The Little Rainmaker Page 3

  ‘BILLU!’ shouted Anoushqa in excitement.

  ‘Yes … the boys saw it and gave in. Some of them even patted him on the back.’ Grampa smiled.

  ‘Oh, thank God! I thought there would be a fight. Did Billu play with the boat, then?’ asked Anoushqa.

  ‘No, he set it afloat in that same ravine. He realized that a boat that does not sail the waters is of no use. And he was happy that there was someone in his old home who was just like him. He was happy because he had made new friends in his new neighbourhood. And they all danced in the pouring rain. It was the happiest day of his life,’ said Grampa, smiling down again at his little granddaughter.

  ‘Grampa, but where is this boy, Billu, now? How old is he?’ asked Anoushqa.

  ‘He is very old now. So old that he is telling his own story to his granddaughter, who looks just like you!’ Saying this, Grampa flicked her nose.

  It took a while for this to sink in, after which Anoushqa just couldn’t contain her elation! ‘Oh my God! It was you! You are Billu … aren’t you?’ she exclaimed.

  Laughing at her excitement, Grampa nodded and said, ‘Yes, it’s me, Balbir Singh Narang … they used to call me Billu.’

  ‘So is that your dream? To have your boat again?’ asked Anoushqa.

  Grampa shook his head and said, ‘No. I just wish … I wish I could see and feel rain one more time. One last time before I …’ And he stopped short, not knowing how to finish, but Anoushqa knew what he meant.

  Grampa wasn’t sure whether he would live long enough to see that one last shower, but that night, before she slept, Anoushqa vowed to herself that she would find a way to fulfil his dream.

  She didn’t yet know how, but she would find a way to make it rain.

  Chapter 4

  I know you’re thinking that when Anoushqa woke up the next morning, she set sail on the biggest mission of her life—making it rain.

  But she was faced with the exact same problem that Christopher Columbus, the famous explorer, had when he’d started his journey to discover Asia: Where to start? Should one go east, west, north or south? And, of course, it didn’t help that when Columbus started his journey to discover Asia, he actually ended up discovering the Americas!

  Anoushqa mulled over the issue as she brushed her teeth. She spat the foam in her mouth into the basin when she was done, and the dry-vacuum instantly sucked it all in, leaving the basin spick and span. And, just like that, she thought, ‘Well, Columbus must have started somewhere. And so should I.’

  She got ready for school as quickly as she could, combed her gravity-defying hair and decided to plait it in a nice long braid. This done, she joined her parents at the breakfast table. These days, Grampa ate in his room as he was too weak to step out.

  As soon as she sat down, Ma remarked, ‘What’s wrong with your hair?’

  Anoushqa pretended to ignore her remark, and picked up a slice of toast to butter. But if you know most moms, or even your own, you’d know they don’t let things pass that easily. Ma persisted, ‘Why don’t you get it cut? It’s so much more manageable that way!’

  Irritated, Anoushqa pushed her chair back and walked out in a huff. Taken aback, Dad paused, a sandwich in his hand. Ma gaped at Anoushqa and then back at Dad as if to ask, ‘What’s gotten into her?’ Then, mumbling something, she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

  It was the longest day of Anoushqa’s life. You’d expect that at her age, Anoushqa would be thinking about questions like why Sam hadn’t apologized to her yet. Or whether they were still best friends. Or how Hafsah could have scored more marks than her in the surprise science test by T-Rex. Or why Ratul was always mean to everyone around him. And there were simple enough answers to these questions, unlike the one big question that had Anoushqa’s mind boggled: how to make it rain.

  It was while she was pondering this question that the mathematics teacher looked up from behind her glasses, noticing her inattention. ‘Anoushqa, can YOU tell me what the square root of 3456 is?’ she asked. ‘Stop daydreaming and concentrate on what is being taught! Class, open your books to the multiplication and division of decimal numbers. Let’s see how well you all do on a surprise test.’

  The class moaned, and everyone cursed Anoushqa for landing them in this mess. Anoushqa did really badly on the test too. If your mind was set on solving bigger problems like making it rain, how could you concentrate on the square root of 3456? She thought, ‘I bet Newton didn’t have to calculate that. If he were not daydreaming sitting under that apple tree, he would have never discovered gravity. If I become the prime minister, I will make daydreaming a compulsory activity.’

