Part-Time Devdaas... (11 page)

I parked the bike and dialled Devika’s phone and the pretentiously polite recorded voice of a woman from service provider told me that her phone was switched off. I crossed the road and walked to the crowded food stalls. This city indeed didn’t sleep. It was past 3.00 a.m. and yet I had to push through the crowd to the beach. There was no sign of her. With every passing minute, my heart began to palpitate more. I dialled her number again, in vain. There was no way I could contact her. I wandered through the stalls with the vendors practically hounding me as if it was my moral responsibility to buy the food they were selling. I walked back to the bike.

“Done strolling on the beach?” she said and smiled at me as she saw me walking towards her.

“Finally...” I hugged her.

“I’m sorry, you had to go through all this trouble.”

“It’s fine once in a while, but next time find someone else,” I said and she slapped me on the shoulder.

“What were you doing here anyway?” I asked sitting on the bike

“Office party and then got freaking drunk,” she said as she jumped onto the bike. I adjusted the mirror to see her and I flipped out when I saw her face.

“Dev... show me your face!” I turned frantically and held her by her chin with my right hand
“It’s a freaking cut!
” I screamed looking at the cut at the corner of her lips.

“Yes I know,” she said, dabbing it with a bloodied handkerchief.

“How did it happen?”

“Let’s leave this place and I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Dev, how the fuck did it happen…?”

“Kartik slapped me.” I had already guessed that it would be him. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

“Where is he now?” I asked failing to mask up the fury in my voice.

“Can we please leave… I’m sleepy.”

I stared at her with rage.

“On the beach, snogging with his colleague.” She finally blurted.

“Get off the bike right now.” She got down immediately. My tone must have scared her. I took her hand and walked towards the beach.

“Where is he?” I asked and she pointed to the far end of the beach.

When I reached the spot, the pig had already hit the third base with the chick. I tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey...  aaa...” he said turning to me trying to remember my name.

“Arjun...” I said.

“Ah Arjun.” He extended his hand towards me to shake mine.

“You made a huge mistake by hitting her.” I held him by his collar and threw three nasty consecutive punches at his face. The first hit his jaw, second hit his teeth, and the final one hit his nose. He began to bleed almost instantly. The girl lying beside him was totally oblivious of the fact that the guy who was groping her just a few seconds ago was getting his ass kicked. She was so drunk that she just lay there on the sand.

“You fucking whore, you called him here.” Kartik said as he spotted Devika and tried to get hold of her arm. I got hold of him again and kicked him in his crotch. He fell on the ground moaning.

I got on my knees and grabbed him by his hair. “If you ever, I mean ever, come near her again, I’ll make a yo-yo out of your balls,” I said and pushed him away.

No matter what time of the day it is, the
janta
of our country is so hungry for entertainment that they’d instantly turn into spectators. I put my arm around Devika and pushed my way through the crowd. I saw her stop at a distance as I sat on the bike.

“Poncho...”

“What?” I asked noticing her stare at me.

“Can we please put them in a cab?”

“Are you for real, Dev?”

“Come on ya…
ladki hai
!”

“What about him?” I asked.

“Please?”

“Arrrggghhh!!!” I got off the bike. “You get the cab, I’ll get them.”

Ten minutes later, after struggling with two drunk and partially unconscious bodies, I simply dragged both of them and dumped them in the cab. Devika gave the driver Kartik’s address and we turned to leave.

“
Aare boss...
” the cab driver called out to me, “
Paisa
?”

“
Ladka dega, nahi toh uska kapda uthar ke leke jaana.
” I chuckled and zoomed off.

The bastard’s slap had delivered a pretty nasty cut on Devika’s lip. I held her face and dabbed it with a wet towel. She groaned when I pressed it a bit harder, but a smile broke out a second later. It was living alone in the city that had made her emotionally strong. But unless you are a
k
ryptonian settled on planet earth or born with super human powers, your body tends to get hurt no matter how strong your emotional firewall is.

“I’m sorry about creating a scene back there,” I said when I saw her looking at me. The earlier smile had transformed into a smile that I had never seen on her face. I had never been smart enough to decipher a girl’s mind yet. I tried and failed. 

“Done! You are all stitched up.” I said as I applied an antiseptic cream on her lip.

“Thank you.”

“How you feeling?”

“Much better.”

“Good, so now I can bash you up?” I said and got up to collect the box of cigarettes.

“Sure, I’m all yours,” she said, her eyes constantly following me.

