The Second Excerpt for Discussion: from 'The Rainbow in his Dreams'

I decided to reach out to all friends, readers and guests and seed some thoughts on

'An Other Tale of Two Cities' This is the second excerpt from the book. 

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                                                 Chapter 4: The Rainbow in his Dreams

That evening was very special for Kula. His parents adored him. His mother was very proud and was beaming from cheek to cheek. He became the hero of his entire neighbourhood. Neighbours came in and praised him lavishly. They asked him to help their sons to play also. ‘They are all loafing around like vagabonds. ‘See this; is still strolling cycle tyres on the road’, one of them said pointing to one of the kids. The boys and girls from the neighbourhood came. Most of them wanted to touch and feel the TT bat and the ball. Though the bat was worn out, it excited the children no small amount. Kula was so proud.

Then the unbelievable happened. Krishnan sir, who lives two streets away, walked in, stooping watchfully at the low door frame. ‘Sir’, gasped Kula out of huge respect, ‘I wanted to come take your blessings, Sir’. Krishnan, still at the doorstep, smiled and said, ‘You have made us all proud’. Kula’s mother, ‘excited by Krishnan’s sudden unexpected visit, ‘Ayya, please come to our humble home. We should be fortunate that you should visit us. Actually, we wanted to come and thank you when his father comes back home today later in the evening. Bless my son, Sir; he will do us all proud’.

He smiled as he stepped in and looked behind him. Mrs. Krishnan stepped in. ‘Amma’, Kula exclaimed in great joy, ‘Welcome, welcome’. She said something about how happy she was, but Kula was not listening. He was watching the charming Jayanthi, who stepped in behind her mother. ‘Hey Jay, what a surprise! Thanks for coaching me’. She just said smiling, ‘Same to you’, warmly, returning the complement. Not often do you get a chance to return a nice compliment. She handed over a small bouquet of roses to him and held her hands towards him shyly, ‘Congratulations and thank you’. He looked around and grabbed a ‘Dairy Milk’ that one of the earlier visitors had gifted him a few minutes back, lying on a wooden chair nearby.  ‘Congratulations and thank you too’, he said, accepting her hand as they exchanged the gifts. A tingle ran up his spine as he touched her hand. He felt guilty and looked at her face, if she knew. She was smiling innocently and as their eyes met, the second tingle ran up and this time he saw fireworks lighting up his otherwise dark sky, bringing the stars closer to them both. For a moment he was lost in the bright fireworks. He shook his head as if to reprimand himself, ‘No, Kula. This is not right’. But his senses weren’t in any mood to listen and betrayed him gleefully. They just teased him and brought up flowerworks this time, flowers showering on both of them, from a large shady tree and he felt as though no one, nothing else existed.

This was fresh new feeling for Kula. He never felt like this before. He had touched Jay’s hands several times while playing at her home and in the last year and had several times unintentionally brushed against her, without being conscious of the touch, but why this today? Why was it different today? And in the public glare of all those he loved and respected so much. What if any of them watched his face? He felt shabby. But the pleasure of just standing near her overwhelmed him and he yearned to hold her hand again. He shook his head again to dismiss the stray disturbance in his thoughts, scared that others would read his mind and managed to say, though incoherently to Krishnan, ‘Without you, we both couldn’t have done this, Sir’......

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.....The family trooped out, as the hushed, whispering neighbours, who were peeping through the door and window to have a glimpse of the ‘important’ visitors, stepped respectfully back to give way. ‘The girl is beautiful’, said someone looking at Jay. Jay, as she walked into the moon light (or was it the just the streetlight that was giving him a crazy spin?), turned back to glance at him, smiled and waved her hand shyly as she walked into the relative darkness behind her parents.  

He was most happy. His achievement, that evaded his mind, had fully sunk into him now, thanks to all hullaballoo around that evening, topped only by the visit of Mr. Krishnan and his family.

That night was crazy. He slept, but didn’t sleep. He had exciting reveries, worthy of the exhilarating day. His reveries started with a number of fiery exchanges of the TT ball he had with Sai, Pari and Niranjan. He replayed the missed shots all over again in his dreams and tried his best to get them right. Whenever he got the shots right, Jay gave him a hi-five, or held out her hands for a handshake, and every time a tingle passed his spine with either fireworks or flowers showering from above. Every time he touched Jay, he made it a point to withdraw his hands hastily off her, saying to himself, ‘he was not doing the right thing’ and promised himself that he would behave. But seconds later, he desperately wanted to hold her hands again.

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..... Next, he hears the chant and hoot, ‘What’s her name’? ‘What’s her name’?? ‘What’s her name’??? He feels himself blush. ‘She is just another friend like all of you’, he yells at the crowd. ‘Not any longer, she is special’, protests the crowd. ‘I like it’, hails his inner voice. ‘May be’, he says to the crowd, still confused.

He wakes up to the far away rooster, to the first rays of sunlight of the day and to the fresh fragrance of the moist earth raised by the first drizzle of the season. No wonder, he saw a rainbow in his dreams.