The walls of her home in Kollam were painted in despair and that dried up her soul in all her visits since she had joined the university at Thiruvananthapuram. So, every chance she had, Arathi ran back to the acres of land and the inhabitants that didn’t judge her. It was one such evening, a cold one in June. The heat of the summer was catching up to the PG student’s lives. All heftiness of papers, journals, projects, so and so on.
The bus ride from Kollam to Kazhakuttam was two and half hours long, or ten to twenty songs and a nap long. But on that edge of the day where sun parted with the clouds and the absent moon shed light instead, there was only one song in her playlist on loop.
There was no nap, no sightseeing, just a song looming through her ears, dancing with her on a deserted land faraway. Her smartphone’s keyboard memorized the words ‘Rangapura Vihara by Agam’. She was excited to meet them, to be in a concert, and that too her favorite band. All along the National Highway, where dust travelled faster than vehicles, and all the sweat drowning in the 6 lane road expansion, her mind was fixated on showering in Agam’s voices.
Her phone whistled another tune. It was Karthika, her classmate. She informed that their group had left the campus to Kanakakkunu where the event was. Meanwhile, the bus carrying her was half an hour behind. She said she will catch up, and asked further questions.
All questions answered, only one thing bugged her. One of their friend, Yusuf’s, hostel roommate was joining them to the concert. She almost told she won’t go, but her friends were persuasive enough to change her mind. Manu would pick her up from her hostel, rest of the party will be waiting for her there.
She was sad that she would miss a few songs, or worse, her favorite one. It was late already and the show would start soon. She had to go to her hostel, keep her heavy bags, freshen up, and then come back to campus. From there, at least half an hour to the venue. It was almost as if she was ready to give up. But as she walked out of the bus to her hostel, she received the news that the performance would be delayed further.
She ran, well almost. Her feeble legs carried more weight than usual. One could say it was like running between wickets when she reached the hostel. Throwing her bag to the bed and running back at the same time. She was so excited that she jumped to the backseat of Manu’s bike. The wind carried her to the venue, where throbbing lights and huge speakers awaited her arrival.
As she pushed her ways through the crowd, the program was just starting to unveil. She came even before the introduction of artists. Her eyes were fixated on the stage rather than where she was going. Her hand held tightly to the grip of Manu.
It took some time to find the rest, and amongst the familiar faces, she noticed those strange eyes. The place was lit dark and nothing was visible and she didn’t mind.
The songs played one by one, and the whole crowd was vibing in an entirely different zone than usual. They didn’t boo the old classics or the slow songs, as the audience of Agam expects the same unlike other pop performances. Hundreds of pairs of feet were jumping in excitement to the music. As the band shifted through various harmonies, the crowd travelled along like a rushing river.
Somewhere in between her eyes ran to the new one in their group and he seemed quite reserved. His arms were tied and legs swaying slower than a clock’s pendulum. He didn’t seem that interested in moving his mind to the beats. She returned to her friend’s screams, distracted from that new face, and started dancing again. The lights danced to her sparkling eyes. Happiness had found a place in the corner of her life, where shadows had been the shade.
It took a long time for the band to wear out their listeners. Song after song, the crowd seemed to not lose their energy. The open auditorium with its elevated seating structure was drenched in sweat. If someone moved their hand, it was a breeze for someone else. The night was a little humid than usual or maybe being packed inside with hundreds of people had its toll.
Arathi was tired, already from the travel, but now from the dancing and shouting.
Her throat seemed coarse that she could imitate half of the Malayalam industry male actors now. And as the band ended with their final song, the crowd murmured back to the grounds. Some of them collapsed into the concrete steps to take a breath, some under the shades of trees here and there.
She noticed there were many groups like hers. Some were still swaying, like an aftereffect of the performance. Some were laughing, some silent. She thought how we could all be different under the same cloud.
As people paced away from her, the voices of her friends became clearer. During the concert, it was all sign languages and mouth reading when light flashed in between.
Her gaze went back to the new face in the group. He was a little far from the others. Not that he kept a meter distance in between but inches of gap. She liked how he kept such a distance that he is not attached into the group but not detached either. A distance in between to be present and not.
Sidharth was the one that came forward to introduce him to the others. Everyone smiled, forcefully or lightly, and waved their hands in unison.
Greeting passed through the air like a mellow wind strolling through the white sand beaches. Caught by none.
Later that night they would roam the campus, the group decided. And when they did, the guest hadn’t still left.
He stayed out of courtesy, or maybe he longed for the same vibe. However, the night fell like a cup of coffee for them, keeping them awake and active. The hours went by games of charades, truth or dare and much more.
Slowly, it turned out to be an acceptance ceremony of the newcomer into the group. One by one they lowered their guards a little and laughed to his weird jokes. The sleepy plants woke up one by one, the flowers drooling nectar for the bees next day.
The group didn’t stay at one spot in the campus. They roamed every time they noticed a different time in their watches. It was like if you put a whole year of a nomadic tribe into a few hours and a few kilometers. As they were walking, the shadows of the hanging branches shifted pattern in Moiré effect.
“Arathi, you are from Kollam right?” Sidharth asked “He is also from Kollam.” He continued pointing his fingers to the newcomer. And that sparked a series of conversations between them. The topics involved their place, school, childhood, sunsets, beaches, food, etc., until they stood at a clearing and watched the sunlight caress the silver bead wearing bushes and lush green around.
And as they left to sleep in their respective hostels, they exchanged their pleasure of meeting each other. For him, her smile had etched into his mind. For her, his words danced with her soul. With a heavy heart, they left for the day, only to roam in the dreams, again.
It wasn’t until another few days that the forgotten voice struck her ears again. She was searching for Sidharth and couldn’t find him. So, it felt easier to call his roommate who was online in Instagram app. And after a few messages to and fro, they exchanged numbers.
As the days passed, the frequency of messages increased. Sometimes, she made reasons to visit the boy’s hostel and stay there overnight with the whole gang. Or at times he inquired where she was and magically appeared there coincidentally to exchange the surprise. They were not fooling anyone.
They grew fond of each other as the meetings increased by a month. They roamed the campus, the streets, the infamous Greenfield stadium roads, Kanakakkunu palace, and so on and on. They walked under the shades of their friendship and refreshed themselves with conversations of humans and connections.
They both agreed that they unanimously hated the concept of marriage. And never worried about the day or night, rain or sun, here or there, it was just them and their talks. Slowly, the need of a false pretext to meet each other faded away. And they walked further than the path they saw.
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