Sweet Nothings

It was the beginning of hot summer season. Life in such noisy crowded city like Mumbai is sometimes frustrating. A city where thousands of people migrate from their natives in order to get a job and earn a living. That’s why this city is known as “Dream City”. Film Industry is the “magnet” that persuades many people to migrate here. Here you can find thousands of people who are fortunate enough to fulfill their dreams and are wholeheartedly indebted to this city. Still, there are quite a lot people who live in disguise.

Skyscrapers all over try to hide the sky like clouds do. There was this busy street in Malad. It was about quarter to three on a Friday afternoon. A day on which a new film is released all over the talkies in Mumbai. Crowd gathered outside the ‘New Era’ talkies to buy the tickets. There are many stores, clinics, shops and residential apartments nearby. On one of those apartments stayed Revathi. There were two bedrooms, a hall and a kitchen in it. She loved her room.

Sliding on the bed with her back on a pillow, Revathi was ‘gazing’ at the window lost in her own world as if in a trance. It was a usual chore for her to get into her dreamy thoughts anytime and anywhere in classroom during lectures, in the mid of lunch or while walking. ‘Introvert’ would be the proper word to explain her. She is thirteen now. Is every teenager like her? May be? Nobody knew what she was exactly thinking of. Thousands of untouched questions were wandering in her mind like that of an infant’s.

When Revathi was younger, she used to ask her mother the meaning of her name. And her mother would answer with a quiet smile that it meant prosperity. Revathi’s joys knew no bounds when she hears that. She would ask this very same question to her mother several times, as she loves to hear it and finds it an honour to have that name. Moreover, for some reason her mother would never disappoint her after having asking that question. Revathi would again flow in her thoughts. She would think of becoming famous and owning a magnificent pent house on the top of the hill station and having connections with celebrities, leaders and even underworld Dons. But soon her mother would disrupt her thoughts by telling, ” Dear, you won’t be prosperous in life unless you work hard, so go inside and study for your exams”. Those words would shatter down Revathi’s dreams into soil, as studying would be the last thing that she would like to do.

Revathi was very good in sports but she did not want to pursue a career in sports. “If I play the sport which I like everyday then there would be no fun playing it during my off time” is what she thinks. She has a Scotch Terrier dog that she loved very much. Her father gifted it on her fifth birthday. She named her dog after her next-door neighbour Ria. Nobody knew the real reason whether out of love to her neighbour or hatred to her. Anyways the neighbours were not happy about it.

Revathi hated her uncle Mr.Gopalan and his beloved wife Mrs. Neetu Gopalan because whenever they visited their house, all they have to talk about is studies. Krishan and Neeraj were the children of Mr. and Mrs. Gopalan. They were younger than Revathi but excelled in studies. Revathi did not like their presence. She would chase them off with the help of Ria. She loved chasing them off. Then after her parents’ scolding, she would isolate herself in her room arrogantly and won’t let anyone in. She is very obedient to her parents but won’t forget to chase Krishna and Neeraj the next time.

Nobody else but Ria knew that Revathi was a chatterbox. After all, she was her best non-human friend. Revathi was always in an ecstasy when she would explain Ria that when she would choose her field of career then how she would reach the zenith and epitomize in that field and so on…

Then one day she asked Ria, “ I wonder what you are always thinking of? Do you really understand me, my dreams and what I say to you? OH! Why am I asking this to you? You are “cho chweet”. Oh! How I wish you could talk and respond to me in words”. Then she would hold Ria in arms and look into the sky through the window.

All this was stealthily watched by her parents. Her father asked her mother,”Hey! What’s going on? What’s the secret talk between Revathi and Ria?” And her mother answered with a wink that it was just Sweet Nothings…

-Drishya V P