I could hear a lot of noise from my inside my room.
Another Card game session?
Shylaja always had Rummy sessions in our room and I was getting tired of it. I just wanted a few hours to read peacefully.
Somehow sharing a room meant the strongest gets to do everything. I thought of telling Shylaja that I don’t mind her playing rummy with the Kannadiga students in the weekend. But not during the weekdays.
But I hated confrontation.
Why? I wondered
Was it because I was weak?
Nah, nah, I wasn’t weak. I learned long ago that it was better to walk away than fight.Every time Appa and Amma fought, I knew for sure that if one person shut up, then the fight would have been long over. But my parents insisted on having the last word and they never realized they both lost.
I was sure until now that I wouldn’t lose anything by walking away. I stood in front of the door and contemplated my choices. I could go in and give Shylaja a piece of my mind or I could go to Sumi’s room and sleep there.
I didn’t want to fight with Shylaja.
I planned to go to Sumi’s room, But I needed to change my clothes.
How pathetic my life was.
I pay the same rent as my room mates, yet I have to go to some other room to sleep.
I opened the door and everyone was looking at me.
“Hi Nina, we were all waiting for you” Shylaja spoke. She smiled at me kindly.
I wondered what is going on.
Shylaja being kind meant only one thing.
My heart started to pound. Did they get another Anonymous letter from George?
But I checked the mail in the afternoon.
Did George send his staff to personally deliver the letters?
I looked at all the faces.
“Come Nina, sit down” Shyjala moved to one side and pointed to the place next to her on her bed. I looked at the bed and at her. I didn’t want to sit on her bed. So I stood where I was.
“So what case did Dr. Bhatti discuss with you?” Shylaja asked
“oh” I took a deep breath. It was a relief to know there were no letters
“Ascitis” I replied
“the lady on bed 1?” Someone asked
“yeah”
“What did Dr. Bhatti say?” Aparna asked
I thought of telling her about following your heart. But that was something so personal. Like something that came from Dr. Bhatti’s heart to my heart.
I smiled thinking about it.
Everyone was still looking at me and I didn’t know how to hide my smile.
A smile that came from my heart because finally there was someone who knew me, who could understand me, who could guide me.
I quickly told them about the lady’s history and the diagnosis.
“What is the prognosis?” Someone asked
“I don’t know” I replied. “Dr Bhatti didn’t say anything about the prognosis”
I wondered why Dr. Bhatti didn’t mention about the prognosis.
Perhaps because it was a simple case of TB. I thought.
“Do you want to play a game of Rummy with us?” Shylaja asked.
Wow, she finally invited me to join her gang!
Earlier I was going to tell her off for playing rummy during the week day and now I was invited to play. Ironies!
“Thanks Shylaja, not today. I am tired and I want to take a shower”
I took my clothes from the cupboard and walked out of the room. Halfway to the bathroom, I remembered that I had forgotten to take the bucket and soap with me. So I stopped walking. The moon was shining and I just stood there leaning on the pillar watching the moon. There was a tiny wisp of cloud very close the moon. I remembered the mouse looking for a groom story

I watched the cloud trying desperately to block the moon. But it couldn’t. The moon was much more brighter than the tiny cloud. Soon the wind pushed the cloud away and the moon was grinning.
Somewhere along I knew I was like the moon.
I may wax, I may wane.
But I will still shine!