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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Comedy / Humor
- Published: 03/28/2013
Sunday Sundae
Born 1986, M, from Kochi, IndiaSUNDAY SUNDAE
You have to be as wily as Macaulay Caulkin in that movie ‘Home Alone’ to get a parking spot on Friday nights. You have to craft all those tricky traps; trap within a trip and another trap within it. You know… you get the idea right? You also have to bribe the parking lot security. You have to do all this exactly 25 hours before finally coming with your esteemed vehicle that has a proud engine which only starts with some manual assistance at times. Unfortunately today is not the lucky day and all those investments of money and brain will prove to be a waste as the spot was occupied. Go fish! So they went around and around, over and over, swirled and swirled, went up and up just to find out that all the 6 floors of parking was full and they have to park somewhere on the road side some 1.2 miles away from the mall. Yes, ‘the mall’. And then walk, of course. India is rich with people in all its corners. You won’t be able to walk 33 metres without bumping in to someone. You won’t attend a wedding with less than 500 invited guests. You won’t get many invitations either, especially, if you are a jobless douche. Now, now… where are my manners and what’s with the language? Well… you need to attain stability in financial matters for those freaking sissies to invite you for anything. But who cares for an invitation when you are man enough to be the crasher.
The glass doors opened majestically to our uncrowned princes. “Good luck,” said the guard who sees them almost every evening. These guys are not to be frisked. They are not to be kept waiting in a queue ahead of the detector. They are too important for the food court on the 4th floor. Within 3 seconds they calculated the number of girls that shined in the mall. The official count was 314 beautiful girls and 23 girls... 143 of them appearing to be single. You can’t learn to count like that in school. You can’t learn that from anywhere. They don’t teach those... not anymore. This is a good night. As the famous poet Socrates once said, ‘miles to go before I sleep’. Or was it Nixon? Don’t think either of them were poets. God bless that soul whoever it may have been.
“Fathima… Fathima!” shouted Aamid. It’s this game he plays whenever he and his friend cut in through a group of girls walking together. According to stats 24.7% of people in the southern state of India, Kerala, are Muslims. And Aamid believes that 25% of Muslim girls are named Fathima. He likes the sound of Mrs. Fathima Aamid. So he tries his luck with every group of girls having four members or more. This has been going on for 21 weeks. He is still to succeed.
“That girl in pink might have flinched when you called. I think she might be a Fathima,” said Prakash.
“Really?” said Aamid and turned in a jiffy to see. “Dude, there is no girl in pink in that bunch.”
“Sad,” he remarked.
“It’s a good thing that you have money to spend. You are toast when I become successful, buddy. Mark my words… I will have my vengeance in this life or the next,” he said in a voice close to that of Russell Crowe. The cell started to ring. He took out his mobile.
“Hello,” answered Prakash. It was his phone that was ringing. “I’ll be there in 10,” he said and kept it.
“Whaaat?!” he shouted.
“Look, I am sorry man. It won’t be long. I just need to get something from the office shelf and give it to someone who is waiting for me there.”
“You always do this, man. Not cool. I mean if you can trust him with that something in your shelf then why can’t you just trust him to get it all by himself and wh…” he was cut short with a hundred rupees note pressed against his palm by his friend. “I’ll be in the food court, bro. Take all the time you need,” he said considerately. His friend had already left by then.
Aamid slowly went up each floor like a good boy. Not even a race horse would have had such control over its pupil that looked only straight ahead on the path it needs to follow. He opened the door and held it for the elderly ladies that were going out of the food court, took out his mobile with the other hand and entered looking at it trying to seem as sophisticated and like those businessmen never away from work with their eyes glued to the chunky screens of their smart phones. Boom! Someone punched his belly. Never saw it coming. It felt like being hit by a rhino. A rhino that was taking those body building steroids and high on proteins. He gasped for air. He recognized this punch from somewhere though. With watery eyes he raised his head to see who this Hercules was and what’s the deal.
“Aamieee!” said the man with excitement. He recognized him to be his senior from college. He was also the captain of the college cricket team… the man who picked him to play in the team even from his first year in college. “What’s up bro? Show me some love.” And hugged him tight and lifted him off the floor with a giant’s mirth for the background.
“Tap out, tap out,” said Aamid in a feeble voice, tapping on the giant’s back. The man placed him back on the floor in one piece itself. “Russell bhai!” he recognized. “How come you are here?”
“Why? Isn’t this a free country?”
“No, no… you know what I meant.”
“Ha ha,” he laughed. “A friend of mine is getting hitched this weekend at Calicut. So I and few buddies of mine thought we would have a road trip and have a little fun on the way. You know booze, booze and booze. You get the idea right?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Smell like barf and move like a hobo and drive like a zombie. Say hi to Lucifer for me when you reach hell.” Russell laughs. Then he burps. He seems totally wasted. “So… what you guys doing in the mall?”
“Oh… one of us met up with a slight hindrance and the mood within the boys is not what it used to be when we began you know? So we thought we will just watch a movie or something and that might bring back the spark or something. You never know, right?”
“Riiightt… So what seems to be the matter?”
“You mean with the boys? Nooo… no, man. It’s nothing.”
“Oh come on. Tell me,” he persuades playfully.
“Well, one of the boys had issues with his girl and he wanted to break up. Well… actually it was just all those contradictions from the heat of a long time relationship and well… he actually tried to set up her on a date with another friend of ours who had a crush on her. I mean... these guys were like bros. And they thought that they should help each other out. That kind of freaked her out as he had never shown any signs of discomfort with her and turns out to be that she never saw any problems in their relationship until then and you know… before you know it she changed her phone number and blocked him and stuff like that. And it’s only when she broke up that he realized that he actually loved her more than when they started off and now both the boys are depressed and they are like literally pissing over each other.”
“Mm… fun,” that’s all he could say to that.
“It’s just one of those things that life does to you, you know?”
“More like what being drunk and stupid at the same time does.”
“That’s what even my wife said when she heard about it.”
“Wait a minute… you’re married?” he asks a little taken aback.
“Yep,” he said with a smirk on his face.
“Wow! Congrats man. That’s cool.”
“Yeah, you know…” he paused and indulged in a moment of reminiscence. “She is this kinda lady we all wish to get married to. The kind of girl who is like no crap, only cool. You can be as late as you want to be or come home as drunk as you want to be. She is so… so… cool. You feel me?” He nodded in agreement. “What about you, dude? You told me that you got engaged to someone from our college the last time we met. And that is like two years back. You married?”
The word that reciprocated in his mind right now is ‘busted’. “Well I wouldn’t say that we were ‘officially’ engaged. Just something we did in college. And to answer your question, no, we broke up. We proved ourselves to be different personalities than that we assumed us to be. And so that’s that. So what else do you remember me for other than my misfortunes?”
“You were… to direct some movie or something right? Or was it someone else? My brain is too heavy to be carried in a straight path right now. If you know what I mean?” he laughs.
“Yeah, that was me too. Again with the misfortunes but then again that didn’t pan out well either… so far.”
“Don’t worry, bro,” he patted him in support. “You want to get drunk with us? It will be a good debut with us.”
“No, thanks bro. I will stick to my candy bars. It’s more affordable too. Plus chocolate does some funny stuff to my brain cells that I enjoy.”
“Cool bro… cool… just trying to be helpful.”
“How about helping me produce the movie, eh?” he casually remarked.
“Did you hear that?” he said looking further away with his hand touching his Bluetooth plugged on his right ear. “The guys are calling. I-I got to go. Next time, buddy. See you. Call me.” And he rushed away.
“It was a joke!” shouted Aamid with a wry smile. “What a freak,” he said to himself.
Arabic, Chinese, North Indian… they are his favourite. But they all need more than 100 rupees. Sandwich it is then. And that too the ones which he is never thrilled about. Nevertheless, sandwich it is. Never was too fussy when it comes to food… and a diet Pepsi. His usual seat was well reserved. That entire section was reserved. He will have to sit far away from all the view they can get from the inside and get lost in the dark cornered seats. It wasn’t that dark. It never felt that cornered either. But he never liked to try any other seat. With a clumsy long face he started to bite in sandwich. Bit by bit of it. And after each bite he would look left and right to make this more interesting… something that can amuse him. So many lonely faces and many happy faces… nothing appealing though. There were these two girls who appeared to be enjoying a good chat and waiting for their food, 5 metres away to the right. He bowed his head again to take another bite. He took a sip of his Pepsi. Then he took another bite and then another sip, looked at the time. His friend is late… again. Then he realized that he was turning to his right an unusual lot. He decided to take a real convincing look now. Just had to see why his instincts became so jumpy all of a sudden. He had to see what they are suggesting to him. ‘O crap!’ he said in his mind. His eyes widened. She wasn’t looking back but he was sure that she was aware. She was trying to pose for him her best. She was ever so cautious of the way she talked and laughed by now. She made sure that her laughter was not inappropriately to her friend’s jokes and at the same time tried to be convincing to her friend that she was hilarious. He picked up 20 other signs to be sure. The only problem being he was never too good in picking signs.
There is always a hiccup to such situations. This time it was a friend who is trying to do the best and making a conscious effort to be a good friend who keeps none waiting for long. “Hey!” said Prakash and grabbed a chair and sat right in between the two. Aamid took the fork on the table.
“I am gonna count only till 3 for you to move aside or this goes an inch inside your thighs. Prakash quickly moves away with his chair.
“What’s up?” he enquires and looks to see what has caught his attention so much. He sees the two girls on the other table.
“The one in red… she is like a full bloomed rose.”
“Really?” he asks in amusement. “I thought she looked different from your kinda gals.”
“I know… but something just struck,” he says and now has evidently turned his focus towards her. His ogling has seemingly put the lady a bit jittery. “Listen… I am done with sandwich. I want you to get something to eat so that we can sit here without anyone intruding.”
“But I am on a fruit diet. Besides, who is going to bother even if we sit without orders?”
“I don’t know. But even you don’t have to bother with your diet. You won’t be getting thinner for the next 3 decades.” But Prakash was not going to give up that easy. “Look… if you don’t get food right now then I will sell off the tickets I got for the Saturday night’s game.”
