A Ray of Sunshine

Chapter 7

Song of the chapter: Nazrein milana...Nazrein churana

Movie: Jaane tu..ya jaane ne

Sunday: the picnic day

When Adrita was telling me about this trip I most probably missed a small detail; her friends were accompanying us. Why I thought we were the only ones going is beyond my comprehension skills.

Here I stood in front of 11 strangers who were gawking at me as if I had stolen something precious of theirs. I turn to look at the smiling face of Adrita as she prompts me to board the minibus.

I do, and so does she and her minions.

"So kiddos, I would like to introduce you to my friend, Anirudh. Say hi to Anirudh!"

The kids look at each other's faces and then begrudgingly wave their hands.

I wave back and smile politely. "It's nice to meet you all."

"I hope you are not here to woo and steal my Adrita Di away." A 10-11 year-old boy with his hair slicked back grumbles, his face twisted in a menacing glare.

"Shush, Anmol. Don't be mean!" Adrita's scolding voice made the boy turn up to her and in an instant, his glare converted into a boyish smile. He nods at her, and giggles something to his friend seated beside him.

I don't like that boy. I glare at him and he glares back. Adrita shakes her head and asks me to sit. Obliging to her command I sit down and glance back at the Anmol guy, a smirk makes its way on my lips as I notice his frown when Adrita sits beside me.

I am turning petty.

"So who are these kids?" I ask.

"These are the sunshine kids!"

"Sunshine kids?"

"So, Maithili is a primary teacher and she also volunteers in a lot of NGOs. She met these kids in one of her social work projects. Realized that they are special and wanted to provide them with good education. Told me and I pitched it to Dad. A year later, here we are,  everything related to the Sunshine kids is our responsibility; school, tuition, everything. Dad takes care of everything financial and legal. Maithili takes care of their school documents. I just provide them with all the fun stuff; storybooks, treats, picnics. And I also take care of the academic development."

"Maithili? That lady?" I ask, pointing to the lady who kept glancing at us every two seconds.

"Yep. Music?" Adrita asks, offering the left earbud of her earphones.

I nod at her. Smiling, she places the left earbud in my right ear and adjusts the right earbud in her left ear.

A sweet melody embraces us as we leave all our conflicts behind.

*****

"Let's go! Let's go!" Adrita and the kids shout, jumping on their spots.

On reaching the amusement park we had divided the kids into two groups. Five kids with Maithili, five kids with Adrita, and I was the sixth wheel of Adrita's group. Unfortunately and not so surprisingly Anmol was in our team and he didn't leave one moment to make his disdain clear.

"Why are we even begging him? If he doesn't want to join us, let it be." Anmol grumbles, his voice laced with disdain.

"Shush Anmol," Adrita warns, and turns to me with pleading eyes. "Please Anirudh, 360 is the best ride over here."

"Yeah, but one of us will end up getting dizzy and not to forget this ride is for teens and adults. We can't take all five kids with us. We have already been on six rides. I think we can skip this one." I try to explain but Adrita's usual happy smile morphs into a gloomy pout and her pleading eyes turn more pleading.