Rolling back..

Yes the cell did ring. But it wasn't that day and it was that time.It was ten days back when Rishi was busy cooking his dinner, that call was least expected of all. He let it ring since cooking was more important to him at that time. Once he was done with cooking, he sat down to taste his new experiment and he did seem to enjoy it at first but couldn't have more than a cup. he then laughed at himself for missing a key ingredient that would make this dish a perfect meal. He cleaned the utensils, made sure that his kitchen looked clean and then spread the mat to lie down gazing the ceiling as the fan rattled with rust. To set an alarm so as to wake up early next morning, he reached out for his cellphone and then he realised that he had a missed call earlier that evening. He checked the call list and it was Nisha, his childhood friend. They went to school together. She's been his friend for almost 18 years. And the first thing which came to his mind looking at her name was the hard punch he got from her in their tenth class when he tried copying from her answer sheet in the exam. His eyes widened in the same way they did way back in that exam hall. 'Why??' he asked himself. 'it's been so long ..say what 3 or 4 years since I spoke to her. what could be the reason? Is something wrong and what about..' 'Enough !!' cried out his mind. 'Stop guessing and call her immediately' and his hands didn't even wait for his mind to deliver the message and dial button was pressed involuntarily. She answered the call with a robotised tone "hello". Rishi had to start the conversation as always " wassup !!" and he dint have to wait too long to get a reply from her "Dude !! its not cool to pretend cool" Rishi laughed as always and asked "So you called me?" and she replied doing some work on the other end "that was hours ago. U didn't answer. were you busy?". 'Busy' was one such word which made rishi completely uncomfortable to handle with.He had to skip that question so he diplomatically replied with another question "So u called me for a reason?" and this time it was Nisha's turn to have the laugh and she said out loud "Happy Birthday u Dumbass". 'Oh she does remember my birthday' Rishi patted himself. 'So she doesn't call you for 4 years but yet she remembers, thats good to know. Ok so no - new year calls, no - happy friendship day calls, no - happy sankranthi wishes yet she remembers my birthday, that's so sweet of her. So should I reply with a simple thank you or pretend as if I forgot my birthday and then specially thank her, u know act as if u don't care for such special days, But you do right, Oh common its Nisha after all, whats wrong in giving her such credit. Ya I understand but wouldn't be a lie? it's ok chill man.. its my birthday I can fool around with my friend big deal' and just then he heard her shout " Hello..are u even there??" Rishi then came back to reality knowing that he was lost again in his thoughts talking to himself forgetting that Nisha was still in the call and he replied after so much talking and reasoning with "Thank you Nisha" 'ya right that was the best thing to say in the end. you Moron' he nodded his head in dismay closing his eyes.

"you see. that's why I force you to finish your homework and come prepared for class every day but u kids don't seem to listen" Rishi turned back to the black board and erases the new topic which he wrote eariler and starts scribbling the previous day's homework problems from elementary Geometry of 6th class Math's text book. Students silently opened their books to note down the questions while satish stood there with his head down. Rishi turned back to the class and said "I knew it. I knew Satish wasn't the only one who skipped homework. So many dumboss waiting for me to solve these problems." no one speaks a word. Rishi looks at them, gives a sarcastic smile and looks at satish waiting for an explanation. Satish lifts his head up with his common posture of folding hands still on and wih a low voice speaks out "Master. I can solve the first problem. I would do it right away if you want me to" Rishi laughs and throws a piece of chalk at satish and satish makes no mistake in catching it. Rishi continues to stare as Satish walks towards the board crossing over all the fellow students sitting on the ground. He is now standing right next to the black board and waiting for his master approval to touch the board. Rishi smiles with a nod and Satish starts writing the solution on board as his classmates note the same in their books. Rishi does nothing much other than making sure that Satish doesn't go wrong. Satish finishes the problem turns towards Rishi to hand him over the remaining piece of chalk. Rishi doesn't seem to be interested in Satish anymore. He looks down to the class which now has three hands raised to solve the next problem. Rishi tells Satish to give that peice to Rajini on his way back to his place as Rajini stands up and starts walking towards the board. For the next half an hour Rishi learns that most of the students solved their homework problems on their own in the class room without much of his help. Once all the problems were solved, Rishi erases the black board and writes the next topic 'Circle and its properties' on board but before getting into the subject, turns back to the class and asks "So none of you have a problem with my teaching?" No student answers that question and Rishi takes their silence for granted and goes to next question "But u do have an issue doing home work at home" no one speaks again but Rishi observes Satish tilting his head up to look at Rishi but immediately puts his head. Rishi contiunes "In a one hour class what will you learn if half of it is gone in completing the previous day's homework. How long should it go. Don't you want to learn new things. All I ask is to spend one hour at home and you will be done with your homework once and for all. you can play whenever you want but study when you have to" Rishi then stops his preaching and turns towards the board and starts writing with a sigh of helplessness. His scribbling stops as he hears a small voice "We can't". Rishi immediately turns back and his sight goes straight to the origin of the voice.The whole class nods as Rajini says it again "We can' master" Rishi laughs out loud and questions her sarcastically "So u say U all are busy?" and this time Satish speaks out "Yes master. we are". Rishi's smile stops and he now looks seriously at satish as he puts his head down Rishi now addresses the whole class " So you tell me that you kids are so busy that you don't want to do your homework. What keeps you busy. Criket, gilly danda, roaming, playing. ?? what exactly. Let me also know" Satish replies " we work master. We have to help our parents in the field after school. We get very tired by the time we reach home. that is why we can't do my homework" Some how rishi doesn't get offended by their honesty Infact he seems to enjoy such frankness at an early age in his pupil. he laughs out loud for which the class seems to be in surprise and stare at each other in confusion. Rishi then addresses them with his head bent "Love you all for being so honest with me. Let's come to a deal. we will go step by step and no homeworks from here on. All I ask from you is to learn quickly. Lets increase our speed so that we can solve more problems in class itself" Class understands his intention but replies nothing but silence. Rishi then shouts " Oh common!! don't make me tell a bad joke to make u all smile" and class then turns alive once again.

