Once Upon a University Campus

Moonlight

Sumo's alarm woke Annika. Sumo stirred in her bed and turned off the alarm but she was yet to get out of the bed. Waking up early on Monday mornings during winters is not really fun. Annika, a habitual early riser today was overcome by sleep. It could be the exhaustion from the long hours she put in these few days. She tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep but found herself wide awake. She flung her quilt and got out of the bed.

"Akka did my alarm wake you up?" Sumo sitting up on the bed completely covered with her quilt, all but her big puppy eyes..

"Good Morning Sumo, I am relatively an early riser, don't worry about the alarm."

"Is it normally this cold every morning here Akka? I will freeze this way. I will have to make arrangements to have have coffee here first thing in the morning." Sumo grumbled.

"You will get used to it Sumo. It is not as bad once you are out of the quit. I will go and get the geyser going" Annika went to switch on the sole geyser in the common bathroom.

The boxes from the previous night's chinese food was now cleanly washed and stacked outside her door on the side. They were good quality plastic boxes. The Didi who cleaned the corridors and washed Saahil's clothes would appreciate these boxes and perhaps use it as a tiffin box for her family members, or say, use it to to store salt, sugar, assorted spices in her kitchen.. Annika had thoughtfully saved those boxes for her, they were just too good to be tossed into dustbins.

"How starkly different can our ways be. If I were to get chinese food from a thela, the vendor would have packed the food in a plastic bag or may be one of those plates made out of dried leaves or even plastic lined newspaper. One of these boxes alone, will probably cost more than the thela vendor's chow mein." Annika could not help noticing the contrasts. The meal she had with Mr Outsider yesterday could have costed as much as what the Didi made over a few weeks. Somewhere stuck in the middle was her own self, neither a have-not nor a have-too-much. She belonged to the world of once-had-enough, now struggling to have-enough. She laughed it off and proceeded to the bathroom.

A little while later, Sumo and Annika met up with Om for breakfast. Om checked on Annika's scalded foot. The calmine seen to do a world of good and it was healing fast. It was Poha and that particular day the Poha was drier that usual. But they did have chai to wash it down. Sumo had to make haste in order to attend her scheduled lectures. Annika and Om sat for a while on a sunny stretch of the courtyard parapet wall. Om had been busy too. He had a solo show scheduled to open on Women's day. It was big deal he wanted her at the opening reception. Annika promised to be there, albeit a little late because she would only be able to leave the campus after the tutoring session with the Hindi medium transition students. He was slightly jittery because his oil on canvas was not drying fast enough for the pigments to pop on these cold days. Annika never understood the art of painting well enough to have a conversation. She would just listen, nod or smile and just say all will be well, and that was exactly what Om needed- a word of two of encouragement and reassurances. This time around though, it was different. His exhibition was being held at a prestigious gallery and it was his first solo show after a very long time. To him it was also a testimony to his victorious emergence from the dark hole he was stuck in, after a hard fought battle.

Several cups of chai were downed as they shared the recent happenings in their lives, their concerns, their apprehensions, their wounds so that the other could console, offer a word or two of encouragement and breath energy and positivity that they so badly needed, especially Om. Annika was not her usual self, but slightly demure, the very thought of what was ahead of her made her nervous especially because she did not know what to expect.

Om expressed disbelief that the meticulous Annika forgot to get the details on the meeting agenda and had no idea what to expect out of the scheduled meeting. All she had to do was 'ask Shivaay'