CHAPTER-3

(MISTI'S POV) -

After the class was finished, I quickly went to the car parking area of the school, I already knew where my car was parked. As soon as I reached the area, I saw Sristi and Archana were already waiting for me. I greeted them, " Hi! girls let's get in the car" as soon as we got in the car, Driver uncle started the car and we were on the way towards our sweet home. I looked at my younger sister and said " Sristi...". 

she looked at me expectantly and said "Yes, Di...."

"Um.. umm. um.. I forgive you okay..." as soon as I finished the sentence Sristi looked at me for a few moments and she gave a genuinely happy smile.

I said again " But I have a condition.. ". Sristi looked at me confusingly. I cleared my throat and said, "You have to make chocolate pudding for every day till my birthday."

She looked at me and instantly her face lit up with happiness and she said, " of course Di".

After a few seconds of pause, Sristi said to me " I love you Di."

" I love you too my little sister," I replied to her instantly and gave her a tight sisterly hug. 

At that moment Archana scoffed and said" Hey girls !!! enough drama stop it or you both will die for suffocation. "

We both sister detached from each other. I looked at her, rolled my eyes, and said " You are dramatic!!! Not us." 

She smiled at us and said " Okay, three is better than two . Now give me a hug both of you." as soon as she finished her sentence three of us hugged each other warmly. 

Driver uncle laughed at our conversation and action. He was working under my father for about 20 years. He called me " Badi Beti", and called Sristi" Choti Beti" and we call him uncle("Beti" means Daughter in Hindi). He knows all our childish behaviour and if in excitement we discussed some secret in front of him at a car, he never disclosed it to my parents more particularly in front of my mother. 

"Archana you are invited to my home for my birthday". 

She looked at me and said "But.. umm. um.."

 "what?" I asked her curiously.  

She hesitated for a few moments before replying and finally said " What about uncle? You know he is quite angry with me."

 I looked over at Archana and instantly realized what she wanted to say. " Archana it is not your fault it was no one's fault. It was an accident . You are not even present in that spot. Then how can it be your fault?". 

"Exactly!!! I must be present at your spot, then the things did not happen to you. It was completely my fault" she said, her voice was filled with pain.

"Archana does not act like an idiot. You know it was never your fault. I know Dad was angry with you in the beginning but he understood that it was not your fault. So, please stop acting like a guilty person, when you are not," I said to her.

 After a few moments of pause, I said again " You are coming to my birthday and that is final."

 I saw Archana nodded her head but did not reply anything to me. I suddenly felt so bad for her. I just remembered the incident that incident practically shattered my dream to be a professional dancer and I had to leave my dance troupe. 

FLASHBACK -

 Six months ago we were going to Mumbai to perform on a stage show for three days. It was a great opportunity for "NATARAJ DANCE TROUPE" as because we got a big sponsorship, a renowned foreign-based company sponsored the show and we got two hours slots in each day. 

Namrata Mam and Rahul sir both the owners were very happy and expecting a lot from us and we were really worked hard that time to rock the stage.

 I was mostly doing traditional dance performances in those stage shows as usual because my father mostly liked it and he did not like western dance and when I joined the dance troupe in class seven I only knew the traditional dance forms like 'KATHAK' and 'BHARATNATYAM' because from age three I just learned those dance form from different Gurus ("GURU" means teacher). 

But when I joined this dance troupe I quickly became more close to Archana because she joined the same dance troupe in the same month and she also joined my school when we were both in class seven.

 Archana's father was in the army and his job was transferable and sometimes he got a transfer to a very remote area of the country and for her better future, her mother moved with her to Kolkata in her grandfather's house. 

I and Archana became very good friends within a short period and became inseparable over time. Her dance style was completely different from mine she was excellent in western dance styles like SALSA, SAMBA, BELLY DANCE, etc. 

I wanted to learn these dance style and tried to learn some in our dance troupe, there was several dance teachers in our dance troupe who were excellent in different dance forms both in Indian and western dance style and mixed BOLLYWOOD DANCE STYLE. 

For the stage show in Mumbai, we chose several dance styles, the first day was filled with Traditional Indian Dance performances, the second day for a pure western style, and the third day for our troupe's most famous Bollywood Dance Style.

