Surangi, The Child Bride

Part 53

The palm and straw thatched hut that belonged to Chandri' s parents was an unlikely excursion spot for the children, but interestingly, Madhav, Dinkar, Surangi, Waman and the others had almost pitched camp there all morning. Of course Chandri 's parents were away at work and only her little brother was around to play host to the visitors. Not that the children expected much hospitality, they just loved the experience of wandering around that modest property very much. 

"So, this is where all of you are, I knew I'd find you here!" Rohini, who had just arrived on the scene, announced her presence with a dramatic flutter of her eyes.

"Oh, your ladyship, fancy finding you here!" Dinkar was prompt in acknowledging her. Surangi, Arundhati and Yami rolled their eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Rohini asked, as if they owed her an explanation.

"We are here on a secret scientific mission. Our objective is to study the laying behaviour of the species called Gallus gallus domesticus! But don't tell anyone, we do not want the British government to know anything about it, our mission is top secret!" Dinkar remarked in a deceptively conspiratorial tone, with a poker face to match.

"Is that some rare bird?" Rohini asked. With Dinkar one could never predict anything. Mercifully Rohini did not notice the other girls snickering at Dinkar's remark, her attention was fully on Dinkar.

"Actually Rohini, Dinu was just curious about...." Madhav could barely finish his statement before he was interrupted by Dinkar.

"What Dr Madhav here is trying to tell you is that, if you are born and bred in a vegetarian family then Gallus gallus domesticus is certainly a rare breed for you, I doubt if you have ever encountered it organoleptically!" This time it was Madhav's turn to burst out laughing, but he managed to restrain himself somehow.

"Organo what?" Rohini was obviously confounded by Dinkar's usage of jargon.

"Why don't you enrol yourself as a volunteer in our empirical study? Baarku, could you kindly lead us to the al fresco laboratory in your backyard?" Dinkar pretended to include Rohini while winking at Chandri' s brother.

Soon the children walked in a single file behind Baarku, following him to the chicken coop in the backyard.

"Sheeee, this is just a smelly chicken roost! You said we were here to study a rare bird!" Rohini was outraged. 

"I never lie your ladyship! You are a vegetarian. Have your parents ever bred chickens? I doubt it. Have you ever tasted the meat of a chicken? I very highly doubt it! Then it is certainly a rare bird for you!" Dinkar somehow managed to keep a straight face while the others were shaking with mirth.

"And your ladyship, never undermine the importance of the humble hen, for in that nature's creation dwelleth an integral part of the ecological food web. The worm feeds on leaves, the chicken feeds on the worm, the fox and other animals feed on the meat of the chicken and so it goes on. Without the chicken an entire food chain would perish. According to Darwin's theory of evolution...." Dinkar was rudely interrupted.

"If you start again about Darwin and his theory I am certainly going to be out of here!" Rohini threatened. She had not forgotten how Dinu had cornered her about her having evolved from apes.

"Rohini, you are right, you should leave. These boys are planning to waste the entire afternoon on some mindless exercise that will do no one any good!" Surangi offered her some friendly advice.

Rohini pondered on Surangi's remark for a minute. Her brain told her that she was right, but her heart did not want to lose the opportunity of hanging around the two boys her teenage hormones were naturally drawn to.