Varangi Didi and the other gurus are going to attend a shoot for one of the Indian Idol episodes, and Didi wants to specifically support one of the contestants, Nihal Tauro.
“You all, I have told your parents to make sure you stay out of trouble. This might be the only practice you’ll miss, but you better rehearse, for you’ll need it,” she warns us. The other gurus nod, then they leave.
All of us, twelve Super Dancers, are watching them climb into two SUVs and drive to the studio.
“Are we following their orders?” Parita asks, breaking the silence.
“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh, nuh-uh.” Sobhit modifies his usual Shah Rukh Khan dialogue, and makes us laugh.
Heading back inside the hotel, Arshika says, “You know, we should all have a sleepover.”
Prithvi’s eyes widen. “Sleepover? You’re a dreamer, Arshika. A dreamer.”
“It isn’t a bad idea,” Florisha says.
“Then let’s do it!” I pump my fist in the air.
Eeshvi facepalms. “Sankalp, you idiot. We can’t.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Because our parents won’t allow it in a million years.”
I bite my lip. “Yeah, I forgot that.”
“I think we still can. We just have to distract the parents.” Aman rubs his chin wisely, like an old professor.
We look at him, like he just suggested break-dancing in the ocean.
Aman shrugs back. “I don’t know the distraction, though.”
We’re all quiet. The thought deflates us. Then, a lightbulb goes on in my head.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“Invitations typed out,” Anshita says, staring at the screen of her sister’s laptop. I stand at the printer and wait. Soon, I hear it click and whir. There were around thirty copies to be printed, some for the fathers’ get-together, and some for the mothers’ gossip hangout. All are to lure the parents away from our plans. A kids’ day out, as stated by chief planner Arshika.
When thirty copies of the invitations are printed out, I grab them, and Anshita and I segregate them into piles. We then hand them to Sobhit and Parita, who are standing outside the door, keeping guard, plus acting as delivery people. I give a silent nod to both, and they are off as spies, stealthily slipping the invitations under the doors of each of our hotel rooms.
Anshita and I run back to the dance room, or the ‘meeting point’, again stated by Arshika.
“Status update?” She asks when we come in, like a real grown-up.
“Printed, and now Sobhit and Parita and off on delivery,” Anshita promptly answers.
She nods. We sit down next to her. Everyone else is off doing their jobs, and since we finished ours early, we take a look at Arshika’s planning. God, she had quite the process mapped out. There are details upon details that I bet she emphasised on the others.
“How did you manage to do this in a few minutes?” I ask, amazed.
She looks at me strongly. “I am my father’s daughter.”
Two minutes later, Aman and Anil return. They have a big bag they are dragging behind them. With a grunt, Anil plops it down in front of Arshika. She peers inside, then looks at them.
“I bet there were mattresses inside?” She asks.
Aman nods, panting. “Two huge ones. And lots of blankets, balloons, torches, extra-coloured lights, whatever was on the list.”
“Good. Take some rest, then we’ll take the stuff out and arrange it here. I hope the rest are back from decorating the rooms.” She ticks tasks off in her notebook.
Then, Parita and Sobhit arrive, claiming the delivery to be a success. They are followed by Eeshvi, Prithvi, Prakhya, Neera and Florisha, who confirmed that they had decorated both rooms for the events. Arshika smiles.
“Alright, now you all get some rest. Let me see if I missed anything…” she says, checking her notebook. Suddenly, she gasps.
“What happened?” Anil asks.
“We forgot to factor food!” She looks on the verge of total worry.
“And clothes!” Parita says, coming to a realisation. “I bet our parents already took their hotel cards. We can’t get our night-suits now.”
Our whole plan is pretty much down the drain now, but I step in with a solution.
“We can ask Sandeep Bhaiya to help us with the food part. And I think we can get spare cards for our rooms at the lobby desk.”
Arshika looks horrified. “Varangi Didi’s brother? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. He may be Didi’s brother, but he’s my brother too, if I consider Didi my sister. He wouldn’t rat us out. I swear on Govinda Ji’s jacket.” I have to add that to get them to agree.
They all look at each other tentatively, then Arshika nods. But she has a condition.
“If we all go out, someone has to guard this place so that no one else finds out what we’re up to. Sankalp, since you suggested the idea, you go and get your stuff first, and then we’ll all go.”
