Wednesday, May 17, 2006

once bitten..

Vanaja was watering the plants when Karthik walked in, his shirt a mess and face all bloodied, and his school bag dragging behind him like a corpse. She dropped the hose-pipe and rushed to him.

"What happened?"

Karthik just looked at her and proceeded to his room. She pulled him back.

"I said what happened? who did this? Who did you fight with?"

"Nobody."

Funnily, he didn't seem to be in great pain despite a bleeding lip and bruised cheek. Like some big cat had mauled him.

Vanaja took off his shirt and immediately pulled him to the bathroom.

"I knew it. I knew one day this would happen. Picking up fights with classmates, fighting..are you a boy or are you a...?" She ran the hot water and prepared the scrub, while searching for the Dettol. Then she turned to look at him. His eyes were red, and his lips quivered.

She pulled him close and waved her hand over his ruffled hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie..."

She held him at arm's length, studying the wounds.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

He nodded.

"Oh, my poor baby.." She washed the wounds and gave him a bath.

Later...

"I've told you na chinna (darling in kannada), not to pick fights with the other boys? This time see, it's hurt you so bad."

"Ma..."

"Hmm?"

"I wasn't fighting with the boys."

Vanaja placed the milk cup on the table and sat beside him.

"Then?"

Karthik bowed his head.

"What? Who was it then?" She found her voice rising again. She sighed deeply and turned his chin up.

"Who?"

"Rinki"

"What?"

She couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

"Why would Rinki do this? And why did you have to go fight with her?"

Rinki was Karthik's music school classmate from two lanes down the road. And to think that music wasn't the only thing they practised.

"I was teasing her sister."

"And..?"

"Rinki came to her rescue."

Vanaja looked at her little tiger sipping milk. And then burst out laughing.

********

17 comments:

Mrs. Dalloway said...

He he! Cute!

Anonymous said...

Hey Ramana, good to see you writing again :)

d4u said...

Lagi re lagi,padi re padi:p

phatichar said...

poornima: :)

ash: hope to be around more often...let's see. how've u been doin? :)

deeps: hehehe..

KJ said...

cho chwweeettt story...

:-)

glad to see u back

:-))

KJ

phatichar said...

KJ: thx.. :) glad to be back..

Preethi said...

Its really cute...:)

phatichar said...

preethi: welcome :) and thx...

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Hey.. nice refreshing story. So you have moved beyond your horror genre, eh?

phatichar said...

sudipta: nice to see u here after so long, friend. :) and you know frankly? I'm just on a 'genre' vacation, hehehe..will be back soon. Crime/horror will always remain my favorite. Take care..

Preethi said...

Thats coz I\'ve moderated the comments yet...:)
Blogger blocked in office, me using other tools to do this..:)

Btw, how did u recognise its me? :).. I had changed my display name, right?:)

Preethi said...

Also felt good to see my updated link in your Bloggerheads...:)

phatichar said...

LS: I always recognize a lovely smile when I see one.. :)

Preethi said...

Hehe.. I am giggling now..:)
Btw, I am not able to see your 22nd May post here anymore.. the one on Gods must be crazy..
Did you remove it or is it something to do with my proxy site??

(I even wrote a post on Blogger getting unblocked back then. Looks like I gotta change it now...:(:))

Preethi said...

Hey, you dont have to delete posts for that reason..
Its your space, you can write anything you want to.. Simple..:)
that was a nice post though...:)

Priya Iyer said...

:) sweet one...

phatichar said...

Priya: :) thx..