 Originally I was only performing in four traditional dance forms on the first day and because I was doing good in Indian traditional dance form so, I was in the opening dance which is "GANESH VANDANA NRITYA" and one solo performance and two Bollywood style dance in which most choreography was based on Indian style. 

 Archana was performing in three pure western dance styles and one Bollywood Dance with some western moves and belly dance and Arnab was doing a few western-style and he was doing two Bollywood style dances. 

He was my partner in one Bollywood style dance and there were three other couples in those particular dances and he was doing a duet with Archana in another Bollywood Dance and it was actually a sexy couple dance.

 I was a little bit jealous of Archana for this particular performence. I actually learned belly dance and some other western-style dance in the dance troupe and particularly improved a lot in belly dance but my father did not give me permission for dance performances like belly dance and a few other styles. 

I knew that he was a little orthodox and tradition lover person but I never complained about that because he loved me a lot and allowed me to learn this western-style dance but on one condition that I would not perform it on stage.

Everything was going very smoothly we practiced a lot in those days. One week was left before we traveled to Mumbai but unfortunately, Archana broke her hand in karate class, her elbow was fractured and her hand was plastered and the doctor instructed her strictly that she could not move her hand for three weeks.

 We were given two hours slot for performance each day and we arranged all songs according to the time neither we could rearrange the song nor we could eliminate any song because the continuous 2 hours track was already ready for three days and we were practicing it for more than one moths. 

Rahul sir and Namrata Mam became very much tensed because within a short time a new dancer could not be arranged. Namrata Mam was actually like an elder sister to me I sometimes addressed her as 'Namarata Di ' outside the class. 

She was an exceptionally good dancer in western dance, she was also one of the main choreographers of our troupe, she replaced Archana in two western-style dance and another western dance instead of six girls, five girls were going to perform. But the main problem was with the Bollywood style couple dance which was going to be performed by Archana and Arnab, Namrata Mam could not replace Archana because it was going to be the dance just before the last dance and unfortunately for us Namarata Di was going to perform the last solo Bollywood style dance of our slot. All other dancers who were well trained in Bollywood style dance were already performing 4 to 5 dances at least. 

Namrata Di requested me to replace Archana in the couple dance because I was the only one who was going to perform only two Bollywood style dance last day and according to the schedule both my dances were in the first hour of our slot. So, I would get a lot of time before couple dance performance and another reason for choosing me was I loved belly dance though I was not as good as Archana or Namarata Di in that style but still I improved a lot because I was learning belly dance since I joined the dance troupe. 

But I was confused and scared because I knew that "Baba" would never allow me to do the stage performance and I was never doing belly dance on stage in front of the audience. Namrata Di advised me that I did not have to take permission from my father because he was not going to accompany me to the show in Mumbai and she assured me this was gonna be my first and last belly dance performance on stage if I did not want to do this in future, She reassured me again she would never ask me for this favor again. 

I knew that if I said no to this no one would force me anything neither my position going to be changed in this troupe but Rahul sir was very strict, he was neither a choreographer nor a dancer, he just invested his money in the troupe and needed a good return as an owner, I knew that Archana might not get any chance in our troupe in future if the show hampered because of her and Namrata Di also would face a problem, after all for monitory aspect she still had to rely on Rahul sir and I wanted to help Arcahan and Namrata Di, they both were very close to my heart. 

So, I accepted the offer though I was a little bit guilty of lying to my parents, I could not even tell this to Ma because she never lied to Baba, I just told this to my little sister and she pinky promised me that She would not tell anyone about this. 

But secretly I was also happy because this was going to be my first on-stage couple dance, a romantic performance with Arnab. I was once doing a couple dance performances in open moonlight on the rooftop of Archana's house. It was our girls night out at Archana's home me, Archana, Ronita, Sristi, and her friend Tulika were invited in this girls night out but Archana and Ronita secretly invited Arnab also and I was glad that they invited Arnab and gave us a dare in "Truth and Dare" and it was so much fun. 

After being well prepared we were going by airplane to Mumbai for the first time, this time we got a big sponsorship, so they arranged both side flight fare for every member for the troupe and Four Star Hotel to stay. This was a huge achievement for a small and new troupe like us. 

