CHAPTER 22-AURANGZEB'S AURANGABAD

Ananya and I were so engrossed in our conversation that we lost track of time but all of a sudden she started feeling cold and started to shiver. So I woke up Savannah Mam and informed her. It was summer and not chilly at all but Ananya being the delicate doll that she was somehow couldn’t take a slight drop in the temperature which was both amusing and frightening at the same time because she was really shivering. Naveed sir had woken up by all the commotion and asked her to put on a couple of pairs of socks too and in a little while she was back to normal. But one thing that did to me was suddenly made me very protective of her. I realized I couldn’t bear to see her in trouble again. The train reached Aurangabad and we all got down. I had gotten into the train with a frown but now I had a huge grin on my face. My friends not coming here was a blessing in disguise. Had they been here they wouldn’t have let me go to the girl’s compartment ever and I wouldn’t have had a chance to know this amazing girl who lived in the same apartment as me, went to the same tutorials as me but had remained a stranger for so many years. I thought to myself Ananya would have remained anonymous to me had I not come here thanks to daddy. And in hindsight when I look at it now I am happy we didn’t have smart phones back then. Had that been then she would have surely been playing candy crush saga and thinking about her crush and I would have been busy chatting on whatsapp with Preeti or my friends in Warangal or playing Ruzzle. But the cricket matches were always in the back of my mind and I am glad I had someone else who shared the same dilemma as me,Kaleem sir. Kaleem sir was only a year older to me and the youngest facilitator among the yuva sena members. He was the guy incharge of all the logistical arrangements and did his job with a lot of passion. He was also a part of the Hyderabad cricket team at that time and had to miss out on the Warangal tour like me because he was needed more here. He was the most wanted man at camps and everyone fondly called him Laalu because his cheeks would become rosy red whenever he stepped out in the sun or got a little angry or upset which was quiet a lot. We reached our stay which was basically a function hall with three rooms and a huge hall. The girls occupied two of the rooms and the boys were to share one room and the hall. As soon as we reached the place we jumped on the nearest mattress and collapsed into a sweet slumber, me more than the others because of the night long rendezvous with Ananya and I only woke up when Laalu shook me by the shoulder and asked me to wake up and get ready for the day. He also gave me the good news that we had beaten Warangal by 3 wickets in the first match this morning. I was very happy with the result and more so because now I knew I had someone here I could talk about cricket with. I freshened up, had my breakfast but I didn’t feel energetic until I saw Ananya look at me and smile and suddenly the day started looking brighter. I was hoping that when we were divided into groups she would be in the same group as me but unfortunately that didn’t happen. But in the bus she sat next to me and kept on talking about how excited she was that Arhaan was in her group. I was really happy for her and gave her a few tips that I thought would help her to get his attention. Laalu stood next to our seats and spoke a lot about cricket,specially Sachin Tendulkar because he was a die hard fan of the little master. We became really good friends after that and whenever he wasn’t busy making some arrangements or the other he would stay with my group and we would talk about a lot of serious stuff like life,future plans,love and the country. He wasn’t like my other friends, he was more mature,spoke a lot of sense and was a responsible person. It didn’t mean I did not like my gang anymore but this was a pleasant change when I wanted a serious perspective on something. That day we visited the Bibi ka Maqbara which is a poor man’s version of the Taj Mahal dedicated to the memory Emperor Aurangzeb’s wife. I had not heard any good things about Aurangzeb ever and this only added to the list that he had no creativity of his own and had plagiarized a monument built for his mother.But then we saw the Daulatabad fort which was enormous and had a three layered protection all around and was surrounded by a moat to keep the enemy away and we could see the Chand Minar,Bharat Maatha Temple and Chini Mahal from there. The tour guide spoke in broken English and gave us interesting details and snippets about the monuments but the most fun part was when Zafar and Salim who were in my group mimicked him and we all had an hearty laugh at how they murdered the queen’s English. The monuments were boring to my teenage mind but on the positive side I did learn a few things and make a lot of new friends. Ananya met me during lunch and told me she didn’t really like Arhaan’s attitude and he was not as interesting as had hoped but now he was paying her more attention that she had asked for and he kept trying to talk to her with some excuse or the other. That was exactly the opposite of what she wanted this morning and I learnt a very important lesson that day-it’s impossible for men to know what women want because even women don’t know what they really want.

CHAPTER 21-ANANYA!

