Intimacy - Part 11

"Go on, Aarthi. What are you wondering at?", asked Aarthi's friend.

"No, I don't want to gift him. You girls do it, pls", replied Aarthi, returning the gift to her friend.

"But why? Trying to impress him by ignoring him, huh? Don't get any ideas. If you have any, just erase it right now. You have got a big queue in front of you", said another girl and winked at Aarthi.

'Oh God! Save me from these idiots', thought Aarthi.

"Listen, I don't have any intention for anyone, leave alone Rakesh. I'm just not interested in talking to him. Your craziness for Rakesh, looks like a dumb hype. If I want to impress someone, I know how to tackle it and I won't be silly and kiddish, as you say", said Aarthi firmly, directly looking into her friend's eye. Then, she walked away.

After a while, sitting on the window seat, in the coach, she noticed her friends talking to Rakesh, outside the shop. All the faces were brightly lit and all were smiling, as much bigger as possible. She couldn't stand the sight and turned her face away.

That night, as Rakesh was packing his stuffs, he remembered the gift and wanted to check it. He saw the tag and couldn't believe what he read. The first name on the tag was Aarthi's. It was a pleasant shock and an unbelievable fact for Rakesh. He didn't bother to look at the other names. He was smiling, without his knowledge and quickly unwrapped the gift. Inside, he found a ceramic sculpture. He least expected this gift. He had always received the ‘For him’ gifts. Toy cars, when he was a kid, pens, when he was at highschool and style accessories these days. But a ceramic sculpture is totally out of possibility. He was strongly believing that dolls, flowers and chocolates are meant for girls. Still, he liked the gift and thought it was cool. It was a scenic mould of a young boy, wearing a hat, with violin and flowers on either hands, sitting on a chair and looking at his right, through the path that runs in front of him. He was anticipating someone and anyone could tell it would be the love of his life. Rakesh kept staring at it for a while and then packed it up. He could hardly comprehend, how that ceramic boy could be related to him.

It was good to be home after a short break. Aarthi was glad, distributing the gifts, that she bought for her parents and little brother. She had done quite a huge shopping and all are very joyful at home.

Rakesh spotted a place in his book cupboard for his unique gift and was cleaning the space before he could settle it down. His mom wondered, as she entered his room, to see such a sight.

“What happened to you? You alright? Why are you cleaning these shelves? Wait let me take a picture. I don't know, when such miracles will happen again”, said his mom and searched for Rakesh’s mobile.

“Mom, stop it. I am not cleaning everything”, said Rakesh and placed his dear gift on that spot. His mom looked at it and continued,

“Is this you Rakesh? I can never imagine you like that. Instead of violin, if this boy has got a cane or a whip, it would have suited better. Isn't it?”, laughed his mom.

Rakesh kept staring at her. He never gets mad with his mom, even though her sarcasm tests his temper, at times. He loved to be trolled by his mother, just to see her laugh heartily, for her own comments.

“Who gifted this to you Rakesh?”, she asked.

“My friends”

“Don't I know that? Who exactly?”

“It was Aarthi and her friends”, said Rakesh, listing out all the names.

His mom looked puzzled. Rakesh has this habit of giving a discourse about his day, at school, since he was a child. He loves sharing everything and his mom loves listening. He still continues to do so, even though he had grown, pretty big. Always, she had all the time, for Rakesh and his stories. She also, gives him tons of advice, whenever needed. But, it was upto Rakesh’s discretion, to take it or leave it.

“Aarthi?? Seriously!?”, she exclaimed.

“Yes mom!”

“How nice of her to do this, in spite of you being so rude to her. Lovely girl! So what did she say?”

“Nothing mom”

“Nothing? Really?”

“Yes mom. Actually, she did not meet me at all. Her friends gave me the gift. But on the tag, I saw her name. I did not see her after that.”

“Hmmm.. Still she is a good girl to contribute towards your gift, in spite of your stupidity. Otherwise, her name would not have come on that tag. We have to appreciate her though. Did you thank her?”

“No mom. I did not meet her at all.”

“OK. Next time when you meet her, say a ‘Thank you’ and before that say a ‘Sorry’ too.”

“Mom?!”

“Yes Rakesh, when she is being nice and lovely to you, shouldn't you return it?”

“If she talks to me, I will thank her. But, sorry is beyond my vocabulary. I don't think so I can do it.”

“Apologising needs a lot of guts. That's bravery. Hesitating to apologise, is cowardly. OK?”

“Hmmm.. Let's see”, said Rakesh and smiled.

Rakesh lived through a ridiculous mixture of excitement and sadness. He was happy for the gift, but was upset for Aarthi didn't meet him. He hoped that she might pick up a conversation with him. But, she remained the same, like before. It was much easier for him to expect her to talk, rather than he taking the initiatives. It is not male chauvinistic attitude. Probably, the basic programming in male DNA, that has chauvinistic feature, plaited with it. It's the ego, that differentiates a man from a woman, significantly. Not there physical built!