Shades of grey...
18. Feather in her cap…
Her head ached… it ached so badly she thought she could feel her brain hammering at the inside of her skulll…the ache made her irritable and everything was beginning to make her already bad mood worse. Why was this happening today..not today!?
The guests were arriving and soon everyone would be here, Kirtana felt a wave of nausea. What timing? She took a deep breath, and let the moment pass. She would be okay if she stopped thinking about this.
Tonight they were celebrating the birthdays of Manu and Mali, two weeks late. Maliha had returned from the hospital a week earlier and she had come up with a unique way to invite guests to this party, she was going to do something interesting she had said. Well who was surprised, this was Mali, head injury or not.
Maliha had called three people she knew, Jagan the guy she had bumped into at the art store, who also happened to be the assistant to Manu; Kit’s neighbours who she had gone to the play with and Netra, a girl she had met the one week she had spent at the hospital. Netra was in for appendicitis, and they had met when they shared the two bed ward together during their respective ‘recovery’ time.
Maliha had invited them on the condition that they in turn invited three more people. That way everyone at the party told three other people and so the crowd would be a mix of everyone they all knew. Kit’s house was going to be full.. but there was another ‘catch’, everyone had to come wearing a hat… “no hat, no entry” she has said.
All dressed up, Maliha was looking great especially for someone who had fallen two floors off a balcony .She was pulling off an arm in a sling and a head injury with such ease. She had on a black hat and wore a beautifully fitted electric blue dress made of crushed silk, one of her ‘good’ outfits she said. She was wearing jewellery she had made herself, blue green glassy bits, strung together in a linked chain, which on its own looked strange and incomplete, but on her just fit. She wore a peacock feather in her hat… she really looked dressed for the occasion.
Needless to say Kit was just as well dressed. Looking amazing in a hot pink tunic type dress, she wore a belt around her hip, with a shell buckle, and she had improvised a bit on the hat and wore a band around her head instead, making her look like she was at some retro party. Kit had called her plus three. Anish, Roxie - her friend the painter and Rita, who worked at one of her favourite boutique’s (also happened to be Rita of Manu’s play). Manu had called Max, and two other members of his cast and brought Monkey. With everyone at her house, it was clear that the world could indeed be a small place, there were so many familiar faces!
Manu had had the best week, considering everything. He had made a breakthrough on an idea for his new play, and through all this ,shows of his play (Who’s got my knife) were still running successfully. Raghav had gotten over his guilt of the experiment gone wrong and that could have had something to do with Mira having come to the party, as his guest. Plus there was the fact that there is nothing like a good scare to shake you out of a rut.
Mira had brought Nisha. And Nisha was not happy.
Everyone else looked happy and the mood was perfectly complimented by the ambience in the house. It was breezy night, not cold, warm and yet somehow cool. The rooms had been lit entirely with lamps, and the smell of jasmine incense wafted through the house. Food and drink were in abundance, Kirtana had spared them all the head ache (funny because she actually did have one) and catered…she had set up a mini bar, and even the bartender wore a hat, she noted. This party was not inexpensive…but small fortunes could be spent for good friends. And that was what Maliha had become in the one month she had known her now.
Maliha let all the guests arrive before she called for everyone’s attention. She walked to the middle of the room, they had set up a small wooden stage at the centre of the room, there would be some drunken performances tonight! Mali carried a pouch in her ‘good’ hand. It had different types and colours of feathers.
“So how many people in this room have ever been afraid of the dark? Sorry Raghav, but you know what I mean... come on; I’m sure everyone has been at some point; as a kid at the very least? So why fear the dark, it’s the fear of the unknown right? Of not knowing what’s ahead of you or being unprepared to face the thing you can’t see? Well, it’s all of that and more. As you can see, I have a feather in my cap tonight, and I’ll tell you why. Tonight I am celebrating an achievement; funny though I have yet to achieve the thing I want to. What I have done though is to identify the ‘darkness’ of my life that I so fear. And no it’s not the head injury talking, tonight I celebrate an achievement I am positive to make this year, to conquer a fear that I’ve been living with. Tonight I have you all in a room, the people I care about and the people these people care about, I felt that it be on this night that I make this resolution. I usually make one on every birthday of mine, but this time it seemed as though the resolution itself is so big! So I decided to make it in a big way! I want all of you to join me in this… add a feather to your caps, make a promise with me! Let’s toast to that!!” she held up her drink and smiled at all the faces she could see, and took a sip. She had meant every melodramatic word she had just uttered. The guests looked at each other. Glances sideways and behind, the crowd was wondering what to understand from all this. But then, finally, in a collective attempt to see their friend happy, few gave in, and soon the entire group followed.
Mali handed out the feathers, and one by one each person had one on. It was a sight to see…Manu was amused.
Manu’s great mood was not just because it was also his party… but because of what had happened the day before…his entire play had come to him. It was again in a half dream and would be better and that much more difficult to make. a feather in his cap... in the making!
Kirtana wore her feather. As she did, she thought about what she would promise herself to achieve this year…what could she do, what fear could she finally put to rest. She could not think of anything and it was mostly because her headache was not any better, but the idea Mali had just given the crowd had provided her with some distraction…she had been so tired lately, she needed a vacation or a few days of uninterrupted sleep! …She had finally said yes. Manu had at least one actor for his play… she achieved this much off late. if only she had been in a better mood that night.
That evening many things happened, it was an evening that would certainly be remembered by every guest, some for all the right reasons…and for some, all the wrong ones…all was not as well as it seemed… especially for girl with the peacock feather in her cap. For the first time, Mali would need some saving, and it would come from a person in the party that night…someone no one would expect!
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About Me
- Shruti Bharath
- a story teller (where this really applies) and lover of stories :) and some things in between too! will keep them coming!
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