CROSSROADS

Part-3

I woke up startled haring the chirping of the birds sitting on the window pane of my room, the sound of the cycle of the newspaper boy distributing newspapers in our area, the aroma of the tea which the nearby chaiwala prepared and the slow sounds the dog made showing how hungry they were. Sound of laughter could be heard coming from the park nearby where the old people of the society went and enjoyed. All these events made my morning a total bliss.

I looked at the wall clock of my room. Clock just struck 5. I woke up an hour early today so i decide to go for a walk and grasp something from the nature which I observed sitting on my bed. I slowly tiptoed out of the house and I went for a walk. I walked for around half an hour exploring each and every part of the society which was absolute silent at this point of time. It gave me a heavenly feeling.

I rushed back home and tiptoed again. Went to the washroom and got ready. Still 1 hour was left for me to take the metro towards mandi house. So I decided to take out the script and rehearse once again. The rehearsal left me quite satisfied.

The time flew by and I left to board the train towards mandi house. As i started walking towards the metro station, my heart begun to race. I was excited as well as nervous.

After a forty minutes long journey from metro and a 5 minute walk my destination came.

A big crowd had gathered in NSD today which gave me a spine tingling feeling. I could see people from all over India had come and try them self out in one of the most prestigious drama training institute of the country. It felt good to be present here, to feel good about the fact that I was going to do something which I always wanted to do.

The door of my room was closed. Mom kept on banging the door trying to the best of her capability to wake me. She didn’t make any efforts to rotate the knob and try to open it. She knew I used to sleep with the doors locked.

It was 9 in the morning and the chores of the house were in full swing. The hairs of my mom were still wrapped in the towel while the drops were wetting the floor. My dad was sitting in the sofa flipping the pages of the newspaper as he cursed the people for what was going on. Sala was his favourite word when it came to cursing any one. (P.S. including me) and the maid was washing the utensils. Two more knocks in the door and still no response. The patience in my parents was breaking as I had never slept so late.

Papa: madhu tension kyu le rahi ho? Wo so raha hoga raat mein late soya hoga

Ma: aisa nahi hai ji. Wo toh kal jaldi so gaya tha

Papa : madhu tension mat lo (he said flipping the page)

Ma: kaise baa pho aap? Aap ka bacha abhi tak so raha hai aur aap ko darr nai lag raha? Aap araam se paper padh rahe ho? Kaise pita ho aap

Papa : kya karu mein wo so raha hai sone do.  Mujhe kya suna rahi ho ? darwaza khol k khud nahi dekh sakti

Ma: apne bête k bare mein yeh bhi nahi pata ki wo darwaza band kar k sota hai

(Dad rose from the sofa and came towards the door. He held the knob and the door swung open. The room was tidy, bed sheet was neatly tucked in, and books were arranged neatly in the study table, clothes were kept inside the cupboard. They were shocked as their son was missing from the home.)

Papa: ek darwaza nahi khulta tumse huh. Pata nahi kaisi ma ho

Ma: mera beta kaha gaya. Aur daanto tum usko bhaag gaya na ghar se

Papa : daantne ko bola kisne tha

Ma : meine usko samjhana ko kaha tha.

Papa : Yeh sab us Sheila ki wajeh se hua. Aur bulao usko ghar.

Ma : haan tum toh yeh chaoge nai ki meri koi dost ho mein kisi se milu ya kisi se dosti karu

Papa : haan haan tum toh bas sunao mujhe. Yeh nahi apne bête par dhyan rakh le. Kya pta wo kisi dost k saath khelne gaya ho. Band karo apna yeh rona. Chinta mat karo wo cricket khelne gaya hoga aa jayega 3-4 baje tak. Meine usko baat karte hue suna tha cricket k liye. Jao nashta lagao

Ma: ruko la rahi hoon

The events at my home came to normal. Papa re started his nuspaper reading session saying sala in between and my mother went into the kitchen.

There was a big welcome board sign. Pamphlets were being distributed describing about the audition procedure and announcements could be heard from the speakers set up in then the venue. I could see the tension in the parents more than their kids. It felt like the parents pride was at stake. I was glad that I came alone. After reading the pamphlet thoroughly I went straight towards the registration counter which was still closed and to my surprise I was 4^th in the queue. I guess people were waiting for it to open. I stood there for just 20 minutes when the counter opened and a tide of children ran towards us. I feared for some mis happening. Gladly there weren’t any.

Registration was a quick process and I was told to report at the Rangmanch auditorium where my audition was supposed to take place. Thanks to the map of the venue the organisers had printed in the pamphlet I reached there in no time.

It was a big auditorium having a capacity of around 200-300 spectators. The stage was quite big to which could accommodate 14-15 actors in one along with their own props. In the 1^st row near the spectator section sat my panel of jury. One mam and one sir and they both looked young like in their late teens or in their early twenty. After a quick introduction it was my time to cover up the floor. I was given 5 minutes to perform and I had to perform my best.

I was having cold feets, I felt I was struggling but I took a deep breath and I started. The theme of my act was the relation between I a soldier and his children. How the children longed to meet their father who came back home after a year and what was their reaction.

The act brought a tear in their eye and I got a standing ovation. It was an extraordinary day for me and I made it mine. There were 20 children who came for the audition in the same auditorium as mine. Some were quite brilliant with their themes but some did a massacre of their act in their audition.

After a long wait of about 6 hours it was the time for the result. Out of 20 who had performed the panel had selected 7 out of the 8 places. 1 place was still left. Their selection process was out of my understanding. Some of those who did poor according to me had gained their entry while I and some others who performed phenomenal stood their scared and shaking waiting for the panel to announce the last name. Standing there with my hands in my back I got lost in my own world of thoughts. I was standing in the cricket pitch batting when a bouncer hit my head and I crash down. The panel was still discussing and every extra minute they spent discussing the more my future in here looked bleak to me.

Finally the jury turned their heads towards us. They looked in a dilemma regarding their choice for the last place. That moment I totally lost my patience I was feeling stressed, my heart beat had increased and I could not wait any more. I started to un-zip my bag to take out the water bottle to relieve myself of the stress and my name was called out. The water in my mouth went out of it like a fountain wetting the floor. As I heard my name jumped out of excitement, started laughing and lay on the wet wooden floor out of sheer excitement and joy. I couldn’t believe my ears. It was hard for me to believe I was a student in the prestigious institute. It was the day I won’t ever forget in my life.

It was around 6 in the evening when I got free from NSD. Another 1 hour and I would be home and retire into my bed.

The time to go back home was taking a toll on me. I got down at the metro station 15 minutes late from the time I had estimated and due to long traffic snarls I decided to run back home.

It was around 8pm when I reached the main gate. There was a car standing in the parking lot. I could hear my mom crying.