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“I
am back. Brought a wonderful book from home - The Dance
of the Sarus by Theodore Baskaran. Baskaran is a
birdwatcher. Was immersed in the book all this while - in
the train and then in my room in the afternoon. Will lend
you the book once I am done with it.”
“I
am sure I won't,” thought Soma, as she read Anil's
e-mail. “What makes him think that I too would read a
book on bird watching, I wonder!”
Soma
and Anil’s friendship had long roots, going deep down to
their schooldays. Yet, after so many years of studying
together, in school and then in college, Soma failed to
understand her friend. But then, not many people
understood Anil and his strange fondness for wildlife,
especially for all feathered creatures. Shy and reticent,
the boy had this curious hobby of running after the
bulbuls and mynahs and the woodpeckers of the campus,
ignoring altogether the other more alluring 'birds'
around. He subscribed to Sanctuary, read it as
avidly as he watched the National Geographic channel, and
had on the wall of his hostel room glued one huge poster
of a Great Indian Bustard.
“What
a weird name!” Soma had commented the first time she saw
the picture of the ungainly bird.
“Not
just weird, but quite suggestive too,” Deepak had added
naughtily. This good-natured boy was Anil's roommate, and
except for their love of cricket, the two had little in
common. But Deepak tolerated quite happily all of Anil's
eccentricities, which were not few in numbers.
And
now there was this book on the Sarus cranes, which had got
Anil hooked. “I guess this is just another one of your
technical books on bird watching - spare me the torture of
going through such stuff… I would rather read a good old
Agatha Christie- have you brought any from Delhi? And how
was your vacation? Do come over to my room or to the lab
sometime tomorrow, got heaps to tell you.” Soma merrily
keyed away her reply before leaving the lab for dinner.
It
was a lovely night outside, cool and breezy after the
sudden shower of the evening. Soma hummed a tune as she
cycled to her hostel, the scent of the flowers and the wet
earth filling up her senses. It was so nice to have Anil
back in the campus after a month. No, not a month. An age.
**********
The
bell rang early the next morning. Surprise - Anil and
Deepak stood at the door with huge grins on their faces.
“Good
morning! Never expected to see you guys so early in the
morning! How are you? How was the vacation?” Soma made
no attempt to disguise her happiness and blabbered on
excitedly.
“Great,
but do ask us to step in! Or do we keep standing at the
door?” Deepak complained in good humor.
“We
can see that you are fine, but what about your pets - the
bacteria I mean - how are they?” Anil asked once they
all finally managed to seat themselves in a room that was
almost bursting with books. The room reflected very much
the personality of its owner - muddled and disorganized.
“Yeah,
that's the greatest news of all. I was almost dying to
tell you - the bacteria have finally consented to grow in
the stormy environment of our lab!
The experiment is going simply great”
The
three chatted on for almost an hour. Soma insisted that
they should finalize their plan of visiting Anil's canal.
A few days before leaving home for vacation, Anil had, by
sheer accident, discovered a canal that flowed a little
behind their campus wall. He had raved wild about the
place to them. The canal was 'Anil's canal' to them ever
since. They too wanted to see it.
“How
about going tomorrow evening? Shilpi and Manoj will also
come along with us.”
“No
problem. But don't blame me if you don't like it out there
in the mud.”
“We
won't.”
Just
before leaving, Anil fished out a book from the blue bag
that he was carrying. “The Dance of the Sarus -
not one bit technical. I know you would love it!” He put
the book down on Soma's study table.
**********
It
was almost four thirty. Yet none of them had turned up.
Soma waited impatiently in front of her hostel gate for
Anil and Shilpi. Deepak and Manoj would not be coming. A
workshop on martial arts was being held in the campus and
the two had joined it with an eagerness that astonished
her.
Anyway,
with even Anil and Shilpi not showing up, it seemed that
that this canal 'trip' would have to be postponed to some
other day. Soma was disappointed. She was about to go back
to her room when Anil arrived, that usual apologetic grin
and that old pair of binoculars.
“Sorry,
got late… where is Shilpi?”