I lit the cigarette and went into the balcony. Resting my elbows on the edge of the wall, I exhaled the smoke. It was six in the morning and the sun was yet to say hello. Sounds of ringing alarms coming from a distance, chirping birds, occasionally passing vehicles, splashes of water on the cars, newspaper boy’s tingling cycle bells… everything set the perfect morning ambience. The view of the city in the dispersed blue light of the February morning mist felt quite soothing after all the buzz I had seen in the past twenty-four hours. I stood there feeling the cool breeze, staring at the view with a blank head. Devika slid her hands across my waist and hugged me from behind, resting her head on my back. I flicked the ash and cupped her hands on my stomach with mine.

“I feel so heartbroken right now.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve broken his jaw, teeth and nose.” I exhaled the smoke out. “Three things for breaking your heart.”

“Forget him, he was a prick anyway,” she tapped my hand asking for the cigarette. “I feel bad that yet another relationship of mine got flushed down the drain.” She loosened her grip, “Something is seriously wrong with me.”

“Nothing is wrong with you, baba.” I turned to put my arm around her, “You just fall for all the wrong guys.” I squeezed her with my arm and kissed her on her head. She nuzzled on my shoulder for a bit and shifted her hands from my waist to my neck and began to gaze into my eyes. I couldn’t read her mind, but behind that smile, the pain in her eyes was visible.

Devika had always been a total
bindaas
chick and that is probably why in last few years she had been fooled by a couple of guys. Guys would charm her thinking she was an easy lay, but when their hopes were shattered they would run away. For her good, I hoped that whoever she chose to be with next never hurt her again. I opened my eyes as I felt the warm air of her breath on my lips. Before I could say anything, she placed her lips on mine. It took me a while to realise what was happening. She slowly began to suck my lower lip. I slid my hand around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her back. A minute later, she took a moment to look at me and gave me a blank stare. When I couldn’t figure out what that stare meant, I decided to apologise. But she kissed me back before I could open my mouth. As I reciprocated, she groaned with pain. She began to bite my neck, breathing heavily. Holding her gently, I carried her to the bedroom while she continued to kiss me. I had no idea where it was going, but for the first time I did not see Hrida when I closed my eyes to kiss. I could not recognise the feeling inside me. It wasn’t love, I assumed. It was probably lust that had been buried inside me. Sliding my arm on her back, I held her by the neck and placed her on the bed. I began to unbutton her shirt while she desperately peeled my t-shirt off and threw it away. Lying on top of her, I began to kiss her wildly. It was some kind of a trance and my body refused to listen to any of the rules set by my mind.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked her as she tussled with the buckle of my belt.

“No,” she said and smiled at me, there was a sudden rush of lust in my blood as she said it. All I remember after that was: what had started as friendly comforting hugs and kisses ended up in a sensual animal wanting.

It was the suppressed lust inside that blasted out of me and I had no regrets about it. We spent the rest of the day under the sheets, sleeping in each other’s arms and making love whenever we woke up. Both of us had no intention of discussing the whats and whys of what had happened. We were happy and were getting what we wanted. There was no room for compromises, pain, love or any other complications.

“T
oo busy, boss?” I asked peeping through the gap of his cabin door.

“Buddy!” Rakesh said in his roaring Gerard Butler like voice and embraced me in a bear hug as I walked to him.

“You got some timing, buddy,” he put his arm around me and walked me to the couch opposite his desk.

Rakesh Kapur, Mr India 1974,
was a bespectacled six feet-five inches cave man with fair skin, blue eyes and a grey bushy beard. The hair on the rest of his body made up for his half-bald head. His Mr India title got Rakesh lead roles in three films, but of all them tanked at the box office. So after failing to create magic with his acting skills, he joined Subodh Banerjee, the legendary film producer-director as a production assistant. Due to his killer business sense and eye for good scripts, he quickly climbed up the rungs in Subodhda’s company and soon became his right hand man. Rocky, as the industry began to know him, was a fierce fighter. Once when one of Subodhda’s mega budget multi-starrer failed to pull the audience to the theatres, he personally travelled all over the country to find out what went wrong. He was so convinced that the film would work that he quite literally begged all the theatre owners to hold the film for another week. That film till date holds the record to be the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. After that day, people in the industry began to swear by his judgment about the scripts, so much that even if he casually mentioned he didn’t like the script, producers would shelve the project. The biggest film companies in the country offered him jaw-dropping amounts to work for them, but his loyalty to Subodhda was unshakable. After Subodhda’s death, differences cropped up between him and Subodhda’s sons so he broke out and founded Big Fish Entertainment. Now twenty-six years and thirty blockbuster films later, BFE was the number one production house in the country. He was the most lovable and warm film producer I had met in my career. Years of experience had seasoned him. People would kill to just assist in his films and he had signed
me
to direct three films for him. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

“What do you think?” he asked stretching a life size poster of his latest film.

