Winds Of Change - Paroma Bhattacharya(Dedicated to my paternal grandfather) (story read aloud TXT) 📗

her reflexes and the opponents used to be perplexed at the speed with which the cork would be thrown at them.
After the game they went and showered laughing and cracking jokes along the way. They were terribly tired but Lona knew after dinner she will have to sit with Pooja to solve the problems. They finished their dinner and then went into the study room.
Shweta and swati and Lona were together discussing the days work and doing the home work.
“ Pick up your books and come to the corner Lona or is it Lana” retorted Pooja.
“ See Pooja no need to be so rude” said Shweta.
“Its ok Shweta some people will never grow up, leave it”, replied Lona
Pooja gave a nasty look to Lona and went to sit in the corner table with her books. Lona followed her and then the harrowing session began. Pooja as usual bullied her way through all of Lona’s points but finally Lona got her home work done.
Lona was very tired with the days work but wanted to offer prayers in the chapel before going to bed. This she would always perform alone as she was slightly embarrassed to be so God fearing. The chapel was at the rear end of the main building where the missionaries used to live. Students were allowed to utilize this facility and many of the apostolic sisters would encourage them to take part in their daily mass even if they were not a Christian.
Lona ran towards the chapel and offered prayers inside. She in her youthful spirit had even kept the option of becoming a nun open. This was spurred by the fact that the chapel was such a peaceful place away from the madding crowd. It was surrounded by stained glass depicting Jesus in many ways. Lona walked down the aisle to the centre where the statue of virgin mary holding infant jesus was sculpted. There was a lectern is front of it where the head apostolic sister used to conduct the mass. She sat in one of the pews right in front and just stared into oblivion. After a few minutes a fresh vigor invaded her being and she felt rejuvenated.
Finally the day was over and each student of ninth grade was in their part of the bunk bed. Lona was on top listening to her ipod and trying to sleep. She tried not to think about Pooja or her grades. She was missing her parents already and knew she had to wait till the weekend for them to pay her a visit. She was very excited as her mother had told her that she would be bringing the issue of National Geographic with her. She could guess that her mother was trying to create her interest in Science and was not particularly happy about that.

Days passed by and soon the seasons changed from autumn to winter. The landscape also changed giving a frosty air to the surroundings. Each weekend Lona’s parents would come to see her and hand her some or the other gift. Lona’s grades had shot up like anything so now Mrs Roy was always in smiles as she would meet Lona. Lona did not want to admit but her grades were going up due to the constant company of her bunk bed partner Pooja who considered it her duty to help out her current partner. The National geographic was piling up on her desk and it was the envy of many of her classmates. Lona though was very generous about sharing her possessions and that was the reason she was popular among her classmates.
In January they used to hold their inter-school badminton tournament and this time Lona was in the organizing committee. Lona was becoming very responsible and this was reflecting in everything that she was doing right from getting good grades, becoming popular among teachers, sharing innovative ideas and turning them into reality etc.
“Lona , tomorrow you will go to the school St.Andrews and talk to the principal there” said Mr. Pachua who was their sports teacher.
It was going to be a big event as far as the school was concerned and everyone was looking forward to it. Lona was touring all the schools and getting all the teams ready for the tournament. Tomorrow she would be going to St.Andrews to set up the last team but not the least in any way as St. Andrews was known for their badminton team.
St. Andrews was 5 kms from their school and Lona used to hiking walked the whole way. It was not at all uncomfortable as January was the coolest month in the hills. The St. Andrews structure loomed in front of her and lona gave it a cursory glance not at all overawed by it, as many were. It was the most expensive school in the neighborhood and she was getting the nervous jitters finally like everyone else as she approached the reception having passed through the security without any problem.
She finally got through to the principal after half an hour’s wait. She had gone for such dozen meetings but somehow she was very tensed up today. The principal met her with a smile as Lona’s radiance was very infectious.
“So u r in the organizing committee of the Badminton tournament and you would like our team to participate in your event Baddy ’92. Well you must first meet our school monitor and discuss the details with him. I will take the feed back from him.” The principal told her.
“Thank you Ma’am” replied Lona as she waited for the school monitor to come.
