Category: Shorts

The following is an extract from I Am Ahmedabad, a collection of short stories

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I am a HLCC (H L Commerce College) alumni. I can’t tell anything more about me here; because I have recently got married and am happy with life. And the story that I’m sharing here is not about my wife.

We were classmates. We used to hang out together with our group and used to have our own share of fun. Our regular addas used to be Red Rose, Shambhu’s and the LD kitli. But we had never met alone. Neither at HL nor at any of those places. And we did not even know each other’s home. So, in short, we were good friends of the same group.

But that day, it was raining like never before. A lot of areas of the city were water-logged and it was difficult to move around from one place to another. Luckily for me, the scenario had got worse only after she had left home for HL. So by the time the rains had become really wild, she had already reached HL.

So there she was, stuck at the college with no possibility of her turning back immediately. Simply because the rain was way too harsh for her to ride her Kinetic Honda back home. More than the rain, the idea of getting stuck into any of the potholes forced her to stay back. While we did have each others’ numbers, I was not the first one on her list of speed dials. But after a couple of calls to others in the group, she came to know that I stay nearby the college itself.

“Hi, I hope your parents would allow me to stay back at your place if the rain does not stop” – she tried to joke. But the fear and irritation was clear in her voice. Fear of ‘what now’ and irritation for ‘why did I have to come’.

“Wait, I’m coming there” – I say, after a bit of, nothing actually. She tried to stop me, but only faintly.

I was surprised at myself for wanting so badly to be with her at that moment.

Luckily, the college authorities allowed even students to drive straight up to the main building. There she was, sitting at front door, fiddling with her cell phone. I had never been happier seeing her. As I said, it was surprising.

But what took the cake was the wide, genuine smile on her face the moment she saw me.

“Oh God”. It was beautiful. Her beautiful face. Her beautiful smile. No, no – her beautiful wet face; her beautiful wet smile. It was then that I realised how much I had waited for the moment, while never being aware of it.

“Come in. At least the car has music.”

She almost rushed to the car with her now magical smile.

I had never, ever had brought car to the college. Simply because I live in the lane next to HL and coming on a bike is much more comfortable. And since no one else in my group had car, I thought it was not proper to do that too. And now, she was in my car with all the readiness of a school kid.

We could not help but keep smiling while sitting right there, at the college porch. I once suggested going somewhere for a drive. But I guess it was way too much, too soon for her. And yet, being the insistent me, I did convince her to go to towards the CEPT circle. Once there, we did more of the same – smile, talk and give each other a look of discovering a new friend.

We spent close to five hours in the car that day. And nothing except my bladder thought it to be anything more than one beautiful moment.

Unfortunately, the next morning itself was a routine one. That was two years ago. But when I think back, I think it was love. Pure like raindrops.

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The following is an extract from I Am Ahmedabad, a collection of short stories

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Hi, this is Aditi. How may I help you?”

“Hi, this is Nishant again. I’m sorry our call had got cut the last time.”

“How did you get through the same person, me, again, so soon, Mr. Nishant”, the knowledge of Nishant’s background was unmistakable in Aditi’s voice.

“Well, I don’t know. I just dialled the call-center number again and I got you. If you wish, I can put the phone down.”

There’s silence for a moment. Aditi struggles to figure out whether Nishant was playing with her or was genuinely unaware. And then, she suddenly realises something.

“Why would you think that this is a call center, Mr. Nishant?”

(“Oops”) “Well”, Nishant re-arranges his thoughts, “I’ve just come back from the US and I know that most such helpline tasks are outsourced these days. So I thought, maybe, this one’s a call-center too”

“That’s so smart of you Mr. Nishant”, Aditi fires a little sarcasm at Nishant. “Yes, it indeed is a call center.”

“Oh, OK. Cool.”

“So, you like call centers, Mr. Nishant?”

(“Wow, she’s having a go at me!” ha ha) “Well, ya, sort of. Am in the same business.”

“I can see that in your records. NishTECH Valley Pvt. Ltd., that’s your Company, right Mr. Nishant?”

“Ya, it is. Cool.”

“And you want to now buy our Company. Right, Mr. Nishant?”

(“Whoa! She knows it? What should I say?”) (takes a moment and then laughs) “I wish I could, Ms. Aditi. Then at least my Company would have had a nightingale. Right Ms. Aditi.” (laughs again)

Aditi finally loses it: “Look mister, I don’t know who you are and how do you know my office name. I don’t even care if you are going to buy this Company or not. Because I’m going to leave this Company anyway. And so would a lot of others. I’m sure of it. But what I would like to know before that is how do you know about me.”

