Germination Of A Crush!

It was during the summer holidays that I met this girl… rather encountered her!                                                                                                       

We were playing football with our friends when a misfired kick from my friend hit her while she was learning to ride a bicycle.

Call it destiny or anything, I was the doomed person to go and fetch the ball! Well, frankly from my end it didn’t seem so bad, but yes, she suffered some light bruises. I felt the bicycle suffered more looking at its position.

‘What the hell did you boys do to my little girl?’ screamed her mother rushing in from behind. The girl already started crying looking at her wounds and her bicycle which was lying some distance away.

‘Look how badly you have hurt my girl.’, ‘Don’t you boys have any common sense how to play safely without hurting others?’ she shouted.

My team maintained a safe distance throughout as none of them had any intention to step into the danger zone.

Despite this verbal assault being carried on me, my eyes were secretly looking out for the football as if they had to carry on their duty while my ears were doing their bit.

‘Where are your parents? I want to meet them now!’ her mum screamed.

My eyes suddenly synced with my ears and looked at her automatically. ‘Aunty, they are not here.’ the words hardly came out of my mouth.

‘How irresponsible of your parents to send their kid out alone.’ She sounded as if we were all in a war-torn country and there were bombs and missiles striking all over the place!

‘Where do you stay?’ the dreaded question came out at last.

‘We stay nearby.’ I mumbled, my last hope at being spared.

‘What do you mean by, ’Nearby’. Which street?’ she demanded and that sealed my fate.

‘Street number 7, 703.’ I said.

‘Oh, Street number 7!’ she exclaimed as if that street constituted of all the notorious criminals and irresponsible persons on earth.

‘Get into my car, we are going to your home.’ she ordered. At that point, I realized that it’s not the person who commits the crime that’s necessarily punished but the person who’s caught at the spot of crime!

~

On our way to my home, I was reflecting on the sudden change in the state of affairs during the past hour. From ‘playing with my friends happily in the ground’ to ‘being on the way to my home with complete strangers in their car’; who were about to blast me before my family and probably them too!

But I must tell you one thing, I wasn’t worried a bit about the scenario to unfold at my home shortly!

Reason – My Mum!

According to me, she was the most hospitable, kind-hearted, courteous, smart, good-natured (Well, I could use all the adjectives associated with goodness and intellect, but for now, I’ll suffice with these...) person I had ever seen in my life. All the people who knew her swear by the above statement.

If she were to be made the ‘External Affairs Minister’ of India, she would solve the issues between India and Pakistan with her peace talks. I hadn’t an iota of doubt that she would solve the current problem on hand.

It was a short distance from the park to my home and the car screeched to a halt in front of my home.

‘Shreya darling, please get down slowly,’ the war commander compassionately said to the victim of the hour.

The name, ‘Shreya’ quickly got registered in my mind file and got auto saved.

I had to give a heads-up to my Mum, so I quickly opened the gate and shouted out to her.

Luckily, my mum was in the drawing room and it took her a single glance to understand the whole situation.

‘Look, what your son…’, the rival commander was about to open fire when my mum interrupted exclaiming, ‘Oh God, look at those bruises on this pretty girl! Jeethu, quickly get the first aid box as fast as your slow legs can.’ 

Jeethu our middle-aged servant appeared before us in a flash with the kit. Holding out the medical kit to my Mum, he felt proud and amazed at the speed with which he carried out his task.

‘You know, your son…’, the second round was about to be fired, when the defense commander retaliated again, ‘Come my darling, please sit here comfortably while I clean out those wounds and apply some soothing antiseptic cream. Oh, I am so sorry, Mrs.?? You were saying something. I guess this Amit is at it again. I’ll deal with him later. But right now, our pretty girl over here needs the first attention, Right?’

Well, it was a ceasefire for the moment!

‘Mrs. Mehta,’ she said in answer to my Mum’s question in such a calm and humble tone which I never imagined she possessed. ‘I am Aarthi Mehta and that’s my daughter Shreya.’

‘Hi Aarthi, I am Devi Pradhan, mother of this naughty kid who I guess hurt our beautiful Shreya. Wait till I tend to her, then I’ll address you, Amit,’ my mum (the torch bearer of diplomacy) said even while carefully addressing Shreya’s bruises.

‘Come on Devi, all these things happen when kids play around. Nobody does these things intentionally, Isn’t it Amit?’ Mrs. Mehta said pulling me around affectionately and making me sit beside her on the sofa.

What a turnaround! My Mum, the epitome of hospitality had done the trick again.

~

‘Jeethu, can you get us some cookies, samosas & hot tea please?’, My mum ordered. ‘Amit, in the meanwhile you may show around the place to Shreya while I have a chat with Aarti Aunty.’

Well, that was the break I needed. I immediately looked up to Shreya who equally wanted to break free from the elders for a while, I guess. She stood up and I took the lead and walked in front of her showing the way.

I took her to my room first as I had recently re-arranged things and everything was in place looking neat and tidy.

‘I am sorry about that, but it was my friend that kicked the ball, not me.’ I said pointing out to the bruises on Shreya’s knee.

‘Come on, that’s over now Amit. Can we be friends now?’ she said in one of the sweetest and friendly tones I had heard in recent times.

‘Of course, Thanks, Shreya.’

We shook hands to acknowledge and celebrate the signing of our invisible friendship treaty!

This was the first step towards a friendship of a lifetime.

I took her to the terrace and showed her the locality around. As we chatted on, I came to know that even she had completed her 5th standard in school and they had recently shifted to the colony as her father had got transferred to this place. We both were 11years old, she was born in May, while I was born in January in the same year.

As dusk began to set in, we decided to get into the confines of the drawing room and check out how the elders were progressing in the new friendship path. I knew I could never compete with Mum in the art of friendship as she was in a league of her own, but this was something that even I hadn’t anticipated.

‘Hey Amit, Say hi to your new classmate in the 6th standard. Shreya would be joining your school after the holidays. I spoke with your school correspondent, Aarthi aunty & I would be visiting the Admin department in your school in a week to complete the formalities. ‘

‘Thank you so much, Devi. It's so tough to get admission in the DAV school, we were really pondering how to go about it.’ Shreya’s mum said while affectionately clutching my mum’s hands.

So, that’s how our friendship journey started; From a quarrel in the park to admission in the same school.