Chapter 2: Face-Off

Home, 8^th July 2009

The Sun was high in the sky exuding light and heat energy. I could hear birds chirping, guys competing over football, shrieking every time a goal was scored or whenever any cute girl passed by and of course, the blare of ear deafening Hanuman chalisa being played at Shukla auntie’s place. It was an ordinary day and I was doing usual stuff, stuff responsible for keeping a person fresh. I like doing it quite often, simply lying on the bed killing time through FM, not on music but checking out the level of joblessness among Radio jockeys, ridiculing every second of their funny accented gibberish, which is a matter of amusement for me and if it doesn’t sate my craving for killing time, I draw random pictures on books from old school days, expressing my rail at them. I despised studies all my life. Once I used my washing machine to avenge all the pain and suffering that I had to go through caused by studies one way or another. I had developed this hobby of drawing on books during pre-boards, drawing was the only thing which had connected me with the books and I used to cling to books just to draw, nothing else. To my parents it appeared as if I were studying rigorously for examinations, day in, day out. I read somewhere that, books are your best friends. Well I agree, books were my best friends.

Mail Mothfcuker, My desktops e-mail alert tone after getting inspired from Euro-trip. Sad movie.

‘Aargh…what now?’ I complained.

  

Message popped up on desktop screen coerced me to get up and have a look at it. Reluctantly, I made my way to the desktop stumbling here and there in search for belongings which one could use to carry out one’s morning ablutions. I sat on the chair with a tooth brush in my mouth. I open up the mail which was an invitation card for a party that weekend.

What is this? I was confused as the sender’s name and address were not mentioned. The Email id was also not much revealing, monstrous_laugh@gmail.com. I laughed to myself. Who in the world keeps such a weird email ID…but, you never know.

Who the hell is this? Should I reply back? Ok, let me do it.

I started replying with an evil grin on my face.

Dhoom macha le, dhoom macha le

Dhoom macha le, dhoom macha le

Dhoom macha le, dhoom macha le

Dhoom, dhoom, dhoom…

Ohhh…its Veni.

Veni was my classmate in school. Her problem is, she thinks she is a he. We used to fight a lot in school over frivolous fruitless things every now and then. But today we are friends with best interests for each other. She can do anything for me, I know it and I can do anything for her, she knows it as well. By anything I meant anything, literally or figuratively. She knows me better than myself and I think that sometimes she even reads my mind. She knows all my secrets, all my desires, my wants, my passions and my frustrations. She is the only person from whom I take advice on relationships, which I regret most of the time after taking. I have this secret pact with her that if we both stay single by the time we turn 30 we’ll walk down the aisle together. Funny…isn’t it? Told her, but she is hell of a crazy person.

‘Yelloww’

‘Strange! You are awake, at this hour of the day, who is the lucky girl?’ she asked sarcastically.

‘Huh? You think you’re funny? Go to laughter challenge then, I swear, Siddhu would die laughing at you and your Phunny zokes’ I retorted with an equal zest.

‘No, I was serious. You sure your biological clock is in fine fettle? It’s only 10.30 in the morning. You still have got 2 hours short.’ She said, putting stress on the numbers.

‘Whatever… hey, guess what happened just now? I got a mail from some bugger with a weird email address for a party this weekend. And the funny part is the sender’s email ID, monstrous_laugh@gmail.com. Can you believe it?’ I was laughing my ass off.

‘Yeah I can believe it. It is just an invitation, right?’ she said firmly.

‘I know, but you are missing the point here. The point is, were you listening when I told you about the email ID.. monstrous_laugh@gmail.com, ring any bells? And you know what, I am replying to it and from now on this person would think twice before writing another invitation without proper information’ I said, somehow maintaining the balance of my laughing ass on the chair.

‘You….’ She was about to say something.

‘Sent’ I interrupted after heaving a sigh.

‘Received’ she confirmed in high timbre.

‘Oooh… So you were this guy with monstrous laugh?’ I exclaimed.

‘Arey yaar, I forgot my old password so made this new ID. Eewww, You are disgusting. By looking at this reply of yours I must say, you have mastered the art of swearing quite well. I see brightness in your future.’ She said with a coat of conspicuous disgust in her expression.

‘Thanks’ I said, strutting around in the room.

‘Yeah, so this Saturday evening. My place. See you there.’