I’m okay with that. “Sure.”
I leave and head to the lobby. A nice receptionist is sitting at the desk, so I go to her.
“Hello. I’m room 113. Um…by any chance, do you have a spare card for my room? You see, my parents went out, and they took our card, but I really need to go to the bathroom there, so, uh…”
The receptionist looks up. Her tag IDs her as Prachi Nagar.
“Sure. Room 113, you say? Let’s see…” She rummages in a drawer. “Aha! Found it.” She hands the spare card to me.
“Thank you, Ms. Nagar,” I say, and tote the card and run to my room. I slide it in the slot, and the door unlocks. I open it and go inside, and rummage in the closet for my night-suit. I feel sweaty, too, so I go into the bathroom, wash my face, change into my pyjamas, and come out. Before leaving, I look at one of the neatly arranged pillows. To feel a little more comfortable, I grab one of them and leave, locking the door behind me.
I return the card to Ms. Nagar, then head to the dance room. Suddenly, I run into Sandeep Bhaiya, by god’s grace.
“Sankalp! What’s with the pillow and PJs?” He asks.
I look around, then whisper, “Keep this a secret from Didi.” I then tell him about Arshika’s plan for a mega sleepover, how we distracted our parents and our desperation for food for the party. I do keep the spare-card idea out of the story.
Bhaiya listens intently, then reassures me not to worry because he’ll work something out. “Besides, it’s high time you guys have a break. Those gurus of yours have been making you rehearse for so long, man, I feel you might fall asleep in the middle of the routine!”
I laugh. “Don’t worry, that never happens, Bhaiya. But thank you so much!”
When I reach the dance room, Arshika quickly asks me why I took so long. I tell them about my run-in with Sandeep Bhaiya and how he decided to help us.
“Great! Then we’ll go.” Aman stands up.
When they leave, I sit back and look around the room. I suddenly realise something funny: my first sleepover is in the dance room. How ironic. I couldn’t come for sleepovers because I had dance practice. Ha.
I decide to make myself busy and set up the room. I go to the heavy bag that Aman and Anil dragged in some time before, and pull out what looks like a heavy mattress. But I can’t get it out, and after a few more sweaty tries, I leave it alone. Better wait for everyone to come. I look at the clock. It’s seven in the evening. We’re quite early.
After a few more minutes, everyone comes back. Arshika also has a phone in her hand. Don’t know where she got it from.
“Anurima Ma’am always has an extra phone for music. She doesn’t take it with her, instead, she leaves it in her room. I managed to swipe it. Plus our speaker.” She grins proudly.
Everyone helps in setting up. The older kids (including me) pull out the mattresses and line them up on the floor. The younger kids blow up the balloons and stick them up. Blankets are covered. Pillows are stacked. Coloured lights are hung up. Now, the whole place is set.
“Dance battle!” Florisha screams. My god, she always wanted to dance, given the chance.
After half-an-hour of nonstop dancing, we collapse on the mattresses.
“Flow, why so much?” I ask, tired.
She giggles. “Because I like it! I like beating you, all bhaiyas and didis.” Despite Florisha’s active voice, I can see sweat on her face.
Aman pants. “Well, I’m hungry now.”
The answer comes to us immediately, with a knock on the door and Sandeep Bhaiya shouting, “Dinner is served!”
We cheer as Arshika opens the door. Bhaiya puts in front of us four pizza boxes, three ice cream tubs, and two bags with, to my delight, the scent of French fries brimming from the top.
“Bhaiya, the food smells amazing!” Prithvi says.
“Sure does, doesn’t it?” Bhaiya grins. “And before you ask, I told you not to worry. This is a little something from everyone related to your gurus, minus the gurus themselves.”
We laugh, saying, “Thank you, Bhaiya!”
When he goes, Eeshvi, being the foodie she is, tears open the pizza boxes and the French fry bags. We follow suit and grab a slice each.
I take a bite and the cheese melts in my mouth. “Mmmm…” I can faint from the sensation. Taking a bite from the French fries, I feel Sandeep Bhaiya had gone overboard on the food. It is so good.
After everyone finishes the main course, we’re on to dessert: chocolate ice cream! I haven’t had ice cream in a long time, and tasting this is like going to heaven. From my friends’ faces, I can see that they are enjoying as well.
