Strumming the strings with what you have

I looked down at my logarithm worksheet lying on the table, strewn in the midst of all the other guidebooks for my IIT entrance exams, about to begin in a week. My pen was in its opened state, gaping at the notebook filled with calculations. I must have dozed off, trying to over-tax myself on multitasking.

But more pressing matters woke me off from my reverie as I woke up with a jolt, remembering my drift with Vidya, the girl I so dearly loved, yesterday. The importance of the matter kicked the sense out of me, as we broke up because of not taking her out yesterday as it was her birthday.


Why can't god thrust sense into people, to understand the magnitude of responsibility I'm, instilled with?

I pulled my bedcovers away from me to move to the mirror.

I took out the toothpaste to find it flat as a paper.

Finances were quite low to buy a toothpaste as i was saving every penny to take Vidya out, and that was so totally busted yesterday, with Vidya crying her way home. I made a futile attempt to squeeze the last breath of the toothpaste out of it, as it gave a "sheesh" kinda sound, giving out useless air, instead of the paste. I ruefully realised the need to buy a new one and took out the reserve paste(half empty) from the bathroom to use it conservatively.

Life had hit hard on me, for people who knew me from my birth. Sadly no such people existed due to the earthquake that rattled my city in 2000, the Bhuj disaster had loaned my parents away from me, only to let me know that it wasnt a loan, it was a gift from me to the disaster, as I lost my parents, never to see them again till date.

I had a strong belief that I would be reunited with them by some guardian angel as I couldn't believe they were dead, nor did I have concrete evidence as to their death.I had penned a song for my documentary after I broke uip withVidya, trying to sing it out to her to say how much I liked her. I started for Vidya's house, hostel I mean, to make it up to her,but I realised it was useless as soon as she opened the door.

Vidya was one of those kind of girls, who were as intelligent as she was beautiful. She was an excellent contrary example for those blokes who thought, beauties were brawns.Vidya opened the door, the stains of her tears, still fresh on her face. She usually didn't make a fuss for trifle thing, so that told me what I was dealing with, was serious.

"Well...Vidya....I was really....", I began

"....Really sorry Vijay?", she finished for me.

" I thought you would never even wish me Vijay, and it was the eighth wonder that you did. But I never expected you to take me out, and you never really did. And if you would excuse me, I want to have a talk with Varun, my new boy friend, who is partnering me in the documentary. "

And the door slammed shut, with me gaping at it.

How could she dump me? Why should she go for Varun? When from did she start seeing him? Whyfor did she slam the door? Questions romped my mind and gave birth to a baby-determination, screaming at me to unleash it on the documentary.

Instead of going to my house, I went to the slums, searching for a location, inspired by the latest Oscar winning movie. Maria and Tara, the best child singers of the church coir, attended to my farcry of desperation by agreeing to sing for me. I at once took them to my studio, losing my temper over couple of times, when Tara sat on my Keyboard and strummed the strings of my guitar so hard that it was near to shackles. I patiently made them sit down, put the headphones on, and told them not to sing loud, lest they bamboozle the recorder (thats me).

The voices of 2 sweet 9 year olds couldn't have stirred much emotion than anyother voice I could have thought of. The childish voices which hadnt turned mature, gave me a raw realisation of wat was truly love. I first made them sing alone, without the instruments, lest they got hyperactive on listening to them.

I first added a layer of simple keyboarding, then overlapped it by the occasional strum of the guitar and topped it with some cymbals at the place of choruses, to give it a silent but strong feel.My encouragement fuelled their ambition and once it started burning, it was difficult to extinguish them even after they had finished singing their best. It had taken them all of the first trial to ward off their fear of singing, the second trial to correct their mistakes, and the third one to perfect the song according to me.

By the time I finished the song, I had half assured myself that I would win the first prize alone with the cash award of 15,000. The next step took the hardwork of finding a location.

At last an idea struck me with the arrival of the sweeper into my room. I called out to her,

"Hey chameli aunty"

"Yes Beta?"

"Could you do me a favour?"

"Tell me Vijay, whats it?"

"Could you take me to your home and introduce me to your son, daughter and your husband?"

She was taken by surprise, but agreed quickly, after reeling from the pleasant shock. I swept my handicam from my study table and followed her to the slums. She was proudly beaming to the others on having introduced a city boy to the slums.

I went in to the small cottage at the near of the city trash dump, stiffled by the pungent smells of the slums and stained with the marks of poverty. The grafitti of political partied posed for my handicam as i entered the cottage. The visior of the cam dulled on account of the darkness of the room. My documentary film started with the sweeper feeding her children with the limited rotis which they have.

Suddenly her husband entered. He didnt notice me. He ran towards the children and took them in his arms and hugged them. The scene of love was captured by my handicam as I silently drited off from the slums.I took a series of other scenes of parental love and the love between two lovers.

The documentary, I decided would be on the two different kinds of love. I took the movie, and edited it, merged with the background score. I felt goosebumps of pride and emotion as I finished hearing it fully for the first time.It was midnight. The triumph of completing my album, was dampened by the pang of rememberance of Vidya, who was also contesting with me in the competition by projecting the topic of 'Development of Japan'.

