Sharon Puthur's Blog, page 5

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Why a date and why May 28?

Many people have asked me this question!

Why a date for a title? Why particularly May 28?

Answering the first question…

I chose a date as the title for my book because it is an anchor for the main protagonist- Naina Rai.She always relates May 28 to Hope because of an incident that happened on that day. The date had later got so firmly embedded in her mind that the incident soon loses significance and only Hope is what gets connected to the date. Any time she feels that something is impossible to achieve she remembers the date and automatically Hope enters and strengthens her. Then nothing seems so difficult any more!

I learnt about anchors in Neuro-linguistic Programming or NLP and the powers it has to transform the way people think. I used the same psychology in my novel. May 28 became a day for Naina to hope even when everything around her seems hopeless and impossible.

Why particularly May 28…

I think everyone at some stage in life would’ve used the Ouija board, even if they didn’t believe in it. I still don’t believe in it but my friends did at one point in time. That’s where May 28 comes in…

I have 2 friends who are unapologetic pranksters. They chanced upon the Ouija board and decided to ask questions to willing spirits. So they called upon the spirit of a young girl. They had many questions but the most common ones were Who is my life partner and when am I going to meet him? I think all girls in their teens want to know the answers to these 2 questions.

I remember the movie “Only You” where Marisa Tomei is desperate to know the name of the man she is to marry and lands up with the name Damon Bradley. Then follows all the funny situations when she goes in search of the man with that name. I absolutely loved the movie!

But coming back to my friends and the spirit… They get an answer from the spirit( don’t know how much to believe here!) which says that they’ll meet 2 men whose initials start from S and P who will be the ones they marry and they will meet them on May 28. Now which May 28 i don’t know but some May 28.

Suddenly this date became very important and it was religiously marked on all calenders every year since it was told to them. I heard it so many times that I had got literally fed up!

But weirdly so both my friends fell in love with men whose initials started from S and P respectively. One of them married S. The other girl is waiting to get married to P. Now whether they met these men on May 28 is open to speculation but here is where i saw a story forming in my mind.

With this incident the idea of May 28 took root. The story is quite different from the incident I mentioned but that is the task of the story teller. I weaved everything around a single thread and voila! I had a story ready

CHAPTER 3: Knight Club

Chechi and I were swinging on the swings on our terrace. I was small. Ten years old. Amma came to us holding something in her hands. She gave Chechi a bright red apple and pulled out a green one for me.

I looked at her in dismay.

‘I want a red apple.’

‘There is nothing wrong with what you have.’

‘No! I want a red one. You’re partial to her. You are partial!’

I flung the apple at her feet and ran.

I was crying and didn’t see where I was going. When I looked up I saw a huge, dilapidated stone mansion. Was I in another age I wondered? I had the strangest feeling that I had been there before.

There was something grotesquely alluring about the mansion, almost seductive…

I walked towards the place, dreading every step but unable to stop myself. When I stepped in, a chill crept in my heart. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to go back. Suddenly a girl appeared in front of me. She was dressed in a school uniform. Short, straight, black hair…Neha?

I called out to Neha but she didn’t hear me or look at me. She was walking up the winding, stone staircase. I walked behind her, calling out her name repeatedly.

We entered a long corridor, dimly lit by candles in brackets. The corridor had identical doors on its either side. For some reason I was very scared. I had to get away quickly before something happened or I witness something that had already happened.

When I turned to go she was standing behind me. Her eyes were bulging, her face bluish-black, her fingers like claws… It was Kajal. Neha as Kajal. Kajal as Neha.

My mouth opened in a voiceless scream. Tears were streaming down her face. She stretched out her hands.

‘Help me Naina. Help me please. They’re going to kill me.’

I stepped back in horror. I turned and ran.

Then suddenly I heard a loud scream. A wounded cry that made the hairs on my body stand up. And her voice rang out.

‘Please not him…don’t kill him…I beg you…please…please…’

I tripped over loose stones but I ran. I ran in desperation. And all the while there were footsteps following me…

 

I opened my eyes and stared at the stationary fan on the ceiling. My breath was coming in short gasps as if I was really running down that corridor. I continued staring at the fan because it was dark and I didn’t want to see anything else around. I dug my hand under the pillow and clasped the idol that I keep there. I needed my God when I was scared. Instead of giving me strength why couldn’t he just remove the dream itself? Because I’ve had dreams like these before, maybe from when I was very small.

Should I tell it to Neha? She is my best friend. But you don’t have to say everything to your best friends. Some things are best kept secret…only between your God and you.

I went to sleep again and this time the dream was different.

A man was sitting at the edge of his bed. Was it Aryan? No, he didn’t seem like Aryan. He was bent over, his face in his hands and by the way his body was convulsing I realised he was crying. I wanted to reach out and comfort him. I moved towards him. I stretched out my hand and touched his shoulder but before he could turn the dream ended.

 

‘Hey!’ Neha ran to me and we hugged. ‘You didn’t call me!’

‘Yeah!’ I said hugging her tightly and both of us jumped round and round.

Aryan laughed. ‘So what happened yesterday?’

‘Nothing.’ I smiled.

‘Nothing?’

‘Exactly!’ I said. ‘Nothing at all happened. Neither did my uncle say anything nor did my parents question. I don’t think my uncle recognised me.’

‘I told you nothing would happen.’ Neha said immersing herself in a cushiony sofa in the café.

‘I think he saw you but didn’t want to say it this time. Maybe he’ll wait for you to cross the line once more and then he’ll sing.’ He said.

I scowled at him and then smiled again.

‘I am in a strangely happy mood today.’ I said and hugged myself.

‘We can see that.’ He said. ‘What is the occasion?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know why I am happy. I just feel deep within that something special is going to happen in my life soon.’

‘Like what?’ Neha asked.

‘I really don’t know… Actually,’ I said, ‘I want to get married!’

‘Marriage? Now? You’re too young to even think of it; you’re only seventeen my dear.’

‘I know,’ I said to Neha, ‘but I do want to marry early. Maybe twenty-one… I think I’ll marry at twenty-one. I’ll marry my dream guy.’

‘Who is he? You haven’t told us about him.’ Aryan said.

‘I haven’t met him yet that is why he is my dream guy silly.’

‘Better question would be, how does he look?’ Neha said giving Aryan a quick glance.

‘Mmm…’ I closed my eyes again and did a small swirling movement using my arms and legs. ‘I have a wonderful picture in mind.’

It was still early in the morning so the café was empty save for the cleaners and us.

‘Tell us about it.’ Aryan said making himself comfortable on the sofa.

I kicked off my slippers and climbed on a low stool.

‘Firstly he has to be tall, at least six feet.’

‘Oh that’s quite tall for your five foot four inch height.’ He said nudging Neha.

‘Handsome.’

‘Wow!’

‘A non-smoker and non-drinker.’

‘That goes without saying,’ Neha quipped.

‘Angular features…short black hair…brownish complexion –not too dark and not too fair…’

They were whistling.

‘Lean…muscular…’ I pointed to my flexed arms, ‘strong…confident…athletic…majestic…’ I stood with one leg on a chair and the other on a table. The cleaner boys were also watching me spellbound.

‘He should be a little of a flirt too.’ I put in casually while jumping down from the chair. ‘Girls should be crazy about him,’ I imitated screaming and swooning girls. ‘They should fall like a pack of cards when he walks…so suave… They will love him and would go to any lengths to possess him. But he will not look at them. He will look at me.

‘When he first sees me everything around him will move in slow motion…he wouldn’t know who’s coming or going, who’s talking or not talking…he wouldn’t have a thought for anybody but me.’

‘The filmy love-at-first-sight?’ Neha said wide-eyed.

‘Yessss…all girls will burn into ashes when they see me with him. I’ll be the most envied girl in town.’ I said while they exhaled noisily.

I moved towards the counter and swayed my hips. ‘He should be able to dance…’

My audience raised their eyebrows.

‘He’ll love theatre, just like me. He’ll play sports too…he’ll be rugged and fit!’

‘What is he? A superman?’ Aryan winked.

‘No, better…He’ll be a god. He’ll be an Adonis. When he stands, people stand. When he sits, people sit. When he talks, they listen…’

‘A politician…’ He mused.

‘No he’s not a politician but he’ll be very rich and powerful.’

‘How rich?’ Neha asked breathlessly.

‘Billionaire.’ I breathed.

Neha had her hand on her mouth and one of the cleaner boys gasped.

‘Yes, he’ll be a billionaire. He’ll own hotels and resorts!’

‘Why hotels?’ Aryan inquired.

I paused to consider this. ‘I like hotels.’

‘Ah!’ he said understanding.

‘I don’t mind estates also.’ I said nonchalantly.

‘Yes, yes,’ they agreed nodding their heads.

‘Maybe a plantation or two thrown in…’

‘Yes, yes.’

‘But even with this wealth he’ll be humble.’ I said with emotion.

‘Very true.’ Aryan nodded. ‘That is the most important thing.’

I shook my head.

‘The most important thing,’ I said raising my right hand and with finality in my tone. ‘He should love me and only me, so much that I should be overwhelmed.’

With that I bowed my head and sank on my knees.

There was a stunned silence and then a loud applause. The cleaner boys were clapping with exuberance.

‘Bravo! Bravo!’ Aryan shouted, clapping loudly. Neha dabbed a tissue to her eyes.

‘Thank you,’ I said with my hand across my chest and bowed before my audience.

‘Listening to you Naina, my appetite is quenched.’ Neha said. ‘I’ll settle for just a simple guy. The only condition is that he has to be male.’

‘Me too,’ Aryan said fervently.

‘Oh I forgot to add his age,’ I said. ‘Three to four years difference would be perfect, complying with the rule that guys should be just the right age more than a girl’s, neither more nor less.’

‘Rules never work in love.’ Neha said. ‘In fact rules don’t work in any relationship. You’ll get the guy who is most suited for you and you’ll find him at the right moment.’

‘Let’s see, this is what I believe in. When I meet a guy like the one I’ve thought of I’ll marry him for sure.’

 

‘So how are your plans for the NGO coming up?’ Neha asked Aryan.

‘I have made a list of objectives and the issues that I want addressed. Now I am planning to print pamphlets and distribute it to people and find out the interested candidates. I’ll form an NGO after that.’

‘Are you really doing it Aryan?’ I asked. ‘Forming an NGO is such a laborious process. You have a café that you can expand. Your brother pesters you to join him then why don’t you do it?’

He raised his eyebrows at me. ‘I didn’t know that I had such encouraging and supportive friends around me. Here I am trying to do what I’ve always wanted to do and you tell me to take the easier path.’

‘That’s what friends are for.’ Neha winked at me.

‘I am going ahead with this no matter what anybody says. At least I have my father’s support in it.’

‘We’ll always be there for you in everything.’ I said giving him a one-arm hug. ‘Why don’t you start off small? Maybe concentrate on the community level.’

‘That is what I’ve planned. Address small but important issues within a specified area. Form a benchmark and then include more areas and do the same. When you have small but quick successes initially, people get motivated to do more. It builds on from there.’

‘Aren’t any of your NSS members in school and college willing to join you?’ Neha asked.

‘I have told them about my plans. Some have shown interest too but I can’t force anybody to join. They all have stable jobs. Nobody leaves a comfortable setting to do something that has more risks than comforts.’

‘Why do you have to do that anyway? You were giving talks and seminars on awareness of environment issues then why not continue that?’ I asked.

‘There are very few people who do something positive after a talk or a seminar. I feel that the time for talking is over. Now is the time to take action. This is something I knew I was destined to do and I’ll do it.’

Neha looked admiringly at him. ‘I believe you.’ she said.

I smiled. Aryan was always like that. He was a person who would fight for a cause and if it was regarding the environment then all the more. He kept a dustbin in his jeep so that nobody who sat in his vehicle had a reason to throw anything out of the window. He would later dutifully segregate the waste and dispose it accordingly. He was now making arrangements to build a rain water harvesting system and a compost pit in his house. He certainly believed in walking the talk. 

‘By the way I am going partying tonight.’ He said suddenly changing the topic.