“I
guess she is not coming. Trust her to forget everything.
Yet I had reminded her so many times.”
“But
it's already late. What do we do? Call it off?”
The
sky was cloudy - it might start pouring any moment. It did
not seem a wise decision to walk so far out at this hour,
with the threat of rain looming large. But then prudence
was not a virtue that either of them could boast of.
Despite their differences, the two friends had a lot of
things in common - fondness for nature and a desire to act
on sudden impulses being just two of them. So, they
decided that they could not call it off -not when the trees around looked so green,
not when they could smell the rain in the air.
**********
It
was beautiful by the canal. Soma had never come this way
before and she loved everything that they saw - the
shimmering stretch of water, the burst of red and yellow
in the gulmohar trees, the kingfisher that swooped down
like a streak of lightning on to the water, and the pile
of clouds in the sky. She felt gloriously happy.
Happiness
and beauty were generously strewn all along the canal
bank, only waiting to be discovered. They walked ahead
eagerly collecting all that lay on their way. The dark
clouds closed upon the earth as if they had something very
urgent to say. Those were the kind of clouds that might
make a poet want to write a Meghdootam, or a song,
at least.
“Clouds
heap upon clouds and it darkens.
Ah,
love, why dost thou let me wait outside at the door all
alone…”
But
Anil, I know you would keep me waiting, forever. All of a
sudden Soma could feel the tears welling up inside. Did he
not understand how much he meant to her? Of course, she
had never told him, but could he not make it out from all
that she shared with him, him alone amongst all her
friends? From the promptness with which she replied to
each and every one of his emails, however trivial the
mails might be? Surely, he understood, but he just chose
to ignore it. In his heart he had room only for birds.
Why
even now he had his binoculars trained on some bird,
perched firmly on a distant tree branch. She did not seem
to matter to him at all. Soma tried her best to fight back
her tears and her thoughts. Crying for the love of a
person, it was weakness of character - she scolded
herself. Life had been so wonderfully kind towards her all
along, bestowing her with innumerable gifts, and here she
was wallowing in self-pity simply because the person she
longed for did not love her back! If this was not
selfishness and ingratitude, what else was?
“Soma!”
Soma was jerked out of her thoughts by Anil, who was
excitedly pointing towards his left. Soma turned to look
and stood transfixed. For a moment she could not believe
her eyes.
Some
distance away, in the mustard fields, were two birds
dancing - yes, dancing! It was actually more of jumping
and prancing, but the grace would have made Ana Pavlova
envious. For once, Anil did not need to tell her the name
of the birds - she had been seeing the birds' photo for
the last two days on the cover of Theodore Baskaran's
book. The gray-white body, the read head - unmistakably
the Sarus cranes. The sight was heavenly - two birds
dancing against the dark gray clouds.
Yet
another gift, never asked for, but possibly the best one
she had received in life so far. The tears came in a rush
now, and this time Soma made no attempt to stop them. For
these were tears of gratitude. Anil, the birds and
everything else around became one blur of happiness.
“Sarus
cranes are one of those rare species in the bird world
that pair for life… Soma, did you read in Baskaran’s
book that in Gujarati folklore Sarus is regarded as a
symbol of love and fidelity?” Anil was asking eagerly.
“Yes.”
“And
don't you think that this is especially significant that
we, just the two of us, got to see the dance of the
Sarus?” Anil's voice trembled as he took Soma's hand.
Soma,
still immersed in her pool of tears, could only nod her
head. But the smile on her lips lit up the world. And at
that very moment, the first drop of rain splashed on
Anil's face and streamed down his cheeks. Those dark
clouds above, they had taken up the cue from a pair of
dark eyes below.
And,
in the fields, the two birds were still dancing - now to
the music of the rain. Two happy human beings stood under
the gulmohar tree, watching shyly
their display of love.
Comments
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The
Dance of the Sarus
Tithiparna is working in TCS, as a QA lead. Currently she is posted in Torrance, CA, working for Toyota.
She is fond of writings and has written lot of articles
for other sites. This article was sent to Maadhukari by
her colleague Anirban Guha.