24.08 rain

Pitter patter

the rain chatters

Little later

My heart flutters

**

August 24, 2019.

"...So will we just sit here all day or...?" Kiran trailed off. Friday came rolling around sooner than expected. Hima has always adored the flutter in her chest as she sat in a small sunlit room toying with the rays, with the sweet aroma of old books and colour pencils teasing her senses. It was one of the reasons why she always looked forward to the 'Literature and Arts' club meetings.

After spending a whole year watching the seniors do everything while sitting back and doing nothing themselves, they were given the golden opportunity of taking the lead. They could try and quit, offering nothing but silence and zero academic progress, however that would only enrage Binusha Teacher. Hima could hear all sort of noise from the classrooms, muffled but loud enough to penetrate through the walls. Laughter and profanities yelled across reached her ears and Hima heaved a breath.. A sharp clap sliced through the silence.

"Okay, this won't do." Joash started, "Club meeting part aside, let's start by introducing ourselves. Hopefully not many would be reluctant to do that or did I get that wrong?” He looked around, taking in the reluctant faces sitting around in a circle and stole a glance at heaven. Shaking himself off the disappointment, he started, wearing the brightest smile that dared anyone to go against his plans. "I'll go first. I am Joash S. I am from Class S2-C. It's nice to meet you all."

Soumik must’ve sensed the mood for he immediately jumped into action in an attempt to lighten up the room. "Then I'll go next. Hi everyone! I am Soumik Kurup, let's have fun while we're together!"

The provocation was much received by one of the juniors, an unfamiliar face. She sighed and stood up, looking as though she would be rather anywhere but here. "I'm Sreelekshmi V.S.from class S1-C"

Joash smiled in appreciation. "It's nice to meet you, Sreelekshmi. Hope we can get along."

Sreelekshmi, Soumik and Joash glanced at the student sitting beside her. Just as intended, the student stood up and introduced themself. Soumik nodded in approval before inching close to Sreelekshmi and indulging her with his small talk. The chain continued until it stopped on her, and Hima nodded before standing up and introducing herself to both her Juniors and her fellow batchmates. She pressed the tip of her finger to the centre of her glasses, pushing it further up her nose.

"Hello, I am Hima Praveen from Class S2-C. It's nice to meet you all."

"Now,” Joash started. His hands came to rest on his slightly tilted hips. “Since the introduction part is over, let's move to more important parts. As you all know, we are the Literature and Arts club. We do everything for the promotion of the Literature and Arts section in the school regardless of the stream chosen, as you can see, half of us present here are from Science Stream. For juniors, you are welcome to invite more members into the club."

"This is the first official club meeting of this year and we have chosen two leaders already, I, Joash representing the Literature Club, and Soumik representing the Arts Club. We are doing it as a joint committee but for those who want to stick to one for the time being, you may do so."

"Now that the basic stuff is done," he started looking at the juniors, "we can start the talk about club activities."

It was Soumik who took it as a chance to speak, carrying on the same mannerism as Joash, pretending like they are delivering a grand speech: all formal and deliberately slow. “We, seniors, already talked about it and now would like to hear your opinion on the matter."

"I am sorry but, may I talk?" Sreelekshmi spoke up.

Joash nodded. Hima glanced away from the duo and instead observed the slow flutter of the dark curtains and the shallow appearance of the sun. "Go ahead."

"What is this about? Like the whole concept and limits and everything?"

"The concept is to promote Literature and Art. Last year, they arranged a big reading event and art competitions to do so. The limit is extravagance and school rules."

Soumik sat down in his seat and Joash mirrored him. "Competitions and events are off the list. If we pull something similar to it we will be just recreating what the previous members did during their times."

While the memory was faint, Hima recalled the awkwardness and the pity hanging down on their seniors upon noticing not a single person had joined the program, perhaps due to the lack of interest, but Hima knew better; Literacy rate may soar high in the state but not even one person knows a writer apart from Colleen Hoover and Arundhati Roy.

"So we are trying to bring something new?"

"Exactly."