‘What’s special about tonight?’ I asked.

‘It’s Saturday Night…Party Night!’ he looked disbelievingly at us.

‘But you don’t usually go partying so what’s so special tonight?’ Neha put in.

He looked at us, his eyes shining brightly. ‘Because it’s DJ Risqué who is doing the mixing tonight.’

‘What! Is he coming?’ Both Neha and I burst out unable to contain our excitement.

He looked taken aback at our reaction. ‘Haven’t I ever told you girls that DJ Risqué is my friend?’

‘What?’ Neha spat. ‘After two years of friendship you desired to hide something like this from us! You’ve stabbed us in the back!’

‘Huh?’

‘Et tu Aryan!’ I cried closing my eyes in grief.

‘Whoa! Wait. What’s happening here?’ Aryan looked around bewildered.

‘It’s okay Aryan,’ I said taking a deep breath, ‘we’ll give you one chance to be forgiven. You can make it up by taking us for the party with you.’

‘Exactly,’ Neha said. ‘That’s the only way to appease us.’

He looked at both of us incredulously and burst out laughing.

‘Ha ha, this has to be the biggest joke of the century. You both are not even eighteen. You can’t enter.’

‘We can pass off as eighteen.’ Neha said. ‘There’s no problem in that.’

He didn’t stop laughing. ‘Even then it’s not easy, you can get caught.’ He laughed a little more but stopped when he saw our grim faces.

‘I can’t take you there.’ He said with finality. ‘It’s not a paradise like you think. It’s just a huge stuffy room, smelling obnoxiously of cigarettes and liquor, with music blaring so loud that you feel your ears might split in two and crowded with sweaty bodies in close proximity. That’s it.’

‘Which club is it?’ Neha asked in a crisp voice.

‘The Knight Club.’ He gulped.

‘Get us two invites.’

 

‘Okay let’s go over the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.’ Neha said swinging her arms around as if she was the conductor in an orchestra and Aryan and I were the out of sync violinists.

‘First the Good,’ she pointed her thumb at us, ‘we are going for our first ever party in a discotheque and we’ll get a once in a lifetime chance to see the world famous DJ Risqué. How good can that get! And the most wonderful part is that Aryan will be with us to keep us from getting into trouble and to top it all we don’t even have to pay cash to enter.’ She looked at us with deep emotion.

Aryan looked ashen faced and I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘The Bad, though I don’t think it will happen, could be that we might get into trouble. Highly improbable but still needs to be kept in mind. The Ugly,’ she took a deep breath, ‘we might get caught by our own parents. If we are careful things will be just fine and it’s smooth sailing after that.’

Every mistake begins with a small step, I thought with amusement.

‘This is a recipe for disaster.’ Aryan said finding his voice at last. ‘It has the word fatal written all over it in blocks.’

‘Shh…don’t be so negative Aryan.’ Neha frowned.

‘What do you mean negative? It’s impossible. How are both of you going to leave your homes in the night without anyone realising? The party starts at 10PM not AM.’

‘I get that and don’t worry I’ve made all the plans.’ She replied confidently. ‘My parents sleep late so I won’t be able to make it by ten but I can leave by eleven. I suppose that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

‘On the top floor where I sleep there’s a door that connects to the balcony as you guys know. I get out from there, take the outside steps and when I reach the main gate I jump out. Aryan will pick me up and from there we come to your place and pick you up. As simple as that.’

Neha made it sound so simple but I knew that each step would be treacherous and without doubt suicidal.

‘I am not that lucky,’ I said biting my lips. ‘There are no steps leading from my balcony to the gate, and my parents have their room very close to the main door, and our main door creaks.’

Aryan smiled triumphantly. Going for the party wouldn’t be that easy after all.

‘You don’t have to come through the main door,’ Neha hissed, ‘you have your balcony so make it from there.’

‘How will I make it from my balcony?’ I said nonplussed.

‘Don’t be a numskull.’ She scolded. ‘Have you forgotten that you have a tree outside your balcony?’

I looked horrified. ‘I haven’t climbed that tree since I was thirteen!’

‘Well thirteen and seventeen are just numbers. Once you’ve climbed a tree you’ve always climbed a tree. It’s not something that you’ll forget, and at least it has to be easier to climb than my gate.’

‘But she has to climb the tree in the night Neha. It’s not the same as daytime. Do be reasonable.’ Aryan protested.

‘She has climbed it in the night time before.’

‘But that was when she was thirteen years old! That’s five years ago!’

She raised her eyebrows at him and turned to me.

‘I know and you know that you can do it. You’ve done it numerous times before and this is just one other time that you’ll have to repeat it. Don’t worry we’ll have so much fun that all this will be trivial later on. It’s wonderful to do something new and risky. It’ll be so exciting. Let’s not allow this one in a million chance to slip away. What do you say Naina?’

In spite of myself I was actually considering it. It wouldn’t be that difficult I thought because I had climbed that nameless tree a zillion times before. I knew every branch on that tree well. It was just that the thing we were going to do was so reckless that I was in two minds. After what seemed like an age, I smiled.

My smile was Aryan’s sentence. ‘No!’ he cried, supporting his head in his hands while Neha hugged me. ‘You girls are crazy! I’ve made a big mistake by telling you about this. God help me!’

 

During dinner time I went over Neha’s carefully formed plans for my escape. The more I ran through it the more I agreed with Aryan that I was scripting my own ghastly death. Every inch of the plan was fraught with danger and this time bodily danger could be included.

Till 10PM I have to behave as normally as possible, do the things that I usually do and say the things that I usually say. The moment the clock strikes 10 my plans get into action.

I was eating dinner as calmly as I could hoping against hope that nobody would notice that my stomach was barely digesting what I was eating, that my extremities were feeling unusually cold in the warm March night, and that more than the food my lips were getting caught between my teeth.

They were talking and planning about my sister’s impending engagement. I gave my inputs with as much enthusiasm as I could muster but I had this strange problem of not remembering my inputs after I gave them. My mind was jammed with a lot of thoughts running amok so much so that I was scared that I might speak out about my night’s plans with the Engagement plans. I kept quiet and allowed my mother and my sister to monopolise the dinner table conversation.

‘So it’s agreed. Tomorrow we’ll be leaving in the morning. Naina is also fine with the plans.’

I was confused. What plans did I agree to? I thought that I was still wondering how dangerous it all was…

‘Which plans chechi?’

‘You agreed to come for the shopping tomorrow didn’t you?’ Nethra said.

‘Oh yes,’ I said relieved. ‘Yes I am shopping tomorrow. I need to buy a nice party top too.’

‘You’re wearing a party top for my engagement?’

‘Did…did I say party top? Oh…oh no…something must be wrong with me.’ I laughed feebly. ‘I meant lehenga obviously.’

‘Call Aryan and Neha too.’ Amma said.

‘Take the whole battalion.’ Appa laughed.

‘You have to come too, Sushant.’

‘Why do you want me to come? You won’t be alone in selecting and I’ll love anything you select for me.’ He cooed.

‘Don’t forget your wedding promises. You promised to accompany me to all the shopping trips when I need you to come, and in return I agreed to watch football matches with you when you know that I actually love cricket. I’ve kept my promises so you can’t back out.’ Amma said sternly.

Appa looked like a hapless deer cornered by a hungry lioness.

‘I am coming only if Anna is also coming.’

‘Oh I am going shopping.’ uncle said jovially. ‘I want to select something wonderful for my first niece’s wedding.’

The hapless deer looked at the thrilled monkey on the tree, clapping its hands joyfully, enjoying the predicament of the deer.

‘So is 10AM fine?’ the lioness roared.

‘Yeah bring it on.’ The deer bleated resigned.

 

I looked at the time, 9:45. It’s fine I thought. I was almost done. I checked my handbag again. It had only three items: my comb, a lip balm and a handkerchief.

I looked pointedly at the hanky and presently removed it and placed it in the pocket of my black half pants. Now I looked at the lip balm. I removed it and placed it in the other pocket. I didn’t want to carry a handbag just for a comb! I removed even that and kept it on the table. My handbag went back to the cupboard from where it had come. I glanced at my black knee length pants and the short white T-shirt that I planned to wear. Aryan told us to wear something simple and inconspicuous and I felt my selection fitted his description well. Even my grey sneakers and socks looked plain.

Don’t worry nobody’s going to see you. Just have a good time and come back safe.

 

The clock struck ten downstairs. I closed my cupboard and quickly slipped into my nightdress. I kept the alarm in my timepiece to ring at 10:45 and slipped it under my pillow.

My mother would come any moment now to tuck my sister and me to bed. It was a habit she wasn’t able to kick even after so many years. I turned to the idol on my table and said a silent prayer to help me see the night through safely; then got into bed. Two minutes later Amma entered my room. She pinched my cheek, smoothed my hair, wished me good night and left.

She went to see Nethra. I waited for her to follow the same routine and leave but to my misfortune I heard conversation and laughter. I strained my ear to hear and caught snatches like ‘Karan’ and ‘ring’. Oh they were still talking about the engagement! Wasn’t the dinner table plans good enough? Of all the nights they had to pick up tonight to stay awake I thought irritated.

 

The ticking of the clock was out of sync with the beating of my heart, which I was only too aware of, and the combined ticking was driving me mad. I heard a good night and saw my mother’s silhouette moving down the stairs. At long last! I glanced at my clock, 10:30. I wondered whether half an hour was enough time for the occupants of this house to reach the REM sleep stage because if they didn’t, then…I didn’t want to think about it I thought shutting out the negatives like how Neha told me to do.

 

I waited fifteen more minutes and got out of the bed. I tiptoed into the hallway. There was darkness all over; I was happy. Suddenly I heard a muffled ring that was steadily getting louder. I kicked myself for not switching the alarm off. I rushed back and banged the alarm shut.

The moment had arrived. I drew back the curtains covering the balcony and slowly unbolted the door. I opened the door a little and to my dismay it creaked. I pressed my entire body on the door, assuming that it would help my cause, and opened it little by little till it was wide enough for me to squeeze through with difficulty.

I stood transfixed in the balcony. It was a beautiful full moon night. The moon glowed bright sending out golden shafts of light all around. A light breeze ruffled my hair. I breathed in the smells of the night, allowing the various sounds to wash over me. It was so romantic. The perfect night for a serenade played right under the balcony or maybe the perfect night to meet the elusive dream guy. I felt goose bumps on my flesh and I hugged myself.

I had to get ready soon before they come. Aryan said that he would wait near my house and whistle to let me know. I would then have to climb down the tree and join them in the car. I felt the rough texture of the old tree underneath my fingers. Its branches snaked through the balcony railings, twisting smoothly between the iron rods. Ours was a corner house and the tree was planted on the road, almost encroaching on our land. Amma wouldn’t allow it to be cut so the house design had to be altered to suit the tree. It was quite an easy tree to climb and I had done it so many times before that I was sure I could do it blindfolded.

 

I squeezed myself back into the warmth of my room and got dressed in darkness. I combed my hair using the light from the moon. Neha would do the rest of the make-up in the jeep so I didn’t have to bother about that. I checked everything around me. All fine. I couldn’t hear any sound. I again slithered through the small space into the balcony. I shut the door slowly and bolted it from outside. The best thing to do would be to wait outside so that when they arrive I would be out quickly. And anyway I wanted to enjoy the moonlit night.

I was gazing pleasantly at the moon when a low whistle disturbed the night. I was slightly shaken but then I looked at the time, it was half past eleven; Neha made it from the gate quite quickly.

I fixed the comb in my hair because my pocket was too small for it and I needed both my hands to climb down the tree.

I scanned the tree and decided to stick to the old tried and tested route. I swung my legs over the railing and slowly lowered myself onto the ledge below the balcony. There was a thick branch of tree, which attached itself close to the ledge, and I crawled onto it. I hoped it would still take my weight. Luckily for me I didn’t find myself free falling with the branch underneath me so I inched down the branch more confidently. When I reached the end of the branch I heard a tap open in the bathroom below the ledge. I froze. My uncle’s bedroom was right below mine. I bent my head a little to see whether he could see me or not.

