Arya awakened by the sound of beagle blown from the Military Cantonment ‘Happy Valley’ up the hill beside his bedroom. Instantaneously he remembered ‘Oh! Today is the last day of the Bengali month Paush, the day auspicious for many good reasons & for celebration as well.’ From this very date the Sun takes a northwardly turn and approaches the longest night of the year he recollected.
‘We shall all do a Mera Meri’r Ghar’ said Arya & his friends roared a chorus, ‘Arya we shall built big enough a house this time so that all of us can sit & play inside.’ Demand mainly led as ‘We need a grand celebration of the occasion ‘Paush Sankranti’ said Papri. ‘And for the entire past one week you know Arya, all the likes of Madhumita, Arpan, Maya, Bubul, Tia, Manna, Archana, Ranjan, Himadri, Papri & Trisha were all grossly pre-occupied in collecting the pine tree leaves from the neighbourhood borough’ added Ranjan.
Trisha was the most talented of them all and expected to get position in the board exams; Arya on the other hand was just a mediocre guy but had enormous muscles and ‘V’ shaped figure to boost of. He at times looked like prince charming with his gorgeous eyes and sharp nose with complimentary temple.
The other day Arya took out a wooden plank three inches by one foot. He fixes up three inches long iron nails on that piece of wood ten to twelve in a row for around three to four rows and then fixes a handle to it. ‘Wow what a craftsmanship Arya’, said Trisha ‘You look nothing less than an impending Engineer!’ However, to Arya it looked like a miniature country made vacuum cleaner handle with nothing more than a scrapper. ‘Come let’s take this instrument to the jungle’ said Arya in jubilation. ‘Well you have done well in your Board exams and have nothing to worry’ said Madhumita.
In these cold winter days in Shillong, the nearby hill was full of Pine tree leaves with freshly shed ones on the top. Since the onset of the winter, in this dense pine forest, the grass by now got covered heavily with pine leaves like a thick carpet floor. ‘Pine tree leaves’ are long threads of thick cotton like and about half to one foot long and they make extremely good material for temporary house wall. The house after all called as Mera Meri’r Ghar by all the mates.
Over the past few days Arya & Co went regularly to the hill and one particular day he exclaimed ‘Oh its morning 9 O‘clock and imagine I am still shivering and it’s a lovely Chill guys!’ ‘Yeah it is a Disco December added Maya’. Every day with the increase of the cold intensity, more are the leaves that were scrapped from the ground by the hikers in delight. Trisha collected leaves in a jiffy and poured them all in gunny bags with rest of the guys laying helping hands. At times she playfully threw a few leaves at Maya, who in turn put scraps on Arya. Every day on return, the collection count stood at four to five gunny bags, this of course do not include the leaves that stuck to their sweaters! ‘Where in the Jungle had you been to get fully covered in scrap?’ Maya invited a frown from her mother.
In the afternoon when the Sun was brighter in comparison they fixed columns of typical bamboo (Nali bash) – these grow smaller in diameter in this part of the world. The entire frame work was made of that bamboo slashes and pine leaves were put all around like a thatched wall with bamboo reinforcements. ‘Maya imagine you need to stay with your hubby on this kind of a house’ said Papri. ‘Yeah I would love to if I have you as my Souten’ replied Maya in desperation.
On the D Day everybody sought permission from their respective parents to gather in the backyard garden of Arya’s house where the lovely looking house was built. It had one and the only open door but. Maya & Papri took ultra special initiative to decorate the house with coloured ribbons & placed sitting furniture, made the floor look the tidiest. All of them gathered past evening after the sunset and sat in encircled fashion. It was Arya’s idea to organise the party on this day of the powerful festival of east India and the guys looked set in no uncertain terms to be awake all night. The assembly gathered momentum with giggles from girls and loud laughter from the guys. They all nodded for a singing competition. It was Trisha to sing first, decided not by lottery but by consensus and Manna to strum his guitar and with Ranjan on his ‘Mridanga the Dhool’. Ranjan beat the drum in uncontrolled fashion for a few minutes before he could achieve his rhythm. ‘Trisha you sang really well’ sounded Maya with all clapping in rejoinder. One guy looked extremely happy at the outset and the way things started to roll on. He welcomed the first singer with outmost vigour & vitality to suit his extra muscular perception.
Trishaji confused herself with ’Lataji ’ and sang with all emotion and energy. Trisha unintentionally looked at someone while singing her finishing note and felt could not gulp and take a normal breath. She says ‘Papri can you please pass the water bottle.’ The moment that buddy rotated his shoulder for the impending stare, her heart ignited and started to miss bits intermittently. Trisha instantly remembered one day that her father said ‘look Trisha, place your ear on my left breast, can you hear something? ‘Yes’ said Trisha. Trisha in simulation could feel something going wrong in her heart! Forgetting about the rest, Trisha then looked at him yet again purposefully and felt that some kind of electric wave and chill going down her spine! Meanwhile, Papri extended her arms and said ‘Trisha taste this platter brought by Maya from her kitchen but cooked by her mom’ and repeated it quite a few times. Papri suddenly noticed in the middle of high decibel sounds, Trisha looked lost and deeply engrossed and then she had to bang Trisha to gain her attention! ‘Papri said to herself Oh! There she is Trisha ‘what’s on Dear?’ Trisha replied blushing ‘Nothing, nothing, I am OK’
Trisha now started to feel more upheavals on her respiratory tract and found no one near enough to confide what’s going on. She was tempted to tell all to Maya but changed her mind in the end. She became ultra conscious not to depict the change in status of her turbulent mind to others and remained careful but went unmindful erratically. For the rest of the party she remained restless and wanted to explode of her own.
Madhumita & Babul initiated to light a small fire right in the middle and Maya said ‘well done guys – it brings a good respite in this lovely chilly night.’ Trisha without any natural will of her own exchanged an eye contact with that being who was saying ‘Come on guys let’s dance and synchronise our steps’. God knows Trisha felt an instant desire to get up and get going only to be stopped by her own conscience and said ‘Babe control yourself, control’ while in deep silence. She thought from the within ‘He is my Hero indeed!!’
In the middle of the night when the horizon was displaying reddish tinge of the dawn, the beagle started to blow from the other side of the hill and the guys started to noise ‘Mera Merir Ghar Jale re Oye, Khaite lage bashi pancha Doi’ (The house is on fire at last, you should eat stale yogurt, ho ho), Ranjan lit the fire on the house, in a moment the fire started to raise high & higher and started to engulf the entire making, Trisha ran fast and went to the other side of the fire caught her hero and placed her lips on to his.
#JaiHind
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