‘What’s the occasion?’ I scratched my head.

When is her birthday? Anything important this Saturday? Valentines Day? Check. Childrens Day? Check. What else…what else?

‘Arey, simply… regular get together. Be there on time’

‘Wokay Hitler’ I affirmed.

I jumped back onto the bed, over my books, around regular crappy RJs and whistles in the background. I got mesmerized back into my world of nothing as Hanuman Ji were smiling above flanked by clouds.

******

New Friends Colony, 11^th July 2009

The Azure sky turned into crimson red as the Sun crawled down the horizon. I wasn’t expecting this much of traffic on Saturdays but after almost 3 hours of driving through the polluted environment of Delhi roads, here I was, standing outside her apartment’s main gate. Gate keeper had done the regular enquiry before letting me into the society compound. As I marched to her place which was on the 7^th floor, en route I saw kids playing hide and seek, and it made me realize how swiftly time flies by. I saw a murky image of myself hiding in the bushes escaping the seeker. We all do play hide and seek; irrespective of how old we grow. Every now and then at office with our work, from time to time at home with our responsibilities and on occasions even with ourselves. But in certain situations, you just cannot hide.   It doesn’t take long for a hider to become a seeker. Everything is a fix. Everything is.

I guess I m already late. It’s almost 8. Slow down your pace man, what’s the point of rushing now? She’s gonna kill you anyway.

I rushed to the elevator as soon as I saw it closing at some distance.

‘Hello… Boss’ I yelled for the person inside.

Luckily they were only adjusting and opened the elevator door for me as soon as they heard me. I saw a relatively tall girl, dressed up pretty nicely or rather ravishingly and looking hot in her black dress. I don’t know what she was wearing but it looked really nice on her. As I have already said before she was relatively taller, that was in comparison to this guy she was with.  She smiled at me when I hopped inside like a bunny. I smiled back at her keeping a sideway look from the corner of my eye to the guy accompanying her. He was staring at me.

‘7^th floor please’ somehow I managed to say. She is a goddess.

Ohhh, it is 7^th already.  What’s his problem? Why the hell is he staring?

I turned around to check her out again and she winked at me.

Dude, did she really…!!! Do I know her or something? I wish I’d know her somehow. I thought and gave a crossed look to that guy again.

‘Honey?’ he said slowly, making an effort to confirm something.

I turned around for the voice. Short guy was stunned. I was surprised too. I wanted to know what surprised him or was it his normal face.

Why is he giving strange looks and why the fuck is his mouth open? Is there something on my shirt? Is something wrong with me or my hair? I turned around a couple of times restlessly which made that angel of mine beam, for a second though.

‘Honey!!! It’s me, Atul… you have changed a lot’ short guy said and started telling about himself.

I looked curiously at that creature who was claiming to be my classmate. His babbling was frustrating, reminding me of the old times when he used to jabber unnecessarily without putting much thought to what he was actually saying, in front of whom and in what situation. In a split second I realized;

‘Ohh, Atul… it’s you ‘I addressed him or this short guy after almost 4 years. Elevator door was wide open, wiping the smile off my face and shooing those clouds between my past and the present. I could see this short guy laughing aloud behind those shooing clouds.

Well, the good thing is you are not late and she is not going to kill you. So you can still live some more good years. I tried consoling myself as we walked towards her place.

‘704, there you go big guy.’ Short guy said after enthusiastically pressing the door bell.

Thanks Pingu. Yeah that was the name we gave him. I grinned at this self created mnemonic of my imagination.

‘You remember Parul? She was in commerce.’ He said pointing to the girl in black dress, standing right beside me, whose presence I’d almost forgot due to the shock I got in the elevator. Her plain sight is enough for a person to get cured of all ailments.

Nice…. Is she single?

‘And we 2 are into each other like anything. It’s been  almost 4 years. I can still remember the day when I proposed to her during farewell.’ He continued. I think he read my mind and said that stuff intentionally but the nodding girl was telling a different story.

Huh? Darn you stars’.

He jostled past me, pushing me out of their way to reach her and then hugged her. What an enviable sight it was. They look good together no matter how much I curse them or my stars’. Huh? Somebody please open this god damn door…and save me from this misery. Alas, my prayers were heard and the door was opened.

‘Hey guys!’ Veni popped her head out. ‘You guys go to the roof; others are already there. Idiot, you come in and help me with the stuff.’

