| A little bit.' 'Don't worry. You will perform fine.' 'Huh? What?' u3hnb I said. What is she talking about? Then it struck me. 'Oh, yes. I've done my best. The rest is up to Mr Gates.' 'Exactly. Now sleep,' she said and closed u3hnb her eyes again. 'Riya.' 'Hmm?' 'I want to say so u3hnb mething, Riya,' 'Shh,' she said, eyes still shut. She placed a finger on my lips. 'Say it to Bill Gates first,' she said and drifted back to sleep. 'Thirty minutes? Our programme lasts an u3hnb hour,' I said, my voice indignant. Samantha had called me on Monday morning, a day before Gates's visit. 'I'm so u3hnb rry, Madhav. It's a really tight schedule for Mr Gates. Maybe you can cut down on a few things.' 'But the kids have bee u3hnb n preparing for months.' 'My apologies. Trust me, we have actually cancelled a few places. But there's no question of cancelling y u3hnb our school.' 'Fine.What time?' '10.30 sharp. See you.' I went with Tarachand jt to inspect the empty field being converted into a parking lot. Fro u3hnb m a distance, I could hear the sound of students practising the welcome song. We had stopped classes for a week to focus on the annual day. Students had planned the cultural programme, scrubbed the floors and walls of the school, drawn new charts and mad u3hnb e props for the stage. I went to the staffroom and told my mother about the shortened length of the visit. She said, 'It wa u3hnb s a stupid idea to call these moody goras to school. We've been going mad for the past few weeks for them, and now see.' At 10.15 on Tuesday morning, my phone rang. 'We are entering Dumraon. Ten more minutes,' Samantha said. I rushed to the school entrance. Twe u3hnb nty kids assigned to be the welcome par u3hnb ty formed two lines facing each other. Each held a plate with rose petals to be showered on the guests. A girl from class V would apply the tika. u3hnb Parents had already arrived. Over a thousand guests sat on red plastic chairs under the tent set up for the occasion. Dignitaries and special invitee u3hnb s sat in the fron u3hnb t VIP rows. The fleet of eight cars became visible. The kids in the welcome team squealed in excitement. They started to u3hnb throw flower petals at each other. 'Stop it,' I said to them. Mr Gates stepped u3hnb out of his car. Media persons surrounded him, taking pictures non-stop. A team of ten Americans, including Samantha, and five Indians from the Foundatio u3hnb n, stood behind Mr | |
No comments:
Post a Comment