“You are bluffing. You don’t have tickets.” Aamid takes out the ticket from his pocket and shows him. He obediently leaves the table and does what he was told to. Each time he looks at her he gets attracted by her even more. She might have encouraged him more with the occasional glimpses.
“Excuse me?” another interruption. This time it is a stranger… mostly in his 30s. He seems to be from another state. “I overheard you saying that you had tickets to the game. Sir, I am willing to pay you a good price for those tickets. Just name your price.”
“Let me guess. You must be an investment banker, aren’t you?”
“Wow that is amazing sir. You have good instincts. I Manoj,” he lends his hands forward. Aamid shows no sign of taking it.
“Manoj… your fly is open.” Manoj looks down his pants and realizes it and quickly pulls up the zip. He was embarrassed by the moment and smiles sheepishly. “So… here are your options… (A) I literally LOL and shout that you were caught wide open and say stuff like… ‘Such a small pupa’ or you know… nasty stuff similar to that or (B) you scoot. What option do you invest on banker?”
“E-enjoy your meal, sir…” and he walks away.
“Who was that?” enquires Prakash who now returned with an ice cream.
“Just a bee passing by with his stinger,” he replied. “Wait a minute. Where is that girl?” he asked looking over and realizing that they have left. He looked around but couldn’t find them. “Crap! Tell me they didn’t just leave, now.”
“They didn’t leave.”
“Shut up!” he got up. Prakash remained calm and relished the rich taste of an ice cream after a long time. “You know what… I am going after her. She wouldn’t have gone far. I am not letting this pass, Prakash.” Then he left the table and advanced on pursuit.
“Happy stalking!” he said.
He looked around for her outside the food court. He almost thought that he lost her. Then he found her standing in a pack to get in the elevator. He ran towards her. By the time he got there she was in it. He blocked the closing doors with his hand. The people inside eagerly waited for him to enter. He looked at all their faces and at her and her friend’s face. He smiled at her and walked backwards. “I guess I’ll wait near the escalator. Just in case…” Then he walked away without looking back. He sat on a bench that was nearest to the escalator. He hoped that she got the sign and she would come over. He knew it was dumb and he had no idea what he is doing. Prakash was relentlessly buzzing him on his cell phone. He cut the call each time. He probably wants to know what’s going on.
He sensed somebody sitting right behind him on this broad bench. Made a quick silent prayer with closed eyes and he ever so slowly turned back his head. Bingo!
“Hey,” he said with an oversized smile.
“Hello.”
“I couldn’t resist myself from setting my eyes on you the whole time at the food court.”
“Uh huh”
“I didn’t mean to be rude though.” She didn’t reply. “May I have a word with you in private?” he asked looking at her friend who sat next to her.
“You can say whatever you have to. There is no need for us to be more private,” she said nervously.
“Right… I’m Aamid. And you are?” They still talked with their backs to each other, not looking at each other or not coming too close to each other.
“Ruby,” she said.
“Ruby,” he said to himself. “Precious,” he commented with a smile. He could see a nervous half-smile breaking her lips too.
“And you are?” he asked turning to her friend who was enjoying this small awkwardish conversation.
“What you need her name for her?” asked Ruby with more clarity in tone.
“I-I was just being polite.” Both of them kept mum. “Okay then… ehmmm,” he cleared his throat. “Ruby… may I have the privilege to have coffee with you tomorrow?”
“You know… I may have came over and sat with you. But I’m not the kind of girl who goes out with any stranger who I come across in a mall. ”
“I am sure you are a wonderful lady and I would never think of you that way. It is just a cup of coffee that I am asking. And I perfectly understand why you came over.”
“And why is that?”
“Because just like me you couldn’t keep your eyes to yourself back in the food court and whatever was that spark… that vibe that was in the air between us, it was pure. It just chooses you and makes you act stupid. And… you don’t just get to have that. Maybe it’s in our destiny to have coffee together.” Little filmy but nevertheless she smiles with her head lowered. He could sense it without even looking. “So…”
She gets up. Her friend does the same. She takes two steps away from the bench. Still doesn’t face him. “3pm tomorrow at Coffee Day in M.G. Road.”
“I’ll be there at 2:59.” She holds her friends hand and scurries away with excitement and shyness. He looks at her go away and then slowly lies down at the bench and raises his hands and legs wide open to the heavens… satisfied, victorious and submerged in what seems like… romance.
“Sire, you can’t lie on that,” says the security mall that advances towards him. He gets up quickly. Shows him the thumps up, adjusts the waist line of his pants and walks away like a young gentleman.
You could see that naughty smile on his face a mile away. He held that all the way to the seat right beside his friend who was now digging in to his burger. He looked a lot like stupid as he still had that smirk on his face with his eyes so wildly open that his eyeballs could almost drop. “Well?” asked Sunny.
“Victory,” he whispered. And then he started laughing like a mad man.
“Really?” he asked with his usual calmness. Aamid started explaining the entire turn of events with shear excitement and joy. He was thrilled and overjoyed. He also expressed his feeling that he strongly believes that his luck is changing and these are the signs of good things to follow. “You are a good story teller,” said Prakash after he was done with babbling.
“What you mean? That I am making up all this? Look buddy… have you ever seen me lie anywhere in all these years?”
“No… but you do like to fool people at times. And I feel this is one of those things.”
“Man, do I look like a dumb high school punk to fool you with a romantic Hindi film like story?”
“Then how would you like to explain this?” he asked pointing his finger to his right. Aamid turned around to see what he is pointing to. Two girls from the other table were looking at them. One of them was looking at him in particular. He has seen them somewhere before. Where they relatives or classmates? No, not likely. And then it occurred to him. His mouth is now agape whipping away that big smile from it. He turns towards his friend.
“Buddy…” he calls in concern. Prakash has heard that tone before. He understood what exactly happened.
“Hey, there…” said the girl to Aamid who now is standing right beside them. “Can I borrow your phone?” she asked smiling.
“Sure,” he said still in shock. He handed his phone to her. She started dialling a number on it.
“Okay, I have called to my cell from yours. I have changed it from ‘unknown’ to ‘Natasha’ because that is my name. He still had that seen a ghost look in his face. She looked at him for a moment and smiled. “This is why you have both my name and number,” she said. “That look… shows me your genuine innocent interest in me. He was still frozen. “Mm… so… I’ll call you. Bye.” She gave the phone and started to walk. Then she paused and turned back. “Oh! What’s your name?”
“Aamid,” replied Prakash. She smiles and walks away. Aamid looks at his buddy all puzzled. “To the river?” he asks.
“Let’s,” they both get up and leaves.
The river is a usual place for the duo at their nights out. Aamid enjoys the place for its subtle breeze… the quietness… the light the water reflects from distant tall buildings and the even more distant luminous rocks up in the sky. He also likes to see the occasional appearance made by the fishermen in their small boats and so do their stuff. Prakash on contrast to him enjoys seeing the operation of the heavy machinery and the rising up of new skyscrapers opposite to the river. Aamid quietly spends sometime looking at the river and feeling the breeze in his hair. Both of them were sitting with their back to each other on the elevated concrete barrier that separated the land from the water. There were other people enjoying the evening too. Each group maintained a considerable distance from the others. Aamid was trying to figure out what exactly did happen. “So… when I turned around and saw Natasha not in her table, she and her friend might have gone to take their food from the counter and I thought they left. Right?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” voiced Prakash.
“And the girl I saw in the elevator was actually someone who wore the same colour as Natasha and I clearly thought it was her. Right?” he asked.
“Yesss…”
“Good. And that girl responded to my signs… because?”
“Because she was sitting on the table beside the one Natasha was and the arrangement of the tables were such that when you were looking with your bulbous eyes she thought that you were looking at her. Which is fine as it could happen to any… but the girl is stupid because she clearly seems to like you judging from all those things you told. Or, she could be having visual impairment to fall for your looks.”
“Avoiding the sarcasm… what is your opinion on the girl?”
“Which one?” he asks sarcastically and chuckles. “Well… okay. I think Ruby is a good girl who is in the lookout for her first relationship. For some reason she has never fell in love and now she feels a need to have someone to share life with. I say… beware of such girls. Because they have no clue of love and they have this Warner Bros. version of it, which ends with ‘… and they lived happily ever after.’ So if you date her and not find it committable, then you got someone who destroys their life over you.”
“Ya Allah!” he ruffles his own hair.
“I still can’t figure out how you didn’t realize that it is the wrong girl.”
“Well… there were so many people in the lift and I just… couldn’t properly look. And… when she came and sat in the bench, she was facing the other way. Man… just… there is no point ranting on it now.”
“Fine, fine,” he said. Prakash kept looking at him for a brief moment. It seemed like there was not going to be any more questions. “What about the other girl?”
“What about her?” he asked.
“No questions about her character? No doubts? Seems like you have figured her out,” said Prakash. Aamid didn’t reply. “Look, dude. I saw how she looks and the way you look at her. I know what is exactly going on here. You are making the same mistake again.” Aamid remained silent. So he also stopped talking and enjoyed a little more time out there.
-- END OF PART 1 --
Aamid decided to go on with his date with Ruby the next day. He was not keen on it though. But he knew it wouldn’t be right not to show up. By the time he reached the Café it was almost 3:40pm. The next task would be to find her. He has no clue which of these girls here in the Café is Ruby. His eyes wandered around to find her. He then saw a raised arm, possibly waiving for him. Could that be Ruby? He ever so slowly walked to her. His eyes almost popped out seeing the girl as he walks towards her. She was as pretty as the first full moon… tall, slim and ravishing. She wore a dark green sleeveless which was his favourite colour.
“R-ruby?” he asked with a nervously. But it wouldn’t sound like a question either. She lowered her head with shyness and tried to cover her smile with her hand. Then she raised her head to look at him.
“Aamid,” said she like for a hello. Then she brushed back a strand of hair with her fingers from her face to the back of her ears. His lips quivered seeing that. She smiled again. Aamid quickly recollected himself, cleared his throat, and drank some water.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?” he asked.
“That’s all right. I just got here 10 minutes back.” Aamid realized that she sounded much sweeter than he thought. He was thinking if at all her voice is really this sweet or is she making an effort to sound like this. He couldn’t say if it was the same voice he heard yesterday. “We usually work only till 2:30 on Saturdays. But something had me held up for a bit longer today.”