“What if I say that it’s a trade secret. And that I can’t tell you?”

“What if I bang the phone down on you right now?”

“What if I say, I will make you the boss of this Company?”

“What if I say, I don’t care to be the boss of a Company that starts the process of getting sold without even letting its employees about it?”

“What if I say, that it is a routine practice across the globe?”

“What if I say, I give two hoots to routine practices?”

“What if I say, that’s one of the reasons I love you Aditi?”

(“WHAT! WHAT DID HE JUST SAY? BLOODY CREEP!”) (With simmering anger) “And what if I say, Mr. Nishant, that even at 3 AM in the morning, you sound just as freshly sick as you would during the day?”

(laughs) “Well Aditi …”

“Please call me Ms. Aditi, Mr. Nishant.”

“When did THAT come in code of conduct of the callers. We can call you by your first names, if we wish, Aditi.”

“Who the &$#& is this?”

“Nishant, Nishant Vaidya”

“Do I know you, Nishant?”

“Hey, hey. Call me Mr. Nishant, Aditi”, Nishant takes a fun potshot at Aditi.

(Not that Aditi cared much for it, as she repeats her query in the same vein) “Do I know you, Nishant?”

“You’d once said that one day you will marry me.”

“What! What nonsense. I don’t even know you. This is such a disgusting trick.”

(smiles) “This is no trick Aditi. I know you.”

“How? From where?”

“We were together in school.”

“What! When? Which school? Which class?”

“When you were in Class 1 and 2 and …”

“Class 1 and 2! I don’t even remember anything of class 1 and 2. And I don’t think there was anyone called Nishant Vaidya in my entire school life.”

“Yes, there wasn’t.”

“Matlab?”

“I wasn’t called Nishant in class 1 and 2. And neither was I a Vaidya then.”

“What is this, some kind of a Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thhi kinda story or what?”

(laughs) “It’s even worse.” (laughs again)

(Not sure why but Aditi too couldn’t help but smile. And also got amused by Nishant’s cool as cucumber temperament)

“I have no idea what you are talking about. And I don’t even know why I’m talking with you. I thought you would be a serious person, considering you are supposed to buy this Company. But after talking with you, I guess it’s not going to happen. My Company is safe.”

(laughs) “So be it, Aditi. But can I complete my K-story?”

(smiles) “Ya, go ahead. Amuse me.” (smiles more)

(laughs) “When you were …”

“OK, wait a minute. Which school are we talking of here?”

“Our school, which else?”

“Well, I know where I studied my class 1 and 2. Which school do you think we were together in?”

“Ms. Sherelock Holmes, we were together in ASIA English school.”

(“Oh my God! He knows it all!”) “Wow! You’ve really done your homework.”

“Yes, I have. These days I call it groundwork.”

“Hmmm!” Aditi starts getting sucked into the conversation and the enigma in the form of Nishant.

“Anyway, when you were class 2,  I was in Class 8 … ”

(”Oh, yeh toh UNCLEJI hain”)

“…and I was called Nisarg Mehta.”

“Matlab? You’re not Nishant Vaidya?” (Aditi was now getting totally confused. Not that she needed much to confuse her.

“Oh God, wait. Don’t talk again till I complete myself.”

(Aditi gets taken aback a little at the confident authority shown by Nishant. It tickles her inner self.)

(Nishan continues) “I was Nisarg Mehta till class 9. But then my parents got separated and I started living with my mummy, a Vaidya. Because of the bitterness associated with the whole thing, she changed my name from Nisarg to Nishant. And I became Nishant Vaidya.”

“I don’t believe this!”

“What? I mean you don’t believe that such things can happen or you don’t believe me only?”

“Well, I don’t know …”

(Laughs) “You won’t believe this, but you used to say ‘I don’t know’ even when you were a small kid.”

“What rubbish. How can anyone remember things that happened 14 years ago, especially when those things happen at a very small age.”

“Well Aditi, 14 years ago, I was already 13 years old”

(”Uncleji”)

“I’m sure you would be thinking me to be uncle-like.”

(”WHAT! Is he a mind reader or what?”) “Of course not, 27 is very young.”

“Wow! Though I don’t think you are speaking the truth, it was great to hear that.”