We arrived two days before the actual performance and a manager of the sponsor company shows us the stage for the final rehearsal. We rehearsed the couple dance a lot because the dance was going to be in a dream sequence and it would going to end in a scene, where I would stand on a huge round metallic ring, the edge of the ring was just 2 cm so I had to balance and a black string-like elastic rope would be attached to my back by Arnab before the ring would be going to pull upward slowly with me and the ring with me would going to stop and float at the height of approximately 15 ft above the stage. So, for the precaution, a black string-like elastic rope was going to be attached to my back, so, that if I lost my balance by any chance it would going to restrained me from falling on the floor.

I did not remember anything after day one of the final rehearsal, I did not know what happened to me at all.

 I knew when I came to sense in the ICU in one of the hospitals of Mumbai, everyone told me that I was in a coma for 10 days and I did not remember exactly what happened to me and everyone told me that on the last day of the show I fell from the ring from 15 ft above, might be somehow the protection rope was not properly attached to my back and I lost balance and fell directly on the ground without any support and got a severe head injury and leg injury. 

But the fact is that I did not remember anything. I lost 14 days of memories since the second day from the final rehearsal till the day when I woke up in the ICU. I did not remember anything of my dance performances or any other incidents of those days. 

The doctor said due to a traumatic head injury I lost my memories and gave me some medicine and high doses of sleeping pills. My parents were angry with me but I was severely injured so they did not tell me anything, " Baba " showed his anger towards Archana and Namrata Di, he came to know that I lied to him because of them. 

I knew only one thing that the sponsored company became very angry with us due to the incident. They did not even give us full payment and the whole show was recorded by them usually we got the recording after the show within a few days but it did not happen this time. Everything became messed for the accident. Rahul sir broke the partnership with Namrata Di and our Dance troupe broke. " Baba" instructed me that I was not going to perform in any dance show outside "West Bengal".

I felt so bad for Archana and Namrata Di they trusted me a lot but I failed them. I felt pity for myself because I lied to my father. I just quit my dream of becoming a professional Dancer after this incident.

I thought that this was my horrible moment but no... when I came to Kolkata after five days from returning from the coma. After 15 days doctor stopped my strong sleeping pill but from then I started to see a nightmare. I just saw somebody tightly hold my hand and I lied down to a bed and that person was laying top of me, I just did not say that person's face clearly it was all blur but I saw the two lips very clearly and the lips whispering something to me as if it was calling my name but I was so sure that the person was not calling me "MISTI" or any other common name which was used by my friends or relatives or any common person I knew. 

It was something else and it was a thought that chilled me to the core. I could not even sleep properly I had to go to a psychologist and have to take some sessions after that I overcame it. After two months of the incident, I became normal both physically and mentally but I never got back the memories of those 14 days.

                                    ( FLASHBACK END )

" Misti .. Misti " I heard Archana was calling my name I looked at her and She had a questioning look on her face. I reassured her with my smile and said to her " You are coming and this is final". 

This time she said, " yes I will come".

 We just reached our home We lgot out of the car, Driver uncle again drove away from the car to pick up my father and Sristi said bye to Archana and ran towards the door.  

Archana said to me "Whom are You going to invite to the birthday party except me?" 

"Ronita, Tulika, and Malhotra uncle," I said. 

She gave me a surprised look and said "Arnab??" He was already invited I told her. 

Now she glared at me and dramatically said "Arnab is your everything now!! you just forget your friends!!". 

"Hey... It is not true" I protested instantly. 

She just rolled her eyes and said "You do not invite Me, Ronita and Tulika and even Malhotra uncle who was like a family member to you and you are denying.. great.."

"I do not invite Ronita because she just transfer her school to class 11 and they shifted to north Kolkata and joined a school near their location and Tulika is the sister of Ronita and she also did the same and I will invite them both very soon."

I paused for a moment and then said again " Ma already invited Malhotra uncle and I will invite him soon just as a formality. Now, please stop complaining like a child!!" 

Archana laughed at my comment and said bye to me and started walking towards her residence which is just five minutes walking distance from here. I started walking towards the door it was already open I just entered and closed the door.