The Little Rainmaker Page 10

  She tiptoed lightly around his bed but it seemed like he was in a deep slumber. She turned away, disappointed.

  Just then Grampa’s voice stopped her. ‘What are you looking for, my butterfly?’ he said.

  And Anoushqa jumped on his bed and hugged him tightly. ‘I’m scared, Grampa. What if… what if… you can’t see rain tomorrow? What if it’s not like the rain you remember? What if…’ she whispered.

  Grampa smiled and said, ‘What if I hadn’t been your Grampa?’

  ‘Well, that’s a silly question because you already are,’ said Anoushqa.

  ‘Exactly, my dear… Rule number 506: what has to happen will happen. If you keep thinking about “what if”, then you will never get done what needs to be done.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ confessed Anoushqa.

  ‘Let me tell you a story. Do you want to hear one?’ asked Grampa. Anoushqa nodded eagerly. Grampa switched on the bedside lamp and put on his glasses.

  Anoushqa chuckled at that. ‘Grampa, you don’t have to read the story. Why are you wearing your glasses?’ she asked.

  Grampa nodded. ‘You are right, my dear. But without my glasses, how will I see the astonishment in your eyes when I tell you that the lion could not be the next king of the jungle?’ he asked.

  ‘What? How is that possible?’ exclaimed Anoushqa. Grampa signalled her to be quiet. ‘Shh… your parents are sleeping,’ he cautioned.

  Anoushqa immediately lay down beside Grampa, and he began his story.

  ‘Once upon a time, the position of the king of the jungle was up for grabs. You see, the lions were dwindling in number, and everyone was worried about what would happen if all the lions died.’

  ‘There would be no king, Grampa,’ chimed in Anoushqa.

  ‘Exactly. No other animal had any experience in being the king of the jungle. So all the animals were asked to apply for the position, and to gather in the jungle square on the day of the election to present their case as to why they should be king. There was a small rabbit in the jungle who decided he would contest for the king’s position.’

  ‘A rabbit?’ Anoushqa laughed.

  ‘The rabbit laughed just as you did right now. The very thought of becoming a king tickled his furry hide. He rubbed his hands in glee and thought, “What if I were the king? I would make them paint my fur in gold and I’ll sit on a throne made of precious stones. What if… what if I had my own carriage pulled by the elephants of this very jungle… the same elephants that trample upon our population without a care? And what if the lion himself came to seek counsel from me, the new king? I would appoint the tiger and the fox as my bodyguards, just in case the lion tried to act smart and attacked me. My army would tear him to bits, and then he would know what it is like to be killed without mercy.” Thinking this, the rabbit let out a small laugh.’ Grampa let out a chuckle for effect and continued. ‘… And he attracted the attention of a passing fox. The fox crept up quietly and, at the first opportunity, attacked the rabbit and ate him, thus ending his “what if” dream of becoming the king.’

  Grampa then asked Anoushqa, ‘Do you see now that asking “what if” killed the rabbit? Our job is to go ahead and do what we must. The universe will take care of the rest. Did you like the story, my butterfly?’ But there was no response from Anoushqa. Grampa looked at her and found her peacefully asleep in his arms. He smiled and switched off the bedside lamp, wondering at which point in the story she had fallen asleep.

  But Anoushqa had heard the entire story, because in that part of the night—when she was sleeping in Grampa’s bed—she saw rain in her dream. Or at least what she thought rain would look like, falling from the sky. Silver drops of heaven touching the green grass and forming transparent little white pellets on the leaves of plants that had long disappeared. She dreamt of herself dancing in the rain, until suddenly, an incessant, irritating noise filled her beautiful garden. What was it? Could it be an animal? A sign of danger?

  Her mother was calling, ‘Anoushqa… Anoushqa… Anu… wake up.’

  Anoushqa woke up, startled, and realized she was in Grampa’s bed and her mother was standing over her with the phone. That constant buzzing in her dream had been the phone.

  ‘It’s Gargi, the scientist. She wants to speak with you,’ said Ma.

  ‘Now?’ Anoushqa asked, surprised, rubbing her eyes.

  ‘Yes, she says it’s important. I went to your room but then found you here…’ answered Ma.