Maybe Bhaiya is right.
We needed a break.
“Man, I am so full, I feel like sleeping now,” Sobhit says, patting his belly.
“Me too,” Parita intones, collapsing dramatically.
“You’re right.” Arshika stretches her arms. “Let’s hit the hay.”
We set our pillows and pull up the blankets. I snuggle between Prithvi and Aman, like we always do. The food and exhaustion makes my eyes heavy. I want to go to sleep, but I wait for the lights to go off and hear the sounds of gentle breathing. And I realise something: it’s the first time I’m sleeping without a goodnight from Mama, Papa or Sayra. I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling, thinking about them. Are they back in their room and worried sick about where I am? Probably. After all, we never told our parents that we are having this sleepover. Maybe even Varangi Didi is scared, unless she gets desperate and asks Sandeep Bhaiya where we are.
I turn on my side, and, imagining Mama smoothing my hair, Papa squeezing my shoulder, and Sayra squeezing her hand tightly in mine, I fall asleep.
Suddenly, I wake up to someone opening the door of the dance room. I’m ready to wake everyone up and tell them about intruders, but when I hear Didi’s familiar voice, and hear the clacks of sneakers and high heels, I know it’s our gurus.
“I need to get stuff from here, but I think something’s in the way,” I hear her say.
I sit up, and it’s pretty dark, so they don’t see me. I hold my breath.
“Someone turn on a torch,” Shubroy Sir says.
One of the gurus shines their phone light, and it momentarily blinds me. I hold up my hand.
“Oh!” I hear Anurima Ma’am gasp. “Our students!”
She casts the light across the row of our bodies sleeping peacefully. Actually, it also shines on me accidentally, and Varangi Didi furrows her eyebrows.
“Sankalp?”
I sheepishly wave. “Hi.”
“What happened here?” She asks.
“Nothing!” I say quickly.
“You all, I have told your parents to make sure you stay out of trouble. This might be the only practice you’ll miss, but you better rehearse, for you’ll need it,” she warns us. The other gurus nod, then they leave.
All of us, twelve Super Dancers, are watching them climb into two SUVs and drive to the studio.
“Are we following their orders?” Parita asks, breaking the silence.
“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh, nuh-uh.” Sobhit modifies his usual Shah Rukh Khan dialogue, and makes us laugh.
Heading back inside the hotel, Arshika says, “You know, we should all have a sleepover.”
Prithvi’s eyes widen. “Sleepover? You’re a dreamer, Arshika. A dreamer.”
“It isn’t a bad idea,” Florisha says.
“Then let’s do it!” I pump my fist in the air.
Eeshvi facepalms. “Sankalp, you idiot. We can’t.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Because our parents won’t allow it in a million years.”
I bite my lip. “Yeah, I forgot that.”
“I think we still can. We just have to distract the parents.” Aman rubs his chin wisely, like an old professor.
We look at him, like he just suggested break-dancing in the ocean.
Aman shrugs back. “I don’t know the distraction, though.”
We’re all quiet. The thought deflates us. Then, a lightbulb goes on in my head.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“Invitations typed out,” Anshita says, staring at the screen of her sister’s laptop. I stand at the printer and wait. Soon, I hear it click and whir. There were around thirty copies to be printed, some for the fathers’ get-together, and some for the mothers’ gossip hangout. All are to lure the parents away from our plans. A kids’ day out, as stated by chief planner Arshika.
When thirty copies of the invitations are printed out, I grab them, and Anshita and I segregate them into piles. We then hand them to Sobhit and Parita, who are standing outside the door, keeping guard, plus acting as delivery people. I give a silent nod to both, and they are off as spies, stealthily slipping the invitations under the doors of each of our hotel rooms.
Anshita and I run back to the dance room, or the ‘meeting point’, again stated by Arshika.
“Status update?” She asks when we come in, like a real grown-up.
“Printed, and now Sobhit and Parita and off on delivery,” Anshita promptly answers.
She nods. We sit down next to her. Everyone else is off doing their jobs, and since we finished ours early, we take a look at Arshika’s planning. God, she had quite the process mapped out. There are details upon details that I bet she emphasised on the others.
“How did you manage to do this in a few minutes?” I ask, amazed.
She looks at me strongly. “I am my father’s daughter.”