“Where exactly do you work?”
“HDFC Bank,” she replied. “And you?” Now usually when someone asks him this question he never mentions the struggling part. He either tells him that he is an assistant director for a reputed ad maker. Now that is not entirely a lie. He occasionally does go for such projects to keep himself bay with the needs of life. Or he would say that he is an engineer in a certain reputed company. That is also not entirely a lie. As he did that for a while some years back and the company’s offer to take back his job still stands. But in this case he finds himself in a dilemma.
“I am a veteran struggling film maker who has only the experience of assisting in a movie and few ads and no proper schooling in that profession. And the prospect of success recedes each passing day.”
“Oh,” she remarked. “Don’t worry,” she smiled. “Jesus helps everyone who strives hard with good intensions.”
“You are a Christian?” he asked.
“Yes, is that a problem?” she enquired.
“No, no. no problem at all.” He said. The waiter came and he gave order for two cappuccinos with her consent. Few minutes of chit chat he was back with the order. Then there was more chit chat over coffee. A few jokes to go with it… some good ones and some not so good ones. But she thoroughly enjoyed them all. “So who all are there in your family?” he asked. To which she just smiled. “Any siblings?” he asked again.
“Aamid… I am an orphan,” she said this with the most innocent smile. Yet her sparkling eyes were so transparent that she could never hide her feelings inside. It always showed. And Aamid could have seen her desire to have a family of her own even if he had his eyes closed.
“So… you were like… raised in an orphanage?” she lowered the coffee mug from her mouth and nodded. “No one ever adopted you? How come?” she kept her mug on the table and shrugged her shoulders a bit. He didn’t want to go anymore deeper in to it. He has never come across anything like her. He tried to block any sort of feeling he felt for her. He tried to keep it as friendly as possible. But with every word she spoke there were cupids singing in the air. So he kept fighting with his feelings. He kept fighting and talking without realizing how time passes by until she finally enquired about it. She said she had to be back in the Working Women’s Hostel, where she stays, before 8. She had only half hour left. So she left in her scooter as he watched her ride away.
He couldn’t deny that he had a good feeling of all this. He walked away to get an auto rickshaw. He took out his cell phone from his pocket. There was one unread text message. He opened and it said, ‘Cinemax theatre at 9.’ It was from Natasha.
He made it there within the next 15 minutes. After arguing a bit with the auto driver over the fare he paid him his demand and went in. Natasha messaged him again, ‘CANDY STORE’. So he marched to it. And there she was leaning on a piece of wall all alone and almost done with a stick of cotton candy. A huge cotton clothed purse hung from her shoulder down. “You are early,” she said.
“Well, so are you...” he replied.
“I was here for the previous show with my friends. They can’t stay for the night show so I called you.”
“Nice,” he said. “So which movie did you see?”
“Don’t worry about that. Because we are going to see it again,” she said and slowly walked on.
“Where you going?” he asked. She walked towards him to answer.
“I am going to do my namaz (prayer).”
“Really?” he asked in surprise. “So you carry your hijab clothes in that bag of yours?”
“Yeah… why?” she asked. He shook his head to suggest nothing. “Alright you… don’t be such a stereotype. You people think that only the girls who cover their body in full all the time and sit at home can pray 5 times. Just because I wear jeans and go out it doesn’t mean I am a good Muslim.” She said in a higher voice. He was totally taken back by this. He couldn’t say back anything. He just rolled his eyes left and right to see if people were looking at him. Then he smiled nervously to her totally embarrassed. She turned away and walked swiftly. The guy in the candy store then stretched forward a bottle of water.
After 10 minutes she came back looking all chirpy and happy. He was sitting in the lounge. “Hey!” she said with a big smile on her face.
“Where’s the other girl who was possessed?” he commented. She laughed. “I was going to buy the tickets but I obviously don’t know which movie we are going to see. So…”
“Don’t worry. I already have them online. We are going to see the one at Screen 4.” She pulled him up from the couch and started walking.
“Screen four? He asked. I never saw any movie from here on that. I wonder to which movie you are presenting me this opportunity.”
“Oh you will see,” she said. “And one other thing…” she stopped walking and looked at him and said, “Technically we are in a date at the movies. But I don’t want any sort of monkey business from you when the lights turn off. Clear?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said. It was something he actually wanted to hear from her. It made him feel good about the person who would approach him in a public place just because he showed signs of interest. Times have changed.
So there it was. All set and ready for the show. Found themselves just the perfect seats which were just a little bit to the left from the centre. And if you go by the poster beside the entrance the movie is an English-Hindi film directed by the veteran Deepa Mehta… screenplay by one of the most controversial writer of our times, Mr. Salman Rushdie. And this 148 minutes film is based on the Booker Prize winning novel and also shares the same title as the book. Ladies and gentleman… with no further ado; the movie is ‘The midnight’s children’.
15 minutes in to the movie Aamid was trying hard not to yawn. He pressed his fist against his mouth. Looking around the theatre he couldn’t see too many around. There were two men from the navy to the seat next to Natasha’s on the right. Then she laughed abruptly to a scene in the film and he also laughed aloud with her having no clue about it. “What?” she asked.
“That was really funny,” he said pointing at the screen.
“I was reading a text message from a friend,” she said.
“Yeah, but the scene… was… too. You watch, watch the movie,” and he sat back covering the side of his face. She turned to the screen. He looked to the right and saw the navy men looking at him with a straight face. He slowly lowered himself a bit on the seat.
Almost one hour in to the movie, now the guys next to Natasha were getting fidgety. They were making all sorts of comments in Hindi blaming the direction and what sort of a movie is this and all. What they were doing is getting in the nerve of Natasha. She turned to Aamid two or more times to ask them to be quiet. But he didn’t really do much about it. They were getting louder and louder by each passing scene. That is when Natasha in her frowning voice let them have it with a ‘shut up!’ Yup, they left soon after that. To which she smiled and gave a silent clap of achievement to herself.
To think the worst was over would be a mistake. If you have read the book and remember the story you know what happens towards the climax. A certain act of excision was part of the script. In the words of the writer, ‘Sperectomy: the draining-out of hope’. In my words I say ‘cutting the chassis’. Watching the scene was in itself painful. To top it Natasha’s comment over it was, “Now that… even I felt it and I have only little idea about it. I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
Finally the movie was over and they all slowly made it out. Outside the multiplex she went over to the security and took something from him. “What was that?” enquired Aamid.
“My knife,” she replied. “To protect myself from good people that roam around in the night.”
“Your, your knife?” he asked. “What happened to the pepper spray?” She walked to the parking lot. He followed him. She stood right next to her transportation waiting for him to come and have a look at it. “Seriously?” he asked in seeing it. “You ride a Harley Davidson?”
“Oh! No son. It rides me. And you get to sit at the back.”
“At least yours have a seat for two,” he says and hops on.
She really rode it like a pro. But then she stopped when she saw a street seller selling tender coconuts so late in to the night. They both started to enjoy the refreshment sitting on the road side. “What is your favourite dessert?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I love mostly everything that’s sweet.”
“You know what is mine? Ice creams,” she said with greed in her eyes.
“So let’s go have it now.”
“No, no…” she took a sip of the tender coconut. “I have my ice creams alone. The day I take a guy to have an ice cream will be the day I will be telling him I have feelings for him. Like… really starting to… like… like him,” she said. “You only share the best with the best, right?” she added. He smiled. And then they left after finishing their coconuts and waiving to the street vendor.
After 10 minutes she stopped in front of a huge house. “Wow! Who lives here?” he asked.
“Me,” she replied.
“Now wait a minute. You are asking me to go to my apartment by myself?”
“Well… it is past midnight and I certainly can’t ride alone, can I? A girl is still a girl even if she has a knife and a Harley Davidson, Aamid.”
“How about lending me your bike?” he asks. She laughs and that could only mean one thing.
“I hope you can manage. Please understand.”
“Of course, I have 9 miles of understanding time. Just kidding, girl,” he says casually. “This is actually the right thing to do. Don’t worry about me. Now go in,” and he walks backwards.
“Good night,” she says and gets inside. He turns around and walks away. He takes out his cell phone from his pocket. There were 3 unread messages. One of them was from Ruby. It says, ‘I HAD A GREAT DAY. THANK YOU’. He read it and smiled. And just then his cell vibrated and showed another incoming message. It was from Natasha. It says, ‘YOU KINDA SMELL LIKE ICE CREAMMM!!! :P’. And he smiles again. He replied to neither. He called up his good mate Prakash to pick him up. The only problem being that, he never picks any call when he falls sound asleep. Or maybe he is just angry for not going to the game despite having tickets.
-- END OF PART 2—
6 weeks have passed by now. The double dating continues strongly. It was tiring but he still finds it vacillating to make up his mind over the two. With each passing date, Ruby became more adorable whereas Natasha became more inevitable from his happiness. So despite having someone to love his nights were still longer and deprived of sleep. He sat in front of the TV surfing through all the channels. He then sensed someone trying to open the front door.
“Hey, what’s up?” It was Prakash who opened the door with the duplicate key that was given to him. “Little early for a Sunday for you, isn’t it?”
“What you want?”
“I came to do some laundry,” he said showing his laundry bag. “And I found this on your mail box. Must have been there for a couple of days or more,” he said handing him over a postal envelope. Aamid opened it and read it and then kept it on the coffee table. “Well?”
“It’s a confirmation letter from the International Short Film Committee,” he said still surfing through the channels.
“I got that from the cover. What does it say?”
“It says my film got an entry for the festival 3 months from now.” Prakash looked at him at amusement. He couldn’t understand why it isn’t exciting to him.
“Is it my stinky clothes in the bag that killed your joy brain cells or the early morning sun that is burning your buttocks?”
“It is her dude. She wants me to come to the ice cream parlour.”
“Which one?” he mocked. “I am sorry. So what seems to be the problem?”
“It’s Natasha. It’s her way of saying that she is taking me seriously. And…”
“And you haven’t still found your track with either of them.” He didn’t reply. “Tell me man… Natasha had this unmatchable advantage compared with the other girl right from the scratch. And yet you are not sure?” He still remained silent. “You better tell one of them the truth. If not the whole of it at least the part that led you to this double dating circus,” he said and went to do his laundry. He gave it a thought.