My eye-lids were as heavy as lead and were pleading to let them close. I obeyed them and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning.....

I was late. Half an hour before the competition and I was standing half naked before the bathroom mirror to glimpse a tired replica of me pleading for more sleep. I quickly took bath, dressed up and hastily and locked the door, only to find myself without the CD of my documentary. I reopened the door, took the CD, along with the backup Pen-Drive and climbed on my cycle, riding it in one hand, and stuffing my mouth with a roack hard-stale sandwich with the other hand.

Pumping my energy in short bursts on the pedal, I was going top speed, when the rubber of my back-tyre met with the metal from the fender of a Ford Fiesta. I looked back angrily to behold a slightly greying man in his 50's about the age of my dad, if he had been with me. His face was flaring red, which didn't make any impact on my cool face.

"Give me the CD boy, letme show you not to drive helter-skelter in the road", saying this, he satched the CD and broke it into 2 neatly shaped halves.

If It hadn't been for the lack of time, I would have blasted the life out of the body virtually, from the rookie driver. But realising that I had a backup, i rode off.

The programme had begun with Vidya's presentation and imagine my surprise when I found the man whose car dashed me, to be the unfortunate judge! I desperately wanted the money and how could I win it when the man was already writing me off from the winners list?The response to Vidya's film was sizzling, and that woke me up from the strom of thoughts in my mind.

The last presentation was mine.

It began with the prelude with the Keyboard.

""Thoughts are like glowing lanterns
Like one everyone have in the deepest of heart
Some enlighten memories
Remember your first step
Can you memorize it? May be no
But she can.
The joy in her eyes was dropping on you
Just feel…. That is still there
The lanterns in her eyes are always glowing
For you, to tell her”I love you”"

The first paragraph of the song was introduced with the slums, which led to a big BOO form the crowd. Undeterred the slideshow exposed the raw love in the house of a daily wage labourer and slowly moved to the fountian near the seaside.

The scene of a baby taking its first steps in the sand came into focus. The tentative steps were accompanied by the odd smile from the slender lips of the baby, on walking in a new terrain. After some time, the baby tripped and fell down, to be supported by its daddy. On this note, the second paragraph began to start, the sweet voices of Maria and Tara, richoeting off the walls of the auditorium.

""Remember your insecure feelings during early teens,
Can you memorize it? May be no
But he can.
His shoulders were strong enough for a life like you
They are still there, with you for all
His thoughts are the holy flowers
Always blessed you with warmth and love
The passion in his heart is ever fiery
For you, to tell her “I love you”"

Then the scene of two lovers sharing an ice-cream started to feature. The guy cracked a joke, which led the girl to stamp the ice-cream, smearing it on his face. They both laughed together and hugged each other. The next stanza started.

"The fire in her eyes, looking at you...
expecting a token of love in return,
to the feeling fuelled by your actions,
words and sweet promises
for even sweeter nothings.
The relation, so suddenly shattered,
by an actual nothing,
broke my heart like a mirror.
I crave to stick it together,to say to her(Vidya),
'I love you'"

I looked at the crowd to Vidya, who was using her handkerchief to blot the tears from her beautiful face. That sure smelled victory for me in one area, I thought.

The next one featured a scene of a teenager graduating, and going abroad, never to care for his parents again in his life, the parents waiting with the beacon of hope standing tall inside them that their child would take notice of them. Maria and Tara started the next stanza.

""Remember the two foundation stones of life
Be with them even you are busy
Give them the best thing you can
That is the purity of your heart and attention
A wish for our precious parents
who seem to be ignorant, rather helpful.....""
I love you, I love you, I love you forever dear..."

The response was totaly unexpected as Vidya stood out of the crowd, clapping with all her might and tears flowing full speed from her eyes.At last it was the result of the display. When the judge came to give his speech about his separation from his son on account of the Bhuj disaster, it took the breath out of me.

HE WAS MY FATHER!!!

I was both happy and sick on knowing that such a man could have been a father to me. I learnt from the speech that he had another son(my brother). I decided not to share his love with my brother and not to expose myself to thim that I was his son.

The result was a surprise too the crowd but it wasn't to me, as the judge was biased with the sour incident on the road with me. Vidya bagged the first prize, with me getting the second prize. There was a hushed silence in the crowd, folowed by an even louder protest. After all had ended, I started to exit the hall, with the prize money of 10,000(second prize), when Vidya met me.

The fire of love was ablaze again in her eyes and she hugged him with all her might and held on to him for quite some time, in the presence of others. Her tears wet his neck and the love, his heart. She handed over the prize to him and whispered, "You need it more than I do... Take it Vijay....Love you loads...."

I entered the auditorium singly and exited it couply with Vidya, being the happiest man on the whole wide world. After all the trouble I went, I gave the 10,000 to Maria and Tara, which brought a smile to their parents. I took the 15,000 from Vidya, and deposited a part of it on the way in the bank, and used the rest to meet the debts.

The incident robbed a day off my IIT preps, but it gave me the much needed money, my girl back to me, and reignited the pain of suffering that became intense due to meeting my father.Looking at the Logarithm paper, which suddenly looked more attractive than Vidya, I started to attack the sums...