Thirteen
First Goa, now Australia. What business do you do?' said Vidya, her eyes the
size of the new one-rupee coins.
'Fred kept his promise when Ish wrote to him again. We received tickets in the
mail,' I said. We had finished class and I wanted to tell her about my impending
absence.
'So who are the two people going?' she said.
'Not two, four. Ali and the three of us are going,' I said.
'Lucky bums,' she laughed.
'So, I will be away for ten days. But your books won't be. Vidya, all my students
do well. Don't let me down.' 'You also don't let me down,' she said. 'How?'
'Forget it. So where are you going in Australia?'
'Sydney. Fred is from there. Ali will practice in his academy for a week. When
your brother sets his mind on something, he goes real far.'
'Unlike me. I can't focus. I'm sure I will flunk my medical entrance. I will be
stuck in this hellhole home even in college. And then I will get married into
another hell-hole in some backward part of Gujarat.'
'Gujarat is not backward,' I retorted.
'Maybe I am too forward.'
We locked eyes again. In an entrance exam for insolence, Vidya would top easy.
I opened her guide books.
'Why are studies so boring? Why do you have to do something so uninteresting
to become something in life?'
'Vidya, philosophical questions, no. Mathematical questions, yes,' I said and
stood up to leave.
'Will you get me something from Australia?'
'Ask your brother, he will get you whatever you want.' I restacked the books.
No way would I spend more cash than I needed to.
'Anyway, we are on a tight budget,' I clarified. She nodded as if she understood.
'So, will you miss me?' I continued to look down.
'You have a budget for how much you can miss people, too?' she asked.
'Do your sums, Vidya. Focus,' I said and left.
★
'You guys tired or wanna hit practice?' were Fred's first words of welcome at
the airport.
'Where is my bed?' I wanted to ask.
We had taken an overnight train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, waited six more
hours to board a fourteen-hour flight to Sydney via Singapore. Thirty hours of
travel in cramped environments and I wanted to kill myself with sleep.
'Oh, so we made it in time for practice?' Ish looked out at the streets of Sydney.
At 7 a.m. in the morning, joggers clogged the pavements. Picture-postcard coffee
shops advertised delicious muffins.
I patted the khakras in my bag. We couldn't afford any cakes In this town.
'I go to the academy ground in the morning,' Fred said as he stepped on the
gas. 'I've put you up in a hostel. Take a nap first I'd say. Philip will pick you up
for the evening practice.'