“Hey man! I forgot to buy detergent. I don’t think there’s any left.” It was replied with some not so pleasant words.
By afternoon Aamid got ready and reached the parlour in time. Natasha was waiting there eagerly for him. This time it was no t-shirt and jeans for her. She was wearing a beautiful blue salwar. The first thing that crossed his mind was did she come in her Harley Davidson wearing this.
“Hey,” he said sitting next to her. “Listen…”
“No, you listen,” she said interrupting him. “I ordered two double scoop sundaes and that is what you are gonna have, period.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said all confused. It was least of his concerns. “Look there is something I need to clear with you.”
“Don’t worry, I will pay the bill.”
“No, it’s not that. I mean… yeah okay. But…”
“Aamid… can I trust you like my ice creams?” she asked. He was beginning to have the creeps listening to her talk like that for the first time.
“Of course, I mean… when you put it like that. But Nat…” before he could complete she lend forward and hugged him for the first time. He held him so tight that he couldn’t breathe.
“Aamid?” called someone. “Is that you?” He opened his eyes and looked at his right and there she was… Ruby was standing right next to them with a friend of hers. Aamid let loose of Natasha’s grip and she also looked puzzled sensing something wasn’t right.
“Natasha this is Ruby. Ruby this is Natasha. Apparently I have been dating both of you for the past one month or so,” he said looking slightly downward. All of a sudden he felt a small slap on his left cheek. But it wasn’t that small either.
“Broke my trust already?!” shouted Natasha.
“Look guys. I can explain.”
“Damn right! That you will,” said Natasha. “I need an explanation right now!”
“I think I have heard all I need to,” said Ruby and started to leave.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no…” said Natasha catching her hand. “Sister… I can’t let you make this easy for him.” So she stayed. Ruby faced turned pink and she could possibly burst in to tears anytime. “Now explain.”
“Look guys… can we do this somewhere which offers more privacy?” asked Aamid. The three looked around and saw that they were the centre of attraction to all there.
The three went inside the gent’s rest room and closed it from the inside. He explained how he and Ruby met and then how Natasha came over. He explained how he felt it hard to break up with either of them as they were both such good individuals. He also said that he was here to explain everything to Natasha. The three remained silent for sometime after he has finished his explaining.
“Excuse me…” said someone knocking at the door from outside. Natasha opened it partially and it was the floor manager. “Ma’am I would like all of you to come out.”
“Well… my friend pooped his pants. So you wouldn’t like us if we are to come out right now.”
“Ma’am, if you don’t come out we would have to call the police. Said the floor manager; a woman in her mid 30s.
“It’s not like we are all mating inside,” said Natasha and the trio stepped out. He paid the bill and they all stepped out of the parlour. Ruby’s friend was asked to go by Natasha and so she did.
The three went to the nearest bus station and the two girls sat on the bench while he stood and faced them. “Look guys… I am sorry. But in all these days together have I ever tried to take advantage or showed any bad intensions? Hell, I haven’t even laid a finger on you both like that,” said Aamid.
“That is no excuse you jack ass,” said Natasha.
“I know. But the truth is that both of you has become a crucial part in my life and… and if ever I fall in love with anyone, then I wish it is to one of you. Both you guys are really amazing people. I just needed little more time to decide without making myself seem like a pervert. God, this is all sounding too stupid and outrageous,” he said and turned the other way.
“Not exactly,” said Natasha. “The stupidity is just to hit its peak when you finally start to explain everything that you have been hiding.”
“I did. I told you everything. I don’t know what else to say. I just don’t wanna lose either of you from my life.” Natasha got up and turned him around to face her.
“Every time you are with me it makes me feel that you are hiding something… hiding much more than a double dating situation. Sometimes you look at me as if I am some ghost. I always sensed you wanted to be with me for the wrong reasons. And I know that I don’t even have to ask Ruby whether if she has sensed the same. As I know for sure you have that feeling only when you are with me. So… what is that something that gives you these jitters from time to time? Moreover, why were you interested in me at the first place?” she asks. “And also the truth, please,” she added.
“I may have hid things from you. But never lied,” he said. He remained silent for a moment after that. Then he started explaining, “There was this girl in college. I don’t want to be too melodramatic about it or sound tedious. But we loved each other so much that we could even hear our inner voices. We shared the most amazing relationship for 5 years. Never fought… never argued over anything. Then one day, just like that… she called my mother and said it is over. I called her and she never answered. No reply to my texts. I went over and her folks never allowed us to meet. She called my mother again and said how much she hated me and was disgusted. Each time I tried to make a contact she slipped away even further. I completely broke to pieces. Words couldn’t explain how it felt. Hell, I even lost track of time for almost a year. I may have done loads of stupid stuff at that time. Half of them I don’t remember. Lost my job… basically lost everything I loved and cared for. And I prayed each night that at least let me hear it from her… if only I heard from her that she doesn’t care for me anymore... then at least I would have felt the dignity for loving her so much. I never even got a goodbye. Not even a cause. I am never going to know whose fault it was. I just want to know why. I loved her so much that there are only so many words to explain how much I felt for her. I just wanted to know if it was my mediocre life that she didn’t like me for. I mean… there is only so much we can all do with our lives.” He wipes a tear from his eye. “Then I thought if that is the case then I will prove the world that I am more than what the eyes meet. I resurrected and I pursued even harder to be a film maker… something I always loved but never strived for. And today… when I finally have an opening it doesn’t feel like I have proved anything. Not that I am not happy. I just…” he searched for words. “You look very much like her,” he said turning towards Natasha. “I don’t suppose you will ever understand how that feels.”
“Maybe not,” said Natasha. “But your eyes speaks volumes.” He smiles.
“I am not ready to lose either of you now. And I mean it,” he says looking at both. “I mean Alisha was just some other tale from some other lifetime. It’s been 2 years now. “
“Wait a minute. What did you say?” asked Natasha.
“I said it’s been two years now.”
“No, what was her name that you said?”
“Alisha.”
“Not by any chance Alisha Rehman, is it?”
“You know her?”
“Holy crap!” she shouted. “Know her? She is my cousin!”
“Whoa...” said Aamid. Ruby also caught up on her feet.
“I mean… to look like me and all. Who else can it possibly be? This is epic man. You know what… you just want to hear from her the reason right? Well I say let’s go beat it out of her right now.”
“What? No. Don’t be ridiculous,” said Aamid.
“Listen… her house is only 45 minutes from here and you haven’t figured out a way to talk to her in two years. Now you don’t be ridiculous! And find a car right now. We are all going right now.”
“What? No, no… please don’t include me too. I have to be back before 8pm,” said Ruby to Natasha.
“You should know by now that I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. And baby you won’t regret this. Trust me.” With more persuasion from her she finally gave in. He called Prakash and explained the situation. Prakash was more eager for this expedition that he arrived on the scene with the car faster than one could possibly imagine.
The two girls sat on the back and Aamid sat on the passenger seat with Prakash driving the car. Aamid from time to time adjusted the glass mirror and looked at Ruby. She was trying hard to roll back her tears. Each time she tried one rolled on to her cheeks. She kept looking outside the window and slowly wiped her cheeks before anyone could see.
Natasha asked to park the car a good distance away from Alisha’s house. She asked them to wait inside and that she will go and get her saying she wants to go shopping with her. And then Natasha left.
10 minutes has passed. Aamid thought of all those days they spent in the last few weeks. He was now getting edgy. He accidently looked at the glass mirror and saw Ruby’s eyes looking at him. He remained looking at it and the eyes stayed with him.
“Okay here we goooo…” said Prakash indicating that they were coming. And there they were. Natasha walked towards the car followed by Alisha. Natasha stood beside the car with Alisha standing besides her not realizing who was inside. All the people inside the car now stepped out. Alisha was in complete shock.
“I guess… we’ll just move to the side, so that you can just tell it to his FACE,” said Natasha to Alisha sarcastically.
“No that’s all right,” said Aamid. “No one needs to go anywhere. In fact Alisha doesn’t have to explain anything either.” Everyone was surprised. Natasha seemed angry. “You know Alisha… I have nothing to say to you either. What is there to say when shit happens? It happens. So let it be.” He then turned to Natasha. “I am sorry for all this. May I have a best friend in you forever? I wouldn’t know what to do without someone like you.” She pretended to think about it.
“I guess it would be awkward to love a girl and possibly to marry her cousin. I mean we are practically sisters. So I say yeah to friends.” She hugs him. Then he walks towards Ruby.
“Someone once told me that it is better to take the hand of the one who loves you rather than the one who you want to be with. I would be lying to you if I didn’t say that I didn’t fall for you the very first moment I saw you in that café. It was the most unique feeling I ever felt. I tried harder and harder to block my feelings for you. I just can’t wrestle with myself anymore. You make all those struggles and pain go away with one glance and I swear I am ready to go through all of that once again and even more if it could lead me to you. So I am asking you to choose me. You might be the one orphaned but I am the one all alone without you, Ruby.” She shuts her eyes and lowers her head. He touches her chin and raises her head. “Look at me, Ruby. Can you choose to take my hand? Can you choose to love me like I love you?” She opens her eyes. Smiles with filled eyes and then slightly motions her head up and down, nodding in agreement. She then holds both his hands. And he kisses her lips. Her arms go around him. Natasha jumps up and down with glee. Prakash takes out his dark shades and puts it on wearing an even bigger smile. Alisha walks back home angrily.
“Let’s go now,” said Natasha sitting in the passenger seat with Prakash next to her. The couple gets inside the car and cuddles. Prakash motors away with all aboard. That was after a brief moment of panic when the engine denied any co-operation.
“How come you never knew him despite him dating your cousin for 5 years?” asked Prakash.
“I was in the US, studying. I hardly came to know of the things going on here,” says Natasha. “God, I really suck in this desi attire. Don’t I?”
“Oh yes. Big time,” said Prakash.
“Mm, an honest man,” says Natasha. “I like that.”
“One of my attributes,” he says. “How about an ice cream?” he asks her.
“I don’t know… some other time, maybe. But I like that you asked.” He looks at her and smiles sheepishly.
