CHAPTER-25
THE PANDEMIC
Dhilip’s POV
“It's ok, dude. Draw rangoli itself”, said I, extending the blank sheet to her. She denied it while we joined hands. I volunteered to color with a blue ballpen. While she drew random designs like an artist, we, the three guys shrugged at her controversial statement that she couldn’t draw!
“Artist! Jai ho!”, cheered Jacob, as we completed the drawing and I called Ramesh. He exchanged it with another team’s chit-pieces in his hands. As we chuckled and grabbed random chits, assembling them to construct a complete and sensible drawing, identical to that of the original, Sameer and Jacob argued with each others’ suggestions.
Ridhima and I were more occupied with consoling them rather than joining the broken pieces together. At last, we rested our chins on the right hands and sighed at the heavy dark floral designs sounding symmetrical from all directions.
“I can crack the UPSC exam but not put this drawing in place. Phew!”, roared the exhausted Sameer, rubbing his eyes with both palms. I shook my head wondering who the architect could possibly be.
“Which team is this, by the way?”, asked Ridhima. “They have done a lot of hard work to create this masterpiece…”
“No, they have made our life hard. What was the necessity?”
“Hard work in vain!”
“Guys, chill! Leave it halfway as it is. I’m sure Ramesh will understand”, said I. They gave me a leader’s feeling as they nodded at my final decision. I folded the sheet into two pieces, further two, and so on until we could cut it into sixteen pieces.
“How is it going, guys?”, intervened Ramesh. He laughed at our helplessness as we too let out a silent round of laughter.
“Can you please tell us whose team’s drawing you have passed down to us?”, asked Ridhima.
“Sure! Why not?”, exclaimed Ramesh, extending his hand straight downward. I traced him only to spot Rohini laughing with her team at the beach drawing a typical UKG child would do.
“Who? Dheeraj’s team! Hahaha!”, chuckled Rohini, as Veena slammed her own forehead, commenting, “Dude, why are we here, assembling this?” Rohini shrank her eyes and sat back, laughing more and more. “Aww, but the duck here is so cute”, she commented.
“Dude, look at the duck’s position on the clouds. Why will it float?”, mocked Veena, at which Rohini laughed aloud and looked around only to fail to notice me watching her. She shrugged thanking that none spotted her tripping like mad. She rested her head on Vaishali’s shoulders and laughed more. Her team was rather sad about not getting a challenging task.
I chuckled at the playful child in her. Ooo, she made me strive through the tangled designs, and look at what she got! No matter how hard it takes, I won’t return without getting you back this time. I blushed, noticing her lips move as she blinked, entangling her eyelashes, as she continued finding funnier points in the simple drawing they had assembled. There was a lot going on between the two of us. But, why didn’t I notice anything at all?
Sexy! Rohini medam, enough of laughing. Your drawing has reached me now. One day, very soon, I will reach you! I blushed, shaking my head along. But, Dhilip, I seriously don’t know if my heart can beat for her. Lemme see…
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It was 14th March 2020. Sexy! How can I forget the day? It somehow ended up as the last working day of our batch! The historic virus had started expanding its empire down here, in South India, too. The first-ever fest of MSA College of Engineering and Management was scheduled to be celebrated on the very next day when a ban was already imposed right there.
Groups of students, especially seniors, protested on the stage decorated with shamiana. Weeks of practice for cultural programs were almost in the bin. Our excitement lost their scopes.
“Guys, it seems that a girl in the E section is infected with corona”, said I, following Sameer to our bench. As we sat, Hassini turned back, correcting, “No, it's a rumor.” I threw my mouth open. Rohini chuckled at me and turned back. I blushed as I opened my Math notes.
Sexy! Aye, Dhilip, did you purposely utter it to grab your girl’s attention? Or, was it indeed in a flow? I witnessed my heart in the right fist inside which sat Rohini, with her red gown spread all around her. Her beautiful curvy dark eyelashes looked down and smiled. What! I shook my head and closed my eyes only to reopen them and witness my empty palm. I sighed hard.
“Machan! Where are you? I have been asking you something. Hello!”, Jacob yelled in my ears.
“Yes yes tell me. What’s the matter? No class?”
“When the college has circulated announcements to curb crowding within the campus by canceling the fest, why won’t they call off our classes?”, Veena got up and raised her voice. As others nodded, Kareena added, “Exactly dude! The other classes have already left home for fear of the pandemic.”
I agree that love is unanticipated. I also agree that the identity of our lover is a true mystery
until we feel the love!
Following the same lines, one thus ends up falling for a bad partner-the wrong love. It's fine!
Making a wrong decision is common among ordinary homosapiens like you and me.
