Adult Pathways
Second semester of the year was ending, and the exams were approaching faster than desired. Justin started burning more of the proverbial midnight oil, in order to do well in his exams. He would set up his alarm clock for the wee hours of the morning, with the thermos flask full of hot tea at his bedside to give him a jumpstart. He would deliberately keep his alarm clock at a distance from his bed, so that he may not have easy access to it. As the alarm sounded at the appointed hour, he always had to jump out of bed to turn it off, lest the sound would disturb others at those unearthly hours.
Along with being regular in his studies, he always practiced faith in God that was deeply ingrained in him by his mother—a petite woman by stature, but strong in faith. She ensured that Justin and his younger sister always went to Sunday school in their pre-teen years. Thereafter, in their teen years, their mother accompanied them to Sunday services at a nearby Baptist church. The three of them attended most of the evangelical conventions held there. He remembered the time when a preacher in one of the conventions exhorted the assembly for giving towards some good cause and Justin took off his wristwatch and put it as offering in the collection bag. At other times, very often, he used to respond to the altar calls by raising his hands or going forward for prayer. However, in Jaipur, while living with the David family, he missed all that, as these people were not regular churchgoers.
As the exams approached, Justin started to fast and pray. However, the soaring temperatures and long summer days did not make it an easy task. While observing a fast on such days, he would go up on the terrace in the evening and impatiently look at the setting sun. As soon as it had set, he would run down to break his fast and satiate the pangs of hunger.
Shelly knew the importance of examination time for Justin, and she made sure that he gets a peaceful atmosphere for his studies, going to the extent of enforcing a curfew on anyone and everyone at home in order to keep the volume of transistor radio low. At last, the exams were over and Justin fared well in them. The whole family was relieved as the restriction so arbitrarily enforced by Shelly as regards to the radio had ceased.
After the exams were over, everyone at David family decided to spend an evening out to watch a movie and have fun, as by the end of the week, Justin needed to go back to Delhi to spend time with his parents during the summer vacations.
Dressed up in their casuals with the girls paring up with the boys on their bicycles, they started their journey in the cool of the evening. Of course, as always, Shelly was sitting behind Justin on his bicycle. The moment they hit the road they started racing with each other through the evening rush of the city. These races were fun, weaving their bicycles in and out of the traffic with the girls clutching tightly to the riders, the boys tried to establish their supremacy by cycling down the fastest. Justin was really very good at that and with Shelly sitting on the bicycle behind him, clutching him tightly at the waist, the incentive was enough for Justin to put all his energy to win the mini races. Once at the theater, they had their pick of coke and potato chips and settled in their seats. Poonam always tried to play the spoilt sport on such occasions but somehow Justin and Shelly managed to sit together that night in the theater. Braving the tantrums of Poonam, Justin and Shelly would go to great lengths to ensure that their sitting together would appear normal to the rest of the family. The trio of the brothers was least interested in such squabbles. The movie turned out to be an emotional drama, based on the life of an orphaned boy who at a very young age had to weather all sorts of upheavals in life. Justin and Shelly found themselves crying silently during the movie. Holding each other’s hands tightly, they found themselves tossed around by the heart-rending scenes. The nineteen reels footage of the movie became a virtual reality for them, in which they shared similar emotions.
On their way back home, both were silent; Justin did not want to be a part of any bicycle race this time and continued to ride slowly. Driven by the gusty winds, the garbage strewn around on the roadside was furiously rolling past Justin’s bicycle as if challenging him to speed up and beat it. Justin who was always on the lookout for such challenges did not pick up this one, allowing the garbage to win by default.
Sitting silently on the rear carrier seat, Shelly lightly rested her head on Justin’s back, and held him around his waist. By the time they reached home, everyone else had gone upstairs to their rooms. Justin quietly brought his bicycle to the stand, where a small bulb with an aluminum conical cover hung loosely from the ceiling and dimly lit the area of the stairs that led to the upper rooms. Constantly moved by the wind, which was blowing hard, the bulb struck the wall with its shade repeatedly, producing a strange clanging sound that disturbed the serenity of the atmosphere. Justin put his bicycle on the stand and turned around to see Shelly who by now was sitting on the steps that led to the upper rooms.
‘What happened?’ asked Justin, when she patted the space next to her gesturing him to sit down. Justin quietly sat down next to Shelly on the steps and softly asked if she was okay. She did not say anything; instead held his hands and laid her head on his shoulder. He slowly put his arm around her shoulders and drew her near him. She looked up to him; her brown eyes, which looked much softer in the dim light, were speaking some strange language that Justin could not understand.
He lifted up her face and softly asked, ‘What?’
She did not speak a word, just closed her eyes. Justin looked at her beautiful face and the long neck that was straining towards him; slowly without warning, he found himself bending towards her until his lips lightly rested on hers. For a moment, they stayed like that and then her lips parted to meet his. Suddenly, both became alive to their feelings, their lips pressed hard against each other’s, as if both through that kiss wanted to draw on elixir of life from each other. The heat generated between the two had burned the whole atmosphere around them. They remained in each other’s arms for a blissfully long period, as ‘time’ stood still, to absorb the passion of the two lovers… Suddenly, they heard the door creaking and saw Tiger emerge from the upper room. Phew! Justin let go a sigh of relief for it could have been Poonam also. Reluctantly, they got up and started up the flight of steps to their rooms.
Justin could not sleep the whole night; tossing and turning in his bed, he relived the moments repeatedly, until the crack of the dawn brought the chirping of the birds. Now all that had gone to slumber were slowly stretching themselves to welcome the morning sun. The faucet, left open in the night, slowly started to cough up and at the strike of five o’clock, a mixture of air and water started to flow out of the spout; the sound of the sporadic jet of water into the aluminum bucket kept under it served as an alarm for light sleepers to rise. The faint sound of the conch, coming from a distant temple, could be heard. The tinkering of the kettle told that someone was preparing the morning tea. All of a sudden, there was a loud thud indicating that the vendor had just dropped the morning newspaper. Justin, with a half drawn smile on his lips, dreamy eyes, and clutching the soft pillow that gave him a warm feeling, was still not willing to leave his bed. Slowly, the distinct calmness of the wee hours, started to drown by other sounds of the early morning activities; until, finally, a few minutes later the ever-increasing din of the city life took over the serenity of the approaching dawn.
Coming out of the slumber, while Justin was trying to give a philosophical meaning to the merging sounds of the early morning that ultimately culminate into the fuzzy humdrum of the day, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Shelly was standing there with very soft looks in her eyes and the newspaper in her hand.
‘Are you not going to drop me to work today?’ she inquired while placing the rolled up newspaper on his bed.