It was 4 pm. Kittunni was flexing his hard grown muscles. A mosquito had decided to have its evening snacks on Kittunni's forearms but our hero would have none of it. Like Arjuna who looked only at the eyes of the bird, Kittunni too had marked the spot where the killing had to be executed. Just as he was all ready to bring down the long arm of justice onto the enemy of the human species, the intercom phone started ringing.
As any smart mosquito would do, it took the cue and made its way to find the next human snack bar it could find.
Kittunni glared at the phone. "What crap timing!!", he thought. "It must be that good for nothing Varun. He always brings bad luck and bad timing with him". Kittunni picked up the phone.
"Hello, who the hell is this?", Kittunni barked
"Hey Kittu, this is Ruhan here"
"What do you want? I am busy", Kittunni said putting on an air of a celebrity
"Why are you not here in the play area? There are lots and lots of stalls here. Looks like some program is going on here", Ruhan cried out from the other end of the line.
Kittunni's eyes lit up.
"Really? But Manju didn't mention anything about any stalls being setup today", Kittunni replied
"Manju? Who Manju? Some new girl in your class? Can I be her friend?", Ruhan asked with high hopes.
"Che Poda. Its my Mom Stupid!", Kittunni shouted
"Who calls their mother by her name?", Ruhan muttered under his breath as his hopes of adding a new "friend" vanished as quickly as it had risen. Regaining his composure he said, "We are having a great time here, if you also want to enjoy you come". And then he kept the phone
"AMMA.......AMMMMMAAAA", Kittunni started calling out to his mother. On hearing Kittunni's loud voice calling out to her, an anxious Manjulla came out running.
"What happened? Why are you shouting? Is your brother alright. Hope he didn't fall anywhere!". Manjulla started looking around frantically for her 6 month old kid Purushu.
"Oh he's sleeping peacefully here", Kittunni replied coolly
"Then why are you calling like the world is coming to an end?", Manjulla asked in an angry voice.
"Why didn't you tell me there were stalls in the play area", Kittunni asked with an eyebrow raised.
"What stalls? I don't think there are any stalls setup in the apartment today. If there indeed were any stalls then there would have been some notice about it in the apartment group", Manjulla replied.
"Do you think Ruhan is a fool to tell me there are stalls when there are no stalls?"
"I don't know whether your friend is a fool or not, but I do know that there are no stalls today"
"You want to put a bet?". His friends might be total dimwits, but Kittunni never questioned their loyalty to him. As the leader of the pack, he was ready to put his life in the line of danger for their sake.
"Ok", Manjulla replied coolly.
Kittunni started getting ready to go to the play area. "Be prepared to show me your embarrassed face once you see the stalls. Feel free to come whenever you want. I will be waiting there."
Soon after Kittunni left Manjulla started having doubts. "Is there really some stalls setup today? It has happened previously also where the association had forgotten to send out notice". She decided to take a look.
Manjulla reached the play area and looked around - totally empty. She smiled and looked around for Kittunni. He too was nowhere to be seen. As she was wondering whether to go back, she saw someone from inside the clubhouse waving out to her beckoning her to come over. It was Varun, Kittunni's friend.
As she reached the spot Varun put a finger on his mouth signaling her to be quiet. Manjulla was confused. She signaled back asking why. With the ease of a kathakali artiste Varun started moving his eyes towards the sofa near which he was standing. Manjulla was still confused. Irritated, Varun started mustering all the artistic expressions he had mastered in his theatre classes to indicate to Manjulla to look over the sofa. Intrigued, she walked over to the sofa and took a peep. At first she could see only a pair of bump. She leaned over to get a clearer view. And that is when she saw who it was - It was Kittunni who had his face on the floor with hands covered over his head and bumps pointed up.
"Psst...has she gone?", came a silent whisper from behind the sofa.
Manjulla cusped her hands on her mouth to stop laughing. "No darling, she is still here", she replied. Kittunni recognised the voice. He knew the game was up. With a sheepish grin he got up.
"So many beautiful stalls. Aha so much variety. I have brought my embarrassed face for you to see", Manju said.
"Ok no need to be sarcastic. You know what? That Ruhan is a total loser. Wait till I get my hands on him", Kittunni said clenching his fists.
As luck would have it, precisely at that moment Ruhan walks in.
Like a raging bull Kittunni charged towards him. "You liar, dumbo, bag of cow shit, you fooled me!!!" Like a lion tearing into deer flesh, Ruhan was pushed from one side to another by an angry Kittunni. "You embarrassed me in front of my mother".
Ruhan got the shock of his life. "Help me!!! Someone help me. This mad boy is killing me", he cried out.
Manjulla ran over to where the boys were fighting and pushed them apart.
"Kittu, what is this? For such a small thing you are hitting him?", Manjulla scolded looking angrily at Kittunni. Turning to Ruhan she asked, "Ruhan are you alright? Hope you are not hurt".
"Thanks Aunty. Good that you held me back. Else I don't know how badly I would have beaten up Kittu. Kittu you are lucky that your mother saved you today".