A long beat of silence. It was Hima’s batchmates, who broke the tranquillity of the room with sounds of protest. Joash shot a warning glare at them. In the prevailing silence inside the room, everyone collectively nodded in agreement. Joash sighed in agony.

"If only we could do the same as our dear seniors."

"We are pretty much doing the same” Laughed Arun. “Remember last year during our third meeting?"

One of the members laughed out loud. "No wonder this scene looked familiar." He choked out between his laughter. Another awkward memory surfaced at that: a room full of seniors and a few juniors with the former reluctant to give their position to the new comers, full of ambition but no brain power. A few more laughs followed and soon enough, the second years were engaged in a deep conversation about their experience in this club from a year ago while the first years helped themselves into a conversation of their own. Hima sat back and nodded along to whatever they said, never joining nor withdrawing from the talks.

A defeated sigh is what caught Hima's attention. She turned to her side and watched as Soumik unbuttoned the buttons of his sleeves and folded them up to his arms. "We really are going nowhere with this discussion," he muttered under his breath. He hid his face behind his hands and dragged them up and down as if the action alone could wipe out his frustrations. "If only we could do the same as our senior-"

He froze in his seat. Soumik’s otherwise dark eyes slowly lit up until Hima could see a universe forming in them. Slowly he brought his hands back to his lap. His eyes refused to move and his lips stayed apart. As though stuck in a trance, he slowly whispered. "That's right."

Mirth played on his lips and he sprang up straight in his seat. "GUYS! I have an idea!" he yelled, still staring in that direction. All heads turned, surprise and shock lingering in their faces—surprise for the seniors and shock for the juniors who were unfamiliar with Soumik and his antics.

Hima tried to figure out what it was that he was staring at to bring a reaction like that out of him, but all she could see was a blank notice board with cobwebs and dust accumulated on its surface. 

"What is it?" Joash whispered, defeated.

"We can pull the same trick as our seniors. Remember. They collected stories and art by conducting competitions and made it a hit by displaying it on Literacy Day. We will do the same, except instead of a one-time thing, we make it a regular event."

"And how will you do that?"

His eyes crinkled as he smiled. "It's quite simple."

"How so?"

"We use that," he said, pointing in the same direction in which he was staring before."The wall?"  Arun  asked. Soumik simply rolled his eyes in response. "No dummy. The notice board."

He clicked his tongue at them before sitting comfortably back on his chair. "Like I said before, it's quite simple. Every day we collect art, poetry, or any other material related to art and literature and stick it up to the notice board where everyone can see it. This can be done with medium effort and it's effective as well." 

He was quick and precise with his words but all Hima could focus on was the way his hands moved. They were sharp and elegant, despite being a result of an adrenaline rush through his bloodstream.

"That's — that’s actually a great idea!" exclaimed Sreelekshmi. 

Akhil frowned. "Will they even let us use it?"

"I doubt that,” Joash commented and shrugged. “But it's still worth a shot."

"Can I add something?" Everyone turned to her. Hima didn’t flinch.

"Can you make it so that people can give us materials anonymously? By doing it, we will get more materials just like how the radio club did that one time."

"The idea is not bad. But what if issues arise because of it?"

"Since we are the ones handling the papers, we can report it or simply get rid of the material if it's bad news.."

Soumik hummed, looking down with his lips protruding in a pout. "How about we make it so students can give up materials both anonymously and with their names?"

"Yes!" Joash approved, and others agreed with collective nods. "So I assume that everyone agrees? We can leave after this."

A series of 'yes' and 'yeah' followed.

"Okay so does anyone have anything else to add?"

Another set of 'No's.

"Perfect. Then it's settled."Joash announced, looking proud. "Well, now all we need is to get approval."

He continued, "Speaking of that. If it gets approved I need you all to contribute some material to the club activity. And it's mandatory by the way."

"I hope it never gets approved." Someone muttered.

"I heard that Soumya." chimed Soumik.

"Can we leave now?" Arun asked, already standing up.

