Gayathri

The exams were over. Others in the college planned to go out on a picnic to a nearby waterfall. The passages of the hostel fell silent and the noon shadows waited almost as if they wanted Gayathri to create some sort of an illusion so that the dull day could assume color. Gayathri had spent the day reading a book and then had laid back on her cot, staring at the roof, waiting for some answers that were racing through her mind.

Arun Jaiswal picked up courage and had reached the gates of the ladies hostel and then had simply panicked. The gulmohur trees shed yellow leaves, which settled along the path, a few adorning his head. He picked up speed and reached the boys hostel at the other end of the campus. There he joined a few of his classmates, hovered around for sometime and then walked dragging his feet up to his first floor room. He sat in the passage without going into the room or even acknowledging two of his roommates as they pondered over a game of chess.

Finally at noon he gave up sulking and walked back to the ladies hostel. He smiled as he thought of the difference, the girls stayed in a ladies hostel while the men stayed in a boys hostel. He wondered whether the college authorities had deliberately chosen to keep the boy’s hostel part of the name. After all they always said that the boys remained boys long after they sprouted moustaches and beards. The old kakaji, the custodian of the gates of the ladies hostel stared at him with unsupressed hostility. The old man was responsible to see that no man entered the building. He was acknowledged for his dedication to his job and was one with whom even the muscle men of the college never messed around. He raised his eyebrow as Arun approached him. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Arun asked for Gayatri. He shuffled his feet and raised a little dust onto his shoes as he waited for kakaji to amble over to the courtyard of the building and shout out her name.
Arun wanted to run away. Gayathri was surprised when she heard that there was an “istudent” to meet her. Her mouth went dry when she saw Arun as she walked from the building to the gates. She was wearing a pale pink sari and her hair was open. Curls of hair fell over her forehead and she brushed them off as she thanked kakaji. Blushing slightly she looked at Arun questioningly. He shuffled even more and finally blurted out a meek namaste. She returned the greeting and stood a few feet away from him. When he did not say anything, kakaji cleared his throat and with that Arun asked, “Gayatri will you join me for a cup of tea?”

Gayathri never answered but just started walking with him to the small teashop outside the gates of the college. She was confused, she was worried that if the others, he classmates saw her with Arun, they would call it the beginning of an affair. She did not want the tea; she would have preferred the lemon water. The heat of the day started to settle into their skins and a thin film of perspiration enveloped their foreheads as they sat there without a word siping the tepid tea.
Then Arun suggested that they go for a walk. She smiled at herself thinking that he must be insane to take a walk at two in the noon. They crossed the tongawallahs who teasingly asked them if they wanted to go to the gardens, the favourite place of all lovebirds. Arun almost abused one of the more persistent tongawallah, stopping only because of the presence of Gayathri.

They reentered the college gates and walked towards the dusty playground. Heated air chased dust whirls and sprayed the two with everything from lifeless leaves to dry grass. Arun finally said to her “I wanted to talk to you for almost the whole year, I am sorry that this had to happen at the end of the year when we have to go home forever”. Gayathri did not reply, she had her eyes firmly on the ground in front of her. He continued, “I do not know what you feel about me, but I think I am in love with you”. Gayathri stopped and turned to look at him. Arun turned red with the realization of what he had said. He kept repeating sorry.

Gayathri kept walking silently almost as if she was unaware of what Arun had said. She too had wanted to hear the words of many months. He mind raced for answers. Had the confession from him come too late? Had she made a mistake in accepting his offer for a cup of tea? She looked at the trees; their shadows tattered with the sun punching holes to form a quilt on the ground. She asked him if they could sit under the tree. He did not reply, but courteously laid his handkerchief on the ground so that Gayathri could sit without getting the dust on her sari. They must have sat there for an hour without exchanging a word. Gayathri gently then placed her hand on Arun’s hand which rested on his thigh. Arun reacted with a jerk and that made her laugh out in nervousness. She then got up and walked away towards the ladies hostel while Arun savoured the feel of her gentle fingers where they had touched his hand.

She stayed back for another week, after all the others had left. Her letter to her father gave an excuse of a job interview at a nearby school. They even went to the extent of hiring a tonga to ride to the garden and spent hours walking around the cool shade of the trees there. They sat for hours on the wooden benches and talked about their families and their dreams. In the few days that they knew each other personally they had come close enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together. She did not know how she would explain her falling in love to her father, but she was confident that she would be able to convince him.

The last day of her stay in Nagpur came by in such haste that she did not have enough time to even pack her things properly. She just dumped her clothes into her bags. The rules of the hostel meant that she had to leave on what was the official last day of college. Which also meant that she had nowhere to go until the next day morning when her father would arrive. Arun had already left the boys hostel the day earlier and was staying with a relative. She had reluctantly agreed to let him take her bags to the house, but that left the problem of her stay unresolved. Arun had pestered the relative to let her use the outhouse and out of having no choice Gayathri had agreed. She felt foolish when the Arun’s old uncle asked her why she had stayed back even after the exams were over. She mumbled something about an interview and turned to Arun who changed the topic immediately.

Arun met her again over dinner. This time she was more relaxed. He kept stealing glances at her, when his aunt cleared her throat, he looked away and almost blushed. Gayathri felt amused by his facial expressions and by the time dinner ended, it was clear to the old couple that the two were definitely heading towards falling in love. The aunt called Gayathri into the kitchen and spoke gently to her. She explained what it was like to be in Aruns family and what it meant to become a part of a household that came with immense perks. Where the wealth of the girl who was getting married was more important than anything else. In short the old aunt explained why gayathri was not suited to be a part of Arun;s family.

Gayathri did not sleep that night. At daybreak she walked out of the compound without informing anyone. The tonga ride was a short one which was spent with her looking turning every few seconds to see whether Arun followed her. By the time Arun woke up, she was already about thirty kilometers into the countryside.