  Anoushqa looked at Grampa, who was fast asleep and totally oblivious to the noise. She slowly crept out of bed and, taking the phone, walked out of the room to talk. ‘Hello? Ms Gargi?’ she began.

  Gargi’s voice on the other end crackled. ‘Hi, Anoushqa. I am so sorry to have called you at this hour, but the matter is urgent,’ she said.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Anoushqa.

  ‘Well… you remember how the prime minister had said his hands were tied with regards to permissions for the rainmaking technology?’ went on Gargi.

  ‘Yes, I do,’ replied Anoushqa, wondering where this was heading.

  ‘Well… apparently he tried really hard. He pursued the United Water Front relentlessly, and guess what? We have been granted permission to make rain!’

  ‘WHAT?’ Anoushqa couldn’t believe her ears.

  ‘And not just us. Thanks to your social media page and the prime minister’s efforts, the UWF has granted permission to sixty-four countries across the world to make rain—but on one condition. All the countries will begin their experiments at exactly the same time. Do you know what that means? The entire world will be watching and waiting, Anoushqa! All thanks to your social media page!’ Gargi laughed in excitement.

  Anoushqa was too stunned to speak.

  ‘I got to know of this four hours ago, but we were busy making preparations, so I couldn’t let you know immediately. It’ll happen today at 11 a.m., Anoushqa. You did it! We’ll finally make rain, and it’s all because of you and your efforts. I want you to be there with your grandfather at our rainmaking experiment,’ continued Gargi.

  Anoushqa was too astounded to respond. ‘Was this a dream as well?’ she thought. Her mother, who had heard what Gargi had said, took the phone from her hand and spoke to the scientist. ‘Yes… yes, of course… Don’t worry, we will make it on time. Thank you so much!’

  Anoushqa’s mom hugged her after hanging up. ‘I’ll wake your dad up,’ she said. ‘They’re conducting the experiment at a research centre some five hours from here. We must leave within half an hour. You’ve done it, Anoushqa!’

  Anoushqa had never been up so early to go anywhere. In fact, they had never ever taken a road trip like this. She kept looking outside the window at the trees lining the dark road. She knew most of them were artificial. In a couple of hours, the sun would be up and then, finally, they would see rain. She hugged herself in excitement and then, looking at Grampa, asked, ‘Grampa, are you all right?’

  Ma turned around with concern, but Grampa smiled and said, ‘I’m better than I’ve ever been.’

  That was the thing about Grampa; he never complained. If the food had less salt or more, he never complained. If he misplaced his glasses, he would sit quietly until someone found them for him. If he was sick, he would be even quieter. One day, an angry Anoushqa had asked him, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were sick? I wouldn’t have asked you to tell me a story.’ And Grampa had replied, ‘If I had told you, you would have gone away, leaving me alone to dwell on my sickness. But for a story, you stayed. And in the act of telling you that story, I forgot my sickness.’

  And that’s why when he said he was better than ever, Anoushqa knew he was actually much worse. She quietly put her hand in his, and Grampa closed his eyes and rested.

  These were the longest five hours of Anoushqa’s life. She couldn’t wait to see rain! Suddenly she remembered something and sat up in alarm. She had completely forgotten about the HD Mall event! ‘Dad! Dad! Stop the car!’ she shouted. ‘I had to be at
the HD Mall today!’

  Mom and Dad looked at each other, wondering what to do. Grampa, who had opened his eyes at the sudden slamming of the brakes, asked, ‘Where do you want to be?’

  Anoushqa replied, ‘I’d promised I would attend the HD Mall rainmaking event. But then I want to attend the scientific rainmaking experiment as well. But what if the experiment fails? Then I’ll miss the rain at HD Mall! Oh, God! Why is it all so confusing?’

  Dad replied calmly, ‘You speak to that scientist lady about this. Okay?’ Anoushqa nodded and, after about ten minutes of trying, Dad got through and she was on the line with Gargi.

  After she’d heard her out, Gargi was silent for a minute and then replied, ‘In the end, Anoushqa, it’s your choice. All I can say is that this rain will be as close to the real thing as possible. And it’ll happen because of you. If the experiment is successful, your grandfather’s name will go down in history. You saw a dream, and today it might just come true. And in this life, not many people can boast of seeing their dreams come to fruition. It’s completely your call. You decide where you want to be.’ Then she added, ‘The experiment will begin on time. I hope to see you here. Bye, Anoushqa.’ With that, she hung up.