"You guys are useless anyways. First years listen up," Joash started catching their attention, "since it's your first time you don't have to do anything for now. After getting the approval some of us will bring in some material to pin over there. You guys can use it as a reference and bring something of your own later onwards. Got it?"

Joash paused by Soumik’s side and patted his shoulder. "That was a great idea. Thank you."

"Don't mention that. I'm glad everyone liked that” he paused, “Oh hey wait!” he exclaimed when Hima walked past them. She peered over her shoulder at him, expecting him to speak up.

"Thank you for your help."

"You too." She responded softly and walked away. She heard them both follow her out, talking about the meeting. Joash commented that it would have been a shame if today's meeting had ended up nowhere when all the time it should have taken was a few minutes and Hima silently agreed.

Wasting their time like that would have been a shame indeed.

A flash of light followed by a sound, loud and violent indicating the lightning hit somewhere nearby. Soon enough, as though a lover grieving for their lost love, the rain started pouring down heavily.The sky, which once was bright blue was now dark with clouds. Hima marvelled at its beauty but feared it at the same time.

Murmurs surrounded her as people wondered out aloud if it was the right time to leave the school campus. It was right of them to ask that -even the tree under whom they feared the idea of standing under because of the puliurumbu’s nests, not even five meters away from them could not be seen properly due to the heavy rain. Hima sighed, looking down at her watch and then at the umbrella she was holding.

"We’re stuck here forever. Looks like I would have to marry you and adopt one of the kids from play school now." Vismaya yelled into her ear. Hima flinched and narrowed her eyes at the girl beside her..

"I thought we were already married?!”

Vismaya giggled, resting her head on the other girl’s shoulder. She played with Hima’s olive toned fingers that appeared a shade darker under the storm sky. She propped on her chin and pouted. "We are not going to make it to the last bus.”

"But what can we do other than wait?”"

"Make a run for it when the rain calms a bit"

"That was the plan from the beginning!"

Hima looked over to her left where a few students were talking with the teachers about the rain while some others got scolded for trying to get out without an umbrella. Keeping an eye on them, Hima spoke,

"Ugh, my leg hurts from all this standing."

"Same. Someone stomped on my feet on top of that."

"Thank god that didn't happen to me."

"I can make that happen if you want."

Hima smiled. "No thank you."

"Oh hey look, the rain is easing a bit."

"And they are leaving too." Hima observed.

" Let's go after them." Vismaya commented, already grabbing Hima's hand and dragging her through the crowd. When they reached the exit, the roar of the rain grew wilder and louder. Hima mulled over how alarms should be blaring in her head instead of  Nilamalare from Diamond Necklace.

"Open the damn umbrella already!"

"Patience Vismaya, patience!"

The moment the wings of the umbrella spared in the air, Hima knew the ride was not going to be an easy fare.

The water on the road ran like waves during a storm, and they gripped onto each other to stay balanced. One of the duo squealed as they walked through the rushing waters and Hima would rather die than admit the sound came from her.

The water fought, opposing their movement beyond the lane. Every step was defied by the rushing waters. Right when they reached the side of the road which was comparatively better than the one they were previously walking on, a strong arm snaked around her shoulder and a person invaded the umbrella.

Hima jolted. The arm left her side. 

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Soumik paled. "Your bag–- I thought you were Shahana! I swear it was a mistake!"

Hima just continued to stare at him bewildered.

"Soumik !" Yelled someone from their right. Still standing in the rain, Soumik peered over his shoulder. At the bus stop stood a few students from their school along with some passersby, all seeking shelter. Shahana yelled, "What are you doing!? Come over here!"

As if remembering what he was doing, Soumik immediately ran towards them, but not before looking back and saying. "Sorry again!"

"What was that about?" Vismaya started, "Oh! The bus has arrived."

No words were spoken as they entered the bus. Only a few seats were left vacant, and both Hima and her friend were lucky to get two for themselves. The same couldn't be said for the others for they had to stand for the rest of the journey. One of them included Soumik Kurup who by some dirty trick pulled by god happened to stand right next to Hima's seat. He did not, for the rest of the journey, dare look in her direction— not that Hima was watching.