Girl in Blue (Part I)

“Trriiiing”, the door bell rang for the third time.. ‘’Not again Shanta bai!!! Can’t I get a moment of peace in my own home??”, I cried out. I kept tossing in the bed and plopped down with my hands pulling the pillow over my ears hoping that Shanta Bai would go away. She didn’t and shortly the bell rang again, this time  longer and shriller than before. I shrugged and got up; and as I swung myself out of bed the sheet entwined my legs and got pulled along. Groaning, I made my way downstairs; reached the door and pulled it open. “Shanta bai kitni baar bola aapko!!” I shouted out at the poor petite figure standing outside.

“Sorry?”, came the reply like a melody. What! this definitely wasn’t the croaky throat of Shanta Bai. I squinted and rubbed my eyes hard to budge them open. They almost popped out as I saw the figure of a pretty young girl dressed in blue salwar kameez standing in front of me. She tucked at the loose end of her white dupatta and was staring at me with an amused expression over her face. 

I took a second to pinch myself thinking “Man, she is real!!”. As the realization of a beauty’s presence dawned, also so did the fact of my own atrocious appearance. I was wearing an old t-shirt and pajamas, one of whose legs was rolled up to my knees. On my other leg, wrapped was a green bedsheet that was so bright and dark that made it hard for any onlooker to not notice. 

Great! For once a beautiful girl comes knocking at my door and this is how I had to look!

“Please excuse me”, I quickly stepped back getting rid of the damn sheet and rolled down my pajama and went back to the door.“I am really sorry for all this mess.. ”. 

“That’s okay”, she replied with a smile. “Rather I am sorry. I can see I disturbed a good sleep of yours”.

I took a moment to check her out again. Her beautiful brown eyes were lined with thick black eyelashes that she was flicking continuously. Her hair fell loosely over her shoulders into small curls.

She started to speak, “Actually, I am here to talk to Prof. Nair. I was told in the department that 8 in the morning would be the best time to meet him.”

“Yeah it is, but unfortunately he is not home. Infact dad is on a long tour due south and wouldn’t be back till next month.” “Is it something urgent you wanted to talk about? I can convey the message to him when he calls today.” I tried hard not to look like a gawking ape.

Her face dropped on hearing this. “Well, I am Nisha; I work for an NGO called “Aastha” for under-privileged teenagers. There was an idea we wanted to take forward with IIT's cooperation and I needed to talk to sir for the same. Its very urgent that we start work on it this month. ”

This sullen look doesn’t look good on you, girl, I thought and said “Hey I will give my dad’s outstation number to you. You can ring him up anytime in the evening. Does that work?”

Her face lit up, “That will be just great. Thank you!”

“No probs, I am very sure your NGO is on good work. Lets hope for the best!” I paused for a second before continuing “I am Raghu by the way, Prof. Nair’s son and studying in IT here” I tried to stress on the second line as it was probably the only golden lining in my otherwise outcast countenance.

“That’s nice. Can I have the number on this?”. She handed me a notepad that she took out of her beige bag.

Start a conversation, Raghu, start it. My mind was blurting out at me. I finally conceded to its demands “So Nisha” I spoke while jotting down dad’s number, “What all does “Astha” do?”

“We help poor kids in prepping up for different UG competitive exams. You know in this steeple chase of getting into IITs a lot of bright students are left behind just because they cant afford the right books and coachings.We were looking forward to get some help from the IT, in terms of teaching volunteers, classrooms and books. Professor sir was very pleased with our proposal when I met him last week. He said that as the dean, he would do everything he can for the kids.” 

“This is interesting, you know if you are looking for volunteers for teaching and you don’t really have a bias for those old farts, I can bring you atleast a handful of my own batchmates. All of us are pretty much free over the weekends and teaching would be a great means of spending time.”

“Getting fresh IITians to teach would be the best bet. I should note down your number too. You are increasing your debt on me.. thank you soo much!” Her eyes twinkled as she spoke making me wonder the pleasure is mine, all mine.

She chuckled, “By the way, you refer your teachers old farts. Isnt your own father one of them?”.

“Umm yeah he is, he already knows what his son is upto.”

“Haha, I should better be leaving.” She spoke while glancing at her watch. “I study Anthro at the Arts department and I have my classes early in the morning today. I would share your contact with my team at Astha and we would get in touch with you by tomorrow with all details.”

“It was nice meeting you, hope to see you again!” My desperate last minute efforts at full fledge.

“Yeah definitely” She said as she gently clipped her loose hair strand behind her ears and turned to leave. As she was about to take her first step she again turned back at me flashing a cute smile and blinked her eyes. It was a smile to die for. 

I stood there affixed watching her till the point her scooty disappeared at the far end of the road. My heart was beating fast. I had just now seen the most beautiful pair of eyes and the prettiest smile. I knew I was lost. My heart was lost.

Raghu Chaitanya Nair, it was finally time to unveil a new untouched chapter of your life.. the chapter that started with the finest morning ever.

---To be continued…