Orange Ice Cream

The tinkling sound of a bell echoed through the street.

Aisha sat up excitedly, recognizing the sound at once.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" She yelled, running through the house.

"Grandpa! The ice cream man has come!" She said excitedly.

Her grandfather, an old man of seventy, stood up and smiled at her kindly.

"Let's go then!" He said.

She slipped past the halls, outside the door, stopping the ice cream man in his tracks.

Her grandfather followed, dressed in his khaki pants and tee-shirt, the military air still around him, even 30 years after retirement, as he walked with the discipline of a 30-year-old.

"One orange ice cream anna!" Aisha said, extending a five rupee note.

The ice cream man took the money, put his hand into the cart, and pulled out orange ice cream.

Aisha grabbed it and started peeling off the wrapper.

It was then that she saw her.

Across the street, sitting down by the entrance to the park.

She looked quite a sight in her tattered clothes, unwashed hair, and big brown eyes.

She looked the same age as Aisha.

"Who is that, grandpa?" She asked, pointing to her.

Her grandfather squinted across the street, at the little beggar girl.

"She... She is a poor girl."

Aisha looked unsatisfied.

"Why?"

"Well..."

"Can I be friends with her?"

"Absolutely not!" Grandfather said, his eyes ablaze. "We do not go and mingle with those people, dear."

Aisha looked scared for a minute.

"We are different. They are different. Look at others in this society. Do you see them meeting with that girl?" He added, much more softly.

"But all the society people are elder to me." She complained.

"I'm sure you can find different friends. You don't need to befriend her. Good girls don't do that. You're a good girl, aren't you?"

Aisha nodded her head slowly.

"Well, then finish it and come quickly." Her grandfather said, and stalked off into the house.

Aisha looked at the retreating figure of her grandfather, then turned to the ice cream vendor.

"Anna one more orange ice cream!" She said.

She took the ice cream, crossed the road, and went to the girl.

'Hi, I am Aisha" she said, extending the ice cream.

                        ****************

And so it happened, every Sunday, 4 o clock in the evening, the ice cream man would make his rounds, and Aisha would buy 2 orange ice creams and go and eat with Rihanna.

Ruhaina. That was the girls name. Her family lived in the slums adjoining this locality.

Those people, grandpa had said.

Ruhaina lived with her mother and her younger sister. Ruhaina had wanted to study, but she helped her mother run their shop.

Ruhaina's sister was a cute little girl of 4 and studied under a nearby tutor.

"She can count till 10 now!" Ruhaina said proudly.

Aisha smiled as she listened to her, and both of them would lie on the ground with the ice creams in their hand and talk about everything under the sun.

"Aisha," Ruhaina said one day.

"Yes?"

"Where do you think the ice cream man comes from?" She asked.

Aisha scrunched her face up, thinking. She had never known where the ice cream man had come from.

Where had the ice cream man come from?

Where did he get all those ice creams?

"I think he comes from ice cream land!" Ruhaina declared.

"Where is the ice cream land?" Aisha asked.

"It's over there!" Ruhaina pointed to the end of the road, from where the ice cream man used to appear every week.

Aisha looked at where she was pointing, squinting her eyes.

"We'll go there one day, Ruhaina!" She declared.

"Yess!" Ruhaina said, and they both lay back down, happily gorging their ice creams.

                 ****************

"Come to my house," Aisha said one day.

Ruhaina looked at her, surprised.

"Your house?" She repeated in disbelief.

"Yes, my house," Aisha said impatiently. "I want you to meet my grandparents. My grandmother makes the best gulab jamuns ever. She said she was going to to make a batch today evening. You should have one. They taste like....."

And Aisha prattled on, unaware of the fact that Ruhaina had gone unusually quiet.

And then she noticed it.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I don't think I can come to your house," Ruhaina said, her eyes downcast.

"Why?" Aisha asked.

"I'm not supposed to come there." She said, bowing her head.

Aisha looked at her quizzically.

"Because you know, you are rich....and I am..." She said, motioning to her tattered dress.

