Madhav felt his mouth go dry. His head started reeling with memories of that godforsaken day and he stood sweating, petrified of the consequences if he were to begin painting.

‘What happened?’ Radhika asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. Her touch sent shivers down his body, till his extremities were tingling.

‘Nothing . . . I was just thinking.’

‘Let it flow, Madhav,’ she whispered in his ear. Madhav was surprised that she knew his name. He berated himself for going soft, just because he’d been touched by small gestures all day—from the little kid taking his hand to the random hugs in the circle.

Everybody began sketching on their blank canvases. Madhav looked at Meera. She was busy clicking selfies next to the canvas by brandishing the brushes and pouting. Though the instructions haunted Madhav, he decided to give it a try. He closed his eyes and sighed. The sight that came to mind was painful. His fingers trembled as he picked up the pencil. He started drawing the memory he had most carefully guarded all his life, one which had become a crucial part of him over these years.

He let his mind dig into the sands of his past, slowly excavating the buried images. Every time he put the pencil to canvas, a new facet of the memory revealed itself to him. He didn’t pick any of the colours before him; he was drowning in a monochromatic sea. He felt as if his soul was crawling out of his body and he was observing it from afar.

Covered with sweat, Madhav felt like the protagonist of an extravagant, complex play without a script. But he could feel his lips twisting, first into a smile and then a frown, oscillating with each stroke. He was a fugitive. He was free.

‘Okay, everybody! Time is up,’ Suresh declared. Madhav snapped out of his trance and, half-realizing what he’d done, stumbled to the edge of the terrace without looking at his painting. He held on to the railing tightly, his heart pounding. It was like he had lived a whole lifetime and then died in the last forty minutes, and he wasn’t ready to be resurrected quite yet. He could hear kids shouting somewhere. He looked down and saw Radhika playing with children. She was dancing to her own made-up tune and clapping. He fell in love with that sight, and his heart beat returned back to normal, the sound of her laughter calming him.

‘Madhav!’ Suresh called him back to the group.

‘Oh! Umm . . .’ Madhav couldn’t speak. His eyes were fixed on Radhika’s face.

‘Hope you had a great session. Thanks for coming! Do you want to interact with the kids?’ Suresh asked.

‘What? No, no. Sorry!’ he said.

‘You can go down and speak to Radhika.’

He couldn’t have been happier.

He went downstairs, while Meera was asked to wait in another room.

Madhav walked across the playground towards Radhika. He walked with a purpose, not looking down even once, as if there was a magnetic force pulling him towards her. Suddenly he slipped. It took him a few seconds to figure out what was happening to him.