears , for dusty desks , for tears , for the Unknown trouble (like the shoes above).Perhaps , we could do without them till life compelled us to be what our mothers scolded us to be like during our wonder years.
In the cold breeze , a few drops of rain fell on us - silently.The sky was a melancholy metal blue , overladen with grey nebulous clouds.
In the mall , we visited the perfume shop ; appreciated a couple, criticised a dozen ; remained forgetful of anyone around us and took away an effusion of scents on scraps of cardboard paper ( that had been a catalogue of some sort , taken from another shop ). Then slipping them in between the pages of our books , it remained a lingering memory.
We left the mall , and head towards the Hut.
The raindrops hastened through gusts of cold wind.
A sumptuous aroma greets you - of hot oven bread and an assortment of saucy titbits. Over an hour we sat ; nibbled on salad ; talked of sweets and sweethearts, the droll and the dreary ; munched pizza , giggled , sipped on drinks ; sighed.
The watch marched beyond the 4'O clock gong : to hurry homewards.
Now the rain fell with suppressed alacrity , in the seducing frenzy of the biting winds.
The tumult of the weather spurred us on ; teeth chattering , teasing , half-running , chuckling - we parted ways - praying to be home without being "caught" -- in the play of wind and rain.
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6 comments:
I like the way you captured the rain building up in the background, pathetic fallacy was nicely done.
And who needs tissue when there's the tie :P
It was one of those sublime days quite unrivalled by any other.
Wanted to capture it in words and take the reader into that 'rainy ,chilly afternoon of friendship whose warmth spread slowly , evenly , down to one's toe tips'
:)
The rain always reminds me of my old Hindi teacher who taught us a poem- Sardi aayee. The way she uttered 'moonfalee bhee mujhko laayee' always made my mouth water to think of hot peanuts on a rainy day.And I didn't even like peanuts back then!
Now Im sure the rain will also conjure the image of two schoolgirls squelching in the shower after an exam.
Hope 2009 will be a great year for you!
:D
oops!
Hope those new generation of schoolgirls don't get caught by a teacher who will bear down upon them suddenly and grill them ....
Bini ma'am did that to us.
It was scary and embarassing.
Luckily we hadn't gone out on the day she mentioned , so I could promptly say innocently : 'No , we did not go out yesterday!!!'
That was no lie ; was it ?
:(
Truth can be v inconvenient sometimes, Half truths could then be convenient and salvage the conscience. In the case you mention, you appear to still feel guilty! I'll say you can rest easy as u meant no harm and caused no harm. But don't utter a word to the present students.
Hey you weren't there when I was free today.
Sorry about that ;we had to leave early.
I would come again soon. InshaAllah (God Willing).
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