Short Story Friends – The lime-scented sweets
Photo credit: Nevit Dilmen
As the warm, glowing blue of the mobile screen dissolved into darkness, a dull reflection of my smiling lips appeared on it. The fact that I had spoken to Sumi after thirteen long years just wouldn’t let the smile wipe away from my face. And lest I forget I stored her number in my mobile. I also sent a text message to her with my address and hoped that she would really make it next week! ‘Thanks. Will meet you next Monday’. She wrote back.
***
“Mmm…gung go ga..”, Sipra tried to speak; attempting to form coherent words in between her mouthful.
“Stop it yaar! Don’t go on stuffing yourself like this!”, Ishika scolded her while snatching the plateful of mini-samosas from her hand.
“ Mmm…but I am still gorgeous, na?”. Sipra stood up and posed like a model – her fingers clutching on to the edge of a mini samosa.
“ Tch! Be serious for once”, Madhu scolded her. She was always the serious one among all of us. “ This is serious! Concentrate on the problem right now!”, she continued.
“But what is there to be serious about it?”, Ishika looked amused. “ There is only one solution for Kumkum – just ignore that kleptomaniac – just say a firm No”, she concluded.
All three of them turned to look at me. They waited for my verdict.
“I want to say that but I also want to be sure…”, I mumbled helplessly.
“What is it that you want to be sure of ? Don’t you believe us ? “, Madhu demanded to know.
“Exactly. And it is not just us. You can ask our other class-mates too…From some she used to borrow regularly, then when they stopped giving she stopped interacting…forget about repaying”, Sipra seconded her.
“ And then she went down to the level of stealing…watch from Madhu’s house, a crystal figurine from Sipra’s , a pair of ear-rings from my dressing table….”, Ishika looked disgusted as she spoke.
“ Arrey yaar, at first I thought it was the servant. Thank God, I called up up Madhu and Ishika…when they too said that things had got stolen after her visit, we understood the mathematics.”
“And wasn’t she married to a rich man?”, Madhu asked.
“ Yeah, yeah…a doc’ or something of that stuff…she was the first one to be married”, Ishika answered. Sipra by then had gone back to her plate of mini samosas and chips.
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t decide.
“Don’t ponder over it yaar…Just say you are busy!”. Madhu persuaded.
“ But I want to know the truth”, I tried to reason.
“ Or better still- catch her red-handed”, Sipra moved her plate aside and sat up.
“ Yes, this is much better. We need to make her realize that we are not dumb idiots”. Madhu and Ishika both seemed to love the idea.
“Hmm…hopefully…”, I said as I got up to go.
“Why so soon yaar…our gossip session is yet to begin”, they chorused.
“Some other day…for sure”. I didn’t want to linger any longer. A bitterness was gradually spreading to every part of my body.
“And do keep us informed about the outcome of your adventure”, Ishika signed off as she closed the door behind me.
Adventure ? I wriggled. Something seemed to touch a raw nerve in my body.
*** *** *** *** ***
“Kummuuuuuuu”, she screamed in delight as soon as I opened the door. I stared at her for a few seconds. She looked almost the same as she was – about thirteen years ago. A hint of dark circles, a touch of wrinkles around her eyes…..but she was the same Sumi whom I had left back in the city. The same bronze complexion, the same twinkle in her eyes…She hugged me tight. A mild perfume reached my nose. There was a certain warmth in that embrace that I couldn’t ignore. I too hugged her tight.
“Wow…Kumu…you are a rich woman now, na?” She gaped at the interiors of my home as I led her in. She sunk herself in the coziness of the sofa and pulled my hand to hers.
“How are you Kumu ? I can’t even believe that I am sitting in front of you. I used to be so upset after you left for Ahmedabad with your parents….Remember how we had planned to study in the same college and marry on the same day?” She laughed out loud at her own joke. I returned a half-hearted smile.
“ How are Uncle-Aunty ? Are they still in Ahmedabad ? And why didn’t you marry? Or did you ? “ Her barrage of questions wouldn’t stop. I wanted to answer them – each and every one of them but somehow, something withheld me. Instead I asked one myself.
“How did you know I was back in the city ?”
She laughed out loud – her trademark laughter. “ Arrey, you are a top-shot journalist now. Everyone knows about your whereabouts.”
