The Mridangist - Part 2

Disclaimer: The story is a figment of my imagination. The characters and incidents does not relate to anybody.

Please find the previous part here

“Slunnnkkk” she pulled the side stand of her Activa with her heels and parked in front of an apartment. She checked her face in the rear view mirror. She indeed was looking very beautiful. Her face was somewhere between a round and an oval shape with a perfect little forehead, neatly threaded eyebrows, deep black eyes, sharp nose and a pair of pouty, pink lips. She had tied her curly brown hair up in a tight pony tail and her eyes were lined heavily with kajal.

She touched her face and thought about the drastic encounter she had with the Black Pulsar guy and rolled her eyes, sighing deeply. She snatched her bag from the front hook in her bike and started walking towards the big black gate. When she entered the apartment through the gate and closed it behind her, she heard someone call her name.

“Sathvika.. Amma Sathvii..”

She turned and saw that it was the apartment's secretary, Mr. Mahesh. She smiled at him and both of them walked towards each other.

“Maa.. There was a person here this morning. He'd seen the board outside and dropped in to inquire about the classes. I gave your number. He might contact you.” - Mahesh said.

“Ok Uncle. His name?” - she asked thoughtfully.

Mahesh shook his head a little mournfully and said - “He refused to give details to me.”

Sathvika nodded her head and said - “Ok Uncle, I will take care. Thanks for the info”

The Black Pulsar romeo had guessed it right. Sathvika was really a Bharathanatyam dancer and she taught dance in a community hall in an apartment.

The geometrically perfect, rectangular community hall at the basement of the apartment was full of hustle and bustle from kids in varied stages of innocence. Sathvika walked in and immediately a deafening silence fell about the hall. Many kids even pushed themselves to “sush” at their friends so that they don't get caught for mischief.

Sathvika sat down in front of them and pulled the Thatta kazhi (A wooden log and stick used to conduct the dance) from her hand bag. She sat straight and rapped the wooden log twice smartly with the wooden stick. Instantaneously, the kids fell in order and arranged themselves in three rows.

“All of you get ready please..” - Sathvika announced and raised her hand to tap the wooden log again but her mobile rang at the precise moment. The call was from her vocalist friend.

“Hello” - she swiped the screen and answered.

“Hello Sathvi, sorry to disturb your class. Just wanted to tell you about a Mridangist. There's one called Vidhyuth Kaustuban...” - the vocalist said from the other end.

“Is he any good? Last time the Mridangist didn't play well and the kids got very confused on the stage.” - Sathvika interjected in a worried tone.

“Vidhyuth is the best you can get. I'll text his number to you. Contact him.” - the singer said and cut the call.

Before she could start the class, there was a knock on the door and Sathvika looked around. Her jaws dropped when she saw that the Black Pulsar guy was standing there looking as stylish as ever. He leaned on the door frame and waved at her with his helmet, grinning vivaciously. 

 

To be continued...

---Bala Iyengar---