7.1 Club Rehendi

There he was in the middle of the crowd dancing to the music band played on the open stage. Muaz wore white bell-bottoms in a pair of white shoes that could be described in three ways; platforms, clogs or mules. Muaz was elated to find his classmates on the stage, now tenth-graders, actually playing those musical instruments that they talked about; electric guitars, drums, organs…

This school was marking its Fiftieth Anniversary and organised the Golden Jubilee Carnival. It was packed in there and crowd moved in a levitating motion without heels touching the ground.

Caught in the Uriah Heep chorus in his ears and for the drunken few, Muaz was carried through the narrow linking corridor to the upper ground squeezed in the crowd and landed in front of the museum hall. Muaz dived in and grabbed his missing shoe and straightened to find a lady in black standing by the whitewashed wall. A familiar face so he stared. She wore black bell-bottoms, long bell-sleeved black top, obviously long black hair and natural red lips.

“Farida!” he called.

She eyed grabbing the elbow of the guy standing next to her.

“It’s me, Muaz.”

“Muaz!” she frowned and Salt who said he knew his half-brother smiled at him, “Yes! Muaz! Why are you holding your shoe in your hand?”

“Ah!” he dropped it and stepped on.

“We’re trying to go to the other side,” he grabbed the hand she offered. Then the three pushed through the pouring crowd to the low ground.

The band played Devil Woman as they paused at a point to take a breath. “I am staying at Salt’s place,” she revealed, “If you can come and help me with few things!”

“When do you want me to come?” asked Muaz.

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Sunday.”

“Right. Tomorrow then at ten.”

Salty Breeze located on Alifan Magu on the south side was not very far from his place, still within his ward. A whitewashed wall that gave access to two gates; one to the main road and the other to a narrow lane. There stood a whitewashed mosque flanking the south wall of the lot and seaside few blocks away. Again, two or three blocks from Ranaka Inn.

As the main gate was locked, he entered through the secondary gate on the north lane and rang the bell. He could see a side lawn filled with white sand through a door on his left. Then a maid opened a door in the front and he asked for Farida Ikhtak.

In a moment, she showed up from the door that led to the side lawn, in the same dress; high waist black bell-bottoms and bell top. This time she wore the golden necklace over her dress. This ostentatious necklace called a fattarbí reached her broad abdomen and worn by every Maldivian Beauty.

Farida guided him to a lavishly furnished sitting room with red tiles and a silverface Pioneer stereo stack stood by a wall.

“What is that?” he asked.

“A music deck. Let me play a song!” She picked an album and dropped the vinyl on the turntable, turned up the volume and played Beautiful Sunday for a shot. Its sound filled the hall and its bass bounced off the walls. Its stereo tweeted in his eardrums. Those large VU meters jumped the needles. Muaz glanced at the LP cover with a portrait of Daniel Boone and took a keen look at the rack of LPs by the wall.

“This is Salt’s collection!” he stood amazed.

“Come here!” She ushered him to a comfortable sofa seat clad in green.

What Muaz learnt was shocking. “I’m married to Salt,” she disclosed, “Bandiya in Thora is going nowhere so I called the girls here. Because of that, Moonlight Club is on the verge of dissolving. I formed Club Rehendi and we are going to perform at the resorts starting from next week. Are you free these days?”

“I’m working at Club 33,” he told her.

“You have resorts?”

“LH.”

“Can you get me a contract?”

“I can try. How many girls are here?”

“Kish is here,” she expressed, “Twenty girls with me including two singers.”

“Wow!”

“Yes indeed, now I have a lot of work preparing costumes and particularly to perform for the First Lady. She acquired some resort contracts to cover four islands, Bandos, Kurumba, Farukolfushi and Furana.”

“What happens in Thora?”

“Cut down in half. Moonlight Club is struggling to take bookings. I heard they are pushing a mandate for the girls to join Bandiya and that will be very problematic. All single girls are here with me. Sunlight is doing alright. They picked enough bookings for the Independence.”

“I want to take Kish on a date,” he requested.

“Muaz, we observe very strict rules here,” Farida said, “Girls cannot go out after eleven. Where do you want to take her?”

“To bioscope.”

“You get me the contract from LH.”

“I will mention, obviously, to the manager.”

“Friday we are going to Aurah. Saturday night we have our very first show at Faru. If you can come with me and help us because Salt can’t go, he has resort bookings, I will let you take Kish to Olympus on Tuesday. Mondays we rest.”

“Do I have to go every day?”

“I have good hands. Two percussion guys and a harmonium player.”

“Alright, I will come.”

Farida rustled in her flat tone, “You can have any girl for private talk.”

“Private talk!”