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.