School Souviner Date-24-12-2020

BHPV SCHOOL
MEGA REUNION
1978-1993 Batches
In the mango
grove
“Don’t even think of trying to visit the mango
garden”, Sujay warned Arjav. “There is a horrible
old man who has threatened to tie us up to a tree
and beat us to pulp if he ever catches us”. And as
if on cue, an old man in a white dhoti and shirt
appeared from behind a tree with a big stick in
his hands.
Arjav had been asking about the mango grove
on the other side of the road. It was June,
school holidays. Arjav and Parthiv had come
to stay with their cousins in a township about
thirty kilometers from the city. Beyond the
road was a fairly wide storm water drain that
separated the mango grove from the houses.
The next morning, after breakfast, they all
went out to play cricket with Sujay’s friends
and enjoyed themselves in the open ground
nearby before it became too hot to play
anymore. After a lovely lunch, Parthiv as
usual curled up with a book and Sujay did his
holiday homework. The house was quiet with
people sleeping or going about their work.
Arjav was restless. He quietly crept out of the
house determined to pay a visit to the mango
grove.
He walked along the side-road till he reached
the main road and quickly crossed over to the
other side. He could now see the storm water
drain. It was clean with piles of fallen leaves here
and there. There was no way he could jump
across – it was just too wide; and no way he
could climb down and come out to the other
side either. But, ah – what was that! It looked like
a pipe cutting across! Arjav walked quickly
towards that place. What luck! It was a pipe, a
fairly stout one too and yes, one could carefully
climb down and walk across to the other side.
Ahana Lakshmi
It was a little scary of course, but having come so
far, Arjav was determined to get ahead.
So very carefully, he got on to the pipe, and
started walking across. Now there was no going
back, as it was all he could do to carefully step
forward. He remembered how he had watched
the tightrope walkers at the circus a few days
ago. They had held out their hands to balance
themselves as they carefully stepped forward.
Luckily his sandals were flexible. He focused on
the wall in front of him and so intent he was in
going forward that he did not see the old man
watching him quietly. Just as he reached the
other end, he let his breath go and reached out
to grab what he thought was a protruding root
and almost lost his grip when he realized it was a
stick and at the other end was the old man!
Before he knew what was happening, the old
man had grabbed him in a strong grip and
pulled him up. Arjav almost screamed. Too late
he remembered Sujay’s warning. Would that
man tie him up to a tree and beat him? “Did your
friends dare you to steal mangoes from here?”
barked the old man, still holding on to Arjav.
“No. In fact my cousin warned me to stay off
from the mango garden.” “Where are you from?
You are not one of the township boys.”
“I am from Mumbai, here for the holidays. The
garden … you see, looked so beautiful and
quiet…the trees full of mangoes …I thought I
would come and practice playing my flute…”
“You have a flute?” Arjav reached into his shirt
and pulled out a flute. The man’s grip loosened.
He said, “Come on, play something”. Arjav held
the flute against his mouth and softly blew into
it, playing the basic notes. He looked up and
December 2019