‘Whatdapphhhu… you call this a party? What kind of host asks their guest to work? I’ll charge extra for this.’ I tried complaining moving my hands haphazardly.  

‘Alright alright, you and your tantrums.’ she said, closing the door behind my back ‘Btw, why are you alone?’ 

She went straight inside the kitchen and I was following her like a donkey after plastic radish. I’m not going to cook. Am I? Is she crazy enough to jeopardize this whole party? I bet she is…

‘Does it matter?’ I said with a smirk.

‘Yeah it does you dumbo; it’s a couple night out. Couple means pair, even if you have a guy with you. Get the point? Or you want me to articulate more?’ she was frowning ‘you should have told me before if you didn’t get a date, Sakshi was asking about you. I’d have fixed her for you.’

‘What are you now, A Matchmaker? Listen, you never told me to bring anybody. How the heck I’m supposed to know it’s a freaking party meant for stooopid couples.’ I resented. ‘Hey c’mon, is it really necessary to have a date? It’s not going to affect this party or anything. Right?”

‘I don’t know’ she sound distressed.

‘Are you guys on a sprint for somewhere? Abbey don’t worry. You guys are not going anywhere and I’ll be fine.’ I said joyfully ‘The moment I feel jaded, I’ll come right after you for a snuggling and dirty stuff. By dirty stuff you know what I mean… ‘I leered at her making gestures.

‘You better come, my love’ she reciprocated with the same energy and seductive tone. ‘Help me in taking these things to the roof’ she ordered.

‘Yes Master. Btw, where is Jithin?’ I inquired.

‘On the roof’ she answered with a wicked but lovely smile.

******

They were all sitting together laughing and talking. It was kind of a reunion of old classmates. I identified most of the faces from my own section. There were, Pingu and Parul sitting together holding hands and canoodling in the corner. Vishal, good friend of mine was sitting with Sakshi who waved at me as soon as I entered. Karan was dancing with his date to the soft music being played. I saw Jasmeet sitting before the laptop selecting all kinds of numbers and controlling the party’s mood; he had these big headphones on his head, doing head banging to the rhythm like a DJ. There were many other faces but I failed to recognize them.

This is great. ‘Hi….Hello…ssup Man!! ‘I greeted the moment I had any eye contact.

I settled down with Veni and Jithin. I was meeting them after a really long time. It’s been 4 years since they all passed school but nothing had changed much, of course some of the guys had bulging waists and receding hairlines but the girls had shaped up. I myself had added on a few pounds. It felt nice, again sitting in the circle like good old days. In school whenever there was any free period, we all used to sit in a circle and talk. Talk about regular issues, like girls…yeah that was the only issue we had for the circle as far as I remember.

The conversation was in flow.

‘You have changed a bit since we met last time!’ Girl sitting behind whispered. You know when girls get amazed or blow, their lips give out this weird shape of an alphabet O and a noise of “whooowhooo” like some alien race trying to haunt shit out of you or a witch doing black magic mumbo jumbo ready to knock you down with it.

‘Yeah, this is what you call life. Right?’ I turned around and nodded to have a better look of her. She was ok ok. I would give her a plain 5.5. She giggled

‘Guys, what about Chimpu?’ Sakshi asked.

‘The one who always talked about going to the States and flaunted goods his cousins there sent him. He was such a big mouth.’ Shikha asked. ‘You had a crush on him, right Sakshi?’

The others sniggered. Sakshi and Shikha exchanged glare.

I want a cat fight over this. c’mon. Show your true colors girlies.

"Well, he’s got through IIMA." Veni intervened. Sensing their cold war over this Chimpu, which was affecting this party.

Why Veni why?

Sakshi smiled, considering herself as the sole winner out of this situation and gave a beam to Shikha.

‘But I heard from somebody, he is involved with a guy over there, I don’t know if it’s a rumor.’ Veni asserted.

Sakshi’s smile evaporated the moment she heard the words ‘with a guy’.

Burn!! I clapped.

‘What are your plans for future, honey? ‘Sakshi shot at me as a desperate attempt of diverting others’ attention from the current topic.

‘I don’t know, I haven’t given much thought into it really. But right now I just want to have fun for sometime.’ I responded.

