Nimna kept listlessly watching as Shoba’s big car receded towards the distant line of trees beyond the expanse of the paddy field in front of her house. Her face deadpan and limbs moving slowly she further probed the horizon, together with the vast vault of the blue sky, this time not searching for the car, but for the lonely hawk that normally frequented the area.

Times were innumerable when she kept scouring all over the sky for these large splendid birds that normally glided in huge circles, mostly all alone. Their melancholic twitter made her imagine that it was her own lonesome mind speaking out telling the atmosphere about her tale of woe.

She never thought that Pravin would do a thing like this, though she in her innermost recesses of her heart entertained some vague doubts about his genuineness. Nimna met Pravin in the tuition class where having a love affair, was considered the done thing, while loners were treated as dullards.

Though it is said that two hands are needed for clapping, it was only Pravin who initiated it all and was all the time dying to promote it without the least encouragement from Nimna. He kept waiting at the entrance to the large hall of the class until she arrived, and even told his friends that he was waiting for her. When his first attempts at making an impression on her cut no ice with her, he did not, as would any other guy looking for love, give up his endeavour, but kept on pursuing her like a leech.

Nimna had noticed this quietly, but refrained from sharing that knowledge even with her best friend Ama. Yet she could not keep it a secret from ama who one day cast a quizzical look at her and queried:

‘What is that fellow doing all the time tailing us....’ and it all started like a sluice gate opened suddenly.

Nimna looked straight at her friend’s face as if to gauge what kind of sentiment it evinced: suspicion, disquiet, squeamish aversion.... Yes, it was suspicion mingled with disgust.

‘I don’t know...’ Nimna retorted tersely.

‘He is in our class... And I think he is following you, Nimna....’ Ama said in a complaining tone.

‘Pissu... why should he follow me. Don’t tell absurd things... Ama....’

‘Then is he coming after me?’ Ama’s voice was turning a little harsh this time.

Nimna could not help betraying a sarcastic smile on her face. With a clear-cut squint in her eyes, Ama had a much less chance of surpassing Nimna in attraction.

‘If he is after me, he’s sadly mistaken....’ Nimna made a gruff statement that nailed down the dingdong. She was so confident that she would never fall for the guiles of anyone of the opposite sex.

In the meantime all that happened turned the scale in favour of the boy. It happened so precipitously that she could not help relenting, and then yielding, though unwillingly to his overtures.

On that fateful day, she was crossing the road with a bevy of girls after classes while a number of vehicles were waiting impatiently almost on the verge of tooting their horns. And in her haste Nimna dropped her purse and the umbrella right on the crossing and had already reached the other side when she happened to notice it. ‘My.... my purse....’ she cried in anguish when a boy in a group following them picked up the purse and gave a smart kick that sent the umbrella flying to the edge of the road.

That single act was enough for the boys to raise a high-pitched howl of laughter coupled with various caustic comments.

‘Ah he! Pravin... That’s a fine kick and it takes a nice goal for you....’ they almost harmonized.

Nimna shrank in shyness while Pravin came up and handed the two items to her.

From that day on she could not avoid his company when he sat by her side in the class. He talked nicely while she gave only monosyllabic answers. As time took wing she also developed a little liking for him mainly on account of his diplomatic talk with considerable respect for her.

Only Ama was cynically amused. ‘Why, you said he was not after you... no.... how do you feel now.’ She made a cutting remark.

‘But there is nothing of what you mean between us....’ Nimna tried to clear away any unnecessary misunderstanding.

She was thus almost about to fall for him when she happened to suspect his genuineness. It did not take long for him to start making various suggestions to spend an evening at the beach, and even to go for tea in a restaurant there.

‘I wonder why you are so defensive above love....’ he said with a little resentment. ‘Why can’t you take independent decisions being a young girl....’

Nimna frowned and rejoined:

‘I have my mother to be responsible to... she is my first love...’

It was from this point that Pravin commenced his ruthless onslaught, running down parents generally.

‘Do you know that they are only waiting for us to look after them when they grow old and become too weak to fend for themselves...?’

Nimna shivered inwardly at this remark, and vehemently defended her parents saying: ‘My parents are not that sort.... They love me like anything’.

However, owing to these strong assertions Nimna began to be watchful about her mother and her attitude towards her. One evening when she returned home, mother broke the news of her sister who had gone with her husband employed as an engineer in a foreign country.

‘You know Nimna... Your sister is going to settle down there permanently....’

Nimna gasped in dismay as the words almost jumped out of her mouth: ‘So that means we are not going to see them again....?’

‘No... no...they will come for a holiday occasionally.’

Nimna felt utterly miserable about the destiny of her parents and was trying to examine her mother’s thoughts written on her face every time she happened to be referring to the topic. She never was affected in the least by her elder daughter’s decision and was the same happy woman as ever.

‘What if I also one day did the same thing, mother? Nimna put the most crucial question to her mother.

‘What... We will give this house to you and simply go to a home for adults... We have our pensions to live by....’ The mother looked into the eyes of her younger daughter and smiled broadly. ‘So if you get the chance, you also can go....’

Tears rolled down Nimna’s eyes as she looked through the window at the distant paddy field. ‘No... never, my dear mother... I shall never leave you for my lifetime....’ she said to herself.

She watched as a flock of sparrows were picking grains outside the window. A baby sparrow was pecking at the ground for food, but its mother was also feeding it with grains picked up in her beak. ‘What a magnificent thing love is! Nimna contemplated, looking at these innocent creatures.

It took only a few weeks for Pravin to get disillusioned about Nimna’s determined stand regarding his approaches. He was suddenly attracted to the newcomer to the class Shoba, a girl from a rich family who came to the class driving the car herself.

There was talk on the grapevine that Shoba is the type of girl Pravin was looking for, one who was ever ready to grab at any suggestion in the name of love. They must have been heading for a destination of their own a while ago to, where they will frequent at leisure while attending classes.

Nimna shifted her gaze from the distant road running past the vast paddy field and strolled back to the house.