authorities for our basic rights in the land of the rising sun,
Arunachal pradesh. The principal was exasperated and the management
out of funds this time. We students of class 9 wanted an outing and
the school was supposed to provide the means of transport but no, not
this time. We walked out in fury, it was a hard time living as a
student and not going out when the wild rivers beckoned you was a feat
considered impossible by our standards. We wanted a celebration but
our reasonable demands were out of the school management's sense of
logic. This school was run by an elite group which had its Indian
headquarters in Bangalore, and international one's in Rome and by
various loops and twists somehow came under the Pope himself but no it
couldn't afford our travel.
We returned to our classes. Kyra was in class, seeing her was always a
relief. She had come to our school earlier this year because her
father had been transferred to this valley. She was always like the
breeze coming from the rivers on a full moon night. The first time I
saw her she wore tiny blue trinklets on her ears and used a hair
colour called Burgundy which I found out later. Smart, fun loving and
always laughing. I don't know why girls giggle so much. In normal
circumstances I would've never be friended this cute girl but destiny
had other plans. One fine day our english maam had decided that we
should have a group discussion followed by a presentation. Kyra turned
out to be in my group and she debated on every point I put forward. I
didn't like it then but later the presentation evolved to such a
degree that we won. We became friends. I should talk to her I thought.
It was becoming an addiction nowadays. In my dreams, thoughts and
books... As I approached her, I noticed that she was designing a
friendship card with glitter pens and gift wrapping paper. Girls and
their antics..! I sat beside her and murmured something. She quickly
shoved away her card and stuff and smiled. Oh it was like sunshine
after a rain. So clear and still. I described my problem to her and
she was all ears.
The solution,her smile did the magic
Why don't we trek? Yeshere people weren't afraid of walking. The distance was like 6 kms to
a spot near the river Deopani which I heard is a tributary of the
river Siang and which finally joins the brahmaputra. Yes but how to
convince the principal regarding this was my next question. "leave
that to me", said kyra. She gracefully walked out of the classroom and
we followed her.
She entered the principal's office and smiled. He was pleased to see
her. We were close behind. She spoke something and then we too
entered. We began telling him the benefits of trekking and swimming in
the cool rivers and all the fun we would have at no additional cost to
the school. He finally agreed but said that we could go only if a
teacher agreed to herd this group of monkeys. We were joyous. The
second problem was finding a teacher who wouldn't mind trekking all
these miles. A teacher would be fun loving too because this group of
monkeys hated discipline. "Vandana maam" suggested someone and we all
rushed. After much coaxing and buttering she finally agreed.
Disasters in the making: the sun girl applies her brain
This time it was Kyra who came running to me. "We have a problem. Code
69". An emergency meeting was summoned and she spoke while we
listened. The girls had agreed to come to the outing hoping that there
would be a bus or tempo from the school but trekking all this distance
is not feasible to their skin. Oh.. The fair skinned divas had a
problem. If there were no girls there would be no proper cooking, fun
and even Vandana maam could refuse. We thought long and hard but there
was no solution. When the final school bell rang we went to our homes
musing our failure. At home I got a muffled call, it was kyra. She was
a hosteller and wasn't allowed to call anyone. Apparently she smuggled
one of the nun's phones. " I saw an ad, I saw an ad, about Lakme skin
cream, it prevents tanning." I ended the call and rushed to my
friend's home who worked part time in a shop. He opened the shop.
Actually here shops close after 8 pm and thus he had to open it again
for me. Gladly I went to school the next day with my solution. It was
a hard time convincing the girls. Finally we hit upon a solution and
organised a kho-kho competition amongst the girls during the games
period with one team applying the lakme sun exPERT and the other
without it. The results were heartening because the ones without the
cream had burned their skin a lot playing for only a mere 1 hour. On
the other hand the team with the cream which included Kyra
too didn't face any such issues. The girls agreed.
The rainy clouds cleared and we had a happy time
In Arunachalit can rain when you may not expect it. The outing was on a saturday
but it rained heavily on the day before. We all prayed that it may not
rain and foil our plans. Luckily it didn't. We had a memorable time
there. I was mesmerised to see the wide river, the big rocks, the
wrecked trees and everything else. It was paradise there. We started
off at 5 am and reached there by 9. We had packed everything like
utensils, rice, chicken, matches and carried them along. We boys
cleaned the chicken and cooked it. The girls burned half of the rice
but we relished that too. Our maam cooked something which till date I
call Vandana curry. We even played a primitive form of beach
volleycall without the net of course and with a football. We made
customs spears with bamboos and tried to catch some fish. When we had
lost all hope one of us caught a big one. Cutting the bamboos, taking
up vestiges of the once vibrant trees which are now wrecked by the
river and roaming around loose was fun. later we made a campfire and
danced around it. Some sang while others struck melodious chords on
their guitars. But no chord could replace the calm and bubbly tone of
the river. I watched Kyra playing by the river. We all had our share
of fun bathing in the purest water just melted from the Himalayan
glaciers.We revelled in its depths and touched the smooth pebbles on
its bed.Seeing Kyra I was reminded of the day when she dressed up for
the comic fashion show in the school as Indian statue of liberty
covering herself in wet mud. She was shoved to the stage perched atop
a handrickshaw. I had never witnessed anything like that before.
Unknowingly I smiled at her. She saw that and came and sat besides me.
In the beauty of the moment against, the backdrop of the setting sun,
against the wild breeze of the river, I asked looking dazed " Do you
want me as a friend or boyfriend?"... she slowly walked away. Later
that year she left the school as her father had again got a transfer.
She not only left the school but also a big void in my heart. Going
away she gave me a friendship card covered in glittering paper and
ink. "To my fren george". I still have that after all these years...
This post is my entry to the indiblogger lakme india contest. If you
are a blogger kindly participate since they are giving away gift
hampers to everyone who participates. Don't forget to visit and like
the following page as it will give you updates on how to stay young
forever and protect yourselves from the sun.
Http://www.facebook.com/ilovelakme
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