Short Story - That Rickshaw - Which I Will Not Ride Again

by Monojit Dutta 20:42 0 comments short stories

That Rickshaw

It was quite an unusual day I must confess. After my school got over at 4 pm, the thoughts of reaching my new coaching institute – The Toppers’ Academy before 4.30 completely occupied my mind. It was the first day of the fast-track course scheduled for two months along with mock tests before the board exams. I did not want to be late and project a bad impression of myself, so I thought of grabbing a cycle rickshaw as I stepped out of my school premises. The road in front of our school was quite narrow for two rickshaws to cross at once, so I had to walk nearly five minutes to get a glimpse of Mary’s Girls School where the road met the broad main road. This was exactly where I had seen many parked cycle rickshaws while going back to my home.

But to my utter surprise, there was only one rickshaw standing at a distance outside that school premises and without any further ado, I started a sprint lest no one should get to it before me. And I won the race but when i was about to get up on the rickshaw, the puller told me to get off as the rickshaw had already been booked.

“When will the other rickshaws come?” I asked the rickshaw-puller with eagerness mixed with hopelessness.

“They all have already left beta, school got over nearly half an hour ago and I have been booked in the morning so you've got a sight of me, else rickshaws become hot cakes as the closing bell rings.”, he informed wearing a smile on his face that did not impress me at all.

“But I have seen many rickshaws around this time while going home through this road.” I stated suspiciously.

“That was probably summer session, now winter session is going on, school gets over half an hour earlier now.” He answered more seriously now.

“If you start walking now, you will not get there before 5 pm which implies the worst beginning and a handful of embarrassment to add to the injury.” spoke the voices in my head amidst negativity. 

“I need to go to kadamtala area, which bus should I board uncle?” I asked in despair.

“Where exactly in kadamtala you want to go? Not a single bus route is there, if it is close to main road, it would be helpful else you need to wait to get a rickshaw” His answer made a perfect sense.

But that was enough to set a panic in my mind because the first day when I went to the institute to take admission with my dad on his bike, we had to go quite a distance off the main road. Even getting a bus is a matter of luck which did not seem to be on my side that day.

“Toppers’ Academy which is opposite to Sanpur Library?” I answered expecting a miraculous reply.

He was going to say something when we were interrupted by a soothing voice behind me.

“New batch that starts today?”

I turned around to find a big surprise waiting for both of us. We took the admission on the same day and I clearly remembered lending my black pen to her for filling up the form once I was done filling mine. It would not have been memorable had she not come down to return the pen in front of my dad and left with a sweet 'thank you'. I was never comfortable with girls when dad stayed around. I did not want him to form a bad impression about me especially when he hesitated to admit me in a co-ed school.

“She is the one who has booked my rickshaw in the morning, now move aside!” said the rickshaw-puller.

I did not care to listen to his words, after all a silver lining came on my way and I needed to make the most of it.

“If I am not wrong, you took admission alongside me that day in Toppers’ Academy nah!” I did not stop to let her respond.

“Actually my class starts from 4.30 pm there. But there are no more rickshaws. I can take bus but I don’t know when I will get one and he just said that there is no bus route near Toppers’ Academy. So need to walk quite a while to reach there from the main road if I manage to get a bus now, even then i would be quite late. If you don’t mind, can we share it? I will pay the full fare. Please don't say no.”

“Ok. Ok. I don’t have any problem if the fare is on you.” She replied with an adorable smile that took away all my anxiety at once.

It was already 4.10 by my watch and we did not waste any further time and got on the rickshaw at once.  “Go through the left lane, uncle, don’t take the main road, it is too dusty, I am going to have my tiffin" She recommended. I tried to take as less space as possible and inclined by body outwards to keep some space between us and started looking at the shops on the roadside.

“Is this your first time on a cycle rickshaw?” she asked suppressing her smile with her pink lips.

“Ah no! But why?”

“No nothing. Just that you are sitting in a very awkward posture. That’s why." She could not suppress it this time.

 “No I am ok. Ah… I forgot to say a big thanks to you. Thanks a lot really. Someone else in your place could have ignored my request, to be frank. So a special thanks.” I tried to divert from the awkward topic of discussion and saved me from embarrassment.

“It’s ok. Consider it a return help. Have you eaten anything?” she asked as she was bringing out her long tiffin box.

I was not ready to answer that. I realized I had not bought anything to eat amidst my panicky state.

“No… I have... I mean I have eaten” I lied.

“Here take this.” She offered me a chicken spring roll wrapped in a paper of Food Court.

“No thanks. You eat. I have already eaten” I refused the offer unwillingly.

“For your info, I am not sharing my food with you. I have bought two, one for now and one when class gets over. Since you are paying the fare, so with my saved money I will buy a pizza with extra cheese from the Monginis store while returning.”

“Now take this!” She almost forced the mildly warm roll into my palm “And save me from eating a cold piece while going home.”

