I had an evening film screening to go to, that day.
After a hectic seminar, where I slept mostly though,
the air-conditioned auditorium with the lights blinded, was just another place
to sleep in. I was doubtful I might
snore.
Anyway we went and the popular guy went with us too.
I thoroughly hated him for making me pay for all the transports we took. And
then we reached Lipika, the auditorium where the screening was scheduled to
happen. I got seated and looked around; the
popular guy was gone.
I mean what the hell? We came together till here and
he just vanished?!
I
bothered less about him and more about the sleep that followed.
I had a virtual boyfriend then, who I was under the
impression to be very much in love with. A PhD scholar settled in Australia, we
met through Facebook and never met in real life.
My days usually started little early since Australia
was four hours ahead of us.
So the day started with me waking up to good morning
texts at around 7. After two hours of vigorous virtual love exchanged, I went
back to sleep. I had no intention of
going for classes.
Around afternoon, the hunger woke me up.
The most brutal thing about Bolpur is you don’t get
meals after 2pm.
Even when you luckily do, they are usually leftovers; like they would give you if you pay or they
have the dogs to the rescue.
Post a horrible lunch which I chewed less and gulped
down the most, I met a friend while buying cigarettes. With no plans already
done for the afternoon, I chose to accompany her to Kala Bhavan, the fine arts
department for an adda session.
Since the first time I have went to Kala Bhavan, I
happened to have an instant liking for the place.
Not for the vibrancy it is smudged with, not for the legendary alumnus
it holds record of, not for the scattered sculptures all over it has to
advocate its artistic backdrop, but for the trees.
The whole campus is hugged inside out with trees
acting as shade for all; from students, to professors, to dogs and monkeys.
And maybe, it is the only place in Santiniketan
where you’d find a professor and a student discussing something totally out of
their syllabus’ vicinity, and the professor would offer cigarettes to the
student.
Anyway, coming back to where I was initially, I walked
the streets to Kala Bhavan to find most of my batch mates already there.
I sat there, having bananas, followed by cigarettes and
lazy irrelevant gossips.
Around from behind, after sometime, the popular guy
appeared.
He came and sat, and instantly asked for my
cigarette.
I muttered horrible under my breath and gave him the
one I was smoking, all the while with a disgust disguised in a smile.
And then he asked me, “Hey can you come for a walk?”
I prayed he would understand from my face that I don’t
want to, but then he asked me again.
T o say the least, I was little bored in that gossip
gang, so I chose the walk.
Also
because, the sun was drowning by then and the scattered sculptures reflected
the halogen-isque golden hour from all sides;
Who
wouldn’t choose a walk in a time and place like that?
We went little far and sat on one of the benches
kept.
He took out his phone and told me,”Hey can you
please translate a song for me? I love the tune but I want to understand the lyrics.”
He played the song, and sometime from then, I just
kept listening to ‘Bhindeshi tara’.
I smiled and said, “Who told you about this song?”
“Last day you were talking about your favorite music
band, I overheard. I went home and Googled, this song came up first.” He smiled
sheepishly; and everything from the golden hour, the shady trees, the song, the
conversation, to the sultry stubborn weather just seemed perfect.
To be Continued...