“Me too,” he says.
--FIN—
Sunday Sundae(firdouz)
SUNDAY SUNDAE
You have to be as wily as Macaulay Caulkin in that movie ‘Home Alone’ to get a parking spot on Friday nights. You have to craft all those tricky traps; trap within a trip and another trap within it. You know… you get the idea right? You also have to bribe the parking lot security. You have to do all this exactly 25 hours before finally coming with your esteemed vehicle that has a proud engine which only starts with some manual assistance at times. Unfortunately today is not the lucky day and all those investments of money and brain will prove to be a waste as the spot was occupied. Go fish! So they went around and around, over and over, swirled and swirled, went up and up just to find out that all the 6 floors of parking was full and they have to park somewhere on the road side some 1.2 miles away from the mall. Yes, ‘the mall’. And then walk, of course. India is rich with people in all its corners. You won’t be able to walk 33 metres without bumping in to someone. You won’t attend a wedding with less than 500 invited guests. You won’t get many invitations either, especially, if you are a jobless douche. Now, now… where are my manners and what’s with the language? Well… you need to attain stability in financial matters for those freaking sissies to invite you for anything. But who cares for an invitation when you are man enough to be the crasher.
The glass doors opened majestically to our uncrowned princes. “Good luck,” said the guard who sees them almost every evening. These guys are not to be frisked. They are not to be kept waiting in a queue ahead of the detector. They are too important for the food court on the 4th floor. Within 3 seconds they calculated the number of girls that shined in the mall. The official count was 314 beautiful girls and 23 girls... 143 of them appearing to be single. You can’t learn to count like that in school. You can’t learn that from anywhere. They don’t teach those... not anymore. This is a good night. As the famous poet Socrates once said, ‘miles to go before I sleep’. Or was it Nixon? Don’t think either of them were poets. God bless that soul whoever it may have been.
“Fathima… Fathima!” shouted Aamid. It’s this game he plays whenever he and his friend cut in through a group of girls walking together. According to stats 24.7% of people in the southern state of India, Kerala, are Muslims. And Aamid believes that 25% of Muslim girls are named Fathima. He likes the sound of Mrs. Fathima Aamid. So he tries his luck with every group of girls having four members or more. This has been going on for 21 weeks. He is still to succeed.
“That girl in pink might have flinched when you called. I think she might be a Fathima,” said Prakash.
“Really?” said Aamid and turned in a jiffy to see. “Dude, there is no girl in pink in that bunch.”
“Sad,” he remarked.
“It’s a good thing that you have money to spend. You are toast when I become successful, buddy. Mark my words… I will have my vengeance in this life or the next,” he said in a voice close to that of Russell Crowe. The cell started to ring. He took out his mobile.
“Hello,” answered Prakash. It was his phone that was ringing. “I’ll be there in 10,” he said and kept it.
“Whaaat?!” he shouted.
“Look, I am sorry man. It won’t be long. I just need to get something from the office shelf and give it to someone who is waiting for me there.”
“You always do this, man. Not cool. I mean if you can trust him with that something in your shelf then why can’t you just trust him to get it all by himself and wh…” he was cut short with a hundred rupees note pressed against his palm by his friend. “I’ll be in the food court, bro. Take all the time you need,” he said considerately. His friend had already left by then.
Aamid slowly went up each floor like a good boy. Not even a race horse would have had such control over its pupil that looked only straight ahead on the path it needs to follow. He opened the door and held it for the elderly ladies that were going out of the food court, took out his mobile with the other hand and entered looking at it trying to seem as sophisticated and like those businessmen never away from work with their eyes glued to the chunky screens of their smart phones. Boom! Someone punched his belly. Never saw it coming. It felt like being hit by a rhino. A rhino that was taking those body building steroids and high on proteins. He gasped for air. He recognized this punch from somewhere though. With watery eyes he raised his head to see who this Hercules was and what’s the deal.
“Aamieee!” said the man with excitement. He recognized him to be his senior from college. He was also the captain of the college cricket team… the man who picked him to play in the team even from his first year in college. “What’s up bro? Show me some love.” And hugged him tight and lifted him off the floor with a giant’s mirth for the background.
“Tap out, tap out,” said Aamid in a feeble voice, tapping on the giant’s back. The man placed him back on the floor in one piece itself. “Russell bhai!” he recognized. “How come you are here?”
“Why? Isn’t this a free country?”
“No, no… you know what I meant.”
“Ha ha,” he laughed. “A friend of mine is getting hitched this weekend at Calicut. So I and few buddies of mine thought we would have a road trip and have a little fun on the way. You know booze, booze and booze. You get the idea right?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Smell like barf and move like a hobo and drive like a zombie. Say hi to Lucifer for me when you reach hell.” Russell laughs. Then he burps. He seems totally wasted. “So… what you guys doing in the mall?”
“Oh… one of us met up with a slight hindrance and the mood within the boys is not what it used to be when we began you know? So we thought we will just watch a movie or something and that might bring back the spark or something. You never know, right?”
“Riiightt… So what seems to be the matter?”
“You mean with the boys? Nooo… no, man. It’s nothing.”
“Oh come on. Tell me,” he persuades playfully.
“Well, one of the boys had issues with his girl and he wanted to break up. Well… actually it was just all those contradictions from the heat of a long time relationship and well… he actually tried to set up her on a date with another friend of ours who had a crush on her. I mean... these guys were like bros. And they thought that they should help each other out. That kind of freaked her out as he had never shown any signs of discomfort with her and turns out to be that she never saw any problems in their relationship until then and you know… before you know it she changed her phone number and blocked him and stuff like that. And it’s only when she broke up that he realized that he actually loved her more than when they started off and now both the boys are depressed and they are like literally pissing over each other.”
“Mm… fun,” that’s all he could say to that.
“It’s just one of those things that life does to you, you know?”
“More like what being drunk and stupid at the same time does.”
“That’s what even my wife said when she heard about it.”
“Wait a minute… you’re married?” he asks a little taken aback.
“Yep,” he said with a smirk on his face.
“Wow! Congrats man. That’s cool.”
“Yeah, you know…” he paused and indulged in a moment of reminiscence. “She is this kinda lady we all wish to get married to. The kind of girl who is like no crap, only cool. You can be as late as you want to be or come home as drunk as you want to be. She is so… so… cool. You feel me?” He nodded in agreement. “What about you, dude? You told me that you got engaged to someone from our college the last time we met. And that is like two years back. You married?”
The word that reciprocated in his mind right now is ‘busted’. “Well I wouldn’t say that we were ‘officially’ engaged. Just something we did in college. And to answer your question, no, we broke up. We proved ourselves to be different personalities than that we assumed us to be. And so that’s that. So what else do you remember me for other than my misfortunes?”
“You were… to direct some movie or something right? Or was it someone else? My brain is too heavy to be carried in a straight path right now. If you know what I mean?” he laughs.
“Yeah, that was me too. Again with the misfortunes but then again that didn’t pan out well either… so far.”
“Don’t worry, bro,” he patted him in support. “You want to get drunk with us? It will be a good debut with us.”
“No, thanks bro. I will stick to my candy bars. It’s more affordable too. Plus chocolate does some funny stuff to my brain cells that I enjoy.”
“Cool bro… cool… just trying to be helpful.”
“How about helping me produce the movie, eh?” he casually remarked.
“Did you hear that?” he said looking further away with his hand touching his Bluetooth plugged on his right ear. “The guys are calling. I-I got to go. Next time, buddy. See you. Call me.” And he rushed away.
“It was a joke!” shouted Aamid with a wry smile. “What a freak,” he said to himself.
Arabic, Chinese, North Indian… they are his favourite. But they all need more than 100 rupees. Sandwich it is then. And that too the ones which he is never thrilled about. Nevertheless, sandwich it is. Never was too fussy when it comes to food… and a diet Pepsi. His usual seat was well reserved. That entire section was reserved. He will have to sit far away from all the view they can get from the inside and get lost in the dark cornered seats. It wasn’t that dark. It never felt that cornered either. But he never liked to try any other seat. With a clumsy long face he started to bite in sandwich. Bit by bit of it. And after each bite he would look left and right to make this more interesting… something that can amuse him. So many lonely faces and many happy faces… nothing appealing though. There were these two girls who appeared to be enjoying a good chat and waiting for their food, 5 metres away to the right. He bowed his head again to take another bite. He took a sip of his Pepsi. Then he took another bite and then another sip, looked at the time. His friend is late… again. Then he realized that he was turning to his right an unusual lot. He decided to take a real convincing look now. Just had to see why his instincts became so jumpy all of a sudden. He had to see what they are suggesting to him. ‘O crap!’ he said in his mind. His eyes widened. She wasn’t looking back but he was sure that she was aware. She was trying to pose for him her best. She was ever so cautious of the way she talked and laughed by now. She made sure that her laughter was not inappropriately to her friend’s jokes and at the same time tried to be convincing to her friend that she was hilarious. He picked up 20 other signs to be sure. The only problem being he was never too good in picking signs.
There is always a hiccup to such situations. This time it was a friend who is trying to do the best and making a conscious effort to be a good friend who keeps none waiting for long. “Hey!” said Prakash and grabbed a chair and sat right in between the two. Aamid took the fork on the table.
“I am gonna count only till 3 for you to move aside or this goes an inch inside your thighs. Prakash quickly moves away with his chair.
“What’s up?” he enquires and looks to see what has caught his attention so much. He sees the two girls on the other table.
“The one in red… she is like a full bloomed rose.”
“Really?” he asks in amusement. “I thought she looked different from your kinda gals.”
“I know… but something just struck,” he says and now has evidently turned his focus towards her. His ogling has seemingly put the lady a bit jittery. “Listen… I am done with sandwich. I want you to get something to eat so that we can sit here without anyone intruding.”
“But I am on a fruit diet. Besides, who is going to bother even if we sit without orders?”
“I don’t know. But even you don’t have to bother with your diet. You won’t be getting thinner for the next 3 decades.” But Prakash was not going to give up that easy. “Look… if you don’t get food right now then I will sell off the tickets I got for the Saturday night’s game.”