Rishi teaches Maths in the government school of Bhiravapuram and the earnings he got from such a job was good enough for him to make his living in that small town. He loved his job and that was evident with the dedication he had to this profession for the past 3 years. In an era where being a doctor or an engineer was ‘the’ thing, He chose teaching as he belonged to those few who followed their hearts. He didn’t have big dreams or unreachable goals. His love for Mathematics made him a good teacher by day and a better student by night. He was preparing for his higher studies and wanted to do a PhD in Computational mathematics. Cell phone was his only connection with the outside world. As the class came to an end Rishi asked the class one last question "So how can radius of a circle decide on how big a circle can be?" and he dint have to wait much longer to get an instant answer. One of the students answered "If i tie a buffalo to a pole, the largest circle it can walk around the pole depends on the length of the rope with which it is tied to" Rishi smile back to that student in agreement. He didn't take that answer as a surprise as he got used to such brilliant answers every time he threw a conventional question which had a ready made answer in the textbook. Bell rang and everyone stood up to thank him, which was Rishi's favorite part in every class. His pupil would then sing to him in chorus "Thaaaaannkkkk youuuu Maaaaasterrrr" Rishi with a wide smile would reply to them every time with "Uuu aaareeee Welcommmee...my dear friends" And he left the class. His next class was half an hour and it was the most challenging class for him, teaching the students of class 2. His cell rang and that was something strange to happen. He usually has a 2 days gap between each call as he never makes a call to anyone and no one was idle to call him and talk to. The last time he talked to was Nisha and that was the previous night. He took the cell out and widened his eyes once again and answered the call with "Hello"

There was no talking being done to him from the other end but all he could hear is a Nisha shouting to some one else keeping her cell phone aside " How many times should I tell you proof read these articles thoroughly especially when they are written by our new apprentices. Why don't you take my words seriously. And please tell them to use English to express and convey the news but not to complicate it and boast on how good they are at their vocabulary. Are u there " she immediately switched to the phone call without a pause. "Yup" replied Rishi as a noble gesture in letting her continue the conversation and to know her purpose of calling. She took a pause and then asked "So what did u decide?" Rishi knew this question would eventually rise and so he answered "I am in". She wanted one more confirmation before she proceeded in implementing the plan so she straightly asked "Actually I was planning for this weekend and I think u already knew that right ??" For Rishi answering that question was not a choice, He knew that when Nisha asks such questions, Yes was the only answer she would take but Rishi wanted to play it a bit tricky this time so he said "But I was wondering how would you be able to take a leave in such short notice. You work even on Saturdays." and she thrashed it back spontaneously with a laugh and said "I got my leave approved already. Its your turn to convince your headmaster. So chill then, I will call you in the evening and we shall discuss the plan" Rishi was surprised on knowing that she had this in her mind long back and she also took into her confidence that he would not back out. he then felt proud for her instincts and in the midst of such thoughts he had to end the conversation so he replied "I am on my way to his room. I am sure he will not make a big scene out of it. Ok then.talk to you in the evening." and the call went blank. No parting 'bye' and nothing of that sort. This is what Rishi like the most in their conversations no matter how small they were. They din't have to go through the formality of greetings and wishing.

