GULMOHAR IN THE TREE

Chapter-5

It's after touching their feets, that Ved is humbly forced by his parents to sit with the guests for a while and be a part of the evening, so he follows reluctantly, biting his lips and sweating on forehead and underarms, even in the air conditioning. For the first few seconds he and Mr. Prabodh smile awkwardly at each other, Ved shyly, closed lips, while the latter with his extra big teeths, shamelessly.

"So Ved, you're in 12th I guess". Mr. Prabodh says, still smiling.
"..........yesss.....no,no,uncle, ......mmmmmm. ...., I just gave my 12th boards". Ved replies, stammering a bit, thinking over every sound of his voice, sighing after finishing, avoiding any more questions or replies from the other end.

"Ooo...good, good. So ......how much expecting? " Mr. Prabodh asks again, sipping tea, with Marie biscuits, while his wife is talking with Ved's mother.
"Can't say really......who knows!" Says Ved, crossing his legs, leaning against the handrest of the sofa.
"No,no.....you must be having a guess." Mr. Prabodh repeats, shaking his head as if trying to gain his father's agreement.
"I don't guess!" Ved replies, without a wait, flattering his parents with his straight answer.
Mr. Prabodh still smiles......
His heart hasn't managed to miss the vigorous pounding for a second, same lub-dub again, but with no fascination now, with no longing of past, only sweating embarrassment, wrapped in questions thrown at him, leaving him a bit more vulnerable.
"So! What're your plans for future? "Mr. Prabodh asks, eyeing him with a joking expectation. And the question leaves him cold, eye-blinking.
He thinks hard for a while, humming Senorita , shaking his legs, over-sweating beneath his Monte Carlo T-shirt,then says..
"Currently B. sc.", hoping to escape with his not-so better answer.
"Further? You must be having plans?" Mr. Prabodh asks, looking at Ved's father the other moment.

"........mmmmmm, I want to do research in Physics! "He comes up, a lie he knows very well and so does his parents, that he is having no plans for future, that future for him is every next moment only. Though Mr. Prabodh us flattered well, fakely impressed with the answer, it leaves Ved cold and insecure.

"Great! Well though very few take up research these days." Says Mr. Prabodh, eating a samosa.
Facing the guests arbitrarily, Ved paused for a second, then knew that his part of quota is done. Smiling, he got up and fled to his room.

Then it was at the dinner time, when he still heard the echoing loud voice of Mr. Prabodh, and was sure that his mother has argued for staying an extra hour for dinner.
At the dinner table, he sat just opposite of Mr. Prabodh, facing him directly, or it was Mr. Prabodh who sat, leaving him uncomfortable for the whole meal. While eating in silence, while his parents talked and his brother's face was still buried in a comic, something caught his attention. He inch by inch noticed Mr. Prabodh, who eating and talking hardly guessed that Ved's eyes were upto him now. Slowly he was amazed to see, how his folded upto elbow maroon shirt was hardly wrinkled in any place, buttoned upto his broad chest, expanding in tensed shoulders, his face neatly shaved, with a shine, which Ved assumed was face oil, talking dutifully and replying with a keen interest to Ved's father, almost like all other men who did so. Humming Senorita every now and then, Ved somehow feels him picture perfect in, may be 32. On which, he felt something deepening inside him, the spiciness of chilli paneer and his thoughts, changing like a bipolar left him restless, his facial skin irritated with the spiciness, his nose dripping, and a burning younger. ....frowning, finishing his dinner, he fled to his room.

Five minutes later his brother showed up. Ved was in balcony, sitting on the swing in a breezy April night at 10' listening songs, not with earphones this time, his legs pulled up to his chest to make a warm space for them on the little swing. Looking in the sky constantly, he smiled slightly, flickering his eye lids, humming- we were staying in the Paris......,to get away from your parents. .....

"So? How well are your preparations going beta?" Ayush asked, resting a palm on the bamboo swing, leaning against it.
Started, Ved peeped lazily, frowned, then went back inside.
"It's 10', you must be sleeping by now!" Ved says, increasing the volume with his index finger. Not answering, Ayush settles on the floor, leaning his back against the metal railing so he could face his brother.
"Go and sleep......" Ved repeats, his eyes closed now. There was something really strong with Mr. Prabodh that obsessed his brain to reel back the hours he was there, in front of Ved, and made him insecure with something. Ved pictures him,  smiling soberly while speaking, his way as a societal man.
"Are you listening me?" Ayush shouts, frowning on Ved.
"What?" Ved asks, lifting his head up.
"I'm afraid you're in love....with a girl."Ayush says hesitantly. Ved turns red, flushed.
"And who told you? " Ved asks, laughing, blushing unconsciously.
"It's written on your face.....you're blushing, you're too quite these days, lost in your own little world.....it's clear." Ayush replies, yawning.
"Don't talk stupid, go'n sleep." Ved commands, plugging in earphones.
"I'm not talking stupid! It's natural." Ayush explains.
Stunned, Ved puts his earphones out, trying to calm his heart, pumping blood so restlessly upto his cheeks, that they are already red and warm.
"Who's she?" Asks Ayush, giving a flirting smile.
"........boyyyyyyy......." Ved feels helpless, unable to speak, he sinks back in the swing again.
"Hah! You can't do it my boy. Wait for some years, then be tied in an arrange marriage. " Says Ayush, half smiling, mocking Ved's condition, then heads to the room, leaving Ved calmed and comfortable as he switches the lights off the room off, making the window panes dark. Ved sinks in the three cushions of his swing more comfortably, clutching below his knees drawn together, as the cold dry breeze fastens, urging some dried leaves to speed off through the air.
He sees canopy of Gulmohar trees, not letting the silvery light of moon fall on his balcony floor, and so he wonders, if ever he would become one of those like Mr. Prabodh, men of social image, highly admired by people and he was no different,  who had cut him sharp with his eyes, forming a sort of inferiority in himself; and at the best he felt uncomfortable, to see him married, wondering if ever he was a romantic person, forming his own hypothetical imagery, smiling, growing warm and then cold, he dozes off without notice.