Deep down, I was hungry and it was hard for me to counter that logic but it did not feel decent enough. So I took out a note of twenty from my pocket and forwarded that to her.

“Keep that with you because next time you are going to sponsor.” Saying so, she stuck her first bite on the roll.

“I might not get that chance. So take it. And after the class gets over, I need to leave immediately, so I cannot buy anything then.” The smell of the delicious roll was making it hard to resist.

“No probs. But how are you planning to get to Toppers’ Academy the next time? Instead here is a deal. My school gets over at 3.30pm I will wait in the food court watching TV like today because there is no point in going there early and roam about aimlessly on a lonely road. But the catch is you will pay the fare every time and I get to taste something new every day while returning home.”

“That sounds okay for me. If I take a rickshaw, I have to pay same fare. But I have a clause.” I could no longer resist and took a pause enjoying every bit of that juicy delicious roll of my first bite.

“What’s that?” she inquired.

“You need to buy an extra roll for me from next time onwards because I won’t get time to buy anything and most importantly I will pay for my piece.”

“Deal done!”

I never had a good chemistry with the girls in my class and even I had a verbal fight with a senior didi when she was our class prefect. My past records of interaction with girls are little hazy but it seemed that day was quite an unusual day. Desperate time does bring out the best in you.

It was only during the class that we got to know each other’s name when our physics teacher asked us to introduce ourselves one by one along with school name.

“Hello Sir, myself Suvuhi Saha from St. Mary’s Girls School”, she introduced herself in a very friendly tone.

I placed myself at the last bench not because the best brains are found at the last benches but because last bench will have a wall where you can rest your back without any protest.

 “Hello everyone, this is Monojit Dutta and I am from St. Thomas High School” and immediately she turned and gave me a friendly glance delightfully.

After the class got over, I walked out slowly so that she could leave for the monginis shop and my dad does not get to see me talking to her. But there she was just below the stairs.

“You have not left yet?” I asked in a rather surprising tone.

“I am not in hurry” she replied with a jolly smile.

“But I am. Sorry I have to leave now, my dad is waiting outside”, I ended the conversation abruptly.

With a bye from both ends, we parted for the day.

*****

Next day as soon as my school got over, I started walking hastily to reach St.Mary’s School. There she was, having a chat with the puller, sitting on the rickshaw waiting for me. I could tell from the backside just by looking at her glossy silky hair which was tied to a knot shape that only suited her.

”Sorry I am late, did u buy anything to eat?”

“Nope.” She replied with a mischievous smile.

“Very well! I will get them now because it’s my turn today.” I was about to turn when she said “Hey wait! I have got home-made tiffin today. So don’t worry and get up.”

“Sorry, I would rather buy something else. I don’t eat something that is meant for someone else.” I said hiding my expression of grabbing a home-made food in first place.

“How long are you going to pretend of being a nice person? We are getting late.” She moved to the other side making place for me to sit. I could not control my laughter and got up in the rickshaw joyfully.

After a while she gave me her tiffin box and said “Open this, It’s too tight.”

“How is it hot still now?” I was surprised to discover that.

“Don’t worry! I did not buy it from shop and passing it off as homemade. It is mom-made, I asked Ratul Bhaiya, the person in Food Court, to put it in oven for a minute.”

“You are totally crazy.”

“I will take the pain of doing everything and this is what I get in return.” She made a pretending face of being angry.

“Arey! This is a compliment that I keep for special occasions.” And we both started laughing.

I opened it finally and the aroma of parathas and Chhole masala made me salivate instantly.

I took out my empty tiffin box and she served me the hot and delicious combo and it melted in my mouth in the least possible time.

On our way, we got to know where we stay but none of us had any clue about the areas. I lived nearly 10 kms away from my school and she used to live nearly 2 kms from Toppers’ Academy as she explained.

We used to get down a little ahead of the building thus I saved myself of spreading any gossip about link up and we hardly talked in the classroom as we had our own group - boys and girls group. Gossips create an unforeseen gap between friends.

A few weeks passed by. And all those weeks, I would look forward to Tuesday. On one such Tuesday, my school was off because we were off to school picnic which I missed purposely only to get a ride with her because deep down, I knew the joy of that rickshaw ride would always overshadow the joy of a school picnic that I had in the past. So I got out early at 2 pm from my house bluffing that my tuition classes would start early and got full box tiffin from my mom with another lie that I would have a long break in between the classes.

I reached my school lane at 3 o’clock, a time that was too early owing to my good luck of getting both the buses early. So I thought of killing the time by roaming here and there. At 3.30 I placed myself opposite to St. Mary’s School and got up in the rickshaw. It was of course, a pleasant surprise for her not only because I was early but because I was in casual dresses for the first time.

“What’s up? You look cool. Bunked school and went to a date or what?” she giggled amusingly.

