Chapter 5: Janaki.
Tales of Treselda Cottage, Part 5.
Janaki. Ava felt a sudden twinge in her heart. What good friends they had been. They were in and out of each other's houses in those days. Janaki's house was set in a large compound, full of trees, on the road at the start of the lane that led to Treselda Cottage. She would join them on their walk to school, where she was one class senior to Ava. In the evenings, Mama would let Ava spend time in Janu's house. They would sit together on the low verandah wall, chatting, speckled by the shadows of leaves of the Mango tree. Or they would be on verandah floor, playing Five Stones.
Janu had a collection of smooth, light stones for this game, just big enough for five of them to fit into a small palm. They would scatter five stones onto the floor, and like jugglers, throw one up and scoop up a set number in time to turn the palm and catch the falling stone. The game had more complicated variations as it progressed, and the girls considered themselves most dexterous at it. They could go on and on, the clink of the stones and Janu's glass bangles getting more rhythmic as they went.
On some evenings, Janu would have Veena lessons and Ava would sit in the verandah, waiting. Vilasini Aunty, Janu's mother, would ply her with snacks - cut mangoes, parippu vada, pazham pori, served in small steel plates. Everything Aunty made looked neat and delicate and tasted heavenly. The Veena teacher was impatient and Janu often struggled with her repetitions, painstakingly playing the notes over and over again.
They both attended the evening piano lessons at school together, and Ava knew the pecking order there. Ava's elder cousin Marlene, a year older to Janu, was the nuns' pet pupil. "She plays like an angel", Sr. Doris had remarked when Mama paid them a visit. Ava and Janu watched in awe with other girls as Marlene's fingers danced over the keys, barely touching them. Mother Superior would also come out of her parlour when Marlene played, her usual frown replaced with a barely perceptible smile. Anyone would pale in comparison to Marl on the piano, but being from the same household, and her younger cousin, Ava was expected to follow in her footsteps, or fingertips, rather. She tried hard, though she always ended up feeling tone deaf and ham-fisted. Janu in turn, couldn't keep up with Ava, and had fallen behind in her lessons. It was a struggle for her, but she gamely put in her best effort. Ava began slowing down and letting lessons slip so that Janu could catch up, relieved that the nuns had stopped having great expectations out of her.
One Onam, Vilasini Aunty had got them both matching silk material. It was beautiful soft maroon silk, with a gold-shot border. Narayanan tailor had come to Janu's house to take their measurements and had made them long pavadas with fitted blouses. Janu had a collection of dance ornaments, odd bits and pieces in a red velvet box. Ava had picked a green stone mango design nettichutti, a forehead ornament, and matching jimkis for her ears. She felt like a princess, decked out in all her finery. Janu's parents had taken them to the studio, for a portrait. The photographer had made them stand together, turned slightly to the left, shoulders overlapping, right hand bent, palm over left elbow. He kept directing them, asking them to follow his hand signals. A little more to the left, no not that much. Head tilt, chin up. When one of them was all set, the other wouldn't be. The girls keep bursting into giggles, needing to start the process all over again.
It was at the time of the fated youth festival that things had gone sour between them. One morning, Janu had walked ahead to school, without waiting for Ava. At Assembly, Ava caught her eye and was shocked when Janu made a "monkey face" at her, a common way in which school girls would signal to each other that they weren't friends anymore. Ava caught up with Janu's group after Assembly, and asked what the matter was. "Marlene told everyone in her class that you said Janu can't play the Veena or the Piano at all", Anna, Janu's friend told her. "They dropped her from the music group for the youth festival because of that". "I would never say that", Ava protested, but they had started walking away.
Ava racked her brain and remembered mentioning to Marlene once that Jayu struggled with her Veena lessons. Marl told her that evening that she in turn had mentioned something to that effect to her classmate Kamala, who was Anna's friend. This was only because Kamala had started lessons with the same Veena teacher. Chinese whispers had meandered their way from one girl's ear to the next, leaving a trail of doubt and damage in their wake. Ava knew how much Janu wanted to participate in the youth festival. That was all she had been talking of, for days on end. The student leaders who selected the team were from the senior year, Marlene's class, and the juniors would butter them up, wanting to be selected. Ava felt her face and ears flush red. How could her innocent remark to her cousin come to this.
Mama had tried to fix it for the girls, requesting Sr. Cecily to include Janu in the music group. Sr. Cecily said the team members had already been annouced and they couldn't replace anyone now. Marl and Ava knew that the team had been finalised by the student leaders much before the rumour about Janu had done the rounds, but somehow, someone had connected both. And there was nothing she could do to undo it.
Marl finished school that year, and Janu finished the next year and had moved on to college. She seemed like an adult in her half sarees and very distant to Ava, who still had another year left in school. Life took over, and they had drifted apart, leaving Ava with a faded black and white studio portrait of two girls staring into the distance, and vivid, multi-hued memories of moments when their eyes had met.
