It is the day of the
celebration. In the morning Aditi goes
to the Community Centre
to help decorate the hall. The
women put flowers and
coloured ribbons around the room. It
looks beautiful. The
young women practise the dance.
At lunchtime Molly
telephones. ‘I’m sorry Aditi but I can’t
come to Leicester today.Mum is not very well. She needs me
at home.’ Aditi tells
Molly not to worry because she can come
to different
celebrations. She is sorry Molly can’t come but
she can come next year.
Aditi is excited because
Isha is coming to see her dance.
Aditi has a beautiful
new sari. It is red and saffron with
beautiful gold
embroidery around the blouse and a soft
saffron colour scarf.
The dancing starts at
seven in the evening. There are lots
of different dances. Aditi
is dancing in four dances and she
has to change her
clothes. She cannot see the audience.
She listens to the
music and she dances with her friends but
she does not know if
Isha is there. The women change their
clothes in a small room
behind the musicians.
29
Aditi is dressed for
the last dance. She is the star. The
story is about a young
woman who loves a god but he leaves
her and she is very
sad. Aditi has a few minutes to rest
before the dance. She
gets up and peeps round the door to
look at the audience.
Aditi feels very happy when she sees
Isha. Suddenly, she
notices the young woman next to him. It
is Dolly! Dolly is with
him! Dolly is laughing and smiling at
Isha. Aditi feels sick.
‘How silly I am,’ she thinks. ‘Isha loves
Dolly not me. He is
kind to me but Dolly is always with him.’
Now the music starts.
Aditi has to dance. When she starts
30
dancing she forgets
everyone in the room. She is the sad
young woman in the
story.
At the end of the dance
Aditi falls to the floor with her head
in her hands. There is
not a sound in the room. Everyone
feels sad for the
beautiful young dancer. Many people are
crying. Then there is
loud clapping. All the dancers stand up
and leave the room
together.
After the dance Aditi
asks her friend Rada to fetch her
father. Ravi comes to the room where the dancers are. ‘Aditi
you are a wonderful
dancer,’ he says to his daughter. ‘I think
your mother is back
here when you dance.’ Ravi gives Aditi a
hug. ‘Are you coming to
eat?’ he asks. ‘They are putting lots
of food on the tables.’
‘Father,’ she whispers.
‘Please take me home. I don’t feel
very well.’
‘Are you sure?’ he
asks. ‘You are going to miss the fun.’
‘Yes, yes. I want to go
home. I am very tired.’
‘Of course!’ Ravi says.
When she is home Aditi
runs upstairs. She is glad to be
home. She lies down on
her bed and she cries in her pillow.
Ten minutes later, her
father calls.
‘Aditi, come and have a
cup of tea,’ he says. She opens
her bedroom door
quickly and shouts downstairs. ‘I am
31
coming father. I want
to wash first.’ She doesn’t want her
father to know she is
crying. Aditi splashes cold water on her
face. The door bell
rings. Aditi giggles. She feels a little better
now. Some of the
sadness has gone away with the tears.
She hears her father
open the front door. ‘Aunty has
forgotten her key
again,’ Aditi says to herself.
She sits on her bed.
Aditi thinks. ‘I’m not going to marry if
I cannot marry Isha. I
can help other people. I can do good
things for the world if
I’m a scientist.’ She stands up. She
must go downstairs now
and have tea with her father.
Before she is half-way
downstairs her father comes out of
the front room. He is
smiling. ‘Aditi’ he says, ‘We have
visitors.
Come and talk to them.’