(Smiles) “You do have guts to accuse someone of lying, right on that person’s face.”

“I couldn’t have reached here without guts, you see. Wait, I’ll send you my picture to you.”

(Startled) “What!”

“Yes, I’m sending it.”

“Where!”

“Sent it. You’ll get it in a moment. Check your phone.”

“You know my number.”

(Smiles naughtily) “Yes, Aditi.”

“How?”

“Someone very close to you gave it to me.”

Just then, Aditi’s boss happens to cross Aditi’s desk. Aditi, still shocked at the news of her number being known to Nishant, looks at her boss with a puzzled look. The boss stops and asks in gesture about the person she was talking to.
Aditi silently lips Nishant’s name.

The boss raises her eyebrows in surprise. Suddenly, Aditi’s phone receives an MMS.

“I just got the deliver report. I think you’ve got it. Have a look.”

Aditi does not speak anything and starts opening the message on her phone. The boss waits for a moment and finding Aditi busy with the two phones, leaves the place.

(”Wow! Style bhai hai”)

“Got it?”

“I will see it in the morning. I’m at work at the moment.”

(Laughs) “Ok. No probs.”

There is a long pause. Aditi keeps on looking at Nishant’s picture and Nishant dreams a bit more about the future.

“Hello?”

(Naughtily) “Yes Aditi?”

“Is there anything more?”

“I guess this is enough for the moment. Remember, I’ve made you an offer of you becoming the boss of the Company that you are working in.”

“Oh come on. I don’t want to become any boss-woss.”

“Anyway. And the second proposal from me would be told to you tomorrow morning by uncle-aunty. Your parents i.e.”

“WHAT! You know my parents too?”

“Very, very well.”

“How! Oh my God, what is this, how?”

“Well, apart from many other reasons, I was born at your mum’s hands.”

“What!”

“And that one of the clients of my USA office is your dad’s Company.”

“What!”

(Laughs) “That is a lot of ‘whats’, Aditi.”

“What? I mean …”

Nishant bursts out laughing.

“I don’t believe this. It all feels like some CIA plot.

“Well, it was a plot alright. Because I wanted to be with you since the day you had said you would marry me, as a 6 year-old.”

“Where did that happen?”

“During the play that we had staged in the colony.”

“Oh my God yes! I remember that.”

“Finally.”

“But it was only a play. I was just saying the lines.”

“But I felt them even then, as a 12 year-old.”

“What?”

(Laughs) “Ask your parents about the rest. Thanks for the help, Ms. Aditi.”

As the smiling Nishant puts the phone down, he knows that his dreams were now about to come true. “Wow!”

###

Concluded.

The following is an extract from I Am Ahmedabad, a collection of short stories

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Her colleagues at the call center call her the nightingale of the Company. Because she would often make the callers listen to the Company ringtone till they understood the nuances of the composition.

Not that her boss appreciated the approach much. But then, a few perks do come along with your being one of the best human resource glue of the graveyard shift! Ever since Aditi joined the Company, the resignation average of the night shift has come down from two employees per month to one employee in the last six months. Her boss knows that it was, to a great extent, due to Aditi. Unfortunately for him, so does Aditi.

It is not that Aditi is an irresponsible worker. On the contrary, she’s a smart and efficient worker. It’s just that she doesn’t mind having a little fun once in a while. And like all fun-loving people, she is extremely popular with everyone around.

But being popular is not a new thing for Aditi; the 21 year-old, pleasantly plump and very pretty girl has always been her family’s darling. Never a topper, never anything less than above average, taking life in her stride came naturally to her. Maybe because she’s always led a shielded life – a close-knit social group, a school that had a lot of her family friends and other good kids and a call-center job that she neither exactly needed nor had to work hard for. But then, you can’t blame someone for having a good run in life, can you?

Funnily, while almost every boy that has ever been her friend or has seen her feels that she carries a few kilos extra, almost everyone believes that losing those kilos would take away a bit of her magic. And so, as it happens quite rarely actually, boys and girls alike love her the way she is.

What never hurt Aditi’s cause is the fact that she not only can talk politics and a little – or lets say adequate amount – of sports, she’s quite a rage in the pyjama parties that she often throws up at home for her colleagues. Largely because she is often the most vocal and open about sharing her “little brush here and a little squeeze there”. While she would feel quite excited while sharing her stories of occasional touchy-feely-teasy moments with boys, she has this enviable knack of making other girls talk too.