It was a big mistake.

The comb on my head dislodged itself and fell crashing onto the ground. The sound was like a gunshot in the night. Immediately the light switched off in the bathroom and I glimpsed uncle’s face in the window. I pulled up my legs onto the tree. I wondered whether he saw my dangling feet in the moonlight and I felt myself palpitating.

‘Who’s there?’ he called out sternly.

Aryan was right after all. This was my end. I heard him leave the bathroom and open his bedroom door. Shoot! He was going to check.

Fear gave me speed and I hauled myself onto the ledge and from the ledge to the balcony in record time. I opened the door as swiftly as possible without allowing it to creak too much. I could hear soft voices coming from below. I shut the balcony door, pulled the curtains across, yanked off my sneakers and shoved them under the bed. I was sweating and my hands were dirty but I still pulled the nightie over my dress and slipped into bed. I was just in time because I heard approaching foot steps and saw the silhouettes of Appa and Dodh appa bordering my bedroom door.

I shut my eyes and pulled the bed sheet to cover myself. My heart was pounding in me. I wondered that my bed didn’t vibrate because of the vibrations of my heart. I sensed a torchlight flash on me and was happy that my face was turned away; else I would’ve certainly shown signs of wakefulness. They were talking in whispers.

‘I heard a sound Sushant and I am quite sure that I saw someone too.’ uncle said quietly.

There was a sound of the balcony curtains being pulled across and then Appa said. ‘I can’t see anybody. They might’ve escaped after hearing your voice.’

‘But let’s at least check.’

‘If they are armed then…’

Just then a low whistle sounded.

‘Heard that?’ uncle said suddenly. ‘Sounds like a signal to me.’

I bit my tongue. Wrong timing. They would surely be wondering what was taking me so long.

‘Okay let’s check the balcony.’ Appa said.

They slowly unbolted the door and pulled it open not bothering too much about the creaking. I squinted through the darkness and saw them flashing the torchlight around. After what seemed like eternity I heard the door close and bolted.

‘Nobody there.’ Appa said in an undertone.

Uncle grunted. ‘Must have escaped. Anyway we’ll check again tomorrow.’

 

Their footsteps were receding. I sat propped on my bed. What should I do now? How long to wait till they are back in bed and what’s the guarantee that uncle would not spy through his window?

I suddenly wondered whether Aryan and Neha would leave without me. They would never do that I told myself. I got out of the bed and put on my sneakers. I was on an adrenaline rush. I opened the balcony door and shut it quickly behind me. I was acting fast now. I was already over the railing and onto the ledge. I leaned over the edge and saw that uncle’s light was on and he was in his bedroom. I quickly got onto the branch and lowered myself to an adjoining branch. I swung onto a low one that stuck out over the drain and then finally jumped from the tree onto the road.

I ran as fast as I could away from the house but at the same time stealing glances to see whether it looked the same as I had left it. I saw the jeep in the distance.

Both Aryan and Neha were standing outside and were in deep discussion. They uttered soft cries of relief on seeing me.

‘What took you so long?’ Aryan complained.

‘We were planning to boycott our trip if you weren’t coming in another ten minutes.’ Neha said looking slightly pale. ‘I couldn’t help thinking of dreadful things happening to you, I was so scared.’ She said shaking her head. ‘But we also imagined you snoring happily in bed.’

I was lucky to have friends like these I thought. I wanted to run and hug them.

‘Something dreadful did happen.’ I said in an excited whisper.

‘We can see that. You are dressed in a nightie.’ Aryan said.

‘Oh shoot!’ I had forgotten to remove my pink nightdress in the hurry. I flushed and pulled it off hastily.

We got into the jeep.

‘So are you girls ready for a night of fun!’ Aryan spoke with suppressed joy.

‘Yeah!’ I punched the air.

Neha said it more aptly in the words of Ricky Martin’s latest hit song: ‘Livin La Vida Loca!’

 

I yawned widely and that set off Neha and Aryan too. It was after 3AM and we were getting back home. I could barely keep my eyes open after the exertion on the dance floor.

Aryan was quite right when he described the place as hardly a paradise. It wasn’t one. The dance floor was packed with people. There was hardly any space to stand and the smoke from the cigarettes kept coming to where we stood. The music was the only saving grace.

As soon as we reached the discotheque Aryan took us to the DJ stand, which was in a fairly open area on the first floor, and introduced us to DJ Risqué. He wasn’t a good-looking guy, with tattoos on his arms and neck and rings on his ears and eyebrows. In fact he looked intimidating. He planted a punch on Aryan’s rib cage and hi-fived us.

I felt hugely important standing with the world famous DJ and even more so when he announced on the mike that the next two tracks were dedicated to the two beautiful girls next to him. We became instant celebrities. Camera lights were flashing at us from all directions. Guys approached us to join them in dances or for drinks. We were oblivious to all that and danced away on our own, enjoying the attention. But again during the entire time I had this strange feeling that I was being watched. It was silly obviously because so many people were looking at us, but I still felt weird about it. Now while thinking about it on the way back I hoped that nobody recognised me there…

‘So how was the party?’ Aryan asked with another big yawn.

‘S’okay,’ Neha replied rubbing her eyes, ‘not my favourite place to be at but the music was great.’

There are certain times when Neha and I share identical opinions and this was one such occasion.

‘The worst part was that you didn’t allow us to try the cocktails.’

I agreed with Neha even there because Aryan didn’t let us consume anything apart from the soft drinks that he handpicked for us.

‘Ha! Did you think that I would let you try anything like that? I was responsible for you. I couldn’t allow you to end up with a hangover the next morning. Both of you have to climb into your houses and that wouldn’t be possible when you’re tottering on your feet.’

‘You’re so adorable Aryan. You care so much for us.’ Neha said with genuine affection.

I agreed with her again but it stopped with that. I didn’t have the same look that Neha had now as she was looking up at him. It was reminiscent of the ones she used to have when we first knew him. I wondered whether she asked the question on purpose to elicit such a reply. She was quite capable of that. I cleared my throat loudly. That was enough to break the spell.

‘Did I tell you guys that tomorrow at ten we are shopping for my sister’s engagement? You both have to be there.’

‘Sure,’ Neha said, ‘I’ll be there.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Aryan said scornfully. ‘I’ll be sleeping.’

‘It’s at ten Aryan,’ I said. ‘Won’t you be awake by then? We need to buy you a sherwani.’

‘You both will have to wake up early so as not to arouse any suspicion but I don’t have to do that. I’ve told my father not to wake me up for anything; I need my beauty sleep.’

‘But what about your sherwani?’

‘Buy me something of your choice or otherwise call me in the afternoon when you’re all done with your shopping and I’ll come to select one for myself. I think that’s reasonable.’

‘All right,’ I said stifling a yawn.

Aryan saw that and yawned automatically. ‘My God if I yawn anymore I’ll tear my jaw!’

We reached my place and I got out from the vehicle.

‘Good night…take care…get home safely…’ They said.

‘You both too…good night…sleep well…’

They drove off and I walked slowly to the house. My heart started beating faster again. Did anybody notice my disappearance? I hoped not. I got onto the tree and climbed cautiously. The house was in darkness. I jumped onto the balcony and unbolted the door. Everything seemed okay.

I got into my room and quickly changed into my nightdress, which I had thankfully remembered to pick up from the jeep. It was 3:45 AM. I got into bed. What a night it was I thought, totally reckless but still worth a try. Sometimes Neha’s experiments turn out really successful I thought with a smile and then slowly closed my eyes shut.

CHAPTER 2: The Date

‘How was the paper?’ Aryan called out when both of us came strolling towards his parked jeep.

‘As usual great!’ Neha said pulling up her collars.

‘Mine was so-so.’ I said not unhappily. Psychology was Neha’s forte, not mine.

Aryan opened his door and sat in and waited for us.

‘Now you girls have around three months of vacation before college starts. How are you planning to spend the holidays?’ he asked.

‘We just slogged ourselves out for these exams! I am going to spend my well deserved vacation relaxing.’ Neha said stretching herself luxuriously on the seat. ‘And anyway I don’t plan my holidays I just go with the flow.’

‘I didn’t see you do anything for these exams which deserves a heavy word like “slogging”.’ He said.

‘You are never satisfied Aryan. Even when we had fun the thought of exams was constantly in the mind, making even our fun time miserable.’ Neha frowned.

‘So you’re planning to while away these holidays just like every other holidays?’ he asked.

‘No, not me.’ I said happily. ‘For one thing Chechi is getting married so we can start off with a little shopping.’

‘That’ll be a great idea.’ Neha said turning in her seat to look at me. ‘We’ll buy saris for ourselves and a sherwani for him.’

‘Yeah and we could even plan a song and dance programme during the wedding reception.’ I said my eyes shining. ‘I do have so many plans for these holidays. I’ve been thinking of it all the time during the study leave. I’ve just been waiting for these exams to get over to put my plans into action. Firstly I want to learn how to play the guitar and then I also want to go for karate classes. Aryan do you know when is the new batch starting for karate? I just have to go this time.’

I couldn’t mistake the look which Neha and Aryan exchanged.

‘Well I am going to do it in these holidays. I’ve decided.’ I said pursing my lips defiantly.

‘You say it every holidays, Naina but you never do it. You while it away just like I do.’ Neha said voicing what seemed like the eternal truth.

‘But this time I’ve decided and…and you’ll watch me.’

‘Have you decided to go on the date?’ Aryan asked quietly.

‘Yes I’ve decided to go.’ I replied more forcefully than necessary.

‘Hey that’s superb news!’ Neha clapped her hands. Aryan sighed.

When he pulled into the parking space in Sweet Tooth, I was beginning to wonder whether I did the right thing in agreeing to go. Could I go back on my word now? I thought hopelessly.

‘I’ll do your make up.’ Neha said wrenching me out of the car.

 

Half an hour later I was in a blue jeans with black embroidered flowers at the ends and a blood red T-shirt. I had kajal in my eyes and a strawberry coloured and flavoured jell on my lips. Neha was tying my hair up with a funny looking oval clip so that the major part of my hair was bunched on my head while the rest was hanging loose around my shoulders.

‘You’re looking gorgeous Cinderella.’ Neha whistled.

‘Thank you Fairy God mother.’ I said.

‘Hmm you really do look good.’ Aryan nodded approvingly. ‘He won’t be able to take his eyes off you.’

I blushed.

‘Wow! Naina you look gorgeous!’ Tarun sauntered in. ‘Were you waiting for me to come and ask you out?’

‘No Tarun she is fortunate that you are late. She is going out with someone else.’ Neha said tartly.

Both Tarun and Neha couldn’t stand each other. If he was aggravating then she was acerbic.

‘If not Naina then you. You know the two of us should get together. We would make such a lovely pair.’

‘Even if you were the last guy on Earth I wouldn’t choose you. I’d rather stay unmarried than be with you.’

He laughed loudly. ‘Your tongue! I guess most of the food you eat digests in your mouth itself with all that acid your tongue holds.’

I couldn’t help giggling. They both really made a fascinating pair. I used to imagine them being together but whenever I mention that to Neha she screams at me.

 

Tarun and Aryan were so unlike each other that nobody would imagine them to be brothers. He was a year older than Aryan and was taller and heftier and had a darker complexion. He was a flirt. Everyone but his father knew about that. It was a sight to see his swagger disappear when his father was around.

‘You are talking so freely now. I want to see you when your father is around.’ Neha sneered.

He grinned. ‘I wonder what would my father say when he sees Naina dressed up like this. You’ll all have a lot of explanation to do. Better come up with something quickly because he might enter any moment now.’

‘What!’ Three voices chorused.

 Sure enough we could hear Vinod uncle’s voice outside the café.

‘Quick out of the back door.’ Aryan yelled. ‘I am your brother Tarun. Can’t you be a little considerate?’

‘What? And miss this?’ he laughed. ‘I wouldn’t want to miss this commotion for anything in the world.’

We bolted through the back door.

Aryan joined us. ‘I told Tarun to tell Appa that we are out for lunch so no problem.’

Neha was grinding her feet.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked her.

