tales of friendship: cycles, crows and sweet corn on an abandoned highway

Myself Rakesh

Rakesh is seventeen years old and he has lived in the village of Hiraguddi all seventeen years of his miserable life. The little hut at the end of the dustiest street belonged to his father, who was perennially absent at the dinner table unless his mother had made her specialty, rava idli.  His sister, who was eternally moaning about her lack of social life, spent her days staring dramatically out of the windows and pretending to be a movie star. 

Rakesh utilized the majority of his time by selling mangoes he and his gang steal from Motilalji's garden for half price. Thank god his mother does not care enough about his to check where his income for daily paani puri was coming from as he really did not want to share it with his sister.  

Life is pretty strange he thinks to himself as he shoves a fungus infested toothbrush into his mouth and cleans his teeth for approximately 46 seconds. Also i think i saw guavas in Motilalji's garden, should probably obtain those for some sort of profit. Spitting the toothpaste into the cracked sink, he patted his face with some water and wiped it with a probably also fungus infested towel. 

"Ma, I'm going outside," he edges out of the hallway and towards the front door before his mother makes him perform yet another household task that his useless sister has forgotten to do.  His father is on the sofa flipping angrily through the Times of India and his sister, Shamiha sits beside him with her head in her hands. 

Rakesh hurries out the door when he sees his mother stick her head out of the kitchen and glare at him, "Take your breakfast and go at least, donkey." she yells at him making him to hurry back to the kitchen and collect his meal, three idlis with white chutney spooned in exactly 5 times. 

"No red chutney today, ma?" he risks asking after poking a hole in the idli with his finger. The woman emerges again from the kitchen with a dangerous looking kitchen utensil in her hand, "You want red chutney? you want red chutney?" she questions.

He forces out a feeble no and stuffs himself with the idlis until his plate is shiny and clean. Scrubbing his plate harshly with the remaining drops of exo soap, he puts it back gently and tiptoes to the front door. Looking around warily, to ensure no angered middle aged woman was lurking around, he broke out into a run and did not stop until he reached the banyan tree at the other end of the street.

Resting his arms on his knees to catch his breath and panting heavily, he is quite startled to find someone else already at the tree. More so because it is Motu, and Motu is never on time, he was even delivered from his mother's womb late. 

"You know we're meeting at 10:30 no, Motu?" he questions suspiciously, wondering if the boy had secured yet another useless 'drug deal' with someone who sold him powdered glucose for almost all of his yearly savings. Motu looks affronted, "I know, Rakesh, what is your problem? Can't you be happy for a friend when he starts to be punctual?" Rakesh raises an eyebrow.

Motu groans "Fine, but that fellow said this time he will for sure give me the drugs." Motu is met with a slap on the head from Balakrishnaji who has emerged out of the bushes with a book in hand. "What's your problem Bala? Your mother didn't give you enough food?"

"Motu, i'll slap you. How many times i have told you not to get drugs from that fellow? Nothing he knows, when you get arrested don't call me" Bala finishes his speech with another smack on Motu's head with his mathematics textbook. Motu looks as though he is not finishes arguing when- "Pleasant morning boys !" came the unnecessarily cheerful voice of Fanta as he skips down the street holding a overweight feline in his arms. 

"Why pleasant?" Krish asks, looking up from the floor, when he got down there, Rakesh does not wish to know. "And we told you to stop taking Motilalji's cat, why can't you listen to someone who's older than you?" 

Fanta stops petting the grump and stares accusingly at Krish, "First of all, you are older than me by one month. And so what if I take his cat? I'm just borrowing it." 

Rakesh looks at Fanta, "Why is today pleasant? My mother made white chutney again and I think so that I need a new toothbrush." Motu snorts "I have been using the same toothbrush for two years and there's nothing wrong with my teeth. Look."

"Are you sure about that, Motu?" Balakrishnaji says with a disgusted expression on his face. And as their argument continues, Krish begins wailing about disappointing his parents and Fanta's cat jumps out of his arms and onto Rakesh's shoulders. He yelps and falls on top of Krish in an attempt to get rid of the nasty creature that only listens to Fanta. 

Rakesh thinks he can hear Krish sobbing now and-"You all know that we have a maths test tomorrow no?" Balakrishnaji says casually flipping through the pages of his now physics textbook. Motu snorts again, "You are telling this to me as if I actually care." 

"What? What? Maths test? Maths test??"Krish bawls, "but I didn't study anything and I don't know which chapters and my mother will throw me out of the-aaaAAAAHHH." His tirade is stopped by an old cat being thrown onto his face, one that apparently finds comfort in the arms of screaming teen boys. Motu falls off the seat cackling and Balakrishnaji puts his head in his hands, his textbook falling flat on the ground, Fanta stands smugly with his arms crossed in front of the screaming Krish and Rakesh? Rakesh did not know there was a maths test tomorrow, actually.