Summer had begun and all I did all day was go to public garden with Preeti and her friends for early morning walks, eat mangoes three times a day, play cricket all afternoon and hang out with my gang till late in the night. I don’t know if heaven exists or not but to me heaven would be a lot like this. No exams or uniforms to worry about, long walks with the girl of your dreams, cricket all day in the summer sun and mangoes which I believe are even Gods favorite fruit. Dad wanted me to come to his shop and help him out a little and learn the tricks of the trade. I don’t know if hell exists but if it did it would be about sitting in the same cushion chair all day long near a table fan which throws out hot air, checking totals with a calculator and smiling at every customer your dad introduces you to and then giving them your mini bio-data as they shoot questions at you. So obviously I wasn’t going there and missing out on the best time of my life by choosing hell over heaven. So when I asked him permission to go to Warangal to participate in the annual tri-series cricket tournament between us (Hyderabad), our arch-rivals Secunderabad and the home team Warangal he refused and said “you anyway play cricket all day,everyday so there’s no point in going all the way to Warangal to do the same instead the Yuva Sena is organizing an educational excursion to Ajanata, Ellora and Auranagabad, if you wanna go out of the city in your vacations that’s where you are going or stay back here.” I cribbed and cried and tried to throw tantrums with mom but it was all in vain. I realized dad’s plan now, he knew that my gang would all be going to Warangal and wouldn’t be interested in the historic monuments and if I was bored and alone in the city I would have no other choice but to go to the shop. So I decided I was not gonna let the scheming work and aptly told him I was going to go to the city built by Aurangzeb, the Emperor who killed his father’s dreams - Aurangabad. I then tried convincing Preeti to come but her parents didn’t allow her and I was left stranded and alone. We were going to go to Aurangabad by train and mom and dad dropped me to the railway station and I stood there looking at everyone who was going with me, I recognized some of them as they were Timmy’s friends and knew these were the guys I was gonna stick to for the next few days and I somehow recognized most of the girls and the facilitators too as they were the usual suspects who came to these camps. At that point I was too worried about missing out on Warangal and the fun with my gang and did not see it as an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends as it turned out to be. The train started and the boys and the girls were allotted separate compartments but the boys had outnumbered the girls and Wajeed sir came looking for a few boys to move into the girl’s compartment. He was very fond of me and I was among the 8 boys chosen to go there. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the trip and gladly grabbed my bag and my chance and went along with him. Once there we all exchanged pleasantries with the girls and the female faculty and tired to settle down. We were all a little uncomfortable as the girl’s compartment had a very different atmosphere to that of the boy’s one. The boys were boisterous and loud and making fart jokes whereas here a few of the girls were whispering and giggling among themselves and the rest were busy playing antakshari. Savannah mam asked us to join them and we started competing boys against girls and singing the lastest bollywood numbers. I tried to make sure that the songs were as romantic as possible to see the girls blush and smile. There was this girl gang of three-Ananya,Medha and Zafeen who were the loudest and the most active singers. I knew them from the tutorials but I had never spoken to them. I used to dislike them because Ananya used to ask a lot of silly questions in class and unnecessarily prolong it and Medha used to act as her bodyguard and fight with anyone who made fun of her.Zafeen was much quieter and simpler and only spoke to these two. It was getting late in the night so Savannah Mam dispersed the gathering and asked us all to get some sleep. I was given the side berth and Ananya was on the one next to me. I wasn’t sleepy and was talking to Mubeen and Nazim who were sitting on the berth below me. So Ananya asked me “aren’t you guys sleepy?” I replied “no,not really” and that’s when the conversation started. Ananya- “who did you have in mind while singing all those romantic songs?” “your girlfriend?” Me- ha ha ha, yeah maybe! Ananya- “you wont tell me her name?” Me- As if you don’t know already. Ananya- Samreen? Me- ha ha ha, no her friend Preeti. She looked a little shocked and said “what???”, I don’t think you guys make a good couple,atleast Samreen is sweet. I smiled and said I disagree,you have to know her better to like her.Mubeen,Nazim,Zafeen and Medha joined the conversation at this point and we sat down talking about crushes,who liked who here,who were the couples on the trip, which guys they found creepy,which girls were cute,which ones were fake and all that till three in the morning after that one by one everyone fell sleepy and went back to their places to sleep and just Ananya and me were left. She asked me to look out of the window and see how beautiful the moon looked,I tried looking from where I was but couldn’t get a clear view so she asked me to come closer to where she was sitting. So I slid closer to where she was and we sat down really close and looked at the full moon and the twinkling stars for about half an hour,she told me about the guy she had a crush on,Arhan,who was also on the trip and she thought that even he liked her because she had caught him looking at her a few times before. I had never really noticed how pretty she was but the full moon night and the cool breeze blowing through the windows accentuated her beauty and i noticed her very fair skin,her shining silky hair and her brown eyes for the first time and felt mesmerized by her, I don’t think she noticed me admiring her because she kept on talking and talking and I just sat there smiling and listening to everything she had to say. I knew right then that this was the start of a really special friendship.