‘I am imagining Tarun to be under my foot. One day I’ll wring his neck.’

‘We’ll walk you up till the post office.’ Aryan said to me.

‘I am getting scared.’ I said. ‘I hope nobody sees me. I don’t want your father to see me at all.’

‘Don’t worry he won’t.’ Neha said. ‘He is inside the café now. By the way what is Sanjay’s mobile number?’

I had problems remembering phone numbers and mobile numbers with their ten digits were the bane of my life.

‘I have it in my phone book.’ I said flipping through the pages. ‘I know that it begins with 9 though.’

‘That’s a big help!’ She rolled her eyes.

I showed her the number and she copied it down.

‘We can always call you if there’s any problem.’ Aryan said glancing at the number, ‘Not that we are expecting one.’ He said hurriedly quailing under the murderous look, which Neha shot him.

She gripped my shoulders tightly. ‘Naina you’re going for your first ever date!’ she was sounding so excited as though she was the one going and not I.

‘Don’t keep saying that, I am already nervous.’

‘Oh don’t be silly. Just remember what I told you and you’ll be fine. Do tell me if you both kiss.’

‘There’s no need for that!’ Aryan cut in instantly. ‘This is your first meeting. Don’t do anything that you’ll regret later.’

‘Spoil sport.’ Neha griped. She turned to me, ‘tell me everything okay.’

‘I’ll tell you both everything that happens.’ I promised.

 

I hadn’t dwelt much on the thought of kissing Sanjay but now that Neha mentioned it, it did seem appealing. I couldn’t help glancing at his lips when we reached the place where he was waiting.

He smiled warmly at me and I immediately felt most of my tensions disappearing. It wouldn’t be so bad with him I thought. He was dressed in a pale yellow T-shirt with dark blue jeans and a black jacket. He did look really hot!

Aryan and Neha spoke with him for few minutes till I started looking impatient. Now that I was with Sanjay I wanted him all for myself.

They left but only after Neha gave few pointed expressions resembling kissing. Luckily for me Sanjay didn’t see it.

I tied a dupatta around my head and we were off.

‘Did you get the tickets?’

‘No I didn’t get it. All were sold out.’

My heart sank. ‘Nothing in black?’

‘Are you crazy? You want me to buy tickets in black? Do you know how much they cost? It’s really not worth it.’

Neha’s voice echoed in my ears:

He’s stinking rich!

Even if it’s sold out he’ll buy you one in black. He’ll do anything for you.

I exhaled noisily.

‘What? Did you say something?’

‘No I didn’t.’ I said. ‘So where are we going?’

‘We are too early for lunch so we’ll just drive around. Enjoy the ride.’

 

He was talking so much that I had to bend continuously to listen to him. In the end I rested my chin on his shoulders so that I don’t break my neck with the strain. This was the closest I had ever been with a guy.

 

Neha and I met Sanjay accidentally. It happened during our recent study leave. We were walking aimlessly on the main road after a hard day at the books when we passed the local gym.

We saw him come out sweaty after a good workout. When he caught our eye both of us as though just out of rehearsal mouthed ‘Ooh’ and fanned ourselves. It was our fixed act whenever we came across anybody who qualified as being hot. For a minute he looked stunned with his mouth open. Both of us overcome by adrenaline giggled loudly. It was a reasonably innocent act we both agreed and that’s why we were terrified when he started following us. It is horrible to be followed by somebody.

We were quite desperate to let him off our back. In the end we managed it somehow and took refuge in Aryan’s house, which is our perpetual haven. Our Superman was livid when we recounted the incident and yelled at us for inviting trouble all the time. We were ashamed and almost promised never to play the fool again when we stopped ourselves at the right time. Instead we decided to forget this incident as an aberration and move on with our lives.

We reckoned that we would never meet him again but were proved wrong when he caught us enjoying a game of carom in Sweet Tooth. We hoped desperately that he wouldn’t recognise us and prayed fervently that he would leave. But our hopes were dashed and our prayers went unanswered when he approached us.

‘Were you the same girls…’ he began.

‘Yes we were.’ Neha said abruptly. ‘We are sorry about that day. It won’t happen again.’

‘No issues.’ He said. ‘I was really surprised that day…by the way I am Sanjay.’ He smiled.

She smiled back but didn’t say anything.

He looked at me. ‘Is it okay if I join you guys for a game?’

I didn’t say anything but he sat down nevertheless. Both Aryan and Neha looked scandalised but they still gave him place.

Soon the four of us were locked in a deadly game. He was a competitive player and it seemed like both my friends were bent upon defeating him. He sat opposite me and kept staring in my direction. I wondered how he could stare at me continuously and still win the game hands down.

Later over a plate of veg puffs he told us his secret. He was a carom and chess champion at school. He was a Maharashtrian staying in Mumbai now studying in Bangalore. He was studying engineering -Electronics engineering. He had three older sisters who were all married. He missed his family and his dog, a Lhasa Apso, called Buffy, named after his favourite programme “Buffy the vampire slayer”. His favourite actor was Sharukh Khan and his favourite colour was blue and we were sure that his favourite pastime was talking because he didn’t stop at all once he started. By the time it was evening we knew all about his achievements in school and college.

We did meet him a few more times in the café when we could spare time out of studies to meet with Aryan. The other times he would wait for us there hoping to meet us by chance.

 

By now it was no secret that he favoured me, that’s why it didn’t come as a surprise when he asked me out on a date. Luckily I had my exams as an excuse because I needed time to think. I didn’t mind going because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but there were so many other factors to be considered that I was quite confused.

I always had this thought that the first guy I go on a date with would be “The Guy”. I couldn’t make up my mind whether I wanted Sanjay to be that guy in my life. When I told this to Neha she brushed me off saying: “Don’t put rules in relationships. Just go with the flow and enjoy yourself. Who knows what’ll happen.”

He didn’t press me but he did say that he would ask me again once my exams were coming to a close. I thought he would forget. I was hoping he would.

But sure enough he called Aryan to remind me before my history paper. I said a temporary yes. All my decisions were subject to change, I made that clear to him but he was thrilled nevertheless. I planned the date for the last day of the exam, so here I was on his bike, driving through the roads of Bangalore.

 

‘Do you want to have ice cream?’ he asked me.

‘I would love to.’ I said brightening up.

He stopped the bike at the kerb opposite a small ice cream parlour.

‘Wait here. I’ll get it for you.’

I wanted to go with him but I stayed. He came few minutes later carrying two cones with him.

‘Pista flavour. I hope you like it.’

‘I have no choice do I?’ I said taking one from his hand.

‘What flavour do you like?’

‘I like chocolate.’

‘Oh everybody likes chocolate. It’s good to try something new and pista is really good. It’s my favourite.’

I nodded and had the ice cream.

 

‘Which Noshery joint do you want to go to? The one in The Arcade?’

‘Yeah that’s my favourite place.’ I replied.

It was. The Arcade was our favourite hangout, after Sweet Tooth that is. It was a three storied shopping mall situated in the heart of the city.

Neha and I used to go there just to laze around and eye the college guys coming there. That place had almost everything we desired: a bookstore, a parlour, a café, an Internet centre and lots of shopping places. We spent many happy hours there.

 

We stopped at a signal. The Arcade was a kilometre away. I was recounting a funny incident that happened there involving Neha and I when somebody banged into our vehicle from behind.

I hit my head hard on Sanjay’s helmet.

‘Oww,’ I moaned, seeing stars before my eyes.

Sanjay put the stand on his bike and got out before even I could step down.

Oh no, I thought when I saw his face. He was livid as he faced the occupants of the bike that hit us.

‘What the…’ and there flowed a string of foul words.

I was aghast.

Each party was having a battle on whose words were the foulest.

The damage was a shattered taillight on Sanjay’s vehicle and a shattered headlight on theirs.

I tried intervening because this was creating a traffic snag and I didn’t want to draw any attention on us lest there might be someone there who recognised me.

But it was in vain.

I then covered myself well with the dupatta thinking that could be my only saviour.

But that was in vain too.

‘Naina?’

I was startled. Could anyone have recognised me here? I didn’t want to turn my head hoping that whoever it was would think he was mistaken and go away.

‘Naina! Can’t you hear me?’

I turned around unwillingly and then wished immediately that I were anywhere but there.

The speaker was a guy named Chetan. He was a huge, overweight guy who played Billiards in the same club that we frequented. Initially he tried his luck on my sister but when he got to know that she was getting married he shifted his attention on to me.

I had only made the mistake of asking him to teach me to play Billiards and he decided to use that as the stepping-stone.

He wanted to teach me in the filmy way, that is, with his arm over my shoulders. I didn’t take very kindly to his methods of teaching and so “accidentally” jabbed the end of the cue to a spot that hurt him enough not to try it again.

But that certainly wasn’t enough to keep him away from me. He wanted to take me out on a date. He was desperate. He asked me numerous times. I refused every time.

Now seeing me all dressed up, on a bike with a guy wasn’t a very good thing. Chetan had direct access with my father and a spurned male isn’t a happy male.

‘What are you doing here? And who is that guy?’ Chetan asked frowning a little.

‘I…uh…I am…’

‘Are you out with a guy? I thought you never go out on dates because your parents are strict and won’t let you.’

‘I am…I am not on a date.’ I smiled at him. ‘I am with…Aryan.’

‘Aryan?’ He looked thoughtful. ‘Oh Aryan! Is that Aryan?’

‘Yes that’s Aryan.’ I replied quickly. ‘We are…uh…going…shopping for my sister’s wedding. It’s the last day of my board exams…and my parents know that I am with him.’

‘Oh,’ he visibly relaxed. He pointed at the commotion. ‘Looks like there is a problem. I think I should help.’

‘No it’s fine. It’s nothing. It’ll be over soon.’ I brushed it off, giving a glance over my shoulder. The two parties were being held by people to prevent them from raining blows on each other.

Chetan shook his head and got out from his bike to intervene. My stomach clenched and unclenched in fear. Last thing I wanted was more complications. I was beginning to think that this date was a bad idea.

Even Chetan’s interference didn’t help solve matters. It was only after the traffic policeman entered the scene and after money exchanged hands that calm was restored.

Now that the show was over all the people went back to their vehicles and traffic was smooth again.

I prepared to mount the bike behind Sanjay when Chetan came to interfere again.

‘Hi I am Chetan.’ He grinned at Sanjay’s still dark look. ‘That was quite a spot to be in.’

‘You bet!’ Sanjay said with a snarl. ‘That bloody…’

‘Chill man!’ Chetan laughed. ‘Anyway I don’t want to keep you guys waiting. I’ll see you again sometime hopefully in different settings. See you Aryan. See you Naina.’

And he walked off leaving a very relieved me and a very puzzled Sanjay.

‘Did he just call me Aryan?’

‘Who knows and who cares!’ I snapped. ‘Let’s just go from here. I’ve already had enough excitement for the day.’

 

By the time we sat in the restaurant I had the beginnings of a headache.

Sheena, a waitress in Noshery who I knew well came to me.

‘Oh that’s a bad bump you have on your forehead. How did it happen?’

‘An accident.’ I said and massaged my head. ‘Can I get some ice, please?’

She nodded and went.

‘I am sorry I didn’t even ask you about it.’ Sanjay looked apologetic.

‘That’s okay.’

‘It’s all because of that jerk…that…that…’

‘Let us not talk about that incident now.’ I frowned, feeling a sharp pain in my head.

‘Okay we’ll not spoil our moods with that.’

Sheena came with the ice. I wrapped it in my hanky and pressed it on my head. The cold ice on my forehead helped relieve the pain.

‘What would you like to have?’ Sanjay asked me.

‘Anything.’ I replied. ‘You place the order.’

He gave the order and Sheena went again.

After a few moments of silence he spoke.

‘I hope you aren’t upset with me because of what happened today?’

He said this and covered his hand on mine. I was startled and could feel my heart thudding nervously.

‘No I…I am not.’ I spluttered. ‘It’s okay.’

I wanted to free my hand but he was holding on as if it was his lifeline. I was nervous that someone might see me there with him, though nobody in the restaurant had a familiar face. But every time the door opened, my eyes would turn towards it, expecting someone I knew to pop in.