“You are bluffing. You don’t have tickets.” Aamid takes out the ticket from his pocket and shows him. He obediently leaves the table and does what he was told to. Each time he looks at her he gets attracted by her even more. She might have encouraged him more with the occasional glimpses.
“Excuse me?” another interruption. This time it is a stranger… mostly in his 30s. He seems to be from another state. “I overheard you saying that you had tickets to the game. Sir, I am willing to pay you a good price for those tickets. Just name your price.”
“Let me guess. You must be an investment banker, aren’t you?”
“Wow that is amazing sir. You have good instincts. I Manoj,” he lends his hands forward. Aamid shows no sign of taking it.
“Manoj… your fly is open.” Manoj looks down his pants and realizes it and quickly pulls up the zip. He was embarrassed by the moment and smiles sheepishly. “So… here are your options… (A) I literally LOL and shout that you were caught wide open and say stuff like… ‘Such a small pupa’ or you know… nasty stuff similar to that or (B) you scoot. What option do you invest on banker?”
“E-enjoy your meal, sir…” and he walks away.
“Who was that?” enquires Prakash who now returned with an ice cream.
“Just a bee passing by with his stinger,” he replied. “Wait a minute. Where is that girl?” he asked looking over and realizing that they have left. He looked around but couldn’t find them. “Crap! Tell me they didn’t just leave, now.”
“They didn’t leave.”
“Shut up!” he got up. Prakash remained calm and relished the rich taste of an ice cream after a long time. “You know what… I am going after her. She wouldn’t have gone far. I am not letting this pass, Prakash.” Then he left the table and advanced on pursuit.
“Happy stalking!” he said.
He looked around for her outside the food court. He almost thought that he lost her. Then he found her standing in a pack to get in the elevator. He ran towards her. By the time he got there she was in it. He blocked the closing doors with his hand. The people inside eagerly waited for him to enter. He looked at all their faces and at her and her friend’s face. He smiled at her and walked backwards. “I guess I’ll wait near the escalator. Just in case…” Then he walked away without looking back. He sat on a bench that was nearest to the escalator. He hoped that she got the sign and she would come over. He knew it was dumb and he had no idea what he is doing. Prakash was relentlessly buzzing him on his cell phone. He cut the call each time. He probably wants to know what’s going on.
He sensed somebody sitting right behind him on this broad bench. Made a quick silent prayer with closed eyes and he ever so slowly turned back his head. Bingo!
“Hey,” he said with an oversized smile.
“Hello.”
“I couldn’t resist myself from setting my eyes on you the whole time at the food court.”
“Uh huh”
“I didn’t mean to be rude though.” She didn’t reply. “May I have a word with you in private?” he asked looking at her friend who sat next to her.
“You can say whatever you have to. There is no need for us to be more private,” she said nervously.
“Right… I’m Aamid. And you are?” They still talked with their backs to each other, not looking at each other or not coming too close to each other.
“Ruby,” she said.
“Ruby,” he said to himself. “Precious,” he commented with a smile. He could see a nervous half-smile breaking her lips too.
“And you are?” he asked turning to her friend who was enjoying this small awkwardish conversation.
“What you need her name for her?” asked Ruby with more clarity in tone.
“I-I was just being polite.” Both of them kept mum. “Okay then… ehmmm,” he cleared his throat. “Ruby… may I have the privilege to have coffee with you tomorrow?”
“You know… I may have came over and sat with you. But I’m not the kind of girl who goes out with any stranger who I come across in a mall. ”
“I am sure you are a wonderful lady and I would never think of you that way. It is just a cup of coffee that I am asking. And I perfectly understand why you came over.”
“And why is that?”
“Because just like me you couldn’t keep your eyes to yourself back in the food court and whatever was that spark… that vibe that was in the air between us, it was pure. It just chooses you and makes you act stupid. And… you don’t just get to have that. Maybe it’s in our destiny to have coffee together.” Little filmy but nevertheless she smiles with her head lowered. He could sense it without even looking. “So…”
She gets up. Her friend does the same. She takes two steps away from the bench. Still doesn’t face him. “3pm tomorrow at Coffee Day in M.G. Road.”
“I’ll be there at 2:59.” She holds her friends hand and scurries away with excitement and shyness. He looks at her go away and then slowly lies down at the bench and raises his hands and legs wide open to the heavens… satisfied, victorious and submerged in what seems like… romance.
“Sire, you can’t lie on that,” says the security mall that advances towards him. He gets up quickly. Shows him the thumps up, adjusts the waist line of his pants and walks away like a young gentleman.
You could see that naughty smile on his face a mile away. He held that all the way to the seat right beside his friend who was now digging in to his burger. He looked a lot like stupid as he still had that smirk on his face with his eyes so wildly open that his eyeballs could almost drop. “Well?” asked Sunny.
“Victory,” he whispered. And then he started laughing like a mad man.
“Really?” he asked with his usual calmness. Aamid started explaining the entire turn of events with shear excitement and joy. He was thrilled and overjoyed. He also expressed his feeling that he strongly believes that his luck is changing and these are the signs of good things to follow. “You are a good story teller,” said Prakash after he was done with babbling.
“What you mean? That I am making up all this? Look buddy… have you ever seen me lie anywhere in all these years?”
“No… but you do like to fool people at times. And I feel this is one of those things.”
“Man, do I look like a dumb high school punk to fool you with a romantic Hindi film like story?”
“Then how would you like to explain this?” he asked pointing his finger to his right. Aamid turned around to see what he is pointing to. Two girls from the other table were looking at them. One of them was looking at him in particular. He has seen them somewhere before. Where they relatives or classmates? No, not likely. And then it occurred to him. His mouth is now agape whipping away that big smile from it. He turns towards his friend.
“Buddy…” he calls in concern. Prakash has heard that tone before. He understood what exactly happened.
“Hey, there…” said the girl to Aamid who now is standing right beside them. “Can I borrow your phone?” she asked smiling.
“Sure,” he said still in shock. He handed his phone to her. She started dialling a number on it.
“Okay, I have called to my cell from yours. I have changed it from ‘unknown’ to ‘Natasha’ because that is my name. He still had that seen a ghost look in his face. She looked at him for a moment and smiled. “This is why you have both my name and number,” she said. “That look… shows me your genuine innocent interest in me. He was still frozen. “Mm… so… I’ll call you. Bye.” She gave the phone and started to walk. Then she paused and turned back. “Oh! What’s your name?”
“Aamid,” replied Prakash. She smiles and walks away. Aamid looks at his buddy all puzzled. “To the river?” he asks.
“Let’s,” they both get up and leaves.
The river is a usual place for the duo at their nights out. Aamid enjoys the place for its subtle breeze… the quietness… the light the water reflects from distant tall buildings and the even more distant luminous rocks up in the sky. He also likes to see the occasional appearance made by the fishermen in their small boats and so do their stuff. Prakash on contrast to him enjoys seeing the operation of the heavy machinery and the rising up of new skyscrapers opposite to the river. Aamid quietly spends sometime looking at the river and feeling the breeze in his hair. Both of them were sitting with their back to each other on the elevated concrete barrier that separated the land from the water. There were other people enjoying the evening too. Each group maintained a considerable distance from the others. Aamid was trying to figure out what exactly did happen. “So… when I turned around and saw Natasha not in her table, she and her friend might have gone to take their food from the counter and I thought they left. Right?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” voiced Prakash.
“And the girl I saw in the elevator was actually someone who wore the same colour as Natasha and I clearly thought it was her. Right?” he asked.
“Yesss…”
“Good. And that girl responded to my signs… because?”
“Because she was sitting on the table beside the one Natasha was and the arrangement of the tables were such that when you were looking with your bulbous eyes she thought that you were looking at her. Which is fine as it could happen to any… but the girl is stupid because she clearly seems to like you judging from all those things you told. Or, she could be having visual impairment to fall for your looks.”
“Avoiding the sarcasm… what is your opinion on the girl?”
“Which one?” he asks sarcastically and chuckles. “Well… okay. I think Ruby is a good girl who is in the lookout for her first relationship. For some reason she has never fell in love and now she feels a need to have someone to share life with. I say… beware of such girls. Because they have no clue of love and they have this Warner Bros. version of it, which ends with ‘… and they lived happily ever after.’ So if you date her and not find it committable, then you got someone who destroys their life over you.”
“Ya Allah!” he ruffles his own hair.
“I still can’t figure out how you didn’t realize that it is the wrong girl.”
“Well… there were so many people in the lift and I just… couldn’t properly look. And… when she came and sat in the bench, she was facing the other way. Man… just… there is no point ranting on it now.”
“Fine, fine,” he said. Prakash kept looking at him for a brief moment. It seemed like there was not going to be any more questions. “What about the other girl?”
“What about her?” he asked.
“No questions about her character? No doubts? Seems like you have figured her out,” said Prakash. Aamid didn’t reply. “Look, dude. I saw how she looks and the way you look at her. I know what is exactly going on here. You are making the same mistake again.” Aamid remained silent. So he also stopped talking and enjoyed a little more time out there.
-- END OF PART 1 --
Aamid decided to go on with his date with Ruby the next day. He was not keen on it though. But he knew it wouldn’t be right not to show up. By the time he reached the Café it was almost 3:40pm. The next task would be to find her. He has no clue which of these girls here in the Café is Ruby. His eyes wandered around to find her. He then saw a raised arm, possibly waiving for him. Could that be Ruby? He ever so slowly walked to her. His eyes almost popped out seeing the girl as he walks towards her. She was as pretty as the first full moon… tall, slim and ravishing. She wore a dark green sleeveless which was his favourite colour.
“R-ruby?” he asked with a nervously. But it wouldn’t sound like a question either. She lowered her head with shyness and tried to cover her smile with her hand. Then she raised her head to look at him.
“Aamid,” said she like for a hello. Then she brushed back a strand of hair with her fingers from her face to the back of her ears. His lips quivered seeing that. She smiled again. Aamid quickly recollected himself, cleared his throat, and drank some water.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?” he asked.
“That’s all right. I just got here 10 minutes back.” Aamid realized that she sounded much sweeter than he thought. He was thinking if at all her voice is really this sweet or is she making an effort to sound like this. He couldn’t say if it was the same voice he heard yesterday. “We usually work only till 2:30 on Saturdays. But something had me held up for a bit longer today.”