“ Good Morning Ma’am” said a deep hollow voice that made Lona’s heart skip a beat.
She quickly turned around to take a look and she could not believe it as she saw the Gurkha from the play walk into the room. His presence was all permeating in Lona’s being and she was transfixed..
“Hello, I am Neel Sarkar” said the young boy to her.” I am the School Monitor and responsible for all outdoor activities of the school.” He said while escorting her into the common room. He seemed to occupy the whole space in the room with his effervescent smile and lithe body. Lona was dying to ask him about the demonstration in the mall but sealed her lips fearing other repercussions.
“ Can I offer you a cup of coffee or tea? Our vending machines are pretty good”, he added giving her his winsome smile.
“Yes , sure”, stammered Lona unable to control her inner emotions.
“ Tea or coffee”, asked Neel again giving her a quizzical look this time around.
“ Oh sorry! Coffee please”, replied Lona with an embarrassed look.
“ No problem, for a second I thought you were going to faint over there” added Neel.
Neel was back in a second or it felt so to Lona , with two hot cups of coffee in the typical plastic cups that Lona so hated. She had decided to champion the cause for recycling after reading extensively about how the environment is getting affected by the use of plastic especially in third world countries. Plastic being non- biodegradable destroys environmental growth at the point of contact and prevents recycling. Paper on the other hand is recyclable and bio-degradable.
“There is your cup and here is mine” , said Neel to her handing her, her cup.
Lona took the cup hesitantly not wanting to be ungracious but Neel was very quick to sense her reluctance.
“ Is there something wrong ” he asked Lona
“ Its just that I don’t like plastic cups because they are not environment friendly” replied Lona
“ Ha ha, thats funny” he burst into laughter and Lona was fixated, gaping at him unashamed.
“ Well I thought my father was the only one interested in the environment. He is an MLA you know from Tiljala district, kolkata.” , he said proudly
“ By the way , you have forgotten to tell me your name” added Neel.
“Its Lona Roy speaking”, laughed Lona this time as she introduced herself.
“ So u joke too! Thts nice as girls I know lack a good sense of humor and more importantly you look good with a smile. Your name is interesting Lona , is it inspired from the Hollywood actress Lana Turner” he added quickly seeing Lona going red when he had mentioned her smile.
“ No actually it rhymes with my elder sisters name who is Dona Roy. My father likes western music a lot and is a fan of Donna Summers hence the name.” replied Lona and looked down shuffling her feet at the same time.
Neel quickly looked at the time.
“ I think we better get down to business and discuss the event details”, he said hurriedly.
After that they discussed the event at length and when Neel was satisfied that they had covered all relevant topics and she had divulged all the information that he needed to proceed , they stopped to relax.
“ Well we are all looking forward to this event like last year. Hope it is a bigger success than last year’s”, he said.
“ We only wish that yours was a co-educational school so that even the boys team could have participated but anyways it is still going to be special. I am especially looking forward to meeting you during the event. Now if you will excuse me I have a class to attend and 12th boards are nearing so we have to also prepare for our prelims. I hope you can see yourself to the exit” he added quickly.
Lona thanked him effusively for his support and asked his help to make this event a grand success. Then she quickly showed herself out. Reaching the gate and exiting, she finally gave vent to her emotions. She kept replaying each and every dialogue she had with him and blushed to think of him. Her mind was in another world and she danced to the tune of “ The hills are alive with the sound of music” sung so enigmatically by Julie Andrews in the original soundtrack of the movie. This song was playing in her mind as she walked down to Eve and K2.
She reached her class and recounted every moment spent with Neel to her friends Swati and shweta. They were both listening to her story with baited breath. This was the first time someone had fallen in love amongst them and Lona was in seventh heaven.
It was the best month of her life up till now as she started meeting Neel more often and not just through the event management. Baddy ’92 started right on target in the mid dle of the month of January and the round robins took place in the courts provided for badminton near Eve and K2. Swati and shweta were eagerly waiting for the moment when they would meet their friend’s boyfriend or should they dare call him that.
“ Good Morning Girls!” , Neel said as he introduced himself to Swati and Shweta. It was the day of the semi-final and