Two minutes later, Aman and Anil return. They have a big bag they are dragging behind them. With a grunt, Anil plops it down in front of Arshika. She peers inside, then looks at them.
“I bet there were mattresses inside?” She asks.
Aman nods, panting. “Two huge ones. And lots of blankets, balloons, torches, extra-coloured lights, whatever was on the list.”
“Good. Take some rest, then we’ll take the stuff out and arrange it here. I hope the rest are back from decorating the rooms.” She ticks tasks off in her notebook.
Then, Parita and Sobhit arrive, claiming the delivery to be a success. They are followed by Eeshvi, Prithvi, Prakhya, Neera and Florisha, who confirmed that they had decorated both rooms for the events. Arshika smiles.
“Alright, now you all get some rest. Let me see if I missed anything…” she says, checking her notebook. Suddenly, she gasps.
“What happened?” Anil asks.
“We forgot to factor food!” She looks on the verge of total worry.
“And clothes!” Parita says, coming to a realisation. “I bet our parents already took their hotel cards. We can’t get our night-suits now.”
Our whole plan is pretty much down the drain now, but I step in with a solution.
“We can ask Sandeep Bhaiya to help us with the food part. And I think we can get spare cards for our rooms at the lobby desk.”
Arshika looks horrified. “Varangi Didi’s brother? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. He may be Didi’s brother, but he’s my brother too, if I consider Didi my sister. He wouldn’t rat us out. I swear on Govinda Ji’s jacket.” I have to add that to get them to agree.
They all look at each other tentatively, then Arshika nods. But she has a condition.
“If we all go out, someone has to guard this place so that no one else finds out what we’re up to. Sankalp, since you suggested the idea, you go and get your stuff first, and then we’ll all go.”
I’m okay with that. “Sure.”
I leave and head to the lobby. A nice receptionist is sitting at the desk, so I go to her.
“Hello. I’m room 113. Um…by any chance, do you have a spare card for my room? You see, my parents went out, and they took our card, but I really need to go to the bathroom there, so, uh…”
The receptionist looks up. Her tag IDs her as Prachi Nagar.
“Sure. Room 113, you say? Let’s see…” She rummages in a drawer. “Aha! Found it.” She hands the spare card to me.
“Thank you, Ms. Nagar,” I say, and tote the card and run to my room. I slide it in the slot, and the door unlocks. I open it and go inside, and rummage in the closet for my night-suit. I feel sweaty, too, so I go into the bathroom, wash my face, change into my pyjamas, and come out. Before leaving, I look at one of the neatly arranged pillows. To feel a little more comfortable, I grab one of them and leave, locking the door behind me.
I return the card to Ms. Nagar, then head to the dance room. Suddenly, I run into Sandeep Bhaiya, by god’s grace.
“Sankalp! What’s with the pillow and PJs?” He asks.
I look around, then whisper, “Keep this a secret from Didi.” I then tell him about Arshika’s plan for a mega sleepover, how we distracted our parents and our desperation for food for the party. I do keep the spare-card idea out of the story.
Bhaiya listens intently, then reassures me not to worry because he’ll work something out. “Besides, it’s high time you guys have a break. Those gurus of yours have been making you rehearse for so long, man, I feel you might fall asleep in the middle of the routine!”
I laugh. “Don’t worry, that never happens, Bhaiya. But thank you so much!”
When I reach the dance room, Arshika quickly asks me why I took so long. I tell them about my run-in with Sandeep Bhaiya and how he decided to help us.
“Great! Then we’ll go.” Aman stands up.
When they leave, I sit back and look around the room. I suddenly realise something funny: my first sleepover is in the dance room. How ironic. I couldn’t come for sleepovers because I had dance practice. Ha.
I decide to make myself busy and set up the room. I go to the heavy bag that Aman and Anil dragged in some time before, and pull out what looks like a heavy mattress. But I can’t get it out, and after a few more sweaty tries, I leave it alone. Better wait for everyone to come. I look at the clock. It’s seven in the evening. We’re quite early.
After a few more minutes, everyone comes back. Arshika also has a phone in her hand. Don’t know where she got it from.
“Anurima Ma’am always has an extra phone for music. She doesn’t take it with her, instead, she leaves it in her room. I managed to swipe it. Plus our speaker.” She grins proudly.
