Sarayu

Chapter 9

Since I saw her in traditional attire, now it is time for her to see me in traditional attire. We headed to Ms. Malini's place and rang the doorbell.

Surprisingly, Mr. Bhaskar opened the door, something he never did. "Oh hello Mr. Abhimanyu!"

"Hi sir (soon-to-be mama), you can call me Abhi."

"Please come in, please sit down."

I sat on the floor, where I usually sat, along with Ram. Amulya and Sahana didn't show up, and Ms. Malini wasn't at home.

"Malini is not at home right now, she'll be here in a few minutes, apparently there's a traffic jam at her friend's place."

Subbu and dad left, and Akshara came near me. She whispered, "Dude, where's she?"

Clever Ram heard it. "I think the teacher's at her friend's place, looks like we're going to have to wait for a while."

She whispered again, but to herself. "Idiot, I was talking about something much important."

I understood, and I whispered back to her, "How would I know?"

100 years for Sarayu, she appeared in a white churidar, bringing some sweets. "Hey guys," she said, as Sahana was entering through the door. 

She yelled, "Sweets!"

"Yup! Malini amma left these for you. It's kalakand, so if you have any allergies, beware." She put it in front of the small figure of Goddess Saraswathi, which was right next to the books we used. Everyone took the sweet and ate it like normal, even Amulya, who came after a few minutes. She kept looking back, so I decided to add the extras. I went to Goddess Saraswathi, touched her feet, put my hands to my eyes, and took the sweet. 

And Sarayu looked.

And I looked back.

And she looked to the side wall, smiled, looked down, and then at me.

And I smiled at her too.

As soon as Sarayu left, Akshara shoved an earphone into my ear and played "Konte Chooputho" from Ananthapuram 1980. I rolled my eyes, and so does Akshara. Ms. Malini comes in. 

"Sorry guys, my friend invited me over at the last minute, and then there was traffic. Hey, you got the sweets!"

"Sarayu gave us," said Sahana. The class went on, but Sarayu wasn't seen. After class ended, everyone left, except me and Akshara, who were waiting for dad to come. Ms. Malini went into the kitchen and got us some water. "Have some."

We drank it, and the teacher called Sarayu, when I choked. Akshara was hitting the top of my head, like every average Indian. Ms. Malini went inside (I guess she didn't hear my pain).

Dad came in and got us back, I didn't see Sarayu.

The year went on, and it soon ended. Krishna, Rahul, Vaishali, and I bid goodbye to 11th grade. And then summer came.

The routine was still going on - me taking the "lessons", me looking at Sarayu, me telling my friends about everything (via phone this time), my topic being debated about, and me being laughed at by my sister.

And then came a shock.

It was the beginning of July. I went to class, Sarayu was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't teaching (there was no sound), she wasn't in her room (the door was open, and there was no music), she wasn't there (I peeked into the rest of the house).

As usual, dad came in to take me while Ms. Malini was with me. "Hi Ms. Malini, how are you?"

"Oh hello Mr. Arjun, I'm fine, please take a seat!"

"Oh no, it's fine, how is your husband? How's your daughter?"

Thank you dad.

"They're all fine. My husband went to get some groceries, and Sarayu is at a camp in North Carolina. Apparently it is some internship and she really wanted to go."

"Oh, I'm planning on sending Abhi to an internship as well." What the hell? I don't want to go! "How long is it?"

"Oh nice, it is six weeks at the University of North Carolina, she's taking a dentistry course."

After we left, I didn't know what to feel. I felt upset because I won't see her for another six weeks, but I was happy that I learned something new - that she was interested in dentistry.