Tennis ball

Catching the bus on a last working day is one of the most awaited event out of the whole working week for people like us. And if somehow that last working day is a thursday then it adds up to the joy of catching the bus. Yes you are right, i am talking about the last thursday (30th april).
I saw people carrying bags with them, and rushing towards their respective buses with a zeal. I was walking towards that notice board which had the details of which bus you should board for your ‘room’ (room is a place where you stay).
The bus to my ‘room’ was scheduled to depart at 7:15pm. It was already 7:00pm. The bus which i had to board was standing infront of me. But i dint feel like boarding it. I wished i could have stayed back to my seat and dont have to go to my ‘room’ , but no one was there in my cubicle, so no other option.
Just then a beautiful girl came rushing towards notice board, her head was tilted to hold the phone between her ears and left shoulder.
“Excuse me please”
I moved away from the notice board, she saw the boarding details, then rushed to search for her bus.
I saw the time and it was 7:12, i started walking towards my bus. There was a small queue infront of my bus to sign that attendance sheet. She was boarding the bus standing next to mine and was also standing in queue infront of her bus (still the head was tilted).
I waved good bye to her, she smiled and waved back and boarded her bus, on any other day i would have left my bus and would have joined her to drop her to her ‘room’ safely.
But not today!!!
I went inside my bus and sat in the last, just then my phone started ringing, i picked up the phone and he asked
“This is the last time i am asking you, you are coming or not???”
“no Vaibhav, i told you i cant come i have got some work to do this weekend“, i said
“Stupid, tirupathy is a holy place, come n wash your sins”
“Thanks for your concern , i will add some more and then wash them together” i put down the phone.
Just for your sake let me explain you the situation, it was a long weekend and everybody was going out of their ‘room’s, some to bangalore, some to yelagiri, some to tirupati and so n so. However i had got some work to do, so could not go out of my ‘room’ , and hence a bit dejected.
I reached my ‘room’ had dinner and slept. Next morning when i was going out to buy the milk, i saw a brand new tennis ball in the bushes of my neighbour’s garden. My neighbours are old couple and a tennis ball in their garden was something very strange. That tennis ball brought a smile to my face. I jumped over the bushes and picked the tennis ball. I reached my ‘room’ after buying milk.
I took out the Tennis Ball from my pocket and started admiring it.
As a kid i was fond of cricket and used to play a lot with tennis ball.
We used to play in the ‘bada (big) ground’ ,  i remembered the days we used to have matches with other colony’s kids. And the deal used to be, whoever loses the match would pay for this Tennis ball and would also purchase a new tennis ball and  the winners used to take two tennis balls with them. That was an absolute fun!!!
But there was a problem, that ‘bada ground’ had a small n deep pit  and some times the ball would fall into that pit and everthing would be over. No more cricket.
It was very disheartening. I remembered the dreams i used to  get while sleeping in those days. I would dream like, there are so many tennis balls in the balcony of my ‘home’ (home is a place where you used to LIVE and stay together), and when i would get up in the morning i would rush to my balcony with a zeal to see if those dreamy tennis balls were really there. Sometimes i would dream of finding the tennis balls in the bushes of my neighbours’s garden and just because of those dreams i put up the habit of roaming into the places nearby to gardens.
Tring tring….
My phone rang again!!!
I picked the phone to hear orders from my ‘room’ owner that some people would be coming to whitewash the ‘room’ so please co-operate.
Those people came and asked me to shift my possessions from one room to another so that they can paint the rooms. I placed my bed into the other room and started playing with that tennis ball, hitting it against the wall and catching it back.
Sometimes i would jump of my bed to catch the ball and the painters would laugh at me.
Finally by the evening they finished their work. Then i remembered that i had to meet my cousin’s manager.
I called that manager, her wife picked the phone and asked for authorization.
“I am Mohit , Pradeep’s cousin , he told me that Mr. Subramaniyam will be coming to India this weekend. Has he come?”
Luckily Mr. Subramaniyam took the phone from her wife (i dont know why some females are so obsessed with phone, suffering from nomophobia may be!!!)
and he asked me
“Can you meet me today evening?”.
“Ok, Sir i will be there soon.” I got ready and took that tennis ball with me.
I started towards Mr. Subramaniyam ‘home’.
I reached T.Nagar (Ideal Place for managers to stay) and rang the bell. A small kid came running towards the door and opened it, he had a cricket bat in his hand.
“Hi thambi, where is your dad”.
Mr. Subramanyiam came and shook hands with me. I talked to him about the official work of my cousin for half an hour (In between hearing the voices of his wife talking on the phone in the other room). Just then that small kid came running and said that he has lost his tennis ball in the bushes and asked his father to find it. Mr. Subramaniyam raised his nose at his son.
“Ok sir, i should start now it is getting late, and you dont worry i will find that tennis ball i m quite perfect in finding tennis balls”
Mr. Subramaniyam was a bit surprised.
“So, thambi where u hit the ball ???”
I went with the kid towards the bushes of his garden. I told him to search in the other corner, and he went there.
I dropped my dreamy tennis ball into the bushes, and after some time i shouted.
“thambi, i found your tennis ball”
He came running towards me, with his bat on his shoulder, he picked the tennis ball, noticed the ball carefully and was about to speak something!
I ran my fingers into his hair , disarranging them and said “it is yours thambi, keep it”
A wide smile came to his face, and he ran away inside his ‘home’.

I came back to my ‘room’ . Watched my neighbour’s garden. No tennis ball was there. I smiled and went to sleep after sometime. Hoping to find the “tennis ball” in the balcony of my ‘home’.