He sensed the tension in me and held my hand tighter. That certainly helped to remove every bit of reserve calm I had in me. I was thinking of a good excuse to tell him without hurting his feelings, when I suddenly felt very strongly that I was being watched. It was a curious feeling. I looked around but nobody had their gaze on me.

I shook my head. I am getting paranoid I thought. This date was certainly not a good idea.

‘Sanjay,’ I said. ‘My palms are feeling quite sweaty. I think I’ll wash up before the food arrives.’

That was the worst possible excuse I could come up with. Sanjay let go of me and I rushed to the washroom.

My bruise was a small one but it was turning green. I could camouflage it with my hair if the need arose. I washed my face and hands and then joined the table.

The food had arrived. I was relieved. Sanjay apparently wanted to lighten the mood and he felt the best way was to talk and so he kept an almost uninterrupted flow of conversation. It was better that way because I didn’t have to think much then. 

 

After lunch we window shopped in the mall. Again I had that eerie feeling that I was being watched. I freaked a little. Was someone really watching me or was it a prelude to something worse that might happen. What else could happen worse?

Nothing else will happen I told myself firmly and brushed all the scary thoughts from my head.

 

We left from there by six. He had to drop me off at Aryan’s place and then my friends would drop me home.

I mounted the bike after Sanjay finished swearing yet again on seeing the damages. I rolled my eyes, relieved to be going home.

Bike rides were always fun. I loved the wind in my face.

I was so busy enjoying the ride that I didn’t realise where we were going.

‘Oh shoot!’ I exclaimed, clapping my hand over my mouth in horror.

‘What happened?’ he said alarmed. The bike wobbled slightly under us.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’ I said gripping his shoulders tightly. ‘It’s just that my uncle works in the library here and I don’t want to be seen by him at any cost.’

‘Oh…should I take another route?’

‘Yeah please. Just drive me out of here as fast as possible.’

I adjusted my dupatta to cover my face except for the eyes. I looked around furtively as we sped through the by lanes. Thankfully I didn’t see him anywhere. I breathed a silent thank you prayer to the heavens.

‘Thank God we are out of that area.’ I said, my breath coming out in a whoosh.

He slowed down his bike and I loosened the cloth around my face.

‘What would you introduce me as if your uncle caught us together?’

Rakhi brother!

‘I would say that you were kidnapping me.’

‘That’s a good one.’ He laughed and then added in a softer tone. ‘I wish I could kidnap you and keep you with me.’

I sucked in breath. I just didn’t know how to react to his statement. He was expecting a reaction from me. I pretended that I didn’t hear it and instead stared ahead.

In the distance was a car. My eyes widened in shock and my mouth opened in a scream.

Coming right towards us in his red car was my uncle. I felt as though my throat had constricted because I couldn’t draw any breath.

‘What happened?’ Sanjay asked.

‘My uncle!’ I choked.

Just when I was about to pull up my dupatta to cover my face he passed by glancing in my direction. I instinctively clasped Sanjay from behind and tucked my face in his shoulder. Words seemed to have stuck in my throat but Sanjay understood before I had to tell him. He pressed the accelerator and we were zipping. It was only after we put a lot of distance between the red car and us that I could finally manage to speak.

‘Oh no…oh no…’ I moaned.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked concerned.

‘No I am not.’ I said hardly daring to lift my head as though expecting Dodh appa to still be around. ‘My uncle just saw me! This really had to be my worst nightmare! I don’t know whether he recognised me. I just hope not! Oh God please let him not have recognised me…’

‘He did turn back for a second look.’ Sanjay said grimly. ‘I saw through the rear view mirror.’

‘What!’

I was so scared now that I felt goose bumps forming all over me. Suddenly I wished I were back in time by eight hours. I wished I was in my bathroom again and that I had not given in to Neha’s talk. This date was such a big mistake! I took a deep breath. Calm down I told myself. Think clearly Naina.

‘Sanjay can you stop the vehicle? I need to put a call to my friends.’

He hurriedly pulled up by the side of the road. It was a quiet road. I immediately got down from the bike and he handed his mobile phone to me.

‘I don’t know how to use it, could you dial the number for me?’ I said.

He pressed few keys and gave it to me. It looked like a cordless phone because of its size and the antenna. I pressed it to my ear and heard Aryan’s voice on the other end. Somehow his voice had a calming effect on me, prompting me to unburden myself.

‘Aryan,’ I began in a stricken voice, ‘my uncle saw me!’

‘What…how…when?’ he was shocked.

I could hear Neha asking him what had happened and he repeated to her what I just said. There was a short gasp and a hurried scrambling.

‘What happened?’ Neha said.

I told what just happened, how I was sure he had seen and recognised me and how utterly miserable I felt. She listened patiently.

After I finished she spoke.

‘Now be calm. He may not even be sure that it’s you because there would have been hardly any time for him to register, and by then you had already covered your face.’

‘Yeah…but he turned back to check.’

There was a silence at the other end.

‘Say something Neha…’ I pleaded.

‘Don’t worry about anything as yet. Just get here as soon as possible. We’ll handle everything else. It’ll be fine.’

That meant it was really bad.

‘Hmm…okay. Bye.’

I gave the phone back to Sanjay and he clicked the end call button.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked.

I shook my head feeling that I might start to cry.

‘Let’s just go.’

 

We completed the rest of the journey in silence. I got down near Aryan’s house. Sanjay thanked me for coming. He looked as if he was going to hug me but I put out my hand in time to allow him to shake my hand good bye.

He drove away seemingly dejected and I hurried into my friend’s house.

Once at Aryan’s place I changed back into my uniform. I washed my face to remove every trace of kajal and unclipped my hair and let it remain the way it was before and during the exam. The thought that my uncle had seen me stuck in my head. It was like a pain in the neck, which refused to leave.

 

When I entered his room they were busy arranging the coins on the carom board.

‘I am not in any mood to play.’ I announced, sitting on his bed.

‘You have no say in that matter.’ Aryan said nonchalantly.

‘You’ll feel better when you’re engaged with something.’ Neha said beckoning me to play. ‘Your mind won’t wander around depressing thoughts and you’ll be in a better frame of mind when you see your uncle face to face.’

‘I am dead meat today. What should I tell him if he asks me about it?’

‘The best thing to do will be to deny it.’ Aryan said. ‘You were with us the whole day. As simple as that.’

I sunk my head in my hands. ‘What a day it was! Everything that could go wrong went wrong.’

And I recounted the day’s incidents to them.

The phone rang shrilly when I finished. I almost jumped at the sound. Aryan got up to pick up the landline.

‘Hello…yeah hi…she’s fine…yeah she’s here.’ He closed the phone and mouthed ‘Sanjay’ soundlessly.

I got up reluctantly and took the phone.

‘Hi,’ I said.

‘Hi Naina,’ Sanjay’s voice said on the other end. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Okay,’ I said.

‘I do hope things will be fine at your place.’ He paused and spoke hesitantly, ‘will you come out with me again sometime?’

For a second I was too aghast to reply. ‘We’ll decide that later Sanjay.’ I replied as calmly as I could. ‘Let me first face my parents today and judge the situation at home.’

‘Yeah…okay,’ he said, ‘let me know how it goes.’

‘Sure,’

‘Bye then,’

‘Bye.’

I kept the phone and walked back to them still looking aghast.

‘What happened?’ Aryan asked.

‘He wants to take me out again!’

‘And you want to go?’ Neha asked.

‘No!’ I blurted looking incredulous.

‘You don’t like him.’ Aryan said. It was not a question.

I sat down. ‘He is unchivalrous, he brags a lot and he is clingy.’

‘People in love are always clingy. When you’re in love you will always want to spend as much time as possible with that person.’ Neha said while positioning the striker between her thumb and her index finger.

‘I know that but I am not in love with him to actually encourage it.’ I said amid the sound of the striker hitting the corner of the board without producing any result.

‘Alas! The plight of a lover!’ Neha exclaimed raising her hands heavenward. ‘It is understood only when you’re also in love.’

‘Uh huh.’ Aryan said. ‘You seem to know a lot about lovers and what they do. Tell us about your experiences.’ He positioned the striker in his turn, misjudged and sent it straight into the pocket.

‘I observe people unlike you.’ Neha smiled at Aryan’s scowling face, while picking up one of his coins as penalty and placing it on the board.

I took the striker next.

‘Anyway Sanjay is not my type of guy. Period.’ I struck Aryan’s penalty coin and watched with surprise as it slid smoothly into the pocket.

‘Hmm,’ Neha picked up the coin and gave it to me, ‘he’s not even my type of guy.’

‘You know,’ Aryan said rubbing his lower lip in contemplation, ‘now that you both mention it, I realise that Sanjay is not my type of guy either!’

All three of us looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

 

‘Come inside with me.’

‘Don’t worry we’ll be there with you.’ Aryan said ushering Neha and me up the steps to my house.

Now that I was home I was very scared. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. I nervously opened the door.

‘Home at last?’ Appa said smiling at us. He put down the book he was reading. His smile seemed genuine. I tried to smile but it wouldn’t come so I gave up.

‘Yes uncle.’ Aryan said returning the smile.

‘How was your paper?’ Amma said coming from the kitchen. She was also smiling genuinely. Didn’t my uncle say anything?

‘It was fine,’ I said and then hoping to divert them from questions other than relating to my exam I continued, ‘there was the question on Ego defence mechanisms, I don’t know how I did it.’

‘I had difficulty only in that question on Rorschach ink blot test.’ Neha said taking the cue, giving a pained expression.

Amma waved her arms. ‘Let bygones be bygones. Your 12th exams are over. Case closed. Now enjoy your holidays.’

Just then uncle stepped in from his room. ‘You three are back! How was your day?’

I clutched Neha’s hand tightly on the sofa. Did I imagine it or was it that his eyes were fixed on me. He was looking at me intently.

‘The day was good. We had lunch out and then spent the remaining time at my home.’ Aryan said.

‘Hmm.’ He said looking thoughtful. ‘What is that bruise on your head?’

‘I hit my head.’ I said quickly.

‘On the table.’ Neha joined.

‘In my room.’ Aryan completed.

Dodh appa didn’t say anything more.

‘Aren’t you both getting late?’ Appa said to Aryan and Neha. ‘Neha your mother will be worried.’

‘Oh yes.’ She said almost thankfully. ‘We’ll leave now.’

I had the impression that she was also nervous of my uncle and was desperate to leave as quickly as possible. Both my friends wished my family good night.

I went to leave them till the car.

‘Call me if there’s any problem, otherwise don’t. I just hope you won’t have to.’ Neha said breathlessly.

‘Yeah,’ I said crossing my fingers, ‘pray for me.’

‘Will do.’ She said before both waved a bye and went.

I felt alone. Maybe uncle would say something now that my friends had gone. I felt my legs shaking with every step I took back to the house. I opened the door, dreading what would happen next. My uncle and my father were reading and Amma was in the kitchen. Nobody looked remotely perturbed. I jumped when my mother addressed me.

‘Go have bath and then come for dinner.’

I gulped. ‘I am not hungry Amma.’

‘Why?’

‘I had a heavy lunch.’ I rubbed my stomach to emphasise that.

‘Hmm okay.’ She said walking back to the kitchen.

I stole a glance again at my father and my uncle but both seemed engrossed in their reading so I thankfully picked up my bag and ran up the stairs. I walked into my room and shut the door.

Before switching on the light or even removing the bag from my shoulder I fell prostrate on the floor and worshipped God.

PART 1: CHAPTER 1: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

‘Okay Naina…calm down…relax…things will be fine…there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.’ Neha said in a voice that was both authoritative and consoling.

It was the last day of our 12th board exams and Neha and I were cooped up in my bathroom. I was biting the insides of my lips in nervousness.

‘Let’s go over the Good, the Bad and the Ugly again. First the Good,’ Neha pointed her thumb at me.

‘You are seventeen years old and you are going for your first ever date with a really hot guy!’ She gripped my shoulders as if trying to transfer the realisation purely by means of kinaesthetic pressure.

