The Waves Whisper ✓

9 | broken bangles

6
𓂃𓊝𓂃

The rain continued for another two days. The sun appeared sporadically throughout the day, clothes took an eternity to dry, and food was hard to come by because the fuelwood was sopping wet from the rain. Due to the closure of the school, I was forced to spend those two days working at the Rathore home. The prolonged exposure to the weather caused me to acquire a cold. However, I loved the rain since it helped to make Jaisalmer's hot days bearable. Monsoon transformed the parched earth into a beautiful view of lush green. New vegetation sprung into life, rivers and ponds became alive again. On one of those rainy mornings I was in the kitchen, making roti with Sot Ma and Basanthi kaki. Both were having a prolonged conversation about each other's lives while I was flipping the flattened rotis on the pan. Apoorva came in and mounted on the countertop early to have his breakfast. Most of the time he ate in the kitchen rather than in the dining room like the rest of the family. I handed him the plate, with the roti and sabzi (an Indian dish).

"Nirmala, I struggle to make ends meet. Dipa is of marrying age. Thinking about the dowry makes my head spin." Basanti continued whining about her life.

"One more roti, please." Apoorva said extending his plate.

"You're right. This is the problem with having girl children. However, you're fortunate, you are not forced to send your girls to school according to your late husband's will. Look at me." It wasn't new for me to hear that. I have heard her complain about it a thousand times. "I'm doing it for the sake of my husband's soul. Otherwise I would've married off this girl to someone." Looking at me, she scowled.

I took the Roti from the pan and served it on Apoorva's plate.

"Whatever, soon I'll find someone willing to marry her." She remarked. Even though I knew it would happen one day, a lightning bolt passed through my heart. Hearing her words, Apoorva raised his head to look at me. An expression that I couldn't name of flashed across his face.

I spent the rest of that day sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the book shelves in the library, reading Pride and Prejudice, listening to the sound of raindrops drumming on the window. My English had improved by that time by consuming classic literature from the library during my free time. Even though it was raining, I could hear the sound of footsteps approaching me.

"What are you reading?" Apoorva asked, standing in front of me. I showed him the cover page of the book.

"Where did you reach?" He asked.

"Mr. Darcy is confessing his love to Elizabeth."

"Oh." He said this, taking a book from the above shelf.

He gave the book to me. "Here," he said, sitting on the floor next to me. The title of the book said 'Moby Dick'.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"A whale and about the Sea. Read it, and you'll find out."

"You like the sea a lot?" I replied.

"How do you know?" He was surprised by the question.

"The aquarium, the ship inside a bottle, and now this book. It's pretty evident."

"You're not like I thought. You catch things pretty quickly. Impressive!"

"At least you agreed, finally." I smirked.

"I want to be a Mariner." He said.

"You're serious?" I thought it was just a teenage obsession of his.

"Why? Do you think I'm joking?" His expression changed.

"No, it's just... People from a wealthy family always tend to carry on with their family business. And your father, brother, and sister-all of them are following the same path." I explained.

"I find it unexciting to go to a mine or a factory every day to check whether everything is going according to plan."

"If I ever get an opportunity to do the simplest job like that, I'd accept it in a heartbeat."

He looked away from the window, watching the rain pour down aggressively.

"Your parents. What happened to them?" He asked me, looking at me. It was a question I got asked often. I never liked replying to it. "Sorry if that question hurt you." He said.

"I'm my parents' youngest child. When I was 3 years old, my mother gave birth to a boy. Unfortunately, they both didn't make it. My father remarried later. He was a teacher. He's the only reason I'm coming to school. He made it sure before he passed away." I finished my story without tearing up.

"Guess we have similar backstories." He said.

"What happened to your mother?" I asked. He waited a few seconds before answering. "Jaya Kaki was my mother's younger sister." He said. I didn't know that. But I could already see the direction the story was going.

"My mother couldn't tolerate my father liking her choti behen (little sister). She took her life as it became harder for her to live through all that pain." His voice trembled, and his eyes welled up. I felt bad for asking.

"Oh, I forgot to give you this." He said he was pulling a blister pack of tablets.
"What's this for?" I asked.

"I saw you coughing and sneezing. And your face is red as a hot iron. You probably caught a cold." He said.

I took the pills. "Why are you being so nice to me today? Did you hit your head somewhere?"

"Just being kind," he said. I went back to examining the book he gave me.

After a long pause, he continued. "Don't marry so early."

"What?" I asked. I was reading the blurb while he spoke suddenly.

"I heard your stepmother talking about your marriage. Don't marry someone now."

I'm taken aback. "You know I'm 16, right?"

"I know." He nodded.

"And it's not my decision, whether to marry or not."

"I'm just telling."

"Yes, it's easier for you to tell. It's not easier for me not to oblige."

"There are many other ways."

"What ways? There's none. If I don't marry, my stepmother will throw me out of the house." It took everything in me not to get angry at him.

"Roopali, where the hell are you?" I heard my stepmother calling me.

Instantly, I grabbed the books and pills and stood up to leave. Apoorva grabbed my wrist as I stood up. "Roop, stay." My glass bangles broke from the force of his palm. The broken pieces pierced my skin. The rest of the pieces fell on the floor, making an annoying noise.

"Oh, did I hurt you?" He instantly let go of my arm and examined my wrist. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." He said seeing blood oozing out.

"Roop, if I find you, it's your end." My stepmother's voice got closer.

"I'm fine." I said that and ran out, leaving him behind.

Maybe he's not as bad as I thought he was.

...

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