‘You should seriously think about your future brother. Take it seriously because you can’t compensate for things you could lose because of your so-called immature and irrational behavior.’ Vishal added his 2 cents.

I was like… speechless. I wasn’t expecting this.

‘Yeeaaah’ I managed a few words in reply which I would certainly not describe as sufficient for that moment.

Alright Mom, I’ll think about it. Can we again go back at being normal people without goals? Curse you…

‘What do you do for a living Vishal?’ I tried countering him.

‘Well, I help my dad with his import export business. We export textile stuff to Middle East and get back their stuff and distribute it in the local market. I have started working on new projects also, like diversifying the existing business.’ He said gracefully.

He continued with his highly structured dreams and sophisticated plans for future, giving every minute detail. I don’t know why it was only me, who almost slept while others were listening spellbound. He was charming; his talks were hypnotizing and his way of captivating others made me jealous. He had all those qualities which I resented and only wanted for myself. Suddenly I started looking at him like a villain with big teeth protruding outward and a big pointed nose moving hither and thither in a comical way, when unexpectedly he got up abruptly and rushed for taking some call.

Thank god. My curses started showing their effect, late though. I think he had too much today. Natures call. I laughed.

‘That was quite inspirational. I am moved.’ I ridiculed. But nobody buttressed me. ‘C’mon… that guy was horrible. Don’t tell me you guys didn’t feel it that way. He wasn’t even funny. I kept quite because I thought he’d cry if I say something witty.’ everybody gave me a scornful look.

‘You guys are boring.’ I grumbled. ‘Hey, can I have a refill?’

The conversation shifted to the personal lives of their friends. Most of them were either committed or were planning to take their vows in a couple of years.

Maybe he is right. I should think about my future. Really? Noah... I am better this way. Imosional fools.

I stood up in derision and moved to the other side of the terrace near the bar for restocking my empty glass. I noticed the girl sitting behind, trailing me and she ordered something… something blue.

‘If I’d be you, I’d think twice before having it. Try this one, its better.’ I prompted.

‘Are you trying to get me drunk? That blue thing is lemonade.’  She sneered.

Never trust any online guide for flirting though one-liners. They factually suck.

I looked back and saw Vishal back on his chair, talking to others about his heroic deeds on reviving his comatose bedridden import-export business and how he saved it from the immoral government and evil competitors. Everybody listened to this sage embellishing halo over head with immense fascination.

He is a non stop chatter box.

‘You look distracted’ the girl asked.

‘Yeah I think I’m gonna puke.’ I said cheerlessly.

‘Hey, it’s little crowded up here… do you wanna go and have some coffee at my place?  I’m Sonali, Veni’s neighbor.’ She introduced herself.

I could use a cup of coffee. I love coffee.  It takes things off my mind.

‘Hi, Honey here. Veni’s best friend ‘I told my part.

We exchanged a handshake and smile, needless to say. I stood up and told Veni that I was going downstairs for a while. She gave a mischievous smile to Sonali who was standing next to me. I got hold of one more precious piece of information in the form of girls hidden communication style. Trust me folks…they can speak a lot just through their eyes.

‘What was that for?’ I asked Sonali as we started walking.

‘Nothing, she is obtuse sometimes. You know her better than me. Right?’ she chuckled.

Is it what I think it is? I smiled.

The moment we reached the terrace doors, a girl passes by with alacrity. We made an eye connection for a brief moment. Folk’s, eyes do talk and this was a confirmatory test.

With her skates on, she dashed inside and hugged Veni. They got into talking. Vishal also came to them and connected quickly.

‘Jessica?’ I murmured under my breath. It was a shock which came like a bolt from the blue. I don’t know… I have no more faith in my stars. Fuck them.

I was looking at both of them from back, when I became conscious. He was the same guy I saw Jess with, the other day near the metro station. ‘Jess and Vishal’ I thought. Suddenly the thought of hiding somewhere crisscrossed my mind. Hide and seek is inevitable. This tribulation of face-off created strife in my mind.

‘Shall we move?’ Sonali invited.

All I could manage was ‘Oh yeah… good.’

I just stood there for I don’t know how much time. Clouds mustered in the firmament with lightening strokes jolting mother earth sporadically at a distance. Few water droplets fell on me, if truth be told it felt so nice. Wild tumult for refuge against rain on the terrace created bedlam, Triggering pandemonium of thoughts in my mind.