Love in micrometer

~THE APPLAUSE~

Siddhi

I was alone at college today. Avi is sick and resting in his PG. Priya has gone to meet my brother about her dissertation project. I have sent emails to labs requesting internships.

Luckily today’s timetable has only theory classes. Otherwise, I could not survive without these two people in the lab. I was barely able to sit in class through the lectures because I was constantly thinking about my theatre practice after class, and later, I had to rush to a classical music concert. It was a boring but also an exciting day.

The final bell rang, making me sing out of happiness. Before I left for the practice, I entered the lab to check the results of our previous experiment.
I took out our babies from the incubator to see how well they had grown. The bacterial colonies were isolated like they were supposed to, so I clicked the picture as a documentation of our results, packed them in the newspaper, and refrigerated them for further experiments happening tomorrow.
With a big smile on my face, I reached the stage rehearsal where I saw my theatre buddies getting ready for the exercise.

I placed my bag in the side wing, removed my shoes, bowed my head, prayed to God, and entered the stage. My heart was filled with an unknown divine feeling, a sense of peace and calm that nobody has ever made me feel. The stage is my home, my peace, a place that races my heart every single time I am on it.

It feels like a mother who is happy with her child learning something new every day. This is a place that has taught me lessons I can never forget, made memories both good and bad. Like I said, my home, my peace, my stage.

I joined the group where my co-actors were in a circle warming up. I stood in between Hamsa and Ashish, greeting them with my weird face smile, who returned me the same. They match my weird energy.

As we finished our warm-up, we sat down in the same circle for a quick dialogue run. It was happening so fast that I forgot the order of my dialogue. The writer, who is also a very good friend of mine, threw the paper at me visibly frustrated, making everybody laugh at our rapport.

After another round of dialogue run, I was happy that I did not make any mistakes this time and remembered everything. It was half an hour since I came here, and I had only an hour to run for the concert.

Luckily, I had a direct bus from college, so that saves my burden of changing routes and modes of transport. We took our respective positions for the rehearsal. I had only a small role to play, small but significant. That is one of the first things I learned as a rookie artist. No matter how big or small a role is, it is significant. I must put my complete efforts and work genuinely; only then can I grow as an actor.

After another hour, it was time for pack up. I packed my bag in a hurry, stuffing my water bottle and script inside, wore my shoes, and cleaned my hands and face to leave for the concert. I had been waiting for this day for a long time.

I was making my run towards the bus stop with Hamsa and Ashish, who were taking the same bus as mine. “Happy with the practice, Princess?” Hamsa teased me. “My princess is always happy. She is my child for a reason. I have taught her the values of life, how to face even an embarrassment with a smile, isn’t it, my love?” Ashish continued and pulled my nose. I don’t like it when people pull my nose, so I smacked Ashish in the head.

We all broke into laughter about how we bring theatre along with us everywhere we go. Ashish and Hamsa play the role of my parents in the drama whom they adore and love both on and off stage. Perks of being the youngest, honestly. I love being pampered.

We took our tickets and conversed about our practice and college. They got down in their stop, while I had to travel for some more time. I would probably reach 30 minutes early, which I prefer rather than being late.

I was extremely excited to watch my favorite Carnatic Veena musician play at her very own concert. It was an overwhelming moment as I watched her aura on stage. The way she looks like goddess Saraswati herself, playing beautiful notes on her Veena and making me emotional with an expression called music that know no boundaries.

There probably was a tear or two in my eyes fighting to come down my cheeks as I clapped along with the crowd. The claps grew louder, that sounded like a hailstone, my eyes still filled with tears. A hand kerchief subtly appears to my right.

I followed my eyes to the owner of the kerchief, now completely facing towards the owner’s side, while the applause continued to flow, those tears that were fighting my eyes won and raced down my cheek as I saw him. The owner, Agasthya.