Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 15

It seemed he was staring at me as I quickly lowered my camera and turned around as if viewing the sunrise. I tilted my head a fraction and saw from my peripheral vision that he too had turned back to his previous position and was looking the other way.

I felt relieved that he had not seen my camera otherwise he would have come bounding towards me. I thought it wise not to take any photos any more but inside felt disappointed at having my plans thwarted like this.

As I turned towards the east I saw  the orange sun peeking out from the horizon looking actually like a big ball of orange instead of the yellow sun we see later on in the day. It was indeed a Kodak moment for me . I again checked him from my peripheral vision and saw that he had left from the other terrace. I sighed with relief and started taking pictures of the beautiful sunrise. Then some of the fort which looked all mysterious surrounded by the early morning haze .

I was so engrossed in all this that I was taken aback when a hand grabbed my hand which was holding the camera. It was the second time I would have dropped my camera but it was saved by the string handle wrapped around my wrist and also the mysterious hand which held the camera in firm grasp.

I gasped and turned around coming face to face with Rudra towering over me. I had to give him the credit of being a person with great stealth in his movements as I never heard him approach.

I was speechless and stared open mouthed at him while he seemed to be quite cool and collected , unlike his previous angry self.

He put his finger under my chin and closed my mouth, making me realize that I was staring at him like a mouse caught by the cat.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in an expressionless tone.

"I... just came to see the sunrise" I said trying to sound brave which I wasn't feeling. It seemed loads of butterflies were fluttering all inside my stomach and my heart started beating like a drum.

He looked at the camera.

I looked at the camera.

Then I looked at him looking at the camera and then realized that along with the camera he was holding my hand too. I slowly tried to slide my hand out of his hand but the stupid camera string wound around my wrist didn't help matters. It acted like handcuffs.

I gave a tug looking at him, silently conveying the message to him to release my hand but the adamant man then shifted his grip and held my hand up.

"What is this? What are you trying to do with this?" he asked with his voice resounding with suspicion.

"This is a camera" I said softly.

"Kamara" he mispronounced making me smile.

His frown  intensified at this but the arrogant man didn't ask for a repeat with the correct pronunciation.

"What do you do with this?"

"It take pictures . Just like you paint pictures, this takes real pictures... as in it looks real not painted" I tried to explain.

He looked at me thoughtfully and then again at the camera.

"Let me show you how it works" I said trying to pacify any feelings of mistrust he might have. As I again tried to slide my hand from his grip , he tightened his grip and then loosened it slowly nodding towards the camera.

I  selected the display button in the camera and moved the screen towards him. He shifted close to me as he bent forward to look at the pictures I showed him one by one leaving those of my era out. I felt a different kind of awareness in my stomach at his nearness which I had never felt before.