Social Anxiety: Day-1 Part-2
  • “We are about to start our nukkad natak in an hour,” came Rishika, saying.

  • The play: Reena, a school-going girl, has started her periods. Her mother doesn’t allow her to go to school and gives her cloth to use instead of pads. Later, she gets an infection and suffers blood loss. Her brother cries to people to donate blood while her father denies donating, although his blood group matches. Ultimately, Reena dies, and the doctor declares her death. The play ends with the narrator’s speech and pad distribution.



  • Wasn’t it the next day? I thought, then got ready for the play. Anyway, I never liked to sleep in the afternoons or rest on trips like this, although I had my reflex mode activated.

  • “No issues, I can play any given role,” I said again when asked about my decision.

  • Rishika wanted Akash, a coach with a special interest in Rubik’s Cube, to play Reena’s brother instead of me, only because I wasn’t acting like crying. How can I, if I haven’t cried for years? No pain was enough.

  • A little flashback
  • I was in an adventure park with guys like Bilal and my former female best friend.
  • “Now, it’s your turn,” Bilal and Ayub said as they were at the other end of the bridge—the bridge of tyres tied with ropes. And the challenge was to cross the bridge without support or holding the side ropes. I started like a player in Takeshi’s Castle. They (you know who) started shaking the bridge, but I still took the challenge until… it went wrong.

  • I was hanging in the safety net under the bridge, and when I came out, I had about a 15 cm cut on my right hand. I had no pain because I was looking at someone tying her handkerchief to stop the bleeding. She was scolding me while two guys were laughing. I wasn’t worried either because of psoriasis. So, the bleeding stopped and the wound healed in 1–2 days. Later, I flexed the scar, pretending to be madly in love with someone.

  • back to present
  • “Sorry, we couldn’t save Reena,” I said in a low pace, playing the role of the doctor.
  • “Now he is playing like her brother,” Ashish said.

  • For a while, I was confused about my role, then it was decided that I would be the doctor, wearing my lab coat.

  • We rehearsed with a very bad performance, but Reena’s friend was there to motivate me.

  • Our first real performance was at a T-junction on a street. It was going well, then… I added a twist. The doctor came too soon, cutting several roles and ending the play too early. People clapped, and a reporter came through the crowd to ask about the play. I was standing aside, realising how the play went wrong because of me. Then someone came to motivate me again—Reena’s friend.

  • I felt that something was different—her motivating me, giving me more pads to distribute, holding my hand while walking, and giving me positive vibes surely made me a good doctor. I improvised and played the role so well that I later received—
  • “The doctor declared Reena’s death so many times. How cruel of him!” someone commented.

  • Until this time, I didn’t care to respond. Because it was time to sleep?? No.

  • cultural nights
  • We had our dinner and started walking to a place called Badi Mata Mandir. We all settled down with some native musicians, and it was time for some bhajan kirtan. I first sat in the spotlight of the musicians, then tried to change my seat a little to the background to avoid all possible cameras, because I was going to sleep in my sitting posture with my cap down.

  • Yep, sleeping, because only God and I know how good I am at bhajan kirtan or even listening to songs. It wasn’t long before Raghav asked, “Ravi, are you okay?”

  • Anyway, I later showed my ambivert nature by joining the vibe. “Ok, give me the mic,” and the mic came to me, along with everyone’s attention… then—
  • “…….^^^^^___/—“ I read the lyrics, and someone quickly snatched the mic. It might be the shortest performance, but only God and I know how well I tried to read the lyrics.

  • Finally, we came home. It was already 1 AM. And now we were going to…
  • “Let’s play UNO,” Likhit said.
  • “Ok, let’s play,” I replied.

  • Raghav joined, and the three of us started playing UNO, while most of us were already sleepy. While playing, he announced that he would wake everyone up at 6 AM, no matter what. The game still continued until it became boring for me because they were not playing but talking. Finally, he won, and I lost, even though I wasn’t talking to anybody.

  • I slept.

  • To be continued…

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