Choices

CHAPTER | 20

Madhu sat in the corner of his room with the pamphlet in his hand. After knowing what it was all about, it had become too tough to even let go of the crumpled sheet of paper that was half torn and trodden upon.

"What is that you are holding?" Laxmi asked and before Madhu could do something to hide the paper, she had already snatched it from his hands. "A dance competition, huh?"

Madhu scorned at Laxmi with disgust. With her around, it had been too difficult to even hide anything. Last week when Madhu had got a sparkling stone on the road - which was probably a kundan from a girl's frock - he had hidden it underneath his pillow and Laxmi had gotten it and made fun of her.

This pamphlet was no different, Madhu cursed under his breath. Why did he have to get it to the room? He had to throw it out once he knew what it was. It wasn't that he was going to participate or if anyone would let him participate either. It was just...

"What's that?" Gauri had come joining the club of 'Let's-make-Madhu-miserable'. If he could dig a hole and bury his face, Madhu would have been happy to comply.

"It's nothing." Madhu said before anyone could start the club and call secretaries. Though he knew who became what in the club, he didn't want to stay back and see what actually would happen.

"It's not nothing. It's a dance audition." Laxmi said as if Madhu were a dunce in her class.

"Oh, it says it's in town!" Gauri was more excited than others. "Look! It's near the town hall. It's like twenty minutes' walk from here."

"So, what?" Madhu got up from him seat, anger covering him up. "It's not as if we are going there to spend some time watching people dance. We have a life to lead."

Gauri and Laxmi looked at each other and rolled their eyes together. Madhu, who had been watching this exchange huffed wondering why he was friends with them in the first place. They always ganged up on him most of the times.

"Then, why is the paper with you?" Laxmi asked.

If things had been different, Madhu could have sworn that Laxmi would have been an authoritative lawyer, winning cases over cases. With her look, any criminal would stumble on his own legs to lie on her face.

It was no different for Madhu. "I... I didn't have the time to throw it out."

"Ha! That's not true!" Gauri pipped in. "You took a break and went to the park. I saw you go myself."

If Laxmi was a lawyer, Gauri was a witness, ready to send the criminal to lifelong imprisonment and probably a death penalty hanging by the neck. Madhu wondered what good fortune had befallen over him to have them as his only friends and roommates.

"My head was aching." Madhu said in his defense. "And I was taking rest. I found it when I was leaving the park. You guys know that I have to earn. Each and every minute is important."

"So, you held the paper with you all the time?" Laxmi raised her eyebrows at Madhu with a sly smile. "Tell me, did you or did you not think about it when it was with you?"

"I didn't think about it." Madhu pressed as he glared at the two women clad in simple sarees. They looked beautiful in their own way and suddenly, his anger faded. Why had the society abandoned them from everything?

"You do know that you love to dance, don't you?" Gauri asked, bringing the subject back. "Why don't you go participate?"

Madhu scoffed, getting up from his seat. He walked towards the mirror and started combing his long hair. "As if they will let a hijra enter the premises. Don't you think it's like a bad omen for them?"