‘He’s stinking rich. His parents own a bungalow in one of the poshest localities in Mumbai. He is an Engineering student and Electronics Engineering at that and in one of the best colleges here. I think that’s too good. And to top that he has his own bike and his own mobile phone!’

I still looked like I was in pain. ‘The Bad is that he brags a lot and he’s clingy.’

‘So? What’s wrong with that? People brag when they have done things worth bragging about. He has and he wants to share it with you. That’s all. If he is clingy it just means that he loves you and he’s possessive. There’s nothing wrong with that. Many girls love it.’

‘In relationships you have to give each other space.’ I frowned.

‘I agree. But are you going to reject him just because of that? Maybe when he is sure of you he wont be that clingy.’

I tried a different tack. ‘What if he tries to take advantage of me?’

Neha sighed. ‘Firstly, he’s going to take you to a restaurant which you know of and which will be crowded so he can’t do anything to you.’

‘What about in the theatre?’

‘Will you get tickets today?’

‘He said he would go early to book it. I hope he gets it.’ I said crossing my fingers. ‘I badly want to watch it. It’s a Salman Khan movie!’

‘Don’t worry. Even if it’s sold out he’ll buy you one in black. He’ll do anything for you. That is how crazy he is about you.’

‘Okay. What if he tries to do something in the theatre?’

She wet her lips in exasperation. ‘You do have your pen knife don’t you?’

‘Yeah I do,’ I said with a wink.

‘Don’t hesitate to use it on him if the need arises. But you know it will not happen. He’s a nice guy.’

‘Hmm,’ I said. ‘What about the lies I’ll have to say to my parents just to go on this date?’

‘I was coming to that,’ she said. ‘That’s the Bad. You’ll have to do it if you need to go on the date because you know parents, they’ll never understand things like dates. You’ll unnecessarily put them in panic if you tell them the truth and it will have other horrible repercussions like…like…they won’t trust you anymore…I won’t be allowed into your house again and your every move will be watched. Do you need to go through all that?’

I shook my head violently.

‘Then why bother?’ Neha said looking relieved. ‘Elders are there in our life to make sure that our lives go smooth and safe without any hiccups, but once in while isn’t it nice to experience a hiccup too? The only thing you need to be careful about is that nobody, I repeat, nobody who is capable of recognising you should see you. That is the Ugly.’

I took a deep breath and nodded my head.

‘Whatever be the case, don’t get caught. Cover your face with a dupatta if need be or wear a helmet while on the bike –anything –but be safe.’

She sighed and lowered her hands after its excessive use to convince me.

‘I think you should go. It is an experience of a lifetime and you’ll have to do it sometime so why not now?’

I stared at a lone spider trudging along the length of the bathroom wall.

‘What does your brain tell you?’

‘To abort this plan.’ I said bringing my eyes back on her.

‘What does your heart tell you?’

‘My heart tells me to do something rash and impulsive.’

‘Then listen to your heart silly!’

‘That’s the problem. We have got into so much trouble listening to the heart all the time that…for example that…that Kajal incident.’

‘Kajal! Kajal! Why do you keep bringing that incident to your mind all the time? It was a one off and won’t happen again, and you know that it actually turned out for the good. Look at my parents now to know how it has been for me. Don’t let it paralyse you.’

I was silent for a moment and then slowly I broke into a smile.

‘Yes!’ She grinned. ‘Good girl!’

She held out her hands. I closed my hands on hers and we said it together.

‘We are the smartest. We are the best. We are the Notorious N’s!’

Both of us laughed and hugged.

‘Okay get ready now.’ Neha said. ‘Meanwhile I’ll pack a pair of jeans and a T shirt into your bag.’

She turned to unbolt the bathroom door but I reached out and held her arm. She looked at me surprised. ‘What?’

‘Neha am I doing the right thing?’

She looked at me outraged. ‘Naina after all this talk you come back to this basic question?

‘Just tell me would you do it?’

‘I would obviously do it. Don’t tell me we are having this conversation again.’

I smiled involuntarily. ‘Every mistake begins with a small step.’

She gave me a don’t-kid-me look. ‘I just know one thing that if you keep yourself always from doing something that you want to, you’ll never have any interesting stories to tell your grandchildren.’

‘You bad girl!’ I said in mock horror. ‘You always tempt me and make me do things against my will.’

‘Tempt you, that I do all right but your will is still yours. You still have around four and a half hours to decide whether to go on the date or not and if your decision is yes, you can be sure to find a change of clothes in your bag.’

She said that and shut the bathroom door.

 

I stood alone in my bathroom smiling to myself. Neha was like that, always been like that since the day we first met.

I met Neha Kashyap for the first time in first standard and we hit off from the first day itself. I remembered seeing this dusky, shorthaired girl sitting all by herself on a seat and watching the people around her. Anybody would’ve dismissed her as plain or even felt sorry for her, thinking her to be friendless. Even I would’ve done the same had I not noticed her mouth. It was the most captivating feature of her face and undoubtedly when she spoke the attention automatically went to her lips. She just sat observing everybody pursing her mouth as though she knew the thoughts of each of her classmates, and laughed inwardly at some private joke about them. For some reason she reminded me of a naughty pixie and I was more than curious to know her.

I saw her later convincing a girl to eat mud and succeeding in her venture. So I decided then and there that I wanted to be her friend.

 

I recall years later in the words of Mrs Payal Arora –our maths teacher and our least favourite of all teachers –when she addressed the class just after punishing us,

“The world would’ve been a safer place to live in had the two of them never met”.

It was a gross exaggeration where the “world” was concerned, but I had to admit it was otherwise a true statement.

Neha and I was an explosive pair. Bold was our middle name. Brazen was our second middle name and Brash was our third. When we were small, our mischiefs were of a milder degree but the mildness decreased exponentially as we grew older, till we were feared all over school for our notoriety. We were coined “The Notorious N’s”. We wreaked havoc wherever we went. Every dastardly plan for a prank I conjured she would make sure that it was implemented. We were arrogant and believed that we could do anything and get away with it. And we did.

At times I felt bad that it was I who instigated her to carry out the things we starred in but she always managed to convince me that the instigation was very well justified. All in all I had to say that she is a bad influence in my life and I am glad to have known her.

 

Apart from our interests in playing pranks we shared an undying love for Enid Blyton novels. We started reading from the age of eight and vowed to have a life filled with magic, adventure and mystery just like in the novels. We especially loved the boarding school series of “The Malory Towers” and “The St Clare’s”. We too wanted to experience the thrills of boarding life, but how would it be possible to explain all this to the parents of ten year olds?

 

Then when we were in the 5th standard in our boring school in the neighbourhood something happened that would change our lives forever…

 

I would never be able to forget that day; it was a Friday, the 13th of August. It was the first hour and it was maths, and as usual both of us sat in the last seat behind two hefty girls who acted as our human shields to protect us from the dangerous woman who stood near the blackboard.

As usual Mrs Arora walked in to the class five minutes before the bell and everybody acting like perfect robots, got up, wished her a singsong “Good Morning” and sat down in perfect unison.

She glanced at everyone through unsmiling eyes, lingering on us a little more than necessary and replied a curt good morning. She always reminded me of a hawk who counted her prey before pouncing on them alive.

She kept her books on the table and while still looking at us, opened the drawer to remove three chalks –that was how many she took during one class.

If it was a normal day she would’ve removed the chalks, closed the drawer and started to teach; but that day was not normal.

The moment she put her hand in the drawer she pulled back as though burned. She looked into the drawer, perturbed. Immediately her hand flew to her mouth and she screamed like a Rakshasi! Any weak heart would’ve permanently stopped that instant, but the students in our class were reasonably strong and apart from the natural involuntary reactions and jerks nobody looked too disturbed. Some first bencher girls ran to support Ma’am who looked faint and some brave people including the two of us decided to inspect the drawer. We took a glance and immediately stepped back in horror.

In it was a thick, black, coiled snake!

‘It is them! I am sure they did it!’ Mrs Arora said dramatically, pointing her finger. Slowly everyone turned to look in the direction of the finger and before we could scream, “boo”; thirty-one pairs of eyes were looking at us.

 

Unknown to us, in another section of the school, in the biology lab a commotion was taking place. The attendant of the lab had apparently noticed that one of the formaldehyde jars, which housed a black viper, was empty.

It didn’t take long to piece the stories together and soon we were branded as the culprits and our parents were called to school.

We pleaded “Not Guilty” but nobody believed us. Obviously.

Many gave their theories. Some said that we were being unfairly singled out because we were the usual pranksters. Some others felt that there was a huge conspiracy involving the rival school, but the rest, which was the majority, felt that we were deserving and that our pranks had gone way too far this time. I remembered the story of the boy who cried wolf and felt sorry for him. We were both scared and I felt like crying but somehow held back the tears.

Our timid principal was at his wits end. He was nearing his retirement age and excitement of this degree was not what he had bargained for in the last few months of his working life. Nobody could prove the charges at us but everybody, including our principal, wanted us out.

‘I do know for sure, Mr Rai and Mr Kashyap, that your daughters are not in any way connected with this incident. It is impossible for girls this small to be involved in something as despicable as this. I am sure it is the work of the senior boys and we will do our very best to get to the bottom of this and bring the person or persons to task.’ He paused nervously. ‘But now the tension in school is so great. I have received quite a few complaints about your daughters, though they are not in anyway as bad as this, I insist that for the good of this institution you’ll have to transfer your wards to some other school. But don’t worry,’ he added hastily when he saw our parents open their mouths in protest, ‘nothing of this incident will be mentioned and I’ll give a good report. That’s a promise.’

The arguments went on for a long time but in the end the gods were favouring our school head. Our mothers hugged and consoled each other while our fathers stoically collected the necessary documents from a relieved but perspiring principal. And we left the school on that day for good.

 

That day both families were gathered together in my house and the talks went on till night. Nobody could come to any useful conclusion and instead abused and accused the school for bringing dishonour upon us.

In the midst of this turmoil, Neha and I were locked in my bathroom.

‘Well Naina our plan was a success.’ Neha said with appropriate seriousness.

I nodded, my eyes glittering maliciously. I was surprised at how easily things had worked. It was –as usual –my idea, which Neha executed to perfection. I still wonder though how she managed to pick up the dead snake in her hand. We thought we would be shown no mercy and that we would be expelled with a bad report. But luckily for us it did not happen that way. Now we knew that our path towards joining boarding school was more or less obstacle free.

We held hands and recited:

‘We are the smartest. We are the best. We are the Notorious N’s!’

 

Now for the next and most important step. We braced ourselves and walked slowly towards the hall where everybody was gathered. This was the moment to tell them of our heart’s desire.

‘We want to join boarding school.’ We announced.

There was a stunned silence and then the protests started. My mother and my uncle were dead against it. Neha’s parents thought it was a novel idea. I had an inkling that my uncle guessed something was fishy with the whole situation.

The discussions didn’t end that day; instead it spilled over the next two weeks before they finally gave in to us. My parents were heart broken but we were thrilled.

 

It wasn’t long before the arrangements were made and soon the day arrived when we had to leave to Dehradun to our all girls’ boarding school. Neha’s father knew a close family friend in Dehradun who would be our local guardian there.

We stood in the train waving to our family feeling a strange sense of liberation.

‘I’ll miss my family.’ I said.

‘Hmm.’

‘But we’ll have a lot of fun.’

‘Without a doubt.’ She said with a crooked smile.

 

I smiled as I thought of our boarding school days.

We lived up to our name. We were feared. We were hated. And we were adulated. Everybody knew that we could do things that others could only fantasise about. We were the girls with the solutions to everybody’s problems. But solving problems was not an easy job. And that’s why we were caned, made to kneel down almost every class, humiliated in front of the school, made to run numerous times around the grounds and even taken to the Principal’s room by the ears among other punishments. But we still managed to unscrew the seat of our teacher’s chair, disrupt classes by letting frogs loose, steal question papers, beat up other school boys and have our share of midnight capers to say the least.

It was a lot of fun. Just like we had imagined it to be.

