A Sunday

With my eyes set on the target pins, I rolled the bowling ball with the thrust just apt enough to knock down all the pins in one go. All the other pairs of eyes were moving in sync with the sliding ball. The silence was what could be called a pin drop one. Only the sound produced due to friction between the ball and the floor could be heard. With the ball approaching its target, my heartbeat got louder and so did the thrill that rose exponentially with the moving ball. I had to win this time to become the champion and to self-applaud the player in me. It was the tenth game in the row that I had to knock down all ten heads in a single blow. This would decide my name getting inscribed in the champions list that was displayed in the hall.

The ball was just about to hit the target pins that a bell rang. I ignored and refrained from getting distracted with my eyes still fixed on the target pins. I had to confirm that all the pins are down in that very shot. Suddenly it turned to a slow motion scene in which the ball started touching the fore pins one by one and the pins started falling in a rhythm. I started counting – one-two-three-four-five-six -- as the balls were falling. Finally three balls were left to be knocked down that the bell rang again. I ignored. Seven-eight- damn it! The ring again. It was very distracting. And the very next moment everything went off the scene. What was now visible to me was a cream colored ceiling with some floral design in it. I closed my eyes tight and opened again to understand what is happening. I discovered that I just woke up from a dream -- a super exciting and thrilling one.

Oh this is terrible. I was on the brink of getting the victory. I was about to become a champ. Damn this awful call bell. And it rang now for the fourth time. I felt like murdering the person standing on the door,who spoilt my fanciful dream. I sprang up from my bed and strolled towards the door with my eyes half open. I opened the door and guess who I found. No one. Yes, there was no one standing out. Probably the person ringing the call bell had got an intuition of my semi murder plans.

I looked all around again but no one was found. Thinking it to be a prank played by the neighboring kids, I was about to shut the door when my eyes fell on an envelope lying outside. I picked it up and found something penned on it in red. I couldn't read it as it was written in some script resembling Chinese.

 I flipped the envelope and found that it wasn’t sealed. I raised the flap and pulled out the light yellow paper kept inside. I unfolded it in order. It had a strong lily fragrance that was refreshing. There was something written in it in blue. But there was no way that I could help myself reading the letters as the language was completely alien to me. Perplexed, I turned to my room and started thinking what it could be. Also I wasn’t sure that the letter was intended for me.

I kept the letter back into the envelope and put it aside. I decided to approach my friends in case any of them knew the language. I quickly got ready, had my breakfast, gave a final peep into the mirror, took the envelope and set off to one of my friends’ home on my scooty.

It was a cloudy Sunday with a soft breeze on -- Just perfect day for an outing. I reached my friend’s place in few minutes. We had prior plans to go out shopping. My friend was ready, all set to leave with me. But that day I was more excited or curious per se, about the letter, than about shopping. I asked my friend to hold on for a while. Though I hardly had a belief that she would in any close way be able to make out the inscribed words of the letter, I showed her the thing. Her mocking reaction was, “Oh a love letter! So you got a Chinese boyfriend!” I rolled my eyes and told her about the mysterious letter. She took a deep breath and said, “Hmm…so the matter looks grave! Let us consult a linguist. But before that let’s go shopping. And I will drive!” I agreed. Both of us wore our helmets, I sat pillion and we set off under the overcast sky.

For the first time in my life I was disinterested in shopping. In few minutes I realized that I was just following my friend behind her through the mall. My thoughts were dangling through the letters inscribed in red and blue. And finally the shopping and billing was done. We came out and as decided, we were to consult a linguist.

We had a friend who knew Kanji(Chinese), Italica(Spanish) and Arabic(Urdu) scripts apart from Roman(English) and Devnagri(Hindi). We quickly approached him to decode the letter. He looked at the envelope and said, the envelope reads, ‘Doh je sin’, which means, ‘Thank You’.  All of us got amazed and our curiosity grew. He pulled out the letter and read the lines to himself. I constantly kept staring at his face with my jaws open, waiting for him to read through and translate. He smiled, took a long breath and started..

Hello,

By the time you read this, I would be far away. I am a 10-year-old Chinese boy and saw you at a tourist place with some of your friends last Sunday.

Last Sunday I had visited an old fort with my friends. And yes, there was a Chinese group too! What could this little boy secretly have written to me?

You seemed to be indigenous so I thought of sharing this with you. I’m sorry I followed you that day to know your address, as it’s an urgent matter. So here I go!

My name is Dingxiang. I came to visit your place. During my tour, I saw a sweet girl of your land. Must be of my age. Her mom called her ‘Lara’. She was with her mom and dad throughout the trip. Her black curly hair was very cute. I can hardly find a girl back in my school with a curly hair.  In fact she also saw me and smiled looking at me. I think I am in love. I need your urgent help. There is a neighbor of mine back in China, who likes me and is after me. But I don’t like her. Please save me. Please help me and convey my message to Lara. I really want to talk to her. At least find her number and pass it on to me. My number is +86-9934562215.

I will always be thankful to you if you do this. I will also send you Chinese chocolates from my pocket money. You look kind and I know you will help me.

Waiting for a phone call from Lara,

Ding.

There was a short silence after my friend finished reading the letter. Then we looked at each other and burst out in laughter!