  Anoushqa reluctantly submitted her answers, knowing full well that these would be counted in her internal assessment for the year. After the volcanoexperiment debacle, she really did not want to be decimated by the decimal numbers too. She decided to forget about rain for a while and concentrate in class instead.

  That evening, even though Ma was busy writing up a proposal she had to present to a client in the office the next day, Anoushqa asked her, ‘Ma … what do you do when you don’t have answers to a question?’

  Ma answered without looking up, ‘Ask Dad.’

  ‘But Dad said you were the one who had all the answers,’ countered Anoushqa.

  Ma looked up and sighed. ‘He’s right.’ And she went back to her proposal.

  The end of the day arrived, and Anoushqa’s mind was still as blank as a sky without clouds. She tossed and turned in her sleep that night until she couldn’t bear it any longer. Getting up, she went to her favourite person. The one who had the answers to all her questions: Grampa.

  ‘Grampa! Are you up?’ she whispered.

  Grampa, who seemed to be snoring just a second ago, woke up instantly and said, ‘Always up for you, my dear.’

  Anoushqa felt guilty for waking him up, but she just had to ask him the question that had been tormenting her all day. ‘Grampa, what do you do when you can’t find the answer to a question?’

  Grampa thought for a while and said, ‘I follow rule number 325: change the question. If you can’t find the answer, then maybe you are asking the wrong question. For example, if I’m looking for my glasses, and I keep saying, “Where are my glasses?” the glasses won’t respond with, “Grampa, I’m here.”’ Anoushqa giggled at the thought of talking glasses. Grampa continued. ‘That’s why I ask myself, “Where did I last see my glasses? Was I wearing my glasses when I went to the bathroom?” Or even “Who can help me find my glasses?”’

  At that, Anoushqa’s world suddenly lit up. ‘Grampa is right,’ she thought. ‘How can I make rain? I don’t know. I don’t even know the square root of 3456. I need to ask who can help me make rain. It has to be an expert … some scientist working in the field … someone who has already studied multiplication, division and square roots and much more.’

  Anoushqa ran out of Grampa’s room, leaving him bewildered. She went and turned on the computer in Ma and Dad’s workroom. Without switching on the light, she quickly typed ‘scientists working on rainmaking’ into the search engine, which then threw up the names of scientists all over the world. Anoushqa added ‘India’ to her search, and suddenly a name sprang up: Gargi. Just that.

  Anoushqa opened the link to the website and discovered that Gargi had been working on a rainmaking technology for the last fifteen years. Not only that, she had been successful in creating one! Anoushqa was ecstatic! She looked up Gargi’s contact details and found her email address at the bottom of her website. She quickly drafted an email to her.

  Dear Ms Gargi,

  Sorry I’m addressing you like this, but I don’t know your full name. I am Anoushqa Narang, studying in Class V of Sloping Valley High School. You must have heard of it. It’s the school with the red-and-grey walls, located behind the artificial Asoka trees near the big supermarket.

  I hope you are fine. I’m not so good myself, the reason being the ill health of my grandfather. Doctors and my dad say that he
will not live for too long.

  But he has a last wish. He wants to touch and feel rain one last time before he dies. He says that of all his memories, he misses rain the most.

  I read up on your experiments with rainmaking technology online. I didn’t understand a lot of what I read, but I do feel that you will be able to help me make rain.

  Will you? Please let me know soon. I don’t have much time.

  Thank you and regards,

  Anoushqa Narang

  PS: Do you know the square root of 3456? Believe me, it’s important.

  Anoushqa quickly checked for spelling mistakes and, to her surprise, found none. She shut down the computer and went back to sleep, dreaming that when she met Gargi, she would know how to make it rain.

  Chapter 5

  At the breakfast table the next morning, Anoushqa put a huge dollop of peanut butter on top of the generous layer of orange marmalade she had already spread on her toast. She put the two slices together to make a sandwich, and was about to take a huge bite, when Dad threw the newspaper on the table and said, ‘Illiterate people! Inconsiderate … and … and …’

  ‘What’s the matter, Dad?’ she asked.

