“One, two, three, four……” she watched him as he came jumping down the stairs. It seemed like somebody had fixed springs to his feet which made him jump around. He reminded her of a waterfall gushing down the mountains. Young, bubbling with energy, gurgling and making its presence felt. She could easily make out that he believed that he was one of the most good-looking and charming persons around. He held his head high and moved around with an air that demanded respect from his batch-mates. He had a melodious voice and became the singing king in his college. He took pride in his singing and would turn down many girls’ offers to sing duets with him at the college festival since he didn’t find them “good enough”. Only Minaz according to him had good enough voice to stand up to him and together they sang many duets often denying others a chance to perform during the musical nights held on the college campus.

Unbeknown to all of this, Kaya was completing her Master’s degree in Business in another part of the campus. One day Solly asked her – “Hey Kaya, you have a sweet voice, why don’t you come for auditions for the musical night being held in the engineering department? I am going there later this afternoon. Come join me”. Solly was a good-hearted boy and Kaya was good friends with him. She agreed to accompany him to the auditions.

That afternoon she saw him for the first time. She found him to be a friendly person with pleasing manners but also a control freak who dominated the audition process. He and Minaz were quick at passing judgements at all the students who wanted to sing at the Musical Night. They rejected many candidates for the Musical. Kaya was mentally prepared to be rejected. The snobbish duo could well reject participation at the night.

To her surprise, however, she was allowed to sing by the duo and they asked her to finalise her song and come for the practice session the next day. She selected a Manna Dey song to sing at the Musical. “Why do you want to sing a male song?” he asked, looking at her curiously, adding, “Moreover it is a very old one – do you belong to the black-and-white era Madam?”

Kaya frowned at him. She had never allowed any boy to talk to her in this manner. She maintained a good distance from them all and hardly joked around with them. “Well there are no rules for singing or are there?” she chirped. 

“Well no – sing Manna Dey if you please. Let’s see how the audience receives you!” he added mockingly.

On the night of the Musical the ground was full of people. He and Minaz were singing their duets. Every four performances were followed by a duet or a solo performance by them. Kaya stepped on the stage when her turn came. It was a huge crowd and she cleared her throat. And then she sang, immersed in her song, singing for herself and oblivious of the crowd. As she ended her performance, the cheers and claps began to flow in. Her classmates were calling out her name aloud and asking for another one. She smiled and said “thank you” and got off the stage. After the Musical ended she had dinner on the lawns with her friends. They all congratulated her for the wonderful performance. The evening had ended and she was feeling quite elated. As she began to walk towards the hostel with her friends, she sensed that someone was coming behind her. She turned around and saw him walking behind them.

“What’s he doing here?” she thought. He quickened his pace as she looked at him and said, “Oh I am going to get something from my car in the parking lot”. She thought it would be polite on her part to thank him for giving her a chance to sing with the musical group. She extended her hand to shake his and said, “Well, thank you; it has been a nice experience singing with you all”. He took her hand and shook it for a while and said, “You are welcome”.

The next Musical was three months away and Kaya forgot all about the music club as she joined her class the next day. There were so many assignments lined up that needed to be finished. She felt a pang of guilt for having wasted so much time at the practices and thought that she needed to do her penance by immersing into work right away.

Just then Solly walked into the classroom and said, “Hey Kaya, you were so good yesterday!”

“Thanks! You too,” she quipped.

“Yah – but you are a real rockstar and you know what, I think now you should start singing duets with him, the other star of the college,” he said in jest.

“Ha ha ha, well I don’t mind that, I think he will,” she winked at him.

“Hmm I don’t think he will mind, I’ll let him know that you are ready,” he winked back at her.

Three months had passed by and it was time to prepare for another musical night. She walked down with Solly to the engineering building where the practices would be held like the last time. Everyone had gathered except him.

“Hey where is he?” asked the drummer.

“He’s still in the class, the lecture is going on,” said Minaz.

After thirty minutes he appeared at the head of the staircase. He looked down and saw Kaya. “One, two, three…….” Kaya saw him jumping down the stairs like a monkey. He came and stood in front of her and took her hand to shake it. She was a bit startled as he said, “Hi! How are you?”

“Fine,” she answered.

Then it started; the daily practice sessions and his bossiness. Things had changed for her from the last time. This time she was not allowed to practice her song early and leave for her department. Instead she was made to wait for hours before her turn for practice came. It seemed like a well thought plot. The guys in the music band giggled and smirked when she arrived. They seemed to be teasing him by making gestures towards Kaya and she began to feel a little awkward with these new developments. She could not understand what was going on and why everyone was behaving so weirdly. He was behaving in the strangest manner. He would ignore her presence and maintain a distance from her. And yet when she was chatting with other singers and looked up she found him staring at her from a distance.

“What the hell is going on” she thought to herself. “I need to figure out and get out of this strange situation” she resolved.  She decided to meet him before the practice session the next day. She dropped into his department at lunch time and peeked into his classroom. The lecture was going on but she made sure he looked in her direction and waved to him gesturing him that she was waiting downstairs for him. She went and sat in the library so that they could talk in peace and avoid the gaze of the musical gang and their smirks.

He entered the library somewhat arrogantly and sat on the chair opposite her with a thump. It was lunch time and the library was empty.

“Yes tell me Madam, what you want from me?” he asked with an irritated tone.

Kaya was a bit startled by his rudeness.

“I umm just came to chit-chat with you,” she stammered.

“Yes, tell me what you want to know about me?” he asked with some more arrogance.

“Well ummm...which school did you study in?” she stuttered.

“Ah so this is what you came to ask. Well I studied in Modern School, I live in Model Town and my parents are government servants! Anything else?”

“Oh well no! Thank you for the information,” she said feeling utterly awkward by then.

“So can I leave now?” he asked.

“Yeah well yes, I just wanted to ask you why you are avoiding me during the practices. I feel like there is some friction between us,” she spluttered.

She saw him smile. “You must be imagining, there is nothing between us!” he said and walked out of the library leaving her alone to ponder over what had transpired between them in the last five minutes.

She decided to skip the practice that day and also the next day. On the third day she was working in her classroom when she saw him. He was standing outside the door. Startled, she stepped out to look for him but he was gone.

She went downstairs and he was there in the canteen drinking Fanta. She decided to ignore him and went to chat with a friend. As she was chatting he came towards their table and sat on a chair next to them. Another awkward moment! Kaya’s face became pale and she did not know how to react.

“What Madam, suddenly you have disappeared from the practice sessions. Are you a ghost or a firefly that appears and disappears suddenly?” he jested.

“Well people say I am from the Stone Age!” she replied meekly.

“Oh! How strange! People say the same thing to me!”

**********

It was the convocation day. Kaya was graduating. She was happy that a tough journey of studies and assignments had ended and she would finally be able to work. Her parents were coming for the graduation ceremony which would be followed by the Musical Night hosted by the students. She was wearing a white saree and had let her hair down. As she queued up to receive her degree, her eyes scanned the audience for familiar faces.

After receiving her degree Kaya felt elated and was sharing the joy with her family. They were clicking pictures together. She saw him at a distance and walked up to him. He asked smilingly, “So Madam, you have graduated. Congratulations! What’s next?”

“Struggle,” she answered. “Struggle to get a suitable job and to make a place for myself in this big wide world.”

“Good! Great! Wish you all the very best for the struggle,” he said.

“Thank you,” she answered.

Slowly he retreated and Kaya lost sight of him as he disappeared in the crowd.