“Where exactly do you work?”
“HDFC Bank,” she replied. “And you?” Now usually when someone asks him this question he never mentions the struggling part. He either tells him that he is an assistant director for a reputed ad maker. Now that is not entirely a lie. He occasionally does go for such projects to keep himself bay with the needs of life. Or he would say that he is an engineer in a certain reputed company. That is also not entirely a lie. As he did that for a while some years back and the company’s offer to take back his job still stands. But in this case he finds himself in a dilemma.
“I am a veteran struggling film maker who has only the experience of assisting in a movie and few ads and no proper schooling in that profession. And the prospect of success recedes each passing day.”
“Oh,” she remarked. “Don’t worry,” she smiled. “Jesus helps everyone who strives hard with good intensions.”
“You are a Christian?” he asked.
“Yes, is that a problem?” she enquired.
“No, no. no problem at all.” He said. The waiter came and he gave order for two cappuccinos with her consent. Few minutes of chit chat he was back with the order. Then there was more chit chat over coffee. A few jokes to go with it… some good ones and some not so good ones. But she thoroughly enjoyed them all. “So who all are there in your family?” he asked. To which she just smiled. “Any siblings?” he asked again.
“Aamid… I am an orphan,” she said this with the most innocent smile. Yet her sparkling eyes were so transparent that she could never hide her feelings inside. It always showed. And Aamid could have seen her desire to have a family of her own even if he had his eyes closed.
“So… you were like… raised in an orphanage?” she lowered the coffee mug from her mouth and nodded. “No one ever adopted you? How come?” she kept her mug on the table and shrugged her shoulders a bit. He didn’t want to go anymore deeper in to it. He has never come across anything like her. He tried to block any sort of feeling he felt for her. He tried to keep it as friendly as possible. But with every word she spoke there were cupids singing in the air. So he kept fighting with his feelings. He kept fighting and talking without realizing how time passes by until she finally enquired about it. She said she had to be back in the Working Women’s Hostel, where she stays, before 8. She had only half hour left. So she left in her scooter as he watched her ride away.
He couldn’t deny that he had a good feeling of all this. He walked away to get an auto rickshaw. He took out his cell phone from his pocket. There was one unread text message. He opened and it said, ‘Cinemax theatre at 9.’ It was from Natasha.
He made it there within the next 15 minutes. After arguing a bit with the auto driver over the fare he paid him his demand and went in. Natasha messaged him again, ‘CANDY STORE’. So he marched to it. And there she was leaning on a piece of wall all alone and almost done with a stick of cotton candy. A huge cotton clothed purse hung from her shoulder down. “You are early,” she said.
“Well, so are you...” he replied.
“I was here for the previous show with my friends. They can’t stay for the night show so I called you.”
“Nice,” he said. “So which movie did you see?”
“Don’t worry about that. Because we are going to see it again,” she said and slowly walked on.
“Where you going?” he asked. She walked towards him to answer.
“I am going to do my namaz (prayer).”
“Really?” he asked in surprise. “So you carry your hijab clothes in that bag of yours?”
“Yeah… why?” she asked. He shook his head to suggest nothing. “Alright you… don’t be such a stereotype. You people think that only the girls who cover their body in full all the time and sit at home can pray 5 times. Just because I wear jeans and go out it doesn’t mean I am a good Muslim.” She said in a higher voice. He was totally taken back by this. He couldn’t say back anything. He just rolled his eyes left and right to see if people were looking at him. Then he smiled nervously to her totally embarrassed. She turned away and walked swiftly. The guy in the candy store then stretched forward a bottle of water.
After 10 minutes she came back looking all chirpy and happy. He was sitting in the lounge. “Hey!” she said with a big smile on her face.
“Where’s the other girl who was possessed?” he commented. She laughed. “I was going to buy the tickets but I obviously don’t know which movie we are going to see. So…”
“Don’t worry. I already have them online. We are going to see the one at Screen 4.” She pulled him up from the couch and started walking.
“Screen four? He asked. I never saw any movie from here on that. I wonder to which movie you are presenting me this opportunity.”
“Oh you will see,” she said. “And one other thing…” she stopped walking and looked at him and said, “Technically we are in a date at the movies. But I don’t want any sort of monkey business from you when the lights turn off. Clear?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said. It was something he actually wanted to hear from her. It made him feel good about the person who would approach him in a public place just because he showed signs of interest. Times have changed.
So there it was. All set and ready for the show. Found themselves just the perfect seats which were just a little bit to the left from the centre. And if you go by the poster beside the entrance the movie is an English-Hindi film directed by the veteran Deepa Mehta… screenplay by one of the most controversial writer of our times, Mr. Salman Rushdie. And this 148 minutes film is based on the Booker Prize winning novel and also shares the same title as the book. Ladies and gentleman… with no further ado; the movie is ‘The midnight’s children’.
15 minutes in to the movie Aamid was trying hard not to yawn. He pressed his fist against his mouth. Looking around the theatre he couldn’t see too many around. There were two men from the navy to the seat next to Natasha’s on the right. Then she laughed abruptly to a scene in the film and he also laughed aloud with her having no clue about it. “What?” she asked.
“That was really funny,” he said pointing at the screen.
“I was reading a text message from a friend,” she said.
“Yeah, but the scene… was… too. You watch, watch the movie,” and he sat back covering the side of his face. She turned to the screen. He looked to the right and saw the navy men looking at him with a straight face. He slowly lowered himself a bit on the seat.
Almost one hour in to the movie, now the guys next to Natasha were getting fidgety. They were making all sorts of comments in Hindi blaming the direction and what sort of a movie is this and all. What they were doing is getting in the nerve of Natasha. She turned to Aamid two or more times to ask them to be quiet. But he didn’t really do much about it. They were getting louder and louder by each passing scene. That is when Natasha in her frowning voice let them have it with a ‘shut up!’ Yup, they left soon after that. To which she smiled and gave a silent clap of achievement to herself.
To think the worst was over would be a mistake. If you have read the book and remember the story you know what happens towards the climax. A certain act of excision was part of the script. In the words of the writer, ‘Sperectomy: the draining-out of hope’. In my words I say ‘cutting the chassis’. Watching the scene was in itself painful. To top it Natasha’s comment over it was, “Now that… even I felt it and I have only little idea about it. I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
Finally the movie was over and they all slowly made it out. Outside the multiplex she went over to the security and took something from him. “What was that?” enquired Aamid.
“My knife,” she replied. “To protect myself from good people that roam around in the night.”
“Your, your knife?” he asked. “What happened to the pepper spray?” She walked to the parking lot. He followed him. She stood right next to her transportation waiting for him to come and have a look at it. “Seriously?” he asked in seeing it. “You ride a Harley Davidson?”
“Oh! No son. It rides me. And you get to sit at the back.”
“At least yours have a seat for two,” he says and hops on.
She really rode it like a pro. But then she stopped when she saw a street seller selling tender coconuts so late in to the night. They both started to enjoy the refreshment sitting on the road side. “What is your favourite dessert?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I love mostly everything that’s sweet.”
“You know what is mine? Ice creams,” she said with greed in her eyes.
“So let’s go have it now.”
“No, no…” she took a sip of the tender coconut. “I have my ice creams alone. The day I take a guy to have an ice cream will be the day I will be telling him I have feelings for him. Like… really starting to… like… like him,” she said. “You only share the best with the best, right?” she added. He smiled. And then they left after finishing their coconuts and waiving to the street vendor.
After 10 minutes she stopped in front of a huge house. “Wow! Who lives here?” he asked.
“Me,” she replied.
“Now wait a minute. You are asking me to go to my apartment by myself?”
“Well… it is past midnight and I certainly can’t ride alone, can I? A girl is still a girl even if she has a knife and a Harley Davidson, Aamid.”
“How about lending me your bike?” he asks. She laughs and that could only mean one thing.
“I hope you can manage. Please understand.”
“Of course, I have 9 miles of understanding time. Just kidding, girl,” he says casually. “This is actually the right thing to do. Don’t worry about me. Now go in,” and he walks backwards.
“Good night,” she says and gets inside. He turns around and walks away. He takes out his cell phone from his pocket. There were 3 unread messages. One of them was from Ruby. It says, ‘I HAD A GREAT DAY. THANK YOU’. He read it and smiled. And just then his cell vibrated and showed another incoming message. It was from Natasha. It says, ‘YOU KINDA SMELL LIKE ICE CREAMMM!!! :P’. And he smiles again. He replied to neither. He called up his good mate Prakash to pick him up. The only problem being that, he never picks any call when he falls sound asleep. Or maybe he is just angry for not going to the game despite having tickets.
-- END OF PART 2—
6 weeks have passed by now. The double dating continues strongly. It was tiring but he still finds it vacillating to make up his mind over the two. With each passing date, Ruby became more adorable whereas Natasha became more inevitable from his happiness. So despite having someone to love his nights were still longer and deprived of sleep. He sat in front of the TV surfing through all the channels. He then sensed someone trying to open the front door.
“Hey, what’s up?” It was Prakash who opened the door with the duplicate key that was given to him. “Little early for a Sunday for you, isn’t it?”
“What you want?”
“I came to do some laundry,” he said showing his laundry bag. “And I found this on your mail box. Must have been there for a couple of days or more,” he said handing him over a postal envelope. Aamid opened it and read it and then kept it on the coffee table. “Well?”
“It’s a confirmation letter from the International Short Film Committee,” he said still surfing through the channels.
“I got that from the cover. What does it say?”
“It says my film got an entry for the festival 3 months from now.” Prakash looked at him at amusement. He couldn’t understand why it isn’t exciting to him.
“Is it my stinky clothes in the bag that killed your joy brain cells or the early morning sun that is burning your buttocks?”
“It is her dude. She wants me to come to the ice cream parlour.”
“Which one?” he mocked. “I am sorry. So what seems to be the problem?”
“It’s Natasha. It’s her way of saying that she is taking me seriously. And…”
“And you haven’t still found your track with either of them.” He didn’t reply. “Tell me man… Natasha had this unmatchable advantage compared with the other girl right from the scratch. And yet you are not sure?” He still remained silent. “You better tell one of them the truth. If not the whole of it at least the part that led you to this double dating circus,” he said and went to do his laundry. He gave it a thought.
