CROSSROADS

Part-1

The summers had come in Delhi. It was the time for the sun to shine in its full glory making the life of people of Delhi a living hell. The more the people cursed him and more it shone and he showed no mercy.

Ten’s and hundered’s of school children hurdled the ice cream stall and the Banta walas to beat the chill after a hectic school day and I could see some of my friends in the crowd too who were calling my name and waving towards me but I ignored and kept on walking ahead. As the sun increased his fury rivers of sweat came down gushing from forehead and arms dripping from my fingers into the mud ground beneath my legs and evaporating as soon as the drop felt the touch of the ground. More drops fell and the result was still the same. I could see the ground smiling on his victory over me.

I stood there in the ground watching the mothers carry their child’s school bag, bringing a chilled water bottle for their kids and also giving them a shade under the umbrella to protect them from the rays which pierced the atmosphere of Delhi. I had something different for myself. My shirt was a bit torn; shoes covered in mud, the broken zip of the bag from where the books and some torn pages peeped out, shirt coming out from my trousers and it didn’t affect me. I started to walk towards my home.

Mother was sitting in the sofa with the ac on. It was her way of beating the heat. She was waiting for her friend who is our neighbour to come for their daily dose of gossip sessions. My mother is a very outgoing woman her daily dose of gossips with Sheila aunty and her weekly doses of kitty party made her at ease. Drinking, smoking made her life easier.  Sheila aunty was more outgoing than my mom. It seemed to that some where there is a face hidden in her makeup and the more I tried to solve her make up puzzle the more I failed.

Sundays were the worst time for me. She would barge in the home and start kissing me on my face before their gossip sessions and my mother found it adorable. I used to dash into the bathroom and scrub my face and I took me almost half an hour to get rid of her make up. The last time I got to know about her son’s achievement was that he went for swimming in the pool but what she dint told my mother was that he pooped in the pool and was never allowed to go in there. This was something I learnt about him from his Facebook profile. I was just rolling on floor laughing.

There was no respite from the heat I was walking from the past 20 minutes. My water bottle was almost empty and I had a long way to walk. I had more important things in my mind than to think about the empty bottle. The summer vacations were starting day and that was my cause of worry. That was a reason of a possible reason of conflict between me and my parents. They wanted me to join a cricket academy as Sheila aunty second son had joined the academy last year and he was the captain of our school cricket team but I had some other plans. I wanted to join NSD.

It was around 3pm when I entered home. Thank god Sheila aunty was not there but I am sure she had left a few minutes back as I could still smell her strong deo. Entering home was quite a relief for me thanks to the minimum temperature my mom had set and the air in the room was very cool.  

My dad was to come around 4pm. One hour more and my fate would be decided…..