(To be continued...)
Janaki. Ava felt a sudden twinge in her heart. What good friends they had been. They were in and out of each other's houses in those days. Janaki's house was set in a large compound, full of trees, on the road at the start of the lane that led to Treselda Cottage. She would join them on their walk to school, where she was one class senior to Ava. In the evenings, Mama would let Ava spend time in Janu's house. They would sit together on the low verandah wall, chatting, speckled by the shadows of leaves of the Mango tree. Or they would be on verandah floor, playing Five Stones.
Janu had a collection of smooth, light stones for this game, just big enough for five of them to fit into a small palm. They would scatter five stones onto the floor, and like jugglers, throw one up and scoop up a set number in time to turn the palm and catch the falling stone. The game had more complicated variations as it progressed, and the girls considered themselves most dexterous at it. They could go on and on, the clink of the stones and Janu's glass bangles getting more rhythmic as they went.
On some evenings, Janu would have Veena lessons and Ava would sit in the verandah, waiting. Vilasini Aunty, Janu's mother, would ply her with snacks - cut mangoes, parippu vada, pazham pori, served in small steel plates. Everything Aunty made looked neat and delicate and tasted heavenly. The Veena teacher was impatient and Janu often struggled with her repetitions, painstakingly playing the notes over and over again.
They both attended the evening piano lessons at school together, and Ava knew the pecking order there. Ava's elder cousin Marlene, a year older to Janu, was the nuns' pet pupil. "She plays like an angel", Sr. Doris had remarked when Mama paid them a visit. Ava and Janu watched in awe with other girls as Marlene's fingers danced over the keys, barely touching them. Mother Superior would also come out of her parlour when Marlene played, her usual frown replaced with a barely perceptible smile. Anyone would pale in comparison to Marl on the piano, but being from the same household, and her younger cousin, Ava was expected to follow in her footsteps, or fingertips, rather. She tried hard, though she always ended up feeling tone deaf and ham-fisted. Janu in turn, couldn't keep up with Ava, and had fallen behind in her lessons. It was a struggle for her, but she gamely put in her best effort. Ava began slowing down and letting lessons slip so that Janu could catch up, relieved that the nuns had stopped having great expectations out of her.
One Onam, Vilasini Aunty had got them both matching silk material. It was beautiful soft maroon silk, with a gold-shot border. Narayanan tailor had come to Janu's house to take their measurements and had made them long pavadas with fitted blouses. Janu had a collection of dance ornaments, odd bits and pieces in a red velvet box. Ava had picked a green stone mango design nettichutti, a forehead ornament, and matching jimkis for her ears. She felt like a princess, decked out in all her finery. Janu's parents had taken them to the studio, for a portrait. The photographer had made them stand together, turned slightly to the left, shoulders overlapping, right hand bent, palm over left elbow. He kept directing them, asking them to follow his hand signals. A little more to the left, no not that much. Head tilt, chin up. When one of them was all set, the other wouldn't be. The girls keep bursting into giggles, needing to start the process all over again.
It was at the time of the fated youth festival that things had gone sour between them. One morning, Janu had walked ahead to school, without waiting for Ava. At Assembly, Ava caught her eye and was shocked when Janu made a "monkey face" at her, a common way in which school girls would signal to each other that they weren't friends anymore. Ava caught up with Janu's group after Assembly, and asked what the matter was. "Marlene told everyone in her class that you said Janu can't play the Veena or the Piano at all", Anna, Janu's friend told her. "They dropped her from the music group for the youth festival because of that". "I would never say that", Ava protested, but they had started walking away.
Ava racked her brain and remembered mentioning to Marlene once that Jayu struggled with her Veena lessons. Marl told her that evening that she in turn had mentioned something to that effect to her classmate Kamala, who was Anna's friend. This was only because Kamala had started lessons with the same Veena teacher. Chinese whispers had meandered their way from one girl's ear to the next, leaving a trail of doubt and damage in their wake. Ava knew how much Janu wanted to participate in the youth festival. That was all she had been talking of, for days on end. The student leaders who selected the team were from the senior year, Marlene's class, and the juniors would butter them up, wanting to be selected. Ava felt her face and ears flush red. How could her innocent remark to her cousin come to this.
Mama had tried to fix it for the girls, requesting Sr. Cecily to include Janu in the music group. Sr. Cecily said the team members had already been annouced and they couldn't replace anyone now. Marl and Ava knew that the team had been finalised by the student leaders much before the rumour about Janu had done the rounds, but somehow, someone had connected both. And there was nothing she could do to undo it.
Marl finished school that year, and Janu finished the next year and had moved on to college. She seemed like an adult in her half sarees and very distant to Ava, who still had another year left in school. Life took over, and they had drifted apart, leaving Ava with a faded black and white studio portrait of two girls staring into the distance, and vivid, multi-hued memories of moments when their eyes had met.
(To be continued...)
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