“ And you took the trouble of even searching for my contact number”. I was amazed at the sternness with which I spoke those words. Sumi looked stunned for a few seconds – just a few seconds and then let out a big smile. “ Why not yaar….among the group of five you were my best friend”. Then having remembered something she put her hand inside the big, brown bag that she was carrying. “ Aah…look at me…what a fool I am…I almost forgot this”. Like a deft magician she brought out a small box. A box of sweets. “ Can you guess what’s inside this? “ She held the box in front of me. The name of the shop printed on the box looked familiar, the styling looked different – much more posh and stylish….a clever marketing strategy. “Guess, guess…”, she persuaded. Then not being able to withhold the surprise any longer she blurted out, “ Tan..tana..for my best friend …her favourite sweets…lime-scented sweets…”. The childishness with which she spoke those words almost clogged my throat with an unknown pain. I took the box from her. With the weight of the box I could guess that there would hardly be four to five sweets inside it. “ You still like them, na?” she asked suspiciously, not having received the desired response that she had presumed. I didn’t want to hurt her so much. “Yes, of course…I really missed them all these years”, I assured her.
***
She moved her fingers over the shiny object. My watch. She picked it up and looked at it with admiring glance. Should I go and just ask her what she was doing with my watch ? Or should I wait till she puts it in her bag ? No, no…never so easily…I must see what she does next. The journalist is me was curious to probe further….
“ Can I use your bathroom ?” She had asked a few minutes earlier. That was my cue to wake up my alert self. I had shown her the bathroom and waited behind the heavy curtains of the bedroom. And that is when I saw her picking up the watch I had kept on the side-table…
I tiptoed back to the drawing room – deciding to let her lay her hands on the treasure that she longed for. I did not want the game to get over so soon.
***
I don’t know how long I had been sitting like that. The coziness of the sofa, nor the chill of the air-conditioner were giving me enough comfort. The mild chimes of the Chinese wind-chime were failing to wipe away my tears. I could only see a collage of little pictures in front of my eyes – the big green gate of Nivedita Vidya Mandir, blue ribbons, white dresses – starched and ironed, giggling girls throwing left-over colored water at each other after every drawing class, the spiral stair-case winding up to the school library, the giant mango tree exuding a heavy scent of mango flowers during summer…
“ You five monkeys!”, Miss Moitra would scream at us.
“ Famous Five, Miss!”, we would correct her.
“Let me catch you all once more and you would just be out!” Saying this she would unknowingly but invariably point her finger towards the boy’s school in the neighbourhood.
“Gladly Miss!”, Sumi would whisper to a chorus of our suppressed giggle.
We would buy a single orange ice-lolly– two rupees a piece – and take turns to lick till our lips would turn fluorescent orange. We would finish off the Aloo-parathas and breads – carefully hiding them below our wooden desks, much before lunch time so that we could spend the break-time for socially serious activities like debating over Amir Khan or Salman Khan….But somehow amidst all these there was a special bond that grew between Sumi and Me. Even though we were always moving in a group of five, both of us shared a soft corner for each other. That was probably because we both walked our way back home together while the rest three went by school bus. Every afternoon after the school time we would walk the entire stretch of Elgin Road – making our way through the shadow of roadside trees – Gulmohar, Neem, Wild Champa. We would chat our way back home, only to make a stopover at Nepal Sweets. We would jiggle our coins in front of the glass-case and the old shopkeeper would hand over our coveted treasure – two lime scented sweets – pale yellow in colour with a mild lime essence. It was our marijuana. We would take a bite with our eyes closed and let the syrupy liquid drip and slither down our palms. We would shamelessly lick the stream of syrup off our palms. Just then the school bus would pass by. Ishika, Madhu and Sipra would crane out their necks from a single bus window and scream out :
“ Lime scented sweets
Only two;
One for me
And one for you”.
We would stick out our tongues in retaliation.
The buzz of the mobile dragged me from the abyss of long, lost memories. A message from Madhu. “Waiting eagerly to know what happened. Could you catch that thief red-handed ?”. Thief ? The word pierced my soul.
