7. Boys and girls at the water tap

CHAPTER 7

Boys and girls at the water tap

Water was coming in the tap in the compound.  One by one everyone was filling buckets and taking them into their houses.

Soon everyone had finished filling the water. Kotari immediately went and peeped through the window of Prutvi’s house. He saw them meditating. He knocked on the door.

Arvind opened the door. “Goodmoring, Uncle.”

“Good morning. Water is coming. Everybody has finished. Now, you may come out and fill your buckets.”

Arvind and Prutvi got ready to go out with buckets.

Kotari said, “One thing, your attention should be on the water and your room.”

“Uncle, you don’t worry. We will look at the sky if you want. But we will not look at the others in the compound.” Said Arvind.

They took the buckets and went to the tap. Brahma was sitting in front of his house, which was close to the tap. He was shaving. He was surprised to see the boys. He kept staring at them. They came to the tap and opened it.

Brahma looked at the boys and said, “My wife told me about your arrival. Are you studying?”

The boys immediately looked at Kotari’s face. Kotari put his fingers to his mouth. They continued to stand near the tap silently as the water was filling in the bucket.

Brahma was confused. “I am talking to you only. Where are you from?”

They did not pay any attention to him. When the bucket got filled, they took it and went to their room. At the door they made action to Kotari to ask him whether they had done it nicely. Kotari made actions to say that it was prefect.

Brahma was surprised to see all this signalling. He went to Kotari. “Why are they not talking? Are they deaf and dumb?”

Kotari shook his head. But he did not say anything.

Brahma was confused. “Then why are they so serious? Tell me otherwise, I will have tension whole day.”

Kotari looked at the sky and then he whispered in his ear. “They are VIPs.”

Brahma was surprised. “VIPs? Are they children of some political leader or some top IAS officers?”

Kotari closed his eyes for a while.

Brahma brought his face closed to Kotari’s. “Oh brother! Please tell me. Because maybe it will be of use in my office work.”

Kotari was shocked. “They will not be of any use to you in your office work.”

They boys again brought empty buckets. Brahmas eyes followed them. The boys were very serious.

Brahma looked at Kotari with doubt. “You say VIPs. But not those VIPs. This is a doubtful case. Are they terrorists?”

Kotari said softly, “They are coming. They will hear us talking. I will tell you later. It is all a top secret.”

Kotari went into his house.

Brahma went to his house scratching his head. He was totally confused. His wife saw him enter scratching his head.

Tripura asked, “What happened? Why are you scratching your head like that?”

“I am full of tension.”

“Now I too will be full of tension whole day because of you.”

“Those new boys are filling water. There is a lot of secret behind them. Top secret it seems.”

Daughter Lavanya, who was ready to go to the college, heard this. Brahma took a towel and went to the bathroom to take bath. Lavanya heard the sound of water outside. She came went out and saw the boys filling water. She immediately went into the bathroom. All the buckets were full of water. Her father was getting ready to take bath. She started emptying his bucket of water.

Brahma was shocked to see this. “Eh! What are you doing? Why are you throwing my water?”

Lavanya emptied the bucket fully. “I will bring fresh water for you.”

Brahma was shocked. “But it is fresh water. I just brought it from the tap. Why are you changing it? Oh! Everything is confusion. I don’t know what has happened to this girl.”

Lavanya went out of the house.

The boys had just finished filling water. Lavanya smiled at them. They looked at Kotari. He became serious. The boys looked at Lavanya seriously.

Suddenly Mayuri came out of her house fully dressed to go to the college. She saw the scene near the tap. She immediately went in and came out with a bucket.

Lavanya looked at her seriously. “Why? Already you are ready to go to college and yet you are bringing this bucket.”

Mayuri said, “When I saw you, I remembered that one-bucket was empty.”

The two boys took the buckets and went to their room. Kotari followed them.

Inside the room, Prutvi looked at the half filled bucket. “Uncle, there are too many danger points in your compound.”

Kotari looked at him seriously. “So you have understood my compound very well. That is why I had decided not to give room to you bachelors. This compound is full of girls.”

Prutvi asked, “Uncle, has your daughter gone with aunty?”

Kotari became serious. “Why? Looks like you are making total survey.”

And then he laughed. “In this matter I am lucky. I did not have any children.”

Arvind laughed. “Very good. Otherwise, like these girls, your daughter too would have fallen for us.”

Kotari got angry. “What did you say?”

Prutvi said, “We did not say anything. The water is not enough for us. If we go back, all those girls will come to the tap. What to do?”

 

Kotari thought for a while.

Arvind said cunningly, “If we go to the tap, you do not like it. Let us do one thing.”

He gave Kotari the bucket. “You only go and bring water for us. We will remain here itself.”

Kotari laughed. “Good idea. From today onwards, I will bring water for you. Don’t worry.” He was ready to do anything to avoid the boys meeting the girls.

Kotari took the bucket and went to the tap. Mayuri and Lavanya looked at him in surprise.

Mayuri asked, “Why uncle? Are you going to fill water for them?”

Kotari said happily, “From today onwards, I will give them water. This will put an end to your games.”

Mayuri and Lavanya were shocked and disappointed. They went away with half filled buckets.

Kotari shouted after them. “Why are you going away without filling the bucket?”

Lavanya turned and said, “It is time for college.”

Arvind and Prutvi also got ready and went to the college on their motorbikes.