Aisha looked at her green gown and then at Ruhaina's tattered grey dress.

Then she took her hand.

"Doesn't matter. Let's eat gulab jamuns!" She said and dragged her towards her house.

                 *******************

They stepped into the porch and opened the door.

"I'm home!" Aisha yelled. "And I brought a friend!"

"That's lovely, dear!" Her grandmother called out from the kitchen. "I'll be there in 10 minutes and you can introduce her!"

"Okay, dadi!" She replied, and proceeded to take Ruhaina inside her house.

Ruhaina took hesitant steps, uneasy at being in such a big house.

She stepped into the Hall, looking around and marveled at the size of it. Her own house was barely one-fourth of it and had to house 4 persons.

"Where's dadu?" Aisha asked.

"He's gone to the shop, dear. He'll be back in a minute." Her grandmother said.

"Okay!"

Aisha then proceeded to show Ruhaina around the house. She showed her the hall, the two rooms, one of which was hers. Then she showed her the drawings that she'd made.

Her grandmother came out of the kitchen, carrying a tray of gulab jamuns, and stopped short when she saw Ruhaina, her mouth open in shock.

Just as Aisha's grandfather walked in through the door.

He took one look at Ruhaina. At her tattered clothes and unruly hair, then looked at Aisha.

"Who is this, Aisha?" He asked in a dangerously low voice.

"This is Ruhaina, my friend!" Aisha said.

"No, she isn't," Grandpa said, then turned towards Ruhaina and started to yell.

"How dare you step into this house? We help you because you're poor. That does not mean we include you among us. You are a slum-dweller. Get out!"

Ruhaina cowered under the outburst, tears in her eyes. Then, without saying a word, she went out of the house.

Aisha looked at her grandfather, afraid and surprised at his outburst.

"But she was my friend." She protested weakly,  Misty eyed.

"No, she isn't." Her grandfather said sternly.

"Yes, she is!" Aisha cried, and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Grandfather exchanged a pained look with his wife and followed Aisha.

                   ****************

The tinkling of the bell sounded again as the ice cream man rounded the corner, walked along the road, and stood expectantly outside the little girl's house.

She would come out any minute now, with a smile on her face, and ask for two orange ice creams.

He waited for five minutes.

She didn't come.

He rang his bell again.

                 *******************

The phone rang on Friday.

Grandfather was sitting in the hall, while the grandmother was making gulab jamuns in the kitchen.

The phone rang.

Grandfather was sitting beside the phone and picked it up.

"Hello." He said.

"Dad...", A voice came from the other end, sobbing. "It's Aisha.. there's been an accident... And Aisha... Oh my God..." The voice broke down, and all grandfather could hear were the tears.

                 *******************

Ruhaina sat down at the entrance of the park, looking across at Aisha's house, waiting for her to come out.

It had been 2 weeks.

Maybe she should've said something to Aisha.

She would tell her today, Ruhaina decided.

They could no longer be friends. They were too different.

Maybe they could eat orange ice cream once in a while.

The ice cream man came round the corner, stopped in front of Aisha's house, and rang his bell.

No one came out.

Had Aisha been punished? Ruhaina thought, her eyes going wide.

What was gonna happen to her? Were they going to send her away? Who would she eat ice cream with?

Then the door opened.

And Aisha's grandfather stepped out.

                     ****************

Grandfather looked at the ice cream man, who stood to wait expectantly for Aisha to come out.

He looked at the vendor and then walked towards him.

He looked across the street and saw Aisha's friend, sitting there by the Park's entrance.

"2 orange ice creams," he said.

The vendor dove in the cart and handed him 2 ice creams.

Grandfather crossed the street, walked towards her.

He then extended the ice cream.

Ruhaina hesitated, afraid.

Then she extended her hand and took it.

"Would you like to have some gulab jamuns?" The grandfather said.

Ruhaina looked at him, then at the ice cream.

"Where's Aisha?" She asked.

The grandfather remained silent.

"Where's AISHA???" Ruhaina cried, and then ran away.

The unopened ice cream lay on the ground, as the first tear fell on it.

                      ****************