Now that she'd met Kishore a couple of times, Ragini found herself not really looking forward to him that much anymore. At the house, she enjoyed spending time with Asha and the boys and Rohan had such amazing vocabulary and knowledge despite being a young kid. Ragini found herself happy to immerse herself for the rest of her summer in family activities. Unfortunately Rama hadn't been able to meet her in the last few weeks either. Maybe Rama's family found Ragini a bit too modern. It was ok, Ragini was her own favourite person and she accepted the situation. She found herself in situations with the little Rohan that quite amazed her.
On one of the days in the week, following the day Ragini had been with Kishore to the amusement park, she was sitting and reading her novel. Rohan started talking to her while she was reading, seated at the living room dining table. He started talking about things that she couldn't really decipher, citing situations that involved other people and places. Perplexed, she asked Rohan what he was talking about. He continued to develop the story without giving her a straight answer. After having to really concentrate and shift her focus completely to what Rohan was saying, she realised that the young child was telling her the story from the book she was reading. She hadn't read the whole book and looked at the book and looked at the spectacles in front of the shiny eyes looking straight into hers. How can it be that this little boy had read this book? And understood the story? She knew that Rohan was very bright, but this was on another level. She asked him if he had read the book and when he looked away, told him that the book was not suitable for a not even six year old. That he should have asked her before picking it up to read. Ragini then remembered all the crazy questions he was capable of asking and she hugged him tight. What a gift to be so clever, she thought. They both got absorbed in some mundane chit chat after that and let the matter rest.
A day or so after this incident, Ragini came out into the front room in the evening and noticed that Rohan was talking on the landline to someone. In normal circumstances, one would think this was odd as no adult was around him. But because she knew that Rohan was so smart and in so many ways passed like a grown up on so many levels, she just settled on the couch. She was preoccupied in her thoughts about her impending travel back to Mumbai in another week and how she was going to miss this whole experience and the whole family so much. She had never stayed so long without her parents around in a relative's home and the experience had definitely made her grow up. While she was contemplating all this, suddenly Rohan said "Chitta, it's for you". She looked over at Rohan and he was pointing the receiver of the landline phone towards her, looking at her. She didn't understand. She hadn't heard the phone ring. She had heard Rohan talking, then was caught up in her thoughts and now she was looking at him pointing the receiver to her. She asked him, "Eh, for me?". He nodded, so Ragini got up and walked to the phone, still uneasy at what had happened, took the phone in her hand and nervously said "Hello" into the receiver. He heard a giggle and Kishore said, "If you wanted to talk to me, you could've just called. No need to use the kid."
Ragini was now sweating with embarrassment and felt her ears and cheeks heat up. She had a feeling that her mouth was full of saliva and dry at the same moment. She fumbled and somehow managed to say, "I will call you later" and hang up. She looked at Rohan, incredulous, eyes blinking trying to understand what had just happened. "Did he call?", "No, I called him", answered Rohan. "How did you get the phone number"? , Ragini asked, knowing perfectly well that it wasn't written anywhere. "I saw you call him once and I remembered the number", came the reply. " You can't do that Rohan", said Ragini, the second time in the week to her little cousin.
Sighing, Ragini noticed a fleeting thought of wanting to be back home pass in her head and somewhere deep inside her, she was happier than she had been fifteen minutes earlier.
Did you like this read? You can read all the earlier parts of this series here
When unsure, home is a reliable refuge. Well developed.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Anonymous for your comment 💕 it’s very encouraging
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