A Pocketful Of Peace

25. The Life And Times Of Robbie DeMello

"I was sixteen years old when I saw her for the first time and the moment got etched in my memory forever, as did she. Later, when I told her about it, she felt it was so silly, but at that time, it was the most beautiful sight."

"Where did you meet?" Soundarya asked impatiently.

"Oh, we didn't meet for a long time. I saw her from afar. In the market at a little distance from our school, she was enjoying a rainbow coloured ice gola with her friends. It was a hot summer day just before my final exams. I was returning from an extra class and there she was, right in front of me, enjoying her life to the fullest. She was so happy and content in that moment, that it touched my heart!

And then, even as I realised that I was staring at a girl in a public place, her ice melted and the orange colour dropped on her shirt. She looked down at her shirt disapprovingly, her brows knitted in a cute little frown..."

"Aww... that must have spoilt her dress!" Sandy commented.

"Not just a dress, but her school uniform! I found out later that she was a new admission in the ninth grade. One year my junior. I used to stay near the school and hence got to see her a lot often- her regular classes were still going on.

I was enthralled by her innocence, her beauty and the cheerful aura she exuded. I was so distracted, that I forgot to attend the first paper of my final exam!"

"WHAT?" Aman and Sandy echoed each other.

"But if Amma..." Sandy started and Aman interrupted. "Don't call her Amma yet."

"Why?" She asked, confused.

"Oh, come on! She is just a ninth grade student!" He replied.

"Doesn't change the fact that she is my mom and we are talking about her." Sandy argued.

"At a time when you were not even born." Aman fielded his counter argument.

"Oh... could you just..."

"Hey!" Prasanna interrupted them. "I thought, I was the one telling the story here. Let me decide."

"Okay." Aman conceded.

"What were you asking, by the way?" Prasanna asked Sandy.

"I was saying, if she was in ninth, you must be in tenth. AND you forgot about your FINAL EXAM!!" She looked at him disbelievingly.

"Yes, I did!" He said sheepishly and added further, "I used to call her Joy, by the way. Didn't know her name then, but a mere sight of her uplifted my mood. Her presence gave me immense joy and I started calling her that."

"Adorbs!!" Commented Aman, with extra sweetness in his voice. It was enough to further irritate an already irked Sandy.

"But how could you not attend your exam?" Sandy was exasperated.

"Now don't you sound like my mom. She gave me an earful that day. Estelia DeMello was a tough disciplinarian. Well, I did deserve that, for being so irresponsible. But something... an emotion far more overpowering was driving me crazy and I was totally helpless about it! I did not understand it then, but I guess that was it. I was irrevocably in love with the Joy of my life and my fate was decided in that moment."

"Did you tell your mom... the truth?" Aman asked, excited.

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Prasanna asked him, crossed that Aman could even think like that.

"You do, actually." Aman replied with a grin. "Missing out on exam and what not!"

"Oh, come on! Who tells such things to their parents? She would have beaten me black and blue with my own belt." That sent Aman on a giggling spree and Prasanna joined in heartily.