But then, it helps to have a family that allows its only daughter to not only call over about half-a-dozen girls for a night-over at least once a month but also to share small quantities of vodka amongst the group! Yes, a little Vodka; once every few months, in Ahmedabad. Army canteen zindabad!

So there, a hybrid, happy daughter of a Gujarati businessman and a North Indian doctor mummy in Indian Army – that’s what Aditi is. And nothing of that detail ever made any difference to her. Or to her friends. For, when life is beautiful, you generally close your eyes, see heaven with your heart and feel the breeze on your face.

But life at a call center, especially in the graveyard shift can be a little more real than that.

Beep!

“Hi, this is Aditi. How may I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Nishant, calling from 10039876. My DSL connection doesn’t seem to be working since yesterday.”

“Just a moment Mr. Nishant, I’ll have a look of your account in our system. Can I put you on hold for a moment, Mr. Nishant?”

“Don’t have much of an option do I?”

(Taken aback initially, Aditi smiles at the response) “Well, Mr. Nishant, hearing a pleasing music would be better for you than hearing the noise of the keyboard while I look into the matter.”

“I’m fine with the keyboard noise Ms. Aditi. And maybe I can talk with you too.”

(“Saala chaalu, flirt; ladki dekhi nahin ki chalu ho gaya”) “I’m sorry Mr. Nishant, as per our company laws, I can’t …”

“I know all your company laws Ms. Aditi …”

“I’m sorry Mr. Nishant but …”

“I also know that they call you the nightingale of your Company … Ms. Aditi”

There’s silence for a moment.

(With intrigue and irritation) “Who’s this?”

“Told you Ms. Aditi, this is Nishant here”

There’s silence again.

“Just a moment, Mr. Nishant”

And Aditi quickly puts the caller on hold, making him here the Company ringtone. And immediately shouts towards her colleagues “Does anyone know any Nishant?”

“Shh”, her colleagues immediately shout back at her. And her boss, who was passing through her end of the cubicles, stops and gives her an angry, cold look. “Meet me after the call”.

“Yes sir.”

But before she could finish saying that, Aditi notices that the caller had put the phone down. The call may have ended, but the matter had not. Aditi searches for the account of the caller on her system.

‘Nishant Vaidya, NishTECH Valley Pvt. Ltd., S G Highway, Ahmedabad’

(“Who is this guy; I don’t know him. [pause] Anyway, time to face the boss’ music”)

“Can I come in, boss?”

Her boss merely gestures here to enter his cabin and sit. Aditi promptly gets seated in front of the boss.

“What was that Aditi?”

“Sir …”

“There is a difference between a cafetaria and the work cubicle, right?”

“The caller was trying to get personal with me”

“Don’t we go through a training to tackle those kind of callers?”

“No, we don’t.”

(Startled) “Excuse me?”

“Well, sir, he was not getting abusive or anything. He just said that he knows that everyone calls me a nightingale here”

(Pauses a little, thinks) “Must be an old friend of yours”

“I’ve never had a friend called Nishant Vaidya.”

“What?”

“Why is that surprising? Am I supposed to have a friend by that name?”

(laughs) “No, I mean. Are you sure the person’s name was Nishant Vaidya?’

“Yes sir.”

“Did you check his details on the system?”

“Yes I did. He’s with some firm called NishTECH Valley Pvt. Ltd.”

“He himself called you?”

(With a surprised look and tone) “Yes. Why?”

“So, he had called for a genuine problem or he just wanted to talk with you?”

“The system does not show anything. (Irritated) But what is this about? Do you know him?”

(Pauses, guages Aditi’s mood) “Ah well, sort of. I mean he’s a fellow IT guy.”

There is a discomforting silence in the room. Aditi keeps looking at her boss with an expression that spoke of her smelling something fishy.

The boss finds it difficult to hold any longer and gives up:

“Well, Nishant Vaidya is a NRI …well, not actually an NRI …he is someone who’s in the US for the last 8 years and is now coming back to Ahmedabad.”

Aditi finds things getting increasingly curious, while her boss, for no apparent reason, gets increasingly nervous. And as Aditi merely keeps looking at him, the boss is forced to speak again:

“Well, he’s coming back to Ahmedabad for good. And he wants to grow through the route of acquisition of an IT or ITES Company. For the purpose …(pauses) he’s had two talks with our management too.”

