Hari was on his way back from the college cricket practise. He felt someone is following him. But his thoughts quickly turned to cricket. India was playing twenty-twenty against Sri-lanka. A bunch of his friends were waiting for him at ‘Murudeshwar’; their favourite place to meet. He was very excited about the bets he had against Amruta and her friends. As usual he was depending upon Sehwag to win him all those bets.
How Hari mostly profited from the bets was a big mystery to his friends. Even if Hari would loose a bet, he would most certainly know some weakness of the person against who he had lost or some other bet against same person or some other way to pay for his lost bet. The truth was that a thought of what will happen after loosing a bet never even touched Hari’s mind. And the fact was that even Hari was unaware of it!
Hari was so much lost in the Cricket that he did not realise the clouds overhead. Soon the clouds declared their presence by roaring loudly and raindrops found their way to the mother earth. Clouds blew away the Cricket thoughts from Hari’s mind. He became cautious about his kit. And the sense of being followed was again there. He turned back. It was none other than ‘Radha’, walking just behind him, that too with an umbrella.
If it was any other girl from their class, Hari would have asked her for company under an umbrella till Murudeshwar without any hesitation. But Radha was a special case. She was the most studious girl in the class, she would always top in all the exams, would never take part in any debate in the class, had earned herself a lot of respect from her classmates and not even Hari had ever flirted with her. Deep in his heart, Hari knew he was attracted by her. That is why he was unable to talk to her normally the way he was famous for, by being confident!
The same happened today. The change of his facial expressions was prominent when he realised it was Radha. The usual cunning smile was now accompanied with confused wrinkles over eyebrows indicating the hesitation. “Oh, hi!” he mumbled. There was a silence for a split second and Radha said “I’m going straight ahead, do you want to come along?”. “Who is dumb enough to refuse you?” would have been Hari’s reply but these words were lost somewhere in his conscious and he grunted something under his breath meaning yes.
They started walking together. “Were you playing cricket?” she asked and Hari replied with smile”no no, I just like carrying this heavy kit bag around”. Hari was almost back to normal. He was enjoying her company. But a dangerous thought struck his mind. ‘What will happen if his friends see him with her?’. He had been teasing everyone about their weak-links and so called love-life. He had not spare anyone on any occasion. And now the tables were turned.
He was no more himself after this thought. He couldn’t even hear what Radha was talking. It was a completely new experience for Hari, not to have the control of a situation. His mind was running fast, ‘five more minutes, and we will reach Murudeshwar corner; everyone will spot me; if they ask me now, I have to confess I like Radha; how I am going to face this?; what will happen?’. All the miseries and embarrassment that he caused to others were haunting him back.
And suddenly Radha stopped and asked “I have to turn left here, are you going straight?”. Hari felt a shock! He did not believe what he was hearing. With a bolt his mind became as clear as the water deep in the middle of a sea. “Yes, I am watching cricket match. Do you want to join us?”.
“I havent told at ho…” but even before Radha could complete her sentence, Hari interrupted, “Oh come on, I gave you a company in such a weather”.
“he he, you are smart. But please, I have to go home today”. “And read some good old book” Hari added.
“hmm… okay then, Bye!”. “See ya!” and she turned away.
Hari knew whatever he says, she wouldn’t come. Hari went straight ahead to Murudeshwar. He didn’t even bother if his face revealed what was going on in his mind or not. He was himself again.