  Anoushqa looked at the trees swaying silently in the hot air outside and came to a decision. ‘What are we waiting for, Dad?’ she asked. ‘Let’s go to Gargi.’

  This time, Grampa held her hand. She leaned her head on his shoulder and slept the rest of the way.

  Chapter 16

  Imagine someone told you that today would be the best day of your life. Imagine someone told you this every single day as soon as you got out of bed. Wouldn’t it bring a smile to your face… a lilt to your walk… like someone playing happy music in the background all day just for you? Like a bunch of fresh flowers picked especially for you? Like the sun beaming out its happy rays only for you? You’d feel all this just because someone said it was going to be the best day of your life.

  When Magic Mistry Rainwalla parted his curtains that morning to see the first rays of the sun, this was exactly how he felt. His tarot card reader had told him that this day would bring him infinite joy. It would give him all that he had hoped for all his life. And then, just as a feeling of calm washed over his body, he heard a loud sound: CRASH! He ran inside to the source of the sound.

  Inside, OWN looked as scared as a deer caught in headlights. ‘I… I’m sorry, Dad… er… sir… this… I… I lost my balance,’ she stammered.

  Mr Rainwalla approached her with a silent death stare. He clenched his teeth and whispered menacingly, ‘Clean up the mess right now, and if you make any more mistakes today, I will send you to the black hole and you will never ever return. Do you understand?’

  OWN nodded and quickly cleared the mess. Mr Rainwalla tried to breathe deeply to regain some of his earlier composure. He could not afford to lose focus today. It was the biggest day of his life, and he would not let anyone ruin it. Not even himself.

  Someone else shared his dream a little distance away.

  Ratul’s dad, Mr Bhalla, took a sip of the hot cup of tea made with real water (yes, he could afford it) and sighed impatiently. ‘Once this mall opens, I will be the richest man in this city,’ he thought. That’s what his astrologer had predicted. The day was undoubtedly auspicious for new beginnings. But the astrologer had also forewarned, ‘I see dark clouds. There will be a roadblock. Someone will attempt to thwart your efforts, but eventually the clouds will part and your mall will rain money for you.’

  Mr Bhalla opened the newspaper and read the City News column. ‘Environmentalists Protest against HD Mall, to Be Inaugurated Today’ read one headline. Mr Bhalla grunted as he remembered the dark-cloud prediction. He flung the newspaper away and got ready for the most important morning of his life.

  The sun was climbing up the sky.

  Meanwhile, the Narangs’ car stopped at the designated spot, and Dad got out. Anoushqa woke up with a start and asked, ‘Are we there yet?’ Grampa coughed and nodded, while Ma looked out at the team of people serious at work. Anoushqa jumped out of the car and spotted Gargi instructing a group of men in the distance.

  ‘Gargi! Gargi! I’m here,’ she called out.

  Gargi looked up and beamed at Anoushqa. ‘I’m glad you made it in time. We will start the experiment in about ten minutes. We’re all set,’ she announced.

  Anoushqa’s heart skipped a beat. She could not believe that she was finally about to witness history being made! They were going to make rain!

  At the HD Mall, amid the noise made by protesters carrying placards, Mr Bhalla entered his office. The protesters tried to block his way. But he dealt with them like a lion with a buzzing fly, and walked inside.

  His secretary looked worried about his boss’s reaction to the gaggle of reporters. ‘Sir, what should we do, sir? We tried blocking them, but they wouldn’t listen,’ he tried to explain.

  Mr Bhalla smiled as he poured himself a glass of chilled water and said, ‘The media is covering it, right?’

  ‘Yes, sir. That’s what I am worried about, sir,’ replied his secretary.

  ‘Why are you worried? This is called free publicity. Let them create a ruckus. Did you call that girl… what’s her name, now?’ Mr Bhalla clicked his fingers impatiently to get a response, as the secretary said, ‘Anoushqa… sir… Anoushqa…’

  ‘Yes. That’s the one. What time will she be here?’ And without waiting for a response, Mr Bhalla moved out to inspect whether the rainmaking experiment was going as planned.