There is now complete silence, as both keep looking at each other, thinking their own, different thoughts. Aditi gradually gets the import of her immediate boss’ last statement, as her face starts getting a little agitated.

“Our Company is getting sold?”

(Thinks for a moment) “Well, let’s say some other management might takeover this Company.”

“Oh come on sir. At 3 in the morning, you don’t want to give me political correctness, do you?”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“No, you are not.”

The boss looks startled.

“If you were doing your job, you would have told us earlier that we might lose our jobs soon.”

“Hey, who talked of anyone losing jobs here!”

“Doesn’t that happen all the time in the case of change of ownership?”
“It doesn’t…”
“Oh, so those rumours were all correct! Oh my God! Kavita and Piyush were talking about this, like two months ago. Oh my God, has it been happening for that long?”

“You trust Kavita and Piyush? I’m amazed.”

“Well, why not? They are my colleagues.”

“Oh I see. So what was it when a certain Team Leader called Aditi had claimed that all that those two want to do is to get into each other’s pants!”

(Gets just a bit defensive) “So? That doesn’t make them unreliable.”

The boss can’t help but break into a sarcastic half smile:

“Aditi, we’re wasting our time here. I think you should go back to your workstation.”

Aditi, never a person who could leave a matter without seeing it’s logical conclusion gets irritated; and speaks just a bit loudly. Not much, and yet, a bit too loudly for a boss:

“And do what, wait to be kicked out of the job?”

(With a stern, piercing look) “Ms Aditi, let’s not forget the hierarchy of this office.”

(Almost immediately, sensing her mistake) “I’m sorry sir. But sir, why haven’t we been told about this?”

“Simply because it is Nishant Vaidya who has come up with the proposal – out of the blue, just last week. No one of our management had even given any thought to such a scenario before that …”

(Pauses, as both continue their look on each other)

“And I’m only your boss. I’m not the Company’s boss. I’m not involved in a $1 Million deals …even at 38”

(”Oops! His raw nerve, again”) “I’m sorry sir. I didn’t mean to reach here. But I just believe that management not telling their employees about a possible sale of their Company is just not done. I think I’ll have to rethink about this job.”

The boss, almost immediately, breaks into a wry smile.

“You’re so predictable, Aditi. And so lovely. Please don’t change.”

“Where did that come from sir?”

(Smiles) “Never mind. Go to your desk. You’re still working for this Company. Till 6 in the morning anyway, right?”
Aditi reaches back to her desk. And the moment she sits down, the phone rings …

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To  be continued …

The following is an extract from I Am Ahmedabad, a collection of short stories

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Yes, I know I should not,
Spend the night in your thoughts.
My eyes search for the morning,
My heart aches for the morning,
How I wish it were a world,
With no night before the morning.
But, I know I should not,
Spend the night in your thoughts.

But I can’t help it. I love you. I love you. I love you. And I know that you know it. You may not say that ever, but I know that you love me too. After all, you were the one who had proposed to me in class 12th. You were the one who used to come early to school so that you could watch me coming. And you were the one who would rush after school so that you could stand outside my society and … again … see me coming! So cute you were. I love you. Muah!

I can’t believe this. It’s 2 o’clock in the night and all I can do is smile, smile and smile more. Tomorrow you will be here. Yippee! I’ll hug you hard and then kick you hard too. Bugger kahin ke! You thought I’ll not know if you don’t tell me that you’re coming? What a stupid idea of planning a surprise for me, but telling Kavita and Anup about it. I think US jaake you’ve become a dodo like that Bush.

Waise, that toh you always were. I mean, how can someone plead a rickshaw-wala to allow him to drive the rickshaw? And you thought Kavita and I would have sat with the driver while you drove an auto rickshaw? But it was so funny. But I think if me and Kavita were not there, that driver would have given you one tight slap. Alright, I know you were kidding. I still remember how a huge crowd had built up, right outside Fun Republic.

But it’s not always funny. I will never forget how you had ganged up with Kavita to put that whole drama of going down on one knee at the Law Garden CCD and proposing. I’m sure you’ll remember how many days you had send the ‘sorry’ cards and flowers and chocolates to make me your friend again. I still can’t understand how a guy can play with the heart of a girl, and that too  in full public view!

Never thought ever in my life,
You would end up being my life.
It’s you that I breathe for,
It’s you that I’m here for in life.