“Hey man! I forgot to buy detergent. I don’t think there’s any left.” It was replied with some not so pleasant words.
By afternoon Aamid got ready and reached the parlour in time. Natasha was waiting there eagerly for him. This time it was no t-shirt and jeans for her. She was wearing a beautiful blue salwar. The first thing that crossed his mind was did she come in her Harley Davidson wearing this.
“Hey,” he said sitting next to her. “Listen…”
“No, you listen,” she said interrupting him. “I ordered two double scoop sundaes and that is what you are gonna have, period.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said all confused. It was least of his concerns. “Look there is something I need to clear with you.”
“Don’t worry, I will pay the bill.”
“No, it’s not that. I mean… yeah okay. But…”
“Aamid… can I trust you like my ice creams?” she asked. He was beginning to have the creeps listening to her talk like that for the first time.
“Of course, I mean… when you put it like that. But Nat…” before he could complete she lend forward and hugged him for the first time. He held him so tight that he couldn’t breathe.
“Aamid?” called someone. “Is that you?” He opened his eyes and looked at his right and there she was… Ruby was standing right next to them with a friend of hers. Aamid let loose of Natasha’s grip and she also looked puzzled sensing something wasn’t right.
“Natasha this is Ruby. Ruby this is Natasha. Apparently I have been dating both of you for the past one month or so,” he said looking slightly downward. All of a sudden he felt a small slap on his left cheek. But it wasn’t that small either.
“Broke my trust already?!” shouted Natasha.
“Look guys. I can explain.”
“Damn right! That you will,” said Natasha. “I need an explanation right now!”
“I think I have heard all I need to,” said Ruby and started to leave.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no…” said Natasha catching her hand. “Sister… I can’t let you make this easy for him.” So she stayed. Ruby faced turned pink and she could possibly burst in to tears anytime. “Now explain.”
“Look guys… can we do this somewhere which offers more privacy?” asked Aamid. The three looked around and saw that they were the centre of attraction to all there.
The three went inside the gent’s rest room and closed it from the inside. He explained how he and Ruby met and then how Natasha came over. He explained how he felt it hard to break up with either of them as they were both such good individuals. He also said that he was here to explain everything to Natasha. The three remained silent for sometime after he has finished his explaining.
“Excuse me…” said someone knocking at the door from outside. Natasha opened it partially and it was the floor manager. “Ma’am I would like all of you to come out.”
“Well… my friend pooped his pants. So you wouldn’t like us if we are to come out right now.”
“Ma’am, if you don’t come out we would have to call the police. Said the floor manager; a woman in her mid 30s.
“It’s not like we are all mating inside,” said Natasha and the trio stepped out. He paid the bill and they all stepped out of the parlour. Ruby’s friend was asked to go by Natasha and so she did.
The three went to the nearest bus station and the two girls sat on the bench while he stood and faced them. “Look guys… I am sorry. But in all these days together have I ever tried to take advantage or showed any bad intensions? Hell, I haven’t even laid a finger on you both like that,” said Aamid.
“That is no excuse you jack ass,” said Natasha.
“I know. But the truth is that both of you has become a crucial part in my life and… and if ever I fall in love with anyone, then I wish it is to one of you. Both you guys are really amazing people. I just needed little more time to decide without making myself seem like a pervert. God, this is all sounding too stupid and outrageous,” he said and turned the other way.
“Not exactly,” said Natasha. “The stupidity is just to hit its peak when you finally start to explain everything that you have been hiding.”
“I did. I told you everything. I don’t know what else to say. I just don’t wanna lose either of you from my life.” Natasha got up and turned him around to face her.
“Every time you are with me it makes me feel that you are hiding something… hiding much more than a double dating situation. Sometimes you look at me as if I am some ghost. I always sensed you wanted to be with me for the wrong reasons. And I know that I don’t even have to ask Ruby whether if she has sensed the same. As I know for sure you have that feeling only when you are with me. So… what is that something that gives you these jitters from time to time? Moreover, why were you interested in me at the first place?” she asks. “And also the truth, please,” she added.
“I may have hid things from you. But never lied,” he said. He remained silent for a moment after that. Then he started explaining, “There was this girl in college. I don’t want to be too melodramatic about it or sound tedious. But we loved each other so much that we could even hear our inner voices. We shared the most amazing relationship for 5 years. Never fought… never argued over anything. Then one day, just like that… she called my mother and said it is over. I called her and she never answered. No reply to my texts. I went over and her folks never allowed us to meet. She called my mother again and said how much she hated me and was disgusted. Each time I tried to make a contact she slipped away even further. I completely broke to pieces. Words couldn’t explain how it felt. Hell, I even lost track of time for almost a year. I may have done loads of stupid stuff at that time. Half of them I don’t remember. Lost my job… basically lost everything I loved and cared for. And I prayed each night that at least let me hear it from her… if only I heard from her that she doesn’t care for me anymore... then at least I would have felt the dignity for loving her so much. I never even got a goodbye. Not even a cause. I am never going to know whose fault it was. I just want to know why. I loved her so much that there are only so many words to explain how much I felt for her. I just wanted to know if it was my mediocre life that she didn’t like me for. I mean… there is only so much we can all do with our lives.” He wipes a tear from his eye. “Then I thought if that is the case then I will prove the world that I am more than what the eyes meet. I resurrected and I pursued even harder to be a film maker… something I always loved but never strived for. And today… when I finally have an opening it doesn’t feel like I have proved anything. Not that I am not happy. I just…” he searched for words. “You look very much like her,” he said turning towards Natasha. “I don’t suppose you will ever understand how that feels.”
“Maybe not,” said Natasha. “But your eyes speaks volumes.” He smiles.
“I am not ready to lose either of you now. And I mean it,” he says looking at both. “I mean Alisha was just some other tale from some other lifetime. It’s been 2 years now. “
“Wait a minute. What did you say?” asked Natasha.
“I said it’s been two years now.”
“No, what was her name that you said?”
“Alisha.”
“Not by any chance Alisha Rehman, is it?”
“You know her?”
“Holy crap!” she shouted. “Know her? She is my cousin!”
“Whoa...” said Aamid. Ruby also caught up on her feet.
“I mean… to look like me and all. Who else can it possibly be? This is epic man. You know what… you just want to hear from her the reason right? Well I say let’s go beat it out of her right now.”
“What? No. Don’t be ridiculous,” said Aamid.
“Listen… her house is only 45 minutes from here and you haven’t figured out a way to talk to her in two years. Now you don’t be ridiculous! And find a car right now. We are all going right now.”
“What? No, no… please don’t include me too. I have to be back before 8pm,” said Ruby to Natasha.
“You should know by now that I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. And baby you won’t regret this. Trust me.” With more persuasion from her she finally gave in. He called Prakash and explained the situation. Prakash was more eager for this expedition that he arrived on the scene with the car faster than one could possibly imagine.
The two girls sat on the back and Aamid sat on the passenger seat with Prakash driving the car. Aamid from time to time adjusted the glass mirror and looked at Ruby. She was trying hard to roll back her tears. Each time she tried one rolled on to her cheeks. She kept looking outside the window and slowly wiped her cheeks before anyone could see.
Natasha asked to park the car a good distance away from Alisha’s house. She asked them to wait inside and that she will go and get her saying she wants to go shopping with her. And then Natasha left.
10 minutes has passed. Aamid thought of all those days they spent in the last few weeks. He was now getting edgy. He accidently looked at the glass mirror and saw Ruby’s eyes looking at him. He remained looking at it and the eyes stayed with him.
“Okay here we goooo…” said Prakash indicating that they were coming. And there they were. Natasha walked towards the car followed by Alisha. Natasha stood beside the car with Alisha standing besides her not realizing who was inside. All the people inside the car now stepped out. Alisha was in complete shock.
“I guess… we’ll just move to the side, so that you can just tell it to his FACE,” said Natasha to Alisha sarcastically.
“No that’s all right,” said Aamid. “No one needs to go anywhere. In fact Alisha doesn’t have to explain anything either.” Everyone was surprised. Natasha seemed angry. “You know Alisha… I have nothing to say to you either. What is there to say when shit happens? It happens. So let it be.” He then turned to Natasha. “I am sorry for all this. May I have a best friend in you forever? I wouldn’t know what to do without someone like you.” She pretended to think about it.
“I guess it would be awkward to love a girl and possibly to marry her cousin. I mean we are practically sisters. So I say yeah to friends.” She hugs him. Then he walks towards Ruby.
“Someone once told me that it is better to take the hand of the one who loves you rather than the one who you want to be with. I would be lying to you if I didn’t say that I didn’t fall for you the very first moment I saw you in that café. It was the most unique feeling I ever felt. I tried harder and harder to block my feelings for you. I just can’t wrestle with myself anymore. You make all those struggles and pain go away with one glance and I swear I am ready to go through all of that once again and even more if it could lead me to you. So I am asking you to choose me. You might be the one orphaned but I am the one all alone without you, Ruby.” She shuts her eyes and lowers her head. He touches her chin and raises her head. “Look at me, Ruby. Can you choose to take my hand? Can you choose to love me like I love you?” She opens her eyes. Smiles with filled eyes and then slightly motions her head up and down, nodding in agreement. She then holds both his hands. And he kisses her lips. Her arms go around him. Natasha jumps up and down with glee. Prakash takes out his dark shades and puts it on wearing an even bigger smile. Alisha walks back home angrily.
“Let’s go now,” said Natasha sitting in the passenger seat with Prakash next to her. The couple gets inside the car and cuddles. Prakash motors away with all aboard. That was after a brief moment of panic when the engine denied any co-operation.
“How come you never knew him despite him dating your cousin for 5 years?” asked Prakash.
“I was in the US, studying. I hardly came to know of the things going on here,” says Natasha. “God, I really suck in this desi attire. Don’t I?”
“Oh yes. Big time,” said Prakash.
“Mm, an honest man,” says Natasha. “I like that.”
“One of my attributes,” he says. “How about an ice cream?” he asks her.
“I don’t know… some other time, maybe. But I like that you asked.” He looks at her and smiles sheepishly.
“Me too,” he says.
--FIN—
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