She was looking in to the infinity mulling over something. She was quiet the whole evening, and on the way back from temple. Something was bothering her, and I was waiting patiently to know the source of her irritation.
“Can a crow fart?” She asked out of the blue.
“What?” I blurted out. Even though the question was absurd, my mind had started to process the question thrown at me. The crows unlike humans have a single hole to do all their business. I thought about the peristaltic moments in the bowels, and the diet of a crow which can possibly end in farting. I thought about it for good 20 minutes, and in the end I was blank. Can a crow fart?
“I don’t know”. I said.
“My mother won’t be able to go to Crorepathy show”. Her voice was heavy with sadness.
Crorepathy is a reality show, where they will ask you some questions, and if you get them right…wola! You are a Crorepathy. But, I never knew her mother was in to being rich and famous. To me, she seemed to be content in staying in the colony itself.
“What happened?”
“I got a call from Crorepathy program, when my mother was not there”…she started narrating…”they asked me two questions, which I answered correctly…but this was the third one. I seriously don’t know if a crow can fart. I even tried googling it, but nothing came up”. She was feeling guilty for letting her family down.
“That is a tough question. How come one can know if a crow can fart or not?” I asked her, trying to console her.
I used to visit her parents after this small walk to the temple. We knocked the door and it was opened by her older cousin. He is a techie working in some IT firm who used to visit us, once or twice a year. He was the big brother for both of us, teaching us both the good and bad things of life. As we entered he pulled my hair, and I kicked at him. That was our way of sharing pleasantries.
Her mother offered me a cup of tea. I was sipping the tea when she asked “did you get a call from Crorepathy?” to her. There was a tone of accusation in her voice. I gulped down the mouthful of hot tea. I can see the panic rising in my friend. I started to panic too, a family fight is going to break lose and I was sitting right in the middle of it. I eyed the ways to exit.
“Maa… I didn’t mean it ma… the questions were really tough… I thought I will make it, I never thought they will ask questions about biology… you know ma…. I am not that good in biology, I am sorry ma… I really am…” she was on the verge of breaking down to tears. I held my breath, to hear the final verdict from her parents. Are they going to throw her out of the house or are they going to going to kill her?
“How tough the questions can possibly be?”Her cousin asked her. She glared at him for adding fuel to the fire and I thanked God, for not blessing me with a bigger brother.
“Could it be as tough as the question…” he continued…” Can a Crow fart?!”
The whole room broke in to laughter and she stood in the middle looking pale. I was confused. Should I join them in their laughter as they had given me tea, or should I stand beside my friend in her state of embarrassment? Then I realized no one was paying attention to my reaction to the whole thing. So I let it pass, by occasionally laughing when her parents looked at me and acted grim when she looked at me.
It was dark when I stood up to go to my home. It was a 10 minute walk from her house and Her cousin volunteered to walk me to my home. While on the walk back to my home, I was not able to keep my curiosity at bay.
“Can a crow ACTUALLY do that?” I asked him.
THE END.
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