And then that whole confusion between Kavita and me. “Do you still like him?”, I remember Kavita asking me.

Of course, I did hit back by doing my own drama. “I think I do”, I had told her with a grim face. Oh my God, you should’ve seen her face then. It was only when I burst out laughing that she had started breathing again.

And then you had to go to US. I don’t understand this – why would one go to do MBA in the US when he can work hard a little and do it here in Vastrapur, at IIMA itself. I guess it’s easier to do it in USA. Oops! No offence meant honey. It’s just that I thought you were more keen on some good legs and fast cars than your MBA itself. And why not. If that’s what you want, that’s what you should have.

I remember how you’d once said, “I wish Kavita had your legs, it would have been so perfect then”. I think Kavita had come to know of it; for, she had once asked me about the method of toning legs. “Use them a little”, I had told her. We had such a laugh. I think we both had goose pimples merely imagining the import of my advice. And now I really feel jealous of her legs.
Hmmm!
Kavita and Anup were both jumping with excitement when they were here in the evening. It felt so good. Just like old days. It’s just that Anup was acting a bit funny with me. I nuess the excitement of a couple meeting after may years was getting on to his hormones. He kept giving me that stupid puppy look and smile. Man, you would’ve bashed your best friend if you had seen how he was looking at me. But then, all men are the same. Legs, long legs in short skirts – that’s what you all want.

It’s so much fun to say that even when we girls don’t always mean it. ha ha

The good thing about not sleeping at night is that you can get a lot of time to get ready for the big morning. Mum-dad are not too happy at my going alone so early in the morning. But then, they know and trust me. They know and trust you too. So, I guess they understand what I feel for you. And why it is so beautiful and painful at the same time.

Hmmm!

Even Kalupur looks clean early in the morning. But oh my God, look at the crowd at the station. One would think that Amitabh Bachchan is coming. I know how you hate him, simply because you’re such a shorty. Yes, shorty, shorty, shorty. Do what you want to do, I’m gonna call you that. 🙂 Kidding honey.

Is that the train? No, I think it is Gujarat Mail, coming from Mumbai. Yes, that’s Gujarat Mail. Wonder when Gujarat Express would come at the platform. It’s so sweet to see so many people wait for their loved ones and get excited at merely sighting the coach number that they’ve been told.

I wonder if that girl in long skirt is in the same boat that I am. Nah! Her man is here. Whereas you would be at the airport at this hour. With Kavita.

There comes Gujarat Express; finally! I love Kavita; but I love you too. Hence, I’m going away from Ahmedabad. For as long as you are here. Love you.

###

The following is an extract from I Am Ahmedabad, a collection of short stories

###

Sabarmati flowing bank to bank; if only it could happen a couple of years earlier!

You know, this is almost a symbol of things. Here even the river with seven bridges is dry. Dry, that’s the word for Ahmedabad.

Yeah right, so why don’t you go back to your goddamn south Mumbai? Ahmedabad’s not happening, my foot!

Two years since, I still remember every detail of that last fight with Ritu. Though, time has ensured that thoughts about her no longer make me sad. I guess now they just add to the emptiness. Sounds funny doesn’t it, the more thoughts I have the more empty I feel!
Luckily, in our city people talk loud enough to shake anyone off his thoughts. And so did, what seemed, a newly wed couple while passing me by. I think I clearly heard the guy complain to his partner:

Badhi waar maarej kyam sharuvaat karvi pade chhe? Kyaarek tu aagad wadhi ne mane kiss nathi kari shakti? [Why is it that it’s always me who takes the lead; can’t you at times take charge and kiss me?]

You either want it or you get it. You can’t have both. I can never forget the day when my relationship with Ritu was, quite literally, sealed in public. Hugging a friend as a greeting was the norm with our group at CEPT, especially when meeting someone after a longish period. I’d just hugged Neha and Mamta and was about to hug Hanif when, suddenly, Ritu came from nowhere and kissed me full on my mouth. Amidst loud cheers and Ritu’s wicked grin, I was clearly at the receiving end of wits.

I thought today’s a nice day to go official with our thing – Ritu couldn’t help hide her glee on catching me off-guard.
Coming merely an year and a half after my falling for her from day one, I thought it was a bit too fast for me! But I guess she’d not only heard the first thud but had also come to know me well by then –

I don’t think you were ever going to do this, were you?

Of course not, you must be kidding! If only I could say even that much. But it wasn’t necessitated. Our thing was already, as she’d put it, official.

