"Get up!You Lazy bone.It's 11:00", a voice called.
" Damn man! " said a the young man rubbing his eyes still half asleep. "It's 11:00. I am going to be late again! I had to be at the stall at 11:30 and my and this headache!", said the guy as he made he left the bed.
"11:30 Powai, impossible. Why the hell are you going to the stupid stall? Don't you have anything better to do ? You quit your job, now you go and do some social service and in the evening, you are going to be drunk again. Just look at you!"
" You sound like my grandmother dude..Now don't start it again. It's early morning."
"Morning!!! For heaven sake it's noon! It's over eleven. And Bewade ( drunkard ) it's not the headache but the hangover. I know, my voice is falling on the deaf ears. All you have to do is squander your Dad's money. isn't it?"
"Can we discuss it later, Bhags", said the Bewada.
"Why not now? ", asked Bhags.
"Three reasons.
Number 1: You are boring me stiff.
Number 2: You won't understand.
Number 3: I am getting late! Now where is the Deo."
"Correction, my dear spendthrift. You are not getting late you are late"
"Whatever! Where is the Deo ?", said the spendthrift Bewada.
"Aren't you going to take bath?", inquired Bhags knowing the answer fully well.
"Water is precious! Deo?", he shouted back.
"Look for it yourself. It must be on the table", said Bhags.
"Got it!" said the man picking the Deodorant which lied among a heap of clothes, empty mineral water bottles, old newspaper, scissors, belts, paper clips, files, non functional pen, unwashed cups, empty cigarette packets that worked as improvised ash-trays on the study table. The study table that stocked every item of daily use was used for anything but study."
" By the way Bhags, thanks for your blue denim Jacket", said the man as he picked the jacket from the study table."
" Bastard!", Bhags growled...
Two hours later, a guy in a blue denim jacket was manning a stall at the IIT Powai fest.
"Looking smart dude! Blue denim jacket... Deo-Sheo.. Got a gal at the fest?", said a tall dark handsome man with bulging muscle.
"Come On!, Nikhil. The jacket is of my friend and Deo because "Save water, Use Deo!!!"
"In any case, it's turning quite a few heads over here", said the guy as a broad smile spread over his dark neatly trimmed face.
"Nikhil, It's twenty eighth of December and not first of April."
" Alright, Go and get the registrations done while I fold these sheets into cards for you. Forget the registrations, nobody even listens to me!", said Nikhil as his smile turned to a grin.
" That's because you pick up wrong people Nikhil! You should never talk to couples about donation as they are too busy with themselves. Moreover it's not so wise to go after the committed gals!", said the guy in the blue denim jacket whose eyes twinkled as he spoke the last sentence. "Pick only the same sex group!", he continued as he took the registration desk.
An hour or so later, a young man holding some pamphlets was drinking water from the bottle. His eyes widened as he saw her glimpse through the corner of his eyes. His excitement coupled with his lapse in attention caused him to choke and he coughed. He splashed water on himself in the process, which made his jacket a darker shade of blue at places where the denim absorbed the water drops. He saw her, or was he just hallucinating?...
He rushed to the counter of his stall and he searched with his eyes... There she was...talking gaily ... oblivious to the fact that a pair of narrow cold eyes watched her every movement.
It was her, right? Long time had elapsed ... since he saw her...368 days to be precise.
"I am going for lunch!", said the boy who had choked moments ago. His colleagues watched the boy in the wet denim jumped over the table counter which was covered with white cloth.
He followed her. His eyes followed her but at a distance. His thoughts ran random, wild and in all directions. "What is she doing over here?... It is she, right?" Her presence was something that was too good to be true. Something that he was himself not sure could happen to him.
It was not some puppy love that could happen to him so why was he feeling so strange. Ofcourse she was not some beauty queen but she was nevertheless pretty. "Alright dude, you are a grown up! It's alright, it's over... You were just overexcited on seeing her, and it was unexpected. Now relax, calm yourself. You are past puppy love stage. Those Goose Bumps are result of being overexcited which is perfectly natural. Cool down, you don't have your stomach churning....", he spoke to himself. And right at the moment she turned.
