ADI AND RAMLILA

"Adi, wait! Where are you going so quickly?" Parth asked, trying to catch up with Adi.

- Ashima Kaushik

"To the auditions. I don't want to miss anything," Adi replied, rushing with a sheet of paper in his hand.

"Wait, but the auditions are tomorrow," Parth yelled from behind.

"Which role are you auditioning for?" he asked, catching up and offering peanuts.

Adi grabbed the packet of hot and spicy peanuts. "Ram, Hanuman and Angad. Which role are you auditioning for?" he asked.

"I am fine with any role," Parth mumbled.

They walked to the park, which was empty.

"Where is everyone? They should be here playing cricket at this time," Adi gasped, "unless the auditions are on!"

"They lied to us!" Parth exclaimed, finishing his spicy peanuts and wiping his hands off the back of his shorts.

Each year the colony children got together and performed Ramlila on the common rooftop. Adi had been participating since he was five years old. Each year, he had been getting the role of a monkey in the army, with no dialogues.

Initially, he was happy to get that role. But now that he was 10, that made him a senior actor. "I will not accept that small role anymore," Adi had decided.

Parth agreed. "Let's rehearse the dialogues before the audition and get bigger roles!" he suggested.

"First, let's look for everyone," said Adi, walking ahead.

They then saw Shruti and Myra practising their dance steps, and asked if they knew where everyone was. The girls shook their heads and kept rehearsing.

"Let's go to Binni's place," suggested Adi, "They all could be there on the rooftop."

"Oh no! That's Block B, where Jackie is!" Parth trembled, "Jackie always barks at me!"

"Come on! Jackie won't do anything," said Adi, grabbing Parth's hand and walking towards Block B. As they reached the top floor, they could hear lots of voices.

Jackie didn't bark as he was fast asleep by a pile of shoes.

"Of course, the auditions are on, like I told you!" Adi exclaimed.