  Dad was frowning as he replied, ‘These people just don’t seem to care. This HD Mall … the one they are building at the end of the street … such a waste!’

  Anoushqa realized then that the matter was not grave. Taking a bite of her sandwich, she asked, ‘The HumiDome Mall? The one Ratul’s dad is building?’

  ‘What? The father of one of your classmates is building that mall? You must tell him that the cost of humidifying such a big place would be insane! And a swimming pool of real water on the terrace? Is he crazy? That much water can save a small nation!’

  ‘Really?’ asked Anoushqa in surprise.

  Until she had heard Dad’s observations, she had thought that the mall would be a fun place to hang out at. She would finally be able to swim. And that humidifier? That would be awesome! They wouldn’t even have to wear their masks and capes to this mall. They could finally let their hair down. But Dad didn’t seem to think so.

  ‘For the entertainment of a few people, we cannot squander precious resources that could help the world as a whole. You go and tell your friend that,’ he fumed, leaving the room just as Ma entered.

  ‘No need to say anything to Ratul. Just keep quiet. Okay?’ she warned.

  ‘But why, Ma?’ asked Anoushqa.

  ‘It’s not your place to speak. Dad will forget about this by evening, but you have to go to school with that Ratul boy for many more years,’ answered Ma.

  ‘But, Ma!’ protested Anoushqa.

  ‘Eat your breakfast!’ said Ma.

  Anoushqa hated it when she was shut up in the middle of a conversation. She decided that when she became prime minister, she would pass a rule against doing so. ‘It’s almost as if they can’t see us!’ she thought angrily. She went to school in a rebellious mood.

  Just as Anoushqa reached school, Ratul came running on to the playground, carrying a bunch of flyers and screaming in excitement, ‘Did you guys see this? The new HD Mall?’ He quickly handed out the flyers to all the students. Aditya read one aloud:

  Visit the grand, new HumiDome Mall!

  A completely humidified mall that has the biggest shopping destination, an Olympicsized real-water swimming pool for kids and adults, an ice skating rink that’s a whole lot of fun and an antigravity lab to fly around in!

  Opens 17 September 2028

  IRDA Street, AGB Road, New Delhi

  DON’T MISS THE FUN!

  Vaani was the first one to express her excitement. ‘Olympicsized swimming pool?’ she squealed.

  The seniors who had joined them added, ‘And it’s completely humidified! We won’t have to wear any Sun Saver inside!’

  Aadi was thrilled too. ‘An antigravity lab, man! We’ll be flying!’ he exclaimed.

  Ratul beamed at all the positive reactions. ‘All this was my idea. Dad loved it,’ he proudly stated.

  Aadi patted him on the back with a ‘Cool stuff, man.’

  Ratul replied grandly, ‘I have told Dad I will bring my entire class only if he sponsors free burgers and fries for everyone.’ Everyone cheered for Ratul, who stood smiling, pleased to be the centre of attention. He was really proud of his dad for building the biggest humidified mall in the country. ‘We will be rich once this opens,’ Ratul’s dad, Mr Bhalla, had once announced; he had followed it up with a burp, like a stamp of approval from his guts.

  Ratul casually looked at Anoushqa, who had chosen to stay quiet all this while. Her mother’s words kept echoing in her mind: ‘YOU DON’T NEED TO SAY ANYTHING. JUST EAT YOUR BREAKFAST.’

  Ratul asked her jokingly, ‘And who’s got your tongue?’

  This was the final straw for Anoushqa. She shushed her mom’s voice inside her head and let her dad take over instead. ‘Well … to be honest, I’m appalled,’ she said. All eyes turned towards her as she held centre stage. ‘Did your dad think about how much it would cost the environment?’ she parroted her father’s words. ‘Imagine the cost of importing all that water! So many people could have bought H2O with it.’

  Ratul immediately defended his dad. ‘But so many people will now experience swimming in real water. Don’t you think that’s a social service?’ he asked.

  Aadi and Ratul laughed and shared high fives at this, while Anoushqa fumed inwardly at the boys bonding against her. ‘Really? And what about the complete humidification process? The cost of all that electricity could feed a small nation … Did you ever think about that?’ she asked angrily.