Rishi walked towards the head master's office and while he was walking he recollected the events of the day when Nisha came running to his house few years back after getting to know that she made it to the final list of Apprentices for south India's largest circulated Newspaper "NirBhay" He could still cherish the joy in her eyes when she told him that she would put her everything even her soul to be a key contributor of such a news paper which didn't fear to gives the best news of current times. He could see her progress year by year and laughed at the way she was she was shouting on the proof reader for the mistakes of new apprentices who shared the same dream she once had. Of course she had to do her job in correcting them when ever necessary. That's the minimum responsibility she holds these days and being an assistant Editor is no cake walk.He informed the attendant that he wanted to meet the head master. The attendant went in and immediately came out informing Rishi that head Master was free and would see him for sure. 

Blink..

He could hear those giant tides thrashing the rocks. Sitting on a hill,he was having a beautiful view of the horizon. The moment was perfect, it was still and unimaginably peaceful. He sat there for almost ten to fifteen minutes without uttering a word. And then there was a sudden change in weather, leaves started shattering on the near by trees, clouds moved in as snails mocking the shining sun and in no time it started drizzling. It was then He realized that he was not alone and he had started to feel the rain drops racing in from sky to target him with their best aim. He looked across the rocky path and roughly ten feet away she was sitting there on a small rock lost in the blanket of nature. He called out her name "Nishaaa" . She didn't react. He called her again this time with a questioning tone "Nishaa??" She didn't react again but he could see her eye brows narrowing for such a disturbing noise in a peaceful place. She was least bothered and was not ready to blink away from such a view. He had to bring her back to her senses before he lost his in that rain so he called her again in spite of knowing that this time his voice would surely irritate her. He was about to raise his voice to call her name again but she interrupted him with a sharp reply "What??" He stared at her for a moment and talked to her in a soft tone. "It's raining" for which she replied "It's not raining, its just a slight drizzle". He was not ready for such a mockery at that moment but still he had to make a point so he said " I know its not heavy but are we not getting wet? Let's make a move"  For the first time she turned towards him and by the look of hers he knew that he will be beaten back with some kind of logic which as usual would shut his mouth ending the discussion. She went on with a sarcastic smile "Rishi !! for years we have been trained to take care of ourselves, to live in a circle, to make sure we win and to cherish the moments which would remain forever. This is one such moment for which I had to travel for 14 hours and now when I am living it to the fullest potential with such an intoxicating silence, Do you really think that this stupid rain will stop me from seizing this moment ? Do you ? I don't think so" she turned her head back in to that direction where she once held her face immersed in the scenic view of setting sun over the horizon as the blue ocean continued to kiss the invisible sky. Rishi couldn't hear anything else except those words which kept on revolving around his head. The shattering leaves, the sound of tides and the touch of rain drops made no difference to him anymore. He looked up and could see clouds smiling back challenging him to enjoy the outburst. He could sense a smile appearing from no where on his face as he closed his eyes facing the sky. Shallow Drizzles turned into heavy rain and though he had an umbrella with him he cared not to use it for the deal he had made with those clouds that evening. He turned his face back to the horizon and kept staring at the rhythmic dance of tides approaching the shore. He blinked for a moment after a long stare and suddenly everything seemed to vanish. He blinked hard one last time and a flash of lightening blinded his eyes and with a jolt he opened his eyes.

'Last stop bhai log..Last stop' shouted the bus attendant waking the passengers diplomatically. Rishi was taken aback as the bus came to a sudden halt. "That couldn't be a dream" were the first words his mind spoke to him and he nodded in consent. He looked at his watch, it was 6.30 am and he looked out of the window only to find familiar cross roads with an Ntr statue in its center, which had been his companion for the past three years, greeting him in the same way it did every time Rishi passed through that road.He was back in Bhiravapuram, a small town in Ratnagiri District which is agriculturally the richest district of Andrha Pradesh. He could see people gathering around early tiffin centers, vegetable vendors arranging their daily routine talking to one another about previous days market highlights, buffaloes careless passing by the bus as the guy guiding them washing his teeth with a stick, and the owner of the udipi hotel across the bus stop reading his favorite newspaper.He closed his eyes and tried hard to check whether he is still dreaming but in vain. But his mind shouted back to him 'That couldn't be a dream' . 'I know' Rishi replied to himself and immediately got down from the bus. he took out his cellphone from the bag. switched it on and as he walked made the first call in the dial list which was Nisha. There was no answer from the other side and it clearly said that the number he is trying for is either switched off or unreachable. Rishi stopped for a moment and tried calling again ignoring the increasing traffic of the early morning buses and school students rushing into the bus stop from the streets. Still no answer and he kept on calling and within second his hands started shivering. He was trying to figure why he was sweating unnecessarily. He walked at an increase pace to his home. locked himself in and tried calling that number in some doubtful hope that at some point eventually his call will be answer but that never happened. He then kept his cell aside and went to the rest room to freshen up.

And then cell started ringing...