Life is great now too, to miss those days too much. I always find it odd when people say that they want to go back into their past and relive their school days. When there is only one life to live I wonder why they want to waste it by going back and forth and changing decisions or reliving the good times. You are what you are now because of your past so why not keep that just as a memory and go ahead and make new memories?

 

I picked up my comb and began to work on my hair. I had thick wavy hair that reached just above my hips and combing them would take me a good quarter of an hour. I envied Neha’s hair, which was straight and barely reached her shoulders, because it wouldn’t look any different even if she forgot to comb them –which she usually did.

I looked at myself closely in the mirror. I was reasonably fair with mostly rounded features. I had an oval face and big eyes. Many people said that my eyes looked intelligent –even if I felt like an idiot most of the time –and that was what made me charming. But what I thanked God all the time was for my clear blemish free skin. Everyday before going out my mother would put a black spot behind my ear to shoo away the evil eye so that my skin remains the way it is.

I picked up my bag in which Neha had put in a pair of jeans and a T shirt and I put in my comb and a lip balm and my psychology book as an after thought. I put on my socks and shoes, checked for creases on my uniform and then turned to my table where I keep a statue of God. I said a silent prayer asking for blessings and strength for the day. I glanced at the family photo kept next to the idol. It was taken sometime last year during my 11th standard.

After 10th Neha and I were disallowed to continue in boarding and so we joined 11th and 12th in a co-ed school in Bangalore. Our parents were relieved to have us back again. I could see the smiling faces in the photo to be convinced of that. My father, mother and uncle were hugging my sis and me from behind and all of us were laughing when the picture was taken. You couldn’t say that my sister or me resembled either my father or mother or even each other particularly. Both of us were a good mixture, enough to prompt people to say that we were a group of five strangers staying in one house.

 

My father, Sushant Rai, was a national level swimming champion in his days. He is tall and stocky with rugged angular features. Now he coached aspiring swimmers in the local club.

My mother, Ahalya Rai, on the other hand is slightly plump with chubby cheeks and long wavy hair like mine. She was a law student who left a lucrative job after my sister was born and devoted herself full time to looking after the home. Appa was initially unhappy but then later felt it was the right decision after he got used to seeing her at home when he came back from his trips. He even taught her swimming and now every evening they practised together in the club.

My uncle, Prashant Rai, Appa’s elder brother or our Dodh Appa as my sis and I rightly call him, is very good looking, even better than Appa. He never married. Rumours had it that he loved a girl in college who later left him for someone else. Since then he had decided not to marry. He quit his stable government job in the telecom department and now works in the city library.

After my paternal grandparents passed away, Appa entreated him to stay with us and since then he has been living with us. I always had this eerie feeling that he could read my thoughts and could sense it when I was going to do something forbidden. That’s why I was wary of him.

 

‘Hey Naina!’

I was momentarily startled but I turned at my sister’s voice.

‘Ready for the final battle?’ she asked swinging an invisible sword around her.

I brandished my own sword and held it around her neck in a deathly grip. ‘Yup, just polishing my armour a little.’

She giggled involuntarily when I held her neck and put up her hands in surrender.

My sister, Nethra Rai, almost six years older than me, is beautiful in every sense of the word. Adjectives like elegant and exquisite are usually reserved for her. She is tall and slim with silky black shoulder length hair. With sharp features and a full sensuous body she inherited the best from my parents. Her eyes were the only feature that she hadn’t inherited directly from them. They were a pale shade of green, which we assume must have been a dormant gene from our ancestors, which out of sheer luck found its way to her. She is an architect and works for a private firm.

‘All the very best!’ She said giving me a friendly punch.

‘Thanks chechi.’

I call her chechi, which means older sister in Malayalam. During my years as a boisterous toddler my parents kept a malayali maid who was extremely fond of me. When she spoke of Nethra to me she always referred to her as chechi and I too began to call her the same. When my mother got wind of it she was visibly upset. She instead tried to coax me into calling Nethra as akka that meant the same as chechi did but in Kannada. I refused it outright. I didn’t like the sound of it. She tried very hard but in the end had to give up when I did not budge and that word stuck.

‘Did you pray to God to help you in the exam?’

‘Uh…not yet.’ I was praying more for the grace to make the right decision regarding the date.

‘How can you not have done it up till now?’ She frowned. ‘Don’t forget to ask his help because he always helps.’

‘Right.’ I said.

That was another thing about my sister. She was God obsessed. Even in the smallest decisions she asked for divine help. She prayed before going shopping so that she gets good selections, before going to the parlour to get her eyebrows tweezed, before cooking, before anything that could be classified as mundane and undeserving of a prayer. And in all these cases she made it a point to pray for the person she encountered and for his or her family.

The prayer bug bit her years ago when a great sage told her that she must pray for everybody in every situation. He said that she had a very pure and innocent heart because of which God would readily hear her prayers. And it was quite true because she always got the best things in life.

I was affronted that he didn’t tell me the same even though I was six years younger and therefore logically more innocent than her. I anyway decided to pray too but realised soon that no matter how much I prayed I almost always got into trouble. There was no doubt at all that God is extremely partial.   

I looked at my sister and considered telling her about my date today but then hurriedly changed my mind. I knew that she would never tell on me, but she was such a prude that her one look of distaste would be enough to put even the strong willed to confusion. I with my nascent confidence would stand no chance.

She noticed my hesitation.

‘What is it, Naina?’

‘I…uh…just wanted to know whether you spoke to Karan lately?’ I blurted.

She looked at me surprised. ‘I am going to be engaged to him in two weeks time so I would obviously be talking to him everyday.’

‘Oh yes…that’s right.’ I said feeling stupid.

‘Anyway go eat your breakfast soon. Aryan and Neha are waiting for you downstairs.’ She propelled me out of the room.

From the top of the stairs I could hear the clear boyish voice of Aryan, which was sounding highly embarrassed at the moment.

I sighed, resigned for the worst.

My mother’s voice resounded clearly in the hall.

‘You’ve turned twenty-one now Aryan, haven’t you?’

‘Yes Aunty.’ He replied.

I could guess what was coming…

‘You’re of marriageable age.’ Amma sounded hopeful according to me.

Aryan laughed embarrassed. ‘Yeah I know but I won’t be thinking of marriage for at least seven years.’

‘Well there’s no hurry,’ my father cut in, ‘Naina is also just seventeen, not a major yet.’ Appa and Amma laughed knowingly.

‘Oh no!’ I mumbled, hitting my head in mortification. I looked at Nethra coming down the stairs behind me and she grinned at my discomfort.

It was no secret at all that my parents were very fond of Aryan and it certainly didn’t help matters that he was of the same caste and community as ours. Initially they gave subtle hits but now they were making it so obvious that even the neighbour’s dog would understand it. I just consoled myself that they were ignorant. If they knew the truth I am sure they would faint out of shock…

 

I stepped into the hall. I grinned at the look of pure relief on Aryan’s face when he saw me come. But it was really frustrating that my parents mistook even that when they nudged and winked at each other. Neha was looking like she would burst with the effort to control her laughter. Only uncle looked unperturbed and smiled serenely at me.

‘Your breakfast is on the table. Make sure you eat well so that you don’t fall faint while writing your paper.’ Amma said.

‘She might most likely fall faint after seeing the questions.’ Appa said.

I stretched my lips in an I-didn’t-find-that-funny-at-all smile and piled in puris and potato curry in my plate. Nethra also joined me for breakfast at the table.

I tried to eat as calmly as possible but still couldn’t cut out the sound waves travelling from the hall to my ears. By the time I finished eating, Appa was telling Aryan how wonderful it would be to have a son like him. It was high time that I had a one to one talk with my parents, I thought, gritting my teeth in frustration. I hated when things were misunderstood like this. I glared at them when I got ready to leave.

‘Why are you looking so nervous? Its only just an exam.’ Amma said.

‘I am not nervous.’ I said annoyed.

Neha interrupted and said to my father. ‘Uncle, today Naina will reach home only in the evening because it’s celebration time after exams.’

‘Enjoy yourself but don’t forget to do the exam well.’ He replied.

‘Exactly! You both have to do well so that you can get into a good college for your degree.’ Amma said while dipping her pinky into the kajal box and fixing a spot under my right ear.

‘Sure Aunty we’ll do that.’ She said.

‘Have all the fun you want to but make sure that it’s the right kind of fun.’ A voice said in warning.

I freaked a little at my uncle’s pronouncement and even Aryan and Neha looked slightly jolted. It might’ve been just an innocent statement but from uncle anything innocent should be treated as a time bomb.

‘Don’t worry Dodh Appa, she’ll be fine.’ Nethra said waving at us.

I waved back at everyone as they called out their ‘Best of lucks’ and got into the back seat of Aryan’s old Mahindra jeep. I agreed that I was a little paranoid but uncle was like that. He always gave me an impression that he could read minds. Especially mine.

 

‘I think the next time Aryan comes to your house, your parents will keep ready a pundit and forcibly get you married to him.’ Neha said with a guffaw.

Aryan and I looked sourly at her.

‘Actually I have half a mind to tell them everything.’ I said sliding the window to allow the breeze to enter and calm me down.

‘If you do that I might never be let into your house again.’ He said.

I looked at Aryan through the rear view mirror. He had a milky white complexion with warm deep brown eyes and pinkish lips. With his lean built and his gelled and spiked hair he usually attracted comments from girls like –“Aww heesh sho cute!”

He would look past girls and all their attempts to woo him, not because he wanted to put up his price and strut around enjoying the attention, but because he was gay.

Surprisingly this piece of information he disclosed to only the two of us and like he said, if my parents do come to know about his preferences they would be horrified and never let him into the house. Our family was too conservative for news as scandalous as that. Even his father and his elder brother would be shocked.

 

Aryan’s mother died while giving birth to him. Since then his father brought him and his brother up on his own.

His father Vinod Varma quit the Reserve Bank of India as a General Manager. He was a very strict and conservative man. After his wife died early he chose not to marry again and instead bestowed all his care and attention on his sons. He was fiercely proud of his two sons and the way he had brought them up. For long they both struggled to keep to the limits, which their father had placed for them from their childhood. After a point they had to rebel. Now they lead double lives. One for their father to be proud of and one for them to be true to.

Aryan was gay and his brother Tarun was a compulsive flirt.

Tarun, after completing his studies, took a loan and with the help of his brother opened a café. It was called ‘Sweet Tooth’. Since the place was positioned close to a college and a school, it did roaring business. Tarun had ambitious plans for its expansion and was looking to open a chain of these in Bangalore.

He wanted Aryan to help him full time in business but Aryan had other plans in life. We would usually hang out there after school to play a game of carom or scrabble or just laze around with a plate of lemon soufflé each.

 

Aryan was the proverbial nice guy. It was very difficult not to like him. In his world everyone was good. Nobody was rotten completely. They only responded in a particular way because of the situation they were in and had to be given chances to improve. He never specified how many chances. He always said that since he wanted others to give him a second chance all the time, he too gave others the same freedom. We envied his patience and decided not to be like him. There could only be one Aryan.

After we completed our 10th at boarding school, when we were perforce made to study here, we thought life wouldn’t be as interesting. Both of us were more or less sure about that till we saw our new school.

Right adjacent, in fact, sharing a compound wall with our school was an all boys’ degree college. We were sixteen and we didn’t want life to pass by without boys featuring in it. Maybe leaving boarding wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

The boys in our school found us intriguing. We weren’t the girlie high society bitches or the nerdy spectacled first bench ones or even the generally good girls who didn’t fit into any particular category. We were a class of our own. Many tried hard to know us better but we didn’t entertain anyone who didn’t fit our bill of “the exceptional guy” who deserved our attention.

All these guys were so easy to get and that’s why hardly interesting. So we decided to search elsewhere and where else better than beyond the compound wall. Many girls surprisingly shared our view and so we weren’t alone in our guy watching.

Neha and I would stand in our usual spot in the first floor and eye the college guys. It wasn’t easy with comments like “Wow look at him!” or “What a hottie yaar!” hitting our eardrums at regular intervals from the hysterical girls surrounding us.

