Sarayu

Chapter 1

"Abhi, get up, it's 8 already!"

All that was there in my mind was Sarayu, in a bright yellow chudidar with a small red bindi. She was so pretty, the way she walked, the way she ate, the way she wished the birthday girl, the way she greeted the elders, everything she did was so pretty.

Until I realized it was all a dream. "Coming, ma."

Hold up, let me explain what happened two weeks ago.

It was another Sunday morning, but this time, it was worse. I had to wake up at 8, when I normally wake up at 11 on a weekend. My dad. He made me join this stupid Carnatic singing class again. That one class I quit when I was 11 is coming back when I'm in 11th grade.

I lazily go to the bathroom, lazily brush my teeth, lazily take a shower, lazily go downstairs, and lazily eat-

"How long are you going to eat, Abhi?" My dad, Arjun.

"Yeah Abhi, how long do you take to complete one dosa?" My sister, Akshara a.k.a Akshu (which nobody even calls anymore). She's the dad's daughter.

"Let him eat for gods sake! You eat, bujji." My mom, Subhadra a.k.a Subbu, who I call by her name. I'm the mom's son. I had some support, so I kept eating the dosa in the way I did, but the time became 8:50, and class was at 9, and it would take 5 minutes to get ready and 5 minutes to get to class, so I finished that one dosa and left.

I was forcefully fully prepared by Subbu so that I didn't have to relearn the basics. I had a plan on mind - to ruin everything, so that she would become strict and I can tell my dad that she's too strict and I don't want to learn from her and he would be easily convinced and I can use the same strategy with all the teachers in Ohio and not take lessons.

We reached, and there was Mrs. Malini, with some little, cute devils learning the Janta Varasais from her, and nostalgia struck me.

"Oh hi Mr. Arjun, please sit down on the white chairs right there! I'm going to wrap up this class quickly and get back to you."

"Yes, of course, thank you!" We sat on the plastic chairs as she told us to, and I realized one thing - she was so demanding already!

The parents came and picked their children up, but other older children were coming from the room in the back. Who's in that room?

"Hi! Abhimanyu, right?"

I was about to say "Hi", but my dad comes in. "Yes, you can call him Abhi for short."

"Haha, okay. Let me test you to see in which class you can be placed in, because I heard you've taken lessons before. Let's start with-"

"Amma!"

A girl in a red kurti and an ivory patiala and dupatta came from the door in the back. She looked like she was in shock. "Um, uh, I'm, I'm so sorry," and she covered her face and went back, but Mrs. Malini stopped her. "Sarayu, it's fine, come and tell me!"

She came and looked embarrassed. "I'm very sorry, this is supposed to be the hour my mom's free, so I thought nobody was here." She turned to her mother as I kept looking at her.

"Amma, my veena string is giving a weird sound, I might need a new one, so I was looking for dad to fix it."

"He's at the grocery store, call him and check whether we need more string."

"Okay." And she leaves

"Sorry, she's my daughter Sarayu."

"Wow, what an old and unique name," said Subbu, while Akshara was nearly sleeping.

"Haha, thanks. Her grandma loved that name and wanted to name her first granddaughter 'Sarayu', and plus I love the Telugu movie 'Badri', and the girl's name is Sarayu again! Anyways, let's get back to business. Can you sing the second Dhatu Varasai in 3rd speed?"

I didn't want to miss out on Sarayu, she was so gorgeous and innocent. I sang at a speed I didn't even imagine I could sing at. "Fantastic! Can you sing the first swarajathi then? 'Ra ra venu'?"

This time I actually forgot, and I told her frankly, "I don't remember."

"It is completely fine, you can come next to next week on Saturday at 9 AM, because that is when we are starting the swarajathis. See you then!"

We leave the house, but Sarayu didn't leave me. Her voice didn't leave me, her look didn't leave me. She didn't leave me.