  At Mr Rainwalla’s office, OWN took out a big box from the tool cupboard. Inside, she found numerous threads of different colours tightly stretched and tied from one end of the box to the other. She ran her finger across the taut threads, and the colours immediately burst into a rainbow, while the twang of the threads echoed across the room.

  Mr Rainwalla’s head peeped in. ‘Stop fiddling with the rainbow, and get the storm-stirrer. It has been brewing since last night. Just see if the temperature is under control,’ he ordered her.

  OWN nodded and went towards a huge cauldron; it was hung up at a height, and was spewing smoke. She used a stool to reach it, and stirred the solution inside. She shouted out, ‘It’s almost done, sir. Should I turn off the fire?’

  Mr Rainwalla looked inside the cauldron and said, ‘Another minute and it should be done. Time it on the watch.’ OWN faithfully kept an eye on the clock and, just as a minute passed, she switched off the electric fire under the brewing liquid. ‘Done,’ she said.

  Mr Rainwalla was busy arranging all the items for the experiment in a huge bag. He called out without looking up. ‘Now measure out 200 ml of the colour composite and get it here.’

  OWN went up to a rack on the wall, full of glass bottles. The bottles contained different-coloured liquids. She carefully picked out a bottle of some transparent liquid. It said ‘WHITE—SUM OF ALL COLOURS’. She measured out the required quantity and handed it to her father. ‘Here… the colour composite…’ she said.

  Mr Rainwalla checked if the liquid was exactly 200 ml and remarked, ‘Good. If you continue like this, you will make a great magician one day, OWN. Remember, God is in the details. So is magic.’

  She nodded, secretly pleased at her father’s appreciation. She wrote down what he had just said in her ‘Notes’ diary:

  God is in the details. And so is magic.

  Therefore, Magic = God

  Mr Rainwalla looked satisfied as he checked his magician’s tools. ‘Now we just need the smoke creator for effect, and we’re ready to roll,’ he said. He rubbed his hands nervously, and out came some smoke.

  ‘When did you put the smoke creator between your hands?’ asked OWN.

  Mr Rainwalla smiled mischievously and said, ‘When you weren’t looking.’ OWN smiled at that too.

  At the science experiment centre, a huge rocket-like structure pointing to the sky was mounted at a precise angle. It looked like one of those old wartime cannons Grampa had showed
Anoushqa in an old history book he still had.

  Grampa had to be brought out in a wheelchair, which Ma and Dad took care of. Even though it was not cold, he still had to be covered in a shawl as he ‘felt the chills’. Anoushqa glanced at him. His eyes looked empty. While he knew he was here to see rain, he didn’t show any signs of excitement. There was no sparkle in his eyes, the one they had each time he would tell a story… each time she would hug him tight… each time he would take out those treasures from his secret box in the drawer of his cupboard. His eyes looked just like two gaping holes, like the windows of the grey, dark buildings she saw from her terrace. She could not see beyond them.

  Her attention was diverted to Gargi’s instructions. ‘We are ready when you are,’ she shouted to a man in the distance. The man signalled to Gargi to wait, and she nodded. Gargi walked over to Anoushqa and explained to her, ‘This rocket will be launched into the sky. We have identified clouds in the topmost layer that seem to be saturated, but are unable to make rain due to unfavourable environmental conditions.’

  ‘So the rocket will pierce the clouds, and it will burst like a balloon?’ asked Anoushqa.

  ‘Theoretically, yes. It will pierce the clouds and release a chemical that will make the atmosphere around the cloud warm. Since the temperature of the cloud itself is cold…’

  Anoushqa finished her sentence with ‘… The warm air around it will make the water condense into droplets, making it fall like rain.’

  Ma and Dad looked at Anoushqa in wonder, and Gargi, too, nodded in appreciation. She patted her head and said, ‘That’s right, my little scientist.’

  Anoushqa looked at Grampa for appreciation, but his eyes seemed half-closed and he appeared dazed. Anoushqa was worried and asked Gargi, ‘Will all countries launch rockets into the sky today?’

  Gargi responded, ‘No. Each country has devised its individual way of making rain based on its own experimentation and research. And obviously, all of us are keeping our fingers crossed that these experiments work.’ Saying so, Gargi moved on to helm the experiment. Anoushqa looked on hopefully.