it was raining heaviy that day. the rikshaw that used to take us to school hadn't come. i was getting late to school.
"raju come on hurry up, dolly aunti's paying guest is going to drop her daughter at school. hurry up, you and shweta can pool along", i heard my mom say.

well, i wasn't used to not going to school, but i didn't very much like the idea of going with some "dolly aunti's paying guest". i couldn't say a thing then; i was depressed at the discomfort due to rain, and yes, i must reach school and not miss my classes.

my mom and sweta's mom huddled us into the back seat of dolly aunti's paying guests's car. i was silent, uncomfortable and slightly depressed. shweta was quiet too. i think i was in grade 2 then, must have been like what, 8 years old; shweta was like 2 years younger to me.

all through the journey, the bloody paying guest kept talking to his landlady's daughter, trying to impress her or what? who did he think we were, after all we were two little kids and we deserved some attention and some respect. i wasn't angry then, but i guess just insecure.

"OK you can get off now", the paying guest said.
i was startled, the surroundings looked quite unfamiliar to me. "uncle this is not our school. if you circle around and drive we'll reach our school", i replied.
"This is your school. Now get down", he said rudely.

shweta and i got down. my bag was rather heavy. shweta's bag was light. i don't quite remember watching the uncle drive away with his landlady's daughter. she was over grade 3 and students over grade 3 had a seperate building complex, somewhat far away from the other students' school complex.

i held shweta's hand and started walking in a direction opposite to where we had come from, to get to the intersecion, from where i knew the usual route to school building. it was about a kilometer of walk. i was nervous and tense. we still had time to make it to school assembly. shweta was silent and probably feeling uneasy uneasy. i imagined that she was finding it difficult to cary her bag.
"give your bag to me to me", i said, in a soft tone, preoccupied as i was with uneasiness. i carried the bag on my other shoulder. i can't recall if the weight was too much. we walked for a kilometer and a half more. after that i don't remeber what happened. i guess things would have been ordinary thereon, just like any other day; because my memory is kind of like blank.

but i remeber telling my mom, how callous the uncle was.
"Get down here, is what he told us. he didn't even care to drop us at a proper place. what would have happened had we got lost. see its not good to take favors from stragers like him".
i can't quite recall, but i guess my mom didn't take me seriously.

now that i can feel what i got subjected to, i wish i knew where that bloody uncle is, if he's not damn dead already. rest of my feelings about him, i think i should withhold from expressing.

i didn't tell my mom that i had carried shweta's bag for quite a distance. i felt that wasn't important enough to be told.
i realize now, i was growing up......