Rational thinking is something that God intended to abandon you and when you need it the most! And true to it's nature it abandoned him at the moment she turned. He stood there rooted, not moving an inch. It seemed to him that all the force of gravity that wretched Newton had discovered was now applied between his now immobile feet and the ground.
He stood there fixed and his non-existent brain searched for words to start a conversation. He thought to himself, "Mr. Smart ass, smile and just say a hello. Simple enough, nothing tough. That's it!" "Alright Get ready! She is coming towards you. And by the way, You should have taken a bath you moron." He promised to himself that he is going to sue the deodorant company if he could get through it alive!"
And so Mr. Smart Ass got ready as she came...And She came and passed....And passed him, right in front of his eyes. "Wait a minute! Was it she? Mr. Moron, you could bloody well bet his life on that! Then, why didn't she acknowledge your presence?"
A thousand questions barged his not so impressive brain. And thinking was obviously something that his brain was accustomed to. "Man, something is wrong here..",he spoke as he thought. "She probably didn't notice.. no that couldn't happen. Alright Mr. Smart ass fine! You didn't expect her to find your presence to be pleasant, did you?"
He thought and thought he did! "No, but there wasn't even an acknowledgment. I mean, there wasn't even a "not you again" look. Her eyes were indifferent! More indifferent than anything else." And that thought hit him like a bolt of lightening!
He could have tolerated that " I hate you "look and the "despise" in her eyes was still something he could manage to live with but that indifferent look left him cold. More cold than he had ever been. Cold and baffled... more baffled than he had ever been ... Cold and baffled....he found his entire strength sucked out of his body and he was left baffled and cold.
His mind refused to accept the fact, inspite of knowing it. He summoned the last of his strength which had evaporated with those "very indifferent" look in her eyes.
"It's not her?", he tried to console himself. "I need to get a better look of her,"he said to convince himself as he ran towards the amphitheater where he had seen her disappear.
His eyes searched her like a fanatic while he desperately prayed to not to find the gal again. His mind knew the truth and he never wanted to accept it... His movements were erratic and more of desperation. His face had turned red and blood shot in his ears as he looked for her.
There were people around him, talking, laughing, smiling moving with joy in their stride among them was she... leaning beside a table, sipping soft drink from the green 7up can while a schoolbag hung idly from her shoulders. It was she! She was looking at the performance on stage. And the filtered rays of the sun through the dark green net of the huge tree fell softly on her hair and face. The light gave her face an aural glow and her hair appeared to be made of gold. She looked so happy and her eyes twinkled as he stood and watched her in the passage.
He stood there, as her friends and she made her way out of the crowd. He saw her lips move as she muttered "excuse me" and her shoulders and bag bumped into his.His hand went out instinctively to catch hers. It was she, that clumsy bump was the proof.It could be no one but her, that cute clumsy style of walk could only be of one person!
He could have held her hands but his fingers turned to a clenched fist as he accepted the fact. "She didn't recognize him! and the feeling of hollowness turned into wasteful stubbornness and in her mind echoed her bitter words. His knees went wobbly and unable to support himself he sat down there. All he could hear was an echo of her words spoken an year ago, "I don't think I want to see you at all!"
In the same evening a group of guys were partying. It was obvious that the alcohol was showing its effect. "Easy man, you are going overboard", said one.
"I am OK. Dude I am not as Thunk as you Drunk I am.", replied a youngster with a smile and a wink. "It may be be my last party with you", continued the youngster as he finished another peg.
"What do you mean?", said the other.
"I got a job. I am moving to Bangalore.", said the drunkard as he took an envelope from his blue denim jacket and threw it on the table.
Inside the envelope was a letter from NDTV dated 18th December.
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