Unlike me, Ritu wasn’t unanimously popular at CEPT. Maybe because I was just a regular sports guy and kept my talking to a minimum while Ritu was the quintessential ‘you know, I think…’ kind. Now when I think about it, I suspect it might also have been because she never believed that she was ever going to stay back in the city.

Oh, the couple, by the way, has stopped just a few steps away from me, laughing, at some joke I guess. Seems they have already made up. They must be coming here everyday to share some togetherness away from the family. Whatever. But they look contented by the way they walk away, holding hands.

Thinking about me? [Ritu SMSes during a lecture]

Feel like having a walk out in the rain holding your hand. [I reply, thinking that was the first time anyone had ever told that to his girlfriend!]

Why do you always get stuck at holding hands? 😉

What have you got against holding hands?

Nothing, except that by the time your hand reaches my shoulder, it would be time to get married. 😉

So?

So… then if we are in Ahmedabad, we would be sitting on a bridge or at a roadside paav-bhaaji stall or a multiplex, like one boring married couple. And yes, we would be holding hands ….

Things were getting increasingly agonising. Can’t spend the evening like this. I rush towards my Maruti 800 and almost dangerously start speeding towards Escape, the only discotheque worth its salt in the town. It was a favourite with Ritu. She had made weekends at Escape a habit for both of us. You should’ve seen how completely at home she’d felt amidst the disc’s partly global and largely ‘me too’ populace. But then, she’d felt comfortable even with me! All thought and dismissed, even I used to look forward to the weekends. Ritu’s company and music the way I like, loud, was a heady concoction.

But today it’s feeling so different. No satin to hold on to, no fragrance to breathe, no nectar to fill my years and no bliss for my lips. Today it is just a crowded place playing music that bounces off your ears. I look around to find a friendly face, in vain. Even the in-house DJ has changed.   Back on the highway: I can’t help but think about the mails that Ritu and I have exchanged since our resolve to go separate ways. The last one was special. It carried the memoirs of our first date anniversary at the Science City, about 4 years ago. We had celebrated the day with the first ever show of an IMAX movie in Ahmedabad. The mail also recollected how she had first talked to my mom that day. And how we had almost broken off after I’d refused to streak my hair, in spite of her million requests.

And then suddenly the car engine stops humming – right in the middle of the bridge over Narmada Canal. I give a few futile shots to the ignition key. Damn! I get out of the car and kick the front wheel in despair. Not by any stretch of imagination, does it feel like the day when Ritu and I were stranded here three years ago. Of course, when you are in love, even getting stranded on a highway seems romantic. That day, we had walked down, along the side of the Canal. Those who’ve been to the Canal would know how the place hosts a few couples every hour of the day. As we walked further down, we crossed one oblivious couple after another, hugging, kissing and at times getting a little naughty.

When in Rome, do as Romans do. I clearly remember an excited Ritu’s nervous urge.

We went to the place many times after that. In fact, gradually we had found out all the possible places along the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway for a little intimate rendezvous under stars. But after tiding over the initial Everest of hormones, car breakdowns had become dangerously close to heartbreak.

There goes Ahmedabad’s favourite car again.

In those early days, I was too much in love with her to give any thought to such comments from Ritu. But soon, her contempt for anything Amdavadi became the crux of disagreements between us. And before we knew, heated exchanges had become a daily affair. Till we had that final big fight.

Pushing a car on a desolate, non-lit stretch of highway while thinking about a lost love, wow!

One look into the bonnet when under a street lamp and I realize that it is the same old carburetor. 11:30 PM, the car stereo clock tells me. Cursing my luck, I get down working on the darn thing.

It’s 12:30 AM. Moments ago I’d brought an end to a torturous evening. Not wanting to do anything is one thing and doing what you do anyway is quite another. So I get down to checking e-mails. Sure enough, I can see one from her.

Two years and 3 ‘happening’ boyfriends later, I’ve realized that while Ahmedabad used to invite me everywhere, Cuffe Parade wouldn’t Have … if I were different…. like you.  And the truth is, after living out every fantasy, I’m finally becoming like you. I know I am … because my friends tell me that I’m no longer happening…

… I’ll be in Ahmedabad this Navaratri, wanting to start a new life for myself. Will you come to receive me … with that ring?

God! I immediately go for my trouser pocket; and take out my wallet. Yes, my God yes, it’s still with me. I had forgotten to throw the ring in Sabarmati today.