  If he was to be honest, Ratul had indeed never thought about this. Moreover, he was sure his dad hadn’t either. But he would not let the argument run away from him like a mouse from a cat. ‘So you think YOU are a social worker? Then why do you use humidifiers at home? And when was the last time you fed a dog, let alone a small nation, huh?’ He cornered Anoushqa.

  Anoushqa had no answer to that and she pouted helplessly in anger. At home, Dad never talked about giving back to society. All he ever said was, ‘This law by the government is outdated. Why can’t we direct funds from taxes to the well-being of the poor? Any fool can see that this is just a move by the politicians to create a vote bank …’ And so on and so forth. Anoushqa had always thought that if her father were the prime minister, he would bring about a lot of positive changes. Until today, of course. She realized in that instant that her mom was right. She should have shut up rather than enter into an argument with Ratul.

  Frankly, she hadn’t thought it through. And now she had landed herself in a soup, that too in front of everyone. In sheer desperation, she shouted, ‘I’M TRYING TO MAKE RAIN … for my Grampa … for us … for the entire world! And it will be way better than your HD Mall! It will save the world!’

  There was shocked silence around the group. All eyes were on Anoushqa, and she was shivering as she shouted these words because she knew in her heart that they weren’t true. Not entirely. One, she wasn’t making rain herself. Two, she didn’t even know if anyone else was. And three, she was doing it only for Grampa. Not for the world. Just then, the bell rang.

  Ratul, a bit stunned by her public declaration, managed to find his voice. ‘Really? Let’s see how you do that, Anoushqa. And if you can’t, let me know. I will make sure you get your free fries at the mall. See you later,’ he said before heading to class.

  Sam looked at Anoushqa and moved forward to talk to her, but Anoushqa was really mad and stomped off.

  After this incident, it seemed to Anoushqa that all her days at school were turning out to be bad ones. In those that followed, the irritating, obstinate, needs-a-punch-in-his-face Ratul kept pulling her leg with things like ‘Hey, Anoushqa, look! A pigeon! Do you think he would like to swim in my swimming pool?’ The boys would break into uproarious laughter at his ribbing, while she seethed in anger. Once, when a little dog peed inside the school premises, Ratul said, ‘Hey, Anoushqa, even this p
uppy can make it rain!’

  She cursed herself for announcing to everyone that she was going to make rain. Now she would definitely have to do something about it or else this Ratul would make her life hell! She felt like crying but didn’t, because she didn’t want to give Ratul the pleasure of seeing her like that. She wished she could talk to Sam about all this and gang up against him, but she was unwilling to make the first move. ‘Can’t she come and apologize?’ she thought. And to top it all, there was still no reply to her email to Gargi.

  ‘How could she have not seen it still?’

  ‘Maybe she was travelling and did not have time to respond …?’

  ‘How long does it take to write an email anyway?’

  ‘How busy do these adults pretend to be?’

  These and a million other thoughts swam inside her head.

  One afternoon, Anoushqa entered home and flung her bag down. Strangely, she felt dizzy. ‘Maybe it’s the heat. I should go and drink some lemonade,’ she thought. But just as she moved, the ground beneath her shook. Anoushqa looked up, and the chandelier above her made a clinking sound as it swayed in the air. ‘Oh my God! Will it fall?’ she thought in panic.

  The shaking lasted for a full seven seconds and then stopped. By then Anoushqa had realized what it was—an earthquake. She had read about it in books and heard her teachers talking about it, but she’d never really experienced it until now. She ran inside to check on Grampa. Thankfully, he was sound asleep. She shook him hard.

  ‘Grampa! Grampa! Wake up! Did you feel it?’ she asked.

  ‘Feel what?’ Grampa mumbled, still half-asleep, as he fumbled for his glasses.

  ‘The earthquake? Didn’t you feel it?’

  Grampa yawned. ‘I was out like a light. Didn’t feel a thing,’ he said.

  When she heard this, Anoushqa burst into tears. ‘How could you not feel a thing? Does no one ever feel a thing? That Ratul in class … he doesn’t feel it’s wrong to build that mall … That Sam doesn’t feel a thing for me … And now you … you didn’t feel the earthquake. Am I the only one who feels things around here?’ she sobbed.