Everyone helps in setting up. The older kids (including me) pull out the mattresses and line them up on the floor. The younger kids blow up the balloons and stick them up. Blankets are covered. Pillows are stacked. Coloured lights are hung up. Now, the whole place is set.
“Dance battle!” Florisha screams. My god, she always wanted to dance, given the chance.
After half-an-hour of nonstop dancing, we collapse on the mattresses.
“Flow, why so much?” I ask, tired.
She giggles. “Because I like it! I like beating you, all bhaiyas and didis.” Despite Florisha’s active voice, I can see sweat on her face.
Aman pants. “Well, I’m hungry now.”
The answer comes to us immediately, with a knock on the door and Sandeep Bhaiya shouting, “Dinner is served!”
We cheer as Arshika opens the door. Bhaiya puts in front of us four pizza boxes, three ice cream tubs, and two bags with, to my delight, the scent of French fries brimming from the top.
“Bhaiya, the food smells amazing!” Prithvi says.
“Sure does, doesn’t it?” Bhaiya grins. “And before you ask, I told you not to worry. This is a little something from everyone related to your gurus, minus the gurus themselves.”
We laugh, saying, “Thank you, Bhaiya!”
When he goes, Eeshvi, being the foodie she is, tears open the pizza boxes and the French fry bags. We follow suit and grab a slice each.
I take a bite and the cheese melts in my mouth. “Mmmm…” I can faint from the sensation. Taking a bite from the French fries, I feel Sandeep Bhaiya had gone overboard on the food. It is so good.
After everyone finishes the main course, we’re on to dessert: chocolate ice cream! I haven’t had ice cream in a long time, and tasting this is like going to heaven. From my friends’ faces, I can see that they are enjoying as well.
Maybe Bhaiya is right.
We needed a break.
“Man, I am so full, I feel like sleeping now,” Sobhit says, patting his belly.
“Me too,” Parita intones, collapsing dramatically.
“You’re right.” Arshika stretches her arms. “Let’s hit the hay.”
We set our pillows and pull up the blankets. I snuggle between Prithvi and Aman, like we always do. The food and exhaustion makes my eyes heavy. I want to go to sleep, but I wait for the lights to go off and hear the sounds of gentle breathing. And I realise something: it’s the first time I’m sleeping without a goodnight from Mama, Papa or Sayra. I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling, thinking about them. Are they back in their room and worried sick about where I am? Probably. After all, we never told our parents that we are having this sleepover. Maybe even Varangi Didi is scared, unless she gets desperate and asks Sandeep Bhaiya where we are.
I turn on my side, and, imagining Mama smoothing my hair, Papa squeezing my shoulder, and Sayra squeezing her hand tightly in mine, I fall asleep.
Suddenly, I wake up to someone opening the door of the dance room. I’m ready to wake everyone up and tell them about intruders, but when I hear Didi’s familiar voice, and hear the clacks of sneakers and high heels, I know it’s our gurus.
“I need to get stuff from here, but I think something’s in the way,” I hear her say.
I sit up, and it’s pretty dark, so they don’t see me. I hold my breath.
“Someone turn on a torch,” Shubroy Sir says.
One of the gurus shines their phone light, and it momentarily blinds me. I hold up my hand.
“Oh!” I hear Anurima Ma’am gasp. “Our students!”
She casts the light across the row of our bodies sleeping peacefully. Actually, it also shines on me accidentally, and Varangi Didi furrows her eyebrows.
“Sankalp?”
I sheepishly wave. “Hi.”
“What happened here?” She asks.
“Nothing!” I say quickly.
Her eyes soften. “You can tell me.”
In a hushed whisper, I tell them the whole story. They listen with wide eyes, and I think I say too much. But then, Didi crooks a finger at me.
“I’m telling your parents. Everyone’s parents. But I’ll tell them not to worry. I’ll tell them you’re all right.” She smiles.
I lie back down. “Thanks, Didi.”
She ruffles my hair. “Good night, baccha.”
“Good night.”
Signed,
Melody Vega
“I’m telling your parents. Everyone’s parents. But I’ll tell them not to worry. I’ll tell them you’re all right.” She smiles.
I lie back down. “Thanks, Didi.”
She ruffles my hair. “Good night, baccha.”
“Good night.”
Signed,
Melody Vega
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