However, correcting our blunder and returning to our right love is a worthy question whose
answer may either be a ‘YES’ or a ‘NO’ or sometimes a combination of both! There is only one
superpower that can answer this query: ‘TIME’
As Sameer coughed, I bulged my eyes and moved my shoulders away, to keep my distance from him. “No Machan, I had icecreams last night that's why…”, said he. I shook my hand. Rohini chuckled at me again. Oooo looks like the fire of love is burning in her heart as well. Sexy! Medam has also started noticing me, at last!!! Thanks to the great heavens!
“Let's leave!”, ordered Sudhan, packing his bag and gesturing for others to get up and follow him. As a gang of around ten classmates followed him towards the door, I was about to wear my bag when the escapers faced Smriti Ma’am face-to-face. They left Sudhan alone as they rushed back to their seats.
The amiable lecturer pulled his ear, leading him back inside the class. Pity the poor guy in round glassy spectacles and a black hoodie. While Kareena, Hassini, and a few others, including some guys requested a free class, Smriti denied it, grabbing the marker. As they cheered louder, Rohini closed her ears and chuckled back at me. I just nodded and shook my collar button as I blushed to myself.
“Agreed! Fine! But, under one condition!”, announced Smriti. As the class exchanged puzzled faces with each other, she clarified, “Only until you keep me occupied. Sing, dance, perform something, and entertain me!” She sat on the first desk beside Srithika and Gaurika.
“Who is performing now?”, asked Smriti, looking around and rotating her marker on the desk as if she played truth or dare. Rohini got up and headed towards the dias. Oooo, what guts! I bulged my eyes while Hassini began cheering for her.
“Come on, Rohini!!!”
“Are you performing, dude?”
Rohini looked around and shook her head. “No, I came here to take my UNIX assignment book”, she denied, rushing back to her seat. She looked down and swallowed the awkward moment. Sexy! Rohini medam is carefree. Hmm, how did I fail to notice you back then?!
Srithika throbbed for the popular Ghoomar song. Hassini chuckled, whispering to Veena, “Dude, I can’t control laughing..” The stage’s vibrations were loud enough to reach the last row! Rohini happened to burst out a round of laughter while Hassini pinched her to stay quiet.
A few CS guys sang like a choir while a silent guy broke his silence through his melodious performance. Oooo, didn’t know he had a side of AR Rahman! Such class activities never forget to bring out hidden talents.
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It had been two weeks since the Government imposed a lockdown throughout India. Work-from-home culture, no less than working round the clock, began rising everywhere. On the other hand, lakhs of dead bodies dominated crematoriums all over the Earth. It was such an unprecedented global crisis after a couple of unknown centuries. International flights were halted. Patients remained in quarantines for weeks together before they recovered.
Houses in my neighborhood remained locked. The rule of 144 was imposed to prohibit netizens from roaming outside and being attacked by the deadly virus that pestered doctors to work overnight worldwide. People dared to roam on bikes for their schools and colleges were closed. They were punished with penalties by the traffic cops who sometimes begged the public to just stay at home.
Death counts increased in a variety of ways, across different demographics, with the virus targeting the elderly senior citizens, in some places while targeting the young, in other corners. Thus, the first wave of the novel coronavirus hit India.
Netizens fought during their grocery shopping. News channels were busy emphasizing wearing masks and sanitizing our hands frequently. Movie and serial shootings were paused. Instead, old popular serials were re-telecasted on TV. Memes spreading awareness to stay at home round the clock with an old song, ‘Subah se shaam tak, shaam se raat tak’ combined with our honorable PM’s lockdown announcement, to exercise within the four walls to keep the quarantines happily engaged and so on.
Cooking blogs suddenly became a hot topic, just to earn passive income online. People developed new hobbies including Rohini who started writing and posting fictional episodic stories on a new blog site!
“Congo!”, I congratulated her for the top rank her novel achieved on her writing app. I thought that she had made an achievement in something related to CS.
“Thanks, Dhilip!”
“What's the Writehub actually?”
“It's a writing app”
“Oooo!”
Hmm, she was so damn creative and committed. Why didn’t I ever notice her back then?
Sexy! What a choice, Dhilip! I blushed and shook my head. Aye! I don’t know if I can ever choose her. Lemme see…I must think yet…
“Any idea when our college will reopen?”, Rohini texted me. I shared a website representing line graphs of the COVID-case count and death count in Bangalore and at the global level, with Rohini.
“I don’t think it will be anytime soon”, replied I, to which she agreed. We were struck with our M-4 assignments. Sometimes, she shared her answers while I did, at other times. Hmm, they sounded like joyous study holidays!
At Least doubt discussions began connecting us. Sexy! Hardly did I recognize the bright beginning! Oooo, done with trailers, at last. Every time my mobile beeped with her message, I felt my heart beat with different rhythms. Hmm, Dhilip, you have finally got a solid chance to analyze!
Wow! Has Rohini begun to notice Dhilip?!
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