Aryan easily stuck out as a hot favourite among the girls. He played basketball after college hours and generally commanded a full house.

‘He’s so cute!’ Neha said leaning on the railing. ‘There’s something so warm about him.’

‘Yeah,’ I agreed because even I had noticed that, ‘he seems very huggable.’

‘I wish I could know him.’ She sighed.

‘He doesn’t seem to respond when girls directly approach him. That’s what our classmates have told us. So I think the best way,’ I said laughing, ‘is to stalk him. Maybe we can even send him anonymous notes and scare him and in that way get him interested in us.’

It was meant be very casual and be treated as nothing more than a joke but Neha immediately perked up.

‘That’s a great idea!’ She said, her face glowing.

I was flabbergasted. ‘I was joking Neha. You can’t just stalk anybody. We can get into serious trouble if we are caught.’

‘I think its high time we had trouble. I am beginning to miss our reckless life.’

‘But Neha this is not an innocent prank, we could get into serious trouble!’ I repeated half annoyed and half excited. Especially after that Kajal incident…’

‘Let’s not talk about that. This is not like that.’

She had an evil glint in her eye. ‘Don’t worry sweetie. We are smart, we can get out of any trouble anytime and I bet something good will result with this.’

And with that, she decided and I was compelled to stalk the cute guy with spiky hair.

 

I didn’t know that trailing someone could be so much fun! We imagined ourselves to be like the Secret Seven on the trail of some dreaded criminal.

We learnt that his name was Aryan Varma. He was studying commerce and was in his final year. He was the topper in class and, we think, even in the university. He was good in almost everything he tried his hand at. That was a good enough reason for us to be justified in our actions. We really had to know him.

He didn’t travel by his bike or jeep, instead walked the two kilometres daily to college or otherwise cycled it or took a bus. We deduced that he might not know how to drive. But the deduction proved wrong when we saw him drive both jeep and bike on different occasions.

It was only later we knew that he was a nature lover. He hated dirtying the environment especially if it meant burning gas for short distances.

His policy was: use the most appropriate vehicle when required. When there are more than two people who need to travel in a hurry from point A to point B, separated by large distances, use a car or a four-wheeler. For two or less than two people use a two-wheeler. Under unavoidable conditions it was allowed to use a four-wheeler for two or less than two people. But as far as possible use public transport or otherwise save energy by using physical energy, thereby keeping fit too. It was very difficult to follow his policies and that’s why there can only be one Aryan.

 

We also observed that he spent a lot of time with boys and hardly any time with girls. Girls who were unduly interested in him he smartly avoided. Neha concluded that he either had a very jealous girl friend or that he believed in arranged marriages. We hoped desperately that both were false.

We were quite surprised that he didn’t realise we were following him everywhere. We concluded that he might be dumb.

 

We had already tailed him for a week and were prepared to do another.

One day he played basketball for a little while longer. Both of us were waiting at the end of the road for him to pass by. We had already informed at home that we would be late because we had to copy some notes from our friend.

‘It’s so late. Why is he taking so long?’ Neha said through a mouthful of bhel puri. Both of us were hungry and decided to fill ourselves with chaats. I just shrugged without replying because I put a whole pani puri in my mouth. I looked from behind Neha and saw him walking with his bag around his shoulders and hands in his pockets.

‘There he is!’ I said tugging at her arm.

‘Okay, we wait till he reaches the end of the road and then we start.’ Neha said disposing her empty paper plate.

I quickly ate the rest of the pani puris and the moment he turned at the end of the road we started walking.

It was twilight and the streetlights were on. He was going a different route this time and Neha wondered whether he was going to meet his girl friend –if he had one that is –and both of us quickened our pace.

We followed him to an empty residential road with houses on its either sides and trees standing like guards in front of them.

I suddenly had an idea.

‘Neha, let’s whistle at him.’ I whispered.

It was a horrible idea but as usual her eyes widened in excitement and she nodded vigorously.

‘Yeah! That’s a superb idea! I’ll whistle and then we’ll hide behind that tree.’ She pointed to a big one on the right side of the road.

I held onto the tree trunk while she stood a step away from it.

‘Ready?’ she whispered. I nodded. She let out a shrill whistle and then hurried next to me. We giggled silently and peeped from behind the tree and sure enough he looked behind him puzzled but then turned and started walking again.

‘Again?’

‘Yup.’ I replied rubbing my hands together.

She let out a louder whistle this time and again ran back to the hiding place. It was so thrilling that I wanted to go to the loo badly. Both of us waited a second and then peeped. This time we didn’t see him anywhere.

‘Where is he?’ Neha said looking puzzled.

‘I think he must have got scared and bolted.’ I said laughing quietly as goose bumps flooded my skin.

‘Oh that’s bad.’ She said obviously disappointed at such a tame ending. ‘Should we search for him?’

‘It’s dark and too late.’ I said glancing at my watch. ‘I think we should go home. We’ll give him another fright tomorrow. Maybe we’ll call out his name instead of whistling.’

‘Hmm.’ She looked disappointed.

We both walked back slowly.

‘I think he took one of the turnings and disappeared.’ I said voicing the most obvious possibility. ‘Don’t worry we’ll follow him again tomorrow.’

‘Why are you girls following me?’

The voice was so sudden and unexpected that both of us screamed loudly. He was standing right behind us. We looked at him and screamed even louder. He was taken aback at our reaction and stepped behind a tree. Both of us held each other tight and breathed rapidly. I didn’t know why but I wanted to run away as fast as possible but my feet, as though stuck with glue, wouldn’t budge. The terror struck look on Neha’s face convinced me that she was thinking along the same lines.

He peeped from behind the tree when he saw that both of us had stopped screaming. If we weren’t scared out of our wits, it would’ve been a very comical situation.

He stepped out hesitantly.

‘Why did you both scream like that?’ he asked. ‘You scared the hell out of me. Somebody might think that I was trying to rape you girls.’

I felt Neha tense next to me. Suddenly without warning she turned and ran. I was shocked and hurt that she left me but all those emotions lasted only for a split second, and soon I was sprinting behind her.

I think I heard him call us, but now that my previously immobile feet were moving I couldn’t issue any orders to my brain to tell it to stop. Both of us ran in abandon and without even a reason or an explanation we said bye and took our individual routes home.

It was only when I entered my room that the first flushes of embarrassment crept in. Why did we run like that? What would he be thinking of us?

I went to sleep that night dreaming of a man chasing me with an axe all the way home.

 

The next day I met a very subdued Neha. She asked the same questions which I asked myself repeatedly. Why did we run like that? What would he be thinking of us? How will we ever face him? I tried to console her but she seemed very dejected and that was when I had my first doubts.

That evening, after school, we had our first encounter with the very person we were trying so hard to avoid. Aryan was leaning against a tree opposite our school gate apparently waiting for us, because when he saw us he smiled and walked towards us. Neha looked paralysed and my brain wasn’t sure whether to move my feet or not. He stopped in front of us.

‘It’s light and there are enough people around us so is it okay now?’ he smiled again. Even his smile was cute. Neha just stared dumbly at him and my doubts were more or less confirmed.

I managed to find my tongue. ‘What do you want from us?’ I asked trying hard to hide the nervousness from my voice.

‘Well,’ he laughed, ‘I thought I should be asking you that question. Why was I being followed from the past two weeks?’

I bit my lip. It was such an awkward situation that I wasn’t sure how to begin.

‘Actually…uh…it’s a long story…’

‘Don’t worry I have all the time in the world.’ He said crossing his arms as though emphasising it. ‘In fact it would be even better if we could talk it over a cup of cold coffee and brownies. You do know that we own a café called Sweet Tooth?’

Both of us nodded.

‘That would provide a better ambience than this. Have you been there?’

Both of us shook our heads.

‘Then let me invite you personally for a treat.’ He smiled his cute smile again.

With that both of us followed him like the children followed the Pied Piper of Hamlin.

 

We had a smashing time. He was funny and sportive and was flattered when we told him about our attempts to get to know him.

‘I just want to know who whistled at me yesterday because it was better than the ones I’ve heard guys do.’

Neha blushed magenta and Aryan gave her a small bow. I smiled at her expression.

We told him all about our pranks, something that we don’t normally disclose to people. He was horrified at our absolute brazenness and begged us never to play one on him. As the day wore I realised instinctively that from that day on he would form a part of our small group.

On our way back home I observed that Neha looked very tipsy though I wasn’t sure whether it was because of Aryan or because of the rum in the walnut brownie.

‘So should I ask you or will you tell me about it.’

She grinned at me. ‘Yes I have a big…no huge…no humongous crush on Aryan.’

She stretched her hands wide around her. ‘He’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. He is so different from all the guys we’ve known. So lovable!’

‘Ooh!’ I said grinning widely at her. ‘So what are you going to do about it?’

‘I want to tell him.’

‘Don’t tell him anything now. Wait for sometime. Let him fall in love with you and then make him propose to you.’ I said. ‘It’s always the guys who propose first. Remember that.’

‘That was in the Victorian age. Now it doesn’t matter.’ She said. ‘I want to sing and dance and shout from the rooftops. I feel I am floating.’

I giggled. ‘You’ve gone crazy. When are you going to tell him?’

‘I don’t know. Soon, I guess…’

 

The soon never came. She kept procrastinating. I guess she wasn’t sure how he would respond to her. He hadn’t mentioned about any girl he favoured above others, but even then she was scared of being rejected.

We got introduced to his father and brother and we in turn introduced him to our parents. They just fell in love with him.

He never actively took part in our escapades but was always there to save us when the need arose, so much so, that we began to call him our very own Superman. We were inseparable.

 

Soon the day arrived when he told us about his true nature.

It all happened the day when his best friend Mahesh fell in love with a girl. It was the first time we saw him cry and were alarmed. Slowly he opened up and told us everything.

He loved men and had loved Mahesh secretly for the past three years. He was his first love. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing but I wondered about Neha. She looked open mouthed at him, too stunned to digest it. For a second I thought that she might laugh at the incredulity of it all but she masked the shock and expressed only a grief, which I knew she felt dearly.

From that day on her demeanour towards him changed. She lost her starry-eyed look that she reserved for him and became a friend to him like I was. She would tease him and joke that the three of us needed boy friends.

I was secretly relieved with the way things had turned out because deep down I was scared that I would lose two friends had they fallen in love with each other. Maybe I believed in the unsaid rule in love that best friends should never become lovers.

 

‘What time is Sanjay coming to pick you up?’ Aryan’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

‘He’ll come near the post office at around one ‘o’ clock.’ I said leaning forward to clasp Neha’s headrest.

‘So that’ll give you one hour to look pretty. Where are you planning to go to?’

‘First a movie and then to Noshery for lunch.’

‘I don’t think you should be going. You hardly know this guy.’

‘That’s why she’s going.’ Neha interrupted.

‘Don’t listen to her Naina, she’s a bad influence on you and you know that.’ He said glaring at Neha.

‘I still have around four hours to decide.’ I said wondering why I needed so long to make up my mind.

‘Out of which you’ll be spending three hours on the exam.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway it’s your decision. Don’t come to me when you are in trouble because I won’t be there to help you.’

‘Oh that’s impossible Aryan!’ I replied pinching his cheeks. ‘I know that if I call on you, you’ll be there. I can’t help but rely on you.’

‘All right stop buttering me.’ He said looking pleased. ‘There we’ve reached.’

He stopped the jeep and waited as Neha and I scrambled out.

‘So will you be here by twelve to pick us up?’ Neha asked Aryan, smiling expectantly.

He looked like he had half a mind to disappoint her but then he nodded his head.

‘Yippee!’ She squealed, ruffling his hair and in the process flattening his spikes.

‘Hey!’ He yelled, trying to reach out and hit her but she moved out of his way. He hated anyone spoiling his hair and Neha brought it upon herself to torment him like this.

‘All the best sweetie.’ Neha said to me. ‘Concentrate first on the exam. We’ll bother about other things later on.’

I needed all the luck for the day but first I have to come out unscathed from my first battle. I clenched my teeth as I walked through the gate for my psychology paper.