Part: I
“Wow! Have you seen this, buddy! It’s amazing!! Simply fab!!!” Ani ecstatically stretched a magazine towards me pointing at something. We were at our usual afternoon resort—Kali Da’s Tea Stall— comfortably accommodated ourselves on our proprietary left corner table. There were only two of us present. Soumen, Subho, Papai and the others were yet to turn up and were expected any moment. It was almost 5:30 back in late 80’s and the winter evening was gradually making the streets of our small suburb town darker and darker.
Resting my back on the damp ‘once-it-was-white’ wall I was earnestly trying to swallow the Kali Da Special tea. It was a stuff made with some extra spoonful of sugar that was boiling atleast since midday! Ani seemed to be less hard working than me, as he just gave a single sip and his facial expression said it all. He put the cup aside, pulled out a magazine from his back pack and concentrated into it.
My self-torture with the tea was somewhat disturbed by Ani’s sudden ecstasy; however I didn’t say anything but took the magazine from his hand and glanced at the article he was pointing. It was a popular science magazine for kids with some hardly digestible sci-fi s and other sort of trash.
“You discovered something amazing from this trash”? My surprise was in no way artificial. “Just read on dude! Article on page 58, if you please!” I noticed a very mysterious smile on my bosom friend’s face. Wait a sec, were his eyes that much bright and shining when we entered here…I guess not! There must be something on page 58, that had immediately turned him on…well, let’s check, I thought, and fixed my specs focused on the page.
There I met with my second shock! Page 58 describes a step by step guide to make a wireless set….with some tough to realize diagrams and list of never-heard-before components. “Hey, what the hell is this, Ani?” I didn’t even try to conceal my antipathy mixed with anger… “Why are you trying to make a fool of me?” I had rights to be angry. Being a complete literature student I was not even sure what do a circuit board and capacitors and resistance means and more over, how to craft all those cranky little parts into a complete working model. But Ani went on with his inexplicable smile…and then raised his voice: “Kali-Da, two more hot waters please…and this time may be without sugar”….
I fixed my eyes again into the pages…hum… “Hand-Made, Battery-Powered, Low-Cost Wireless Set…that could cover 50-100 mts of distance…one transmitter and receiver integrated into both the sets…and off course you need not to ask for any permission for using those sets…” I just read aloud some printed information from that page…and Ani listened very carefully with that mysterious smile still lurking on his face.
Kali da’s little assistant served us two more cups. I picked up one, offered a small careful sip… “Well, it’s better than the earlier one”, I admired and looked at Ani. He was still fixed his eyes on me with that smile. “So? What do you think?” he whispered. “Think? Think what? There is nothing to think in that junk” my tone definitely sounded annoyed. “There is a lot to think, dude!”Ani lowered his voice even more and after a moment’s pause added: “It’s for Priya”!
“Priya! Priya? What the hell should Priya do with a wirele—” I suddenly put a hand break to my unfinished query…my eyes turned wide open…my jaw dropped… amazed, I again looked at the page… “Easy Wire-less Set” it read… slowly I raised my head, and Ani’s mysterious smile this time infected my face too!
“Hi guys!” Papai and Soumen entered to join us. I remained silent while Ani greeted them. “What has happened to Dip? He looks hypnotised!” Soumen asked. “Why are you smiling like a stupid? What’s so funny?”Papai jabbed directly to me.
“Well, you see guys; Dip is trying to make a scientific model” Ani winked at me and explained to others. “Dip? Scientific model? Are you crazy?” Papai looked traumatized …. “That guy can not draw a circle properly…will make a scientific model....what sort of model?”…Soumen snatched the magazine from my hand and declared: “Easy Wire-less Set”!
The following ten minutes they made a mess of my ‘self respect’ and ‘scientific knowledge’! I didn’t try to protest much, chiefly because their allegation against my understanding of scientific theories and mathematical problems were mostly unbiased, but more than that, in my mind I was toying with the idea of developing a wire-less set for Priya.
Ani and Priya’s case history always reminded me of the popular Kishore Kumar song: “Mere Samne Wali Khidki Mein Ek Chand Ka Tukra Rehta Hain”! Priya’s family was Ani’s opposide door neighbour. The two compounds were separated by a ten feet road, and from Ani’s top floor room he had a direct view of the window next to what Priya usually had her studies done. It’s needless to point out that most of the times Priya was found lifted her face upwards at a certain angle rather than keeping it lowered on her books!
Obviously Ani was not heart-less and cruel that far to wave off her interest. As a contrary, Ani appeared to be no less interested and was in constant pursuit of developing that innocent interest into some mature relationship. But informing Priya that he also cares became a major problem! Priya hardly came out of their compound and on rare occasions when she came out for a walk on the front road she was always accompanied by her ferocious looking mother!
Anyways, innovative Ani resolved that information-gap with his own inimitable style! One evening he purchased an audio cassette of the super-hit Hindi movie “Maine Pyaar Kiya”, inserted the tape into slot, pointed the speakers towards Priya’s compound, turned the volume full and just started to play only the part “I LOVE YOU” that was a prelude to a song in that movie!
Play—Pause—Rewind—Play—Pause—Rewind—Play….the cycle went on till 30 minutes after midnight and next morning Priya’s shy smile through her window clearly mentioned that Ani’s aching neck and fingers have not gone all fruitless!
In these circumstances, an easy to make wireless set would be a god gifted article for them, I thought. How fun and simplified would their communication be! One should be standing near her window and the other on his terrace, both engaged in a conversation military style: “Tiger…speaking Alfa….Tiger to Alfa….Nice dress Alfa…Ok…Tiger…Alfa to Tiger… Looking very handsome Tiger…Roger…and Out…”…Oh! How interesting!
I woke up from my slumber as I discovered myself awkwardly being observed by my friends. “What?” I felt very irritated and all of them burst in laughter. Ani grabbed my hand and said: “Well guys, let’s get up. It’s almost 6:15, I have to attend the tuition”. When the others were busy calculating the share of the bill for the teas he came closer to me and asked: “You have English tuition today, no?” “Affirmative” I nodded. “Good, then wait for me here when it’s over, we will go home together”. That’s not unusual, we live at the same direction of the town, and normally go back home together after our evening tuitions. “Ok. I will” I came out of the stall and started cycling. I was already late for the class.
to be continued...