Manjulla suppressed her smile and nodded her head as acknowledgement. "Ok now everyone play together without fighting". Saying this Manjulla returned home.
Soon after the other members of the gang - Karthik, Neha, Meera - joined the group. Though all of the group members were of 7 years of age, they were in different schools. Hence most of their meetups and playing happened only in the evening when the school was over. The discussion soon veered around to friends and friendships.
"Varun who is your best friend?", Kittunni asked.
"Oh I know I know", Neha cried out excitedly. "It's Karthik"
Kathik smiled and looked down at his feet, smiling and feeling shy.
"No he is not", came the reply from Varun.
The smile vanished replaced by an angry glare.
"Then who is it?", Ruhan asked eagerly
Now it was Varun's turn to smile and look at his feet feeling shy. Without lifting his face he pointed towards Meera.
"Wow", replied everyone in unison. Everyone started laughing and smiling...except Meera. Her expression in contrast was one of terror. A sudden pour of tears came rolling down her cheeks. It graduated into full fledged howling and intense crying. Everyone looked at the other to see whether the other person had any clue as to what was happening.
"What happened Meera?", Neha asked.
Meera started crying even louder. Everyone turned and looked at Varun. Varun was looking confused with his mouth open and confused eyes. "What did I do?", he thought.
"Hey Meera stop crying and tell what happened. Why are you crying?", Kittunni asked anxiously.
Meera finally managed to briefly stop the crying. And then came the reveal. "He is not my boyfriend. He is lying. I don't have a boyfriend". And then the crying resumed.
Everyone started laughing.
"Meera he said best friend, not boy friend", Neha explained
"Both are same...Mummmyyyy", Meera was not to be consoled.
Kittunni put on his Professor hat. "Offo Meera, you don't understand. Best friend means friend who is the best. But boyfriend is a friend who gives you true love kiss. Has Varun ever given you a true love kiss Meera?"
"What is a true love kiss?", Meera asked confused.
"How many times I have told you to watch Frozen?", Neha scolded. "So many life lessons you can learn from Anna and Elsa. Kiss means just kissing your cheeks. True love kiss is kissing on your lips. If you are in danger then your boyfriend will come and give you true love kiss. That is how the danger goes away"
Meera was not convinced.
"Ok let me explain", Ruhan offered. "Have you ever been fell down and got hurt when playing"
"Yes", Meera replied with shaking voice.
"And did Varun do anything?", the questioning continued.
"Yes", Meera replied in the affirmative.
"What did Varun do?"
"He came and helped me sit down, washed my wounds and put a band-aid over it", Meera replied.
"See!! That's it. Varun is your best friend. If he was your boyfriend he would have taken you in his hands and given true love kiss and then your wound would vanish. But since he is your best friend he washed your wounds and put a band-aid. Got the difference?"
A bright smile came over Meera as she came to understand the true essence of the universal knowledge she gained seconds ago.
"Thank you Ruhan. I don't know what I would have done without you all. I narrowly escaped from getting a boyfriend."
"Ah it was nothing", replied Ruhan with a wave of his hand.
Meera turned to face Varun.
"Thanks Varun for being only my best friend and not my boyfriend", she said letting out a sign of relief.
The smile reappeared on Varun's face. So did the shyness and he was back to looking at his feet. Meanwhile Karthik was still glaring angrily at Varun.
Suddenly Kittunni started tugging and pulling Karthik. "Karthik look look, Neha is coming over here. I am sure she is coming here to speak with you".
The angry man mellowed into a purring cat in a second. Diya studied in Grade 9 in the same school that Karthik went to and hence they shared the same school bus. She was one of the reasons Karthik loved going to school. Karthik's cheeks started becoming pink.
"Everyone see see Karthik is blushing", Kittunni cried out. "Karthik stop blushing else Diya will realise you are very fond of her", Kittunni teased him.
"Oh Stop it Kittu", Karthik scolded but couldn't control giving out a shy smile.
As Diya came more and more near to the group, Karthik's heartbeats started rising exponentially. It reached a crescendo when Diya came and stood next to him. He reached only upto her waist. He looked up at her and smiled sheepishly. Diya smiled back, bent down on her knees to come face to face with Karthik.
"Karthik sweetie I want to tell you something", Diya said with a smile.
"Did she just call me sweetie?", Karthik thought. He gave a big gulp. Sweat started flowing down his sides of his face.
"Ye...ye...yess Diya", Karthik stammered.
Looking into Karthik's eyes Diya said, "Karthik I need your help. Can you please tell your brother that I have a huge crush on him?"
"WHAT?", he blurted out. The entire world around Karthik came crumbling down.
"Oh sorry I should have known sweetie you are too young to understand all this. Let me explain. Having a crush on a person means to like that person. Got it?", Diya "explained".
Karthik was burning from inside. "Hello I am 7 years old, I know what a crush means", he thought but didn't speak anything out.
Having accomplished what she had come for Diya got up and left. Karthik looked around for his gang members but didn't see any. He looked down. All were rolling on the ground holding their stomachs and laughing so hard that they were crying out in pain.
