Jungle trails.(22)

        

                 It is Sunday morning, I have not said a word at home.  I am hoping against hope that my classmate Jatinder would have forgotten all about it , or that her parents would have stopped her from going to some strangers’house. I keep an eye out of the window . She is there on the dot exactly on time for a late Sunday morning breakfast. She is however accompanied by her elder sister Tarvinder Kaur who studies in class 10 at our school. Trembling I tell Appa why they are here . He is all bonhomie.He puts them at their ease at once. Saved. What's your father 's name, Major Tara Singh they answer. Grenadiers? He whips out a photo album ,both fathers  are there together. Ah! We are a happy family. The agony of the past two days are forgotten.

            Poor Tarvinder Kaur she doesn't know what she has got herself into. Next year she goes to the  11th class  ,the CBSE year.  She is slightly behind in Physics , who better to give her tuitions than  Appa who had worked as a Physics lecturer at National College Trichy before joining the Army.

               I would like to add something more about this Sardar  family. They are 3 sisters , 2 brothers, parents , one grandmother and one orderly who follows them everywhere. They have come to Shillong at the same time as us , but from Nasirabad Rajasthan by CAR. They have sent their goods by train. A real adventure to treasure for a life time. I make a habit of going to their house which is near Whispering Pines on the way home. Their grandmother would never allow us to sit idly for even a second. Play outside or do some handwork.They have a Tibetan Cocker Spaniel , a she dog.

                  Winter holidays are here. They are the longest in an academic year. We go by bus to the public library. Already we are introduced to Nehru, Gandhi and Rajaji's  epic books. Now we are introduced to Agatha Christie , P G Wodehouse and the usual crime authors.

                  Sundays we have impromptu picnics. Appa brings his jeep, we have a ground sheet, one vessel, tea leaves, condensed milk ,strainer and tumblers. Stop near some brook .Pristine waters . Have a game of cards, brew and have tea , go for nature walks and return home for  lunch cooked by our Malayalee cook.  We see beautiful orchids on trees , different types of ferns and pitcher plants that you  see only in your biology books. We have added ferns and mushrooms to our cuisine. With mushrooms you can never tell the poisonous ones from the edible . So we never collect them in the wild.

                Our visit to Cherrapunji is stalled again and again due to land slides. 

         

               Now I have a real grievance. I have to suffer the Rabindra Sangeet class next door. I have to help Amma with her good works. Knitting ,embroidery ,hemming etc for the women's association. The boys just disappear somewhere across the river and over a hill. Time I investigated.