“No! Actually my dad was not feeling well in the morning and so I opted not to go to school today.” I lied cleverly.

“Oh ok. So you came by bus? Then you could have gone directly there instead of here. I could have waited for 4.20 and left. As per our deal last day when you were late. Remember? What are you doing here?  ” She inquired suspiciously.

“Actually today I thought of giving you a taste of my mom’s special dish – here it is!” I took out my tiffin box and placed it in her hand “could you get it hot from foodie.”

“Sure. But what is the dish within?” She got animated at once.

“Kachori stuffed with masala green peas and shahi paneer.” I said as her face brightened up.

“Fantastic. But what would I do with my tiffin?” She was confused.

“Well! That’s totally mine today.” I had planned that earlier.

“So how will you go home today?” She asked amidst her compliments for the dishes.

“Same as always. Why?” I asked being quite surprised.

She reminded the lie I told with an annoying smile.

“No! He was feeling unwell. Now he is absolutely ok” I tried hard to cover up.

“Oh really? And why he did not came to leave you then?”

I was trying to cover up the lie but she interrupted “I was not expecting you today.”

“Why?” I asked being puzzled. “Because I know one student of your school. She is in class IX and she told me that you are having a school picnic today for class X and IX.”

It did not see that coming. And the pale expression on my face said it all.

“And she told me that everyone had to pay the fee whether they would go or not” She continued.

And a few moment of silence followed.

“Actually…” I tried to reason.

But she interrupted and said “Never mind. But don’t miss the picnic next time. Promise that!”

“Promise” I smiled and looked the other way as I could not make any eye contact that day. I did not know whether she was happy for my effort or disgusted for my lies.

Another few set of weeks passed away.

It was nearly the fag end of our classes and one day, I reached the spot as usual to find that there were several rickshaws today at the stand and our rickshaw which used to stand at a distance from was occupied by someone else.

When I reached the spot to my utter surprise, It was not someone else but Suvuhi in casual and she looked no less than any dream girl I can ever dreamt of, with her sparkling open hair.

“Hey it is you and I thought someone else had occupied our rickshaw.”

“How do I look?” she asked enthusiastically.

Never before I was forced to compliment a girl like that but I managed to reply.

“Completely different yet as usual.”

“Could you please elaborate?” She questioned back.

I was really feeling comfortable but pulled off an answer which was not an ideal answer I wanted to give to a girl whom I realize, my mind is completely occupied with “Different from usual days in school dress and elegant as usual.”

“Thank you. I love that compliment. Get up and I have a special surprise for you.”

“What? New dishes?” I anticipated.

“Yup! It is not mom-made.” She answered with the same old mischievous smile.

“So you bought it from somewhere. On any given day, I would buy your mom-made dishes.” I proudly remarked.

“Gadha, I have cooked these dishes today.”

“Really? Oh that is super special. Your school is off?”

“Yes and it is not a picnic but school gave two weeks off to prepare for board exams.”

“Okay okay! What did you cook?”

“I have brought two boxes. In one I have Suvuhi’s special - Mixed fried rice and in the other my hand made Samosa with chatar patar chutney.”

“Goodness. How are we going to eat all these on road?”

“On our way, we can halt and sit on the rocks near the big field and eat.Uncle will share two samosas with us while we finish ours.” She had planned everything perfectly.

We were going to be late that day. That was certain and none of us minded that or spoke anything about it.

 “Ok! Food tastes different when eaten from the maker’s magical hand.” She said once she finished serving the dishes.

I wish time were elastic. Stretching those moments to infinite would have been such an easy task. I asked her to give me less grasp so that I could spend more moments such as those and complimented her all the while. She really does cook well.

“You should consider participating in Masterchef. Really, this is really awesome. It is quite different than mixed fried rice I have ever eaten.”

We finished quickly and on our way, we had the samosa and that unique chutney.

Then arrived a line to which I did not pay much heed and that seemed to be the mistake of my life “We may go to Hyderabad as my dad is most likely to get a transfer there. He has been postponing the transfer for a while now, due to my board exam.” She exclaimed with a sigh.

“Hmmm. I love this chutney. Give me the recipe next day. I will ask my mom to make these for guests when they come.” I was busy enjoying the food.

“Sure.” She did not seem that happy.

That was our last ride together. She just disappeared like a dream. On that very day we learnt that, that was going to be our last class as after one week of gap mock exams started. During those exams she used to remain absent, so on the second exam day I inquired at the reception with the excuse that she had a copy of mine; they said that she was going to give home test. So I took her address and landline number all of which went in vain.

Once the exams were over, I called her up but it was dead probably because they gave it up before leaving. So I made up my mind to visit their house after board exams just to prove my suspicions wrong. To my utter surprise, it was closed from outside. I was late and dejected. 

Once in a while, I find that same rickshaw while returning home from school - that rickshaw which I will not ride again.