*** *** *** ***
The building looked dilapidated. If not for the discoloured sign-board no one would believe that this could be a hospital…It was probably lunch time and visiting hours.A variety of people with a variety of lunch cases, files, folders, medical reports were entering and leaving the building. There were two security guards near the entrance of the annex building where Sumi entered with hurried steps. I followed her. Careful not to miss her trail but far enough to avoid her attention in case she makes a turn. I laughed to myself. I always secretly wished to be a detective and now I actually seemed like one.
“Bed number ? Card ?” One of the security personnel stopped me at the entrance. And all this while I was thinking that they were hardly bothered about the visitors! My heart began to race. Ofcourse I didn’t have a card. I did not even know where I was heading to. But somehow my journalist instinct worked…I casually took out my office ID card and flashed it in front of them. One of the guards squinted his eyes to read the card. Then, for a reason best known to him, he let me go in. I was afraid that I had missed Sumi. But as I entered the dimly lit corridor I saw her disappearing into one of the wards to the left. This part of the building was probably a new one for I could smell fresh paints. It was also least crowded. The ward that she entered in had a heavy green curtain hanging at the entrance. Should I stand here or go inside? I debated with myself. I decided on the former. There were a handful of people – nurses, family member of some patients standing or loitering here and there in the corridor. No one would mind my presence, I guessed. I tried to look in through the curtain. A broad slit in the middle offered a slice of the view inside. There, right across the door, in front of a bed, stood Sumi. As she moved nearer to the bed I could now see clearly. A little girl, all of five or six years sat smiling on the bed. She looked frail, thin and her hair was cropped short but with bronze complexion and her dimples she looked a replica of Sumi. But more than that, it was the twinkle in her eyes that lent a kind of aura to her face. “ Ahaaa…here you are Mammam…I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting for you….Do you know I saw one Tom cat ? He was sitting on the window sill and smiling at me .”
Sumi pulled her nose and said, “ So did you say hello to him ?”
“ Ofcourse. And he asked me : Where is your Mammam ?” She modulated her voice to resemble that of a cat. Sumi pulled out an apple from her bag for her to eat. Another woman, who was probably the mother of yet another child, came and stood near her. “Could you manage to deposit the cash?”
“Not yet…but very soon….they must start the process tonight…”. Sumi’s voice sounded tired.
The woman placed one hand on Sumi’s shoulder. “You are a brave woman…Thalassemia is not an easy enemy to fight with. Atleast I have my family support, you are fighting it out alone….Why don’t you ask your ex-husband to provide some financial support?…After all she is his child too…”.
Sumi’s lips quivered a little as she let out a dry smile, “ None of them want my child to survive, they do not want to fight a losing battle – and I do not want to give up…I will go to any extent to ensure her treatment…beg, borrow or……” . Her voice trailed off, as two unruly drops of water made their way down her cheeks.
“Excuse me…are you waiting for someone?” A voice echoed beside me. Startled I looked at her. A nurse with a tray full of medicines… I mumbled some excuse and moved away…retracing my steps through the corridor. My legs seemed heavy as lead, my head began to throb and there was a reluctant mass of something stuck to my throat.
***
“Didi…why have you not put on the lights?”
I tried to discover the source of the voice in the darkness. I must have slept off…It was only when she put on the light that I discovered my maid Anju standing and looking at me with bewilderment. “Why are you lying on the sofa? Had you been out somewhere? The door was open…”
I looked at the watch. It was late evening already.
I decided to go and change my dress before her curiosity got better of her. I also needed to take a medicine for the throbbing head-ache.
I asked Anju to make a tea for me and went to the bed-room to change my dress. As I put on the light my eyes automatically riveted to the side table. To my utter surprise, amidst the loose papers, bills and a paper weight lay my watch – shining and intact! So she didn’t take my watch…she couldn’t…may be she didn’t want to…With shaky fingers I picked up the watch. It seemed to stare mockingly at my face.
“Didi, your tea is ready”. Anju stood at the door. “ And I wanted to ask you if I should throw these sweets away. They look stale”. She held out the open box to me. Like a maniac I snatched the box from her hands. She shrugged and went away. I held the box close to myself. Four pale yellow sweets sat huddled inside the box – three black ants were already encircling them – probably deciding on a strategy to reach their food. I brought them close to my nose and inhaled the scent. A stale but mild lemony scent hit my olfactory cells. Thirteen years ago they smelt of friendship but today somehow they carried the scent of motherhood.
__END__