Phew!

The following is an extract from Meander, a short story

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What a place! Wish I could keep meandering here. Forever! No need to find good food to prove a point. No need to wear different clothes for different occasions. Perfect!

But everything wasn’t as serene in Rashi’s heart of twenty-two years. Daily fracas with parents had turned home into an ugly battleground. And if it were not enough, job had become a nauseating decay and she had started losing more friends than she had ever made. Always the one for immediate judgements, she had reached the brink of ramming her car in to a fast approaching lorry about a fortnight ago. But for the alertness of the opposite driver, she would have succeeded.

Akhil was the only one who knew about it, in spite of the fact that they had not been talking for over a month at the time of her extreme attempt. He had found himself in that state earlier too. And at times he found it a bit curious. Not just because he was a friend of barely an year but also because most of the period was spent in not talking to each other! Yet, neither found anything unusual when he could convince her to take a sabbatical; and go off to a far away place.

But Akhil hadn’t bargained for Rashi asking him to accompany her. Moreover, he didn’t know anything about going out alone with a girl. And you think I go to remote jungles with guys every weekend or what, Rashi had retorted angrily. But that wasn’t the point for Akhil. He wanted Rashi to spend some time with her own self. However, being far away and alone was out of question for her. Besides, Akhil’s company never created much dialogue anyway.

You’re like a toll free psychiatric helpline that first lets me speak for hours and when I’m done, asks me not to hold back anything, she had once giggled.

The only other thing that she was sure of was, that Akhil affected her. Though, she could never really understand how exactly and why. At times she thought that maybe it was his spirit that touched her the most. She remembered how once after one of his worst setbacks he had joked, It feels wonderful to know that I’m now so deep down in life that I’ll be the first one to come out from the other end.

At times she thought it was more than that. At very different times, he had thought the same about her.

At the moment, she wasn’t thinking about any of that. I can’t stay unhappy for long, she’d once told Akhil. And she no longer was. Of course, being at a place that she’d often seen in movies must’ve helped too. It was a world of trees, trees and more trees. Most were taller than her apartments while some were wider than her small car. Some were naughty enough to make use of every windy excuse to splash water on to her and some seemed to hold each other in a group, just like she and her brother had for a family photograph. And to top it all for her, it was raining like she had never seen before. Only she knew how desperate she was getting to call up Nikki, her best friend, and describe the place.

God! Imagine it raining for 7 days continuously. It was not only pouring like hell, but there were also little streams every few meters. My hands and feet had become so soaked that they looked morbid. Very pale; with blue veins crossing them. At times, the rains would suddenly step up and make it difficult even to keep the eyes open, forget walking. It’s impossible to describe how drenched we were. How our clothes had really got stuck on to our bodies. And honestly speaking, it felt extremely arousing at times!

She smiles thinking about Nikki’s naughty take on her confession. Of course, even in her thoughts, she wanted to first complete her talks before allowing the other person to speak.

Seriously, sometimes I really thought that if it were not Akhil, I would’ve found it difficult to control myself. But you should’ve seen him; I mean the six feet dumbo was walking as if we were going to some pilgrimage!

But it was fun. And so strange! We just kept walking, without knowing where we were going. I mean we knew that we would walk in for 3 days and then start walking back. But that was it. No talk, nothing! It was crazy. I really wished it were our group there; we would’ve had such fun. I really missed you guys.

But the truth of the matter was that she had started liking things the way they were. The incessant rains, the excitement of being where she was and the fact that she hadn’t felt as relaxed for long now. Suddenly, she is shaken out of slumber as she feels something at her ankle. She immediately lets out a shriek. An alert Akhil immediately gets a proper hold of his stick as he turns about. And as the two immediately look down in the ankle-deep stream, they almost simultaneously find out that it was only a very small piece of floating wood that had caused the commotion. As he turns around to continue, Akhil’s indifferent stare makes clear his displeasure about the alarm. That in turn doesn’t amuse Rashi much.

Soon some poisonous water snake is going to bite me to death and I’m sure this silent emperor of philosophy would have very engrossing take on that too.

Rashi can’t help smiling at her own thought. She loved to think of herself as the little devil. And the couple-of-years-older Akhil as someone too logical or too mature. But if she knew what Akhil was thinking after noticing her again during the stir, she would’ve realized why her singularly oriented judgement irritated him.

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