“Haan? haan? haan?”

A huge grin emerged from behind the grey bushy beard. “Isn’t it a smash hit already?”

I covered my mouth with my fist in excitement and blushed behind it. The poster of
Heer
in-fucking-deed was mind blowing. Neera Dutta sitting on white sand beach of Cape Town in a blue two piece bikini with a tag line that said
“Her quest for love ends this summer...”

“I’m speechless...” I said. 

“This film will create mass hysteria, mark my words,” he almost jumped with excitement as he said that.

“Neera will triple her price. Oh, that reminds me I have to get her papers signed for your film,” he said sinking into a huge fluffy black Italian leather king’s chair.

“Neera Dutta is going to be your first heroine,”
a voice screamed inside me. I felt a sudden rush of blood in my body.

“Baby, will you please get me Neera’s contract for Arjun’s film?” he spoke to his assistant on the phone.

“Did you like the latest draft I sent you?” I asked.

“Loved it...” he picked up the phone again. “You’ll eat anything or just coffee is fine?” he asked me resting the receiver on his chin.

“Just coffee is fine.”

“Okay, ya baby, also, send me two super hot coffees, just like you...” he smiled and hung up. “Except for a few things, the script is flawless.”

The ‘baby’ who had an elephantine body came in with the contract he had asked for.

“Thank you, baby,” he said and blew a kiss at her.

“If it wasn’t for Neera’s dates, I would’ve asked you to start shooting right away.” He pulled something out from his drawer and began to write.

“But if life gave me what I wished, I would have been a superstar today,” he smiled and tore a cheque and handed it over to me. The amount left me breathless.

“Rupees ten lakhs only.”
It read.

“Boss?” I looked at him in shock.

“A promise is a promise. We had a deal. You give me the final draft and I pay you your signing amount.” I read the cheque two more times.

“Thank you,” I said.

Incoming BBM messages from Aditi began to ting my phone.

“hEy.. arE yoU homE??”
I tried hard but could never understand the logic behind typing capital letters at random places in the word.

“mE jUzz came bCk hOm..”
and three Dancing
smilies
.

“whAT yO UptO..”

“mUm’s oUt oF toWn.”
and five Sad smilies.

“sO ill b alOnE tOnitE.”
and three Eyelashes and three Hearts.

“waNNa dO sUmThinG??” and two Grins.

Her typing speed was so fast that before I could complete my reply, I would get another message, there was no point in competeing with her.

“Dinner tonight??”
and a plain smile, I asked quitting my attempt to reply.

“yiPPie!!!!”
followed by a row of smilies.

“yeS Yes yES!!!!”
and three Hearts.

She immediately updated her BBM status to
“diNNer with ARjun”
followed by a hug, a kiss and a heart.

“whErE?”
and two thinkings and three confused smilies.

“You decide.. I’ll pay.. be ready by 9,”
I replied.

“woGAY!!!!”

“Someone’s brought a smile to your face!” Rocky said looking at me from the gap of his specs. “Who’s the girl?”

I laughed. “No one actually. Just my neighbour.”

“Ooow!! Getting naughty with the neighbour’s wifey, haan buddy?”

“Daughter...”

“Suuweeeeeet...”

“She’s a kid, boss.”

“Oh god... what’s wrong with you buddy, aren’t you supposed to have fun at this age and go honka-bonking as many bom-boms you can. What are you doing with kids?”

I smiled.

“Did no one tell you, you are supposed to make hay while the sun shines?”

“Okay boss, as you say, I shall make the hay.” I winked at him as I got up to leave.

“Go get lost and have some fun!” He walked up to me and gave me a hug. “I forgot to ask you, how is the new house?”

“Good, really good.”

It took me a little less than two hours to reach Bandra from Rocky’s office in Lokhandwala. Aditi had already called me four times. It was quarter to nine when I parked the car and checked my watch as I hung up on Aditi’s call. As soon as I opened the door and stepped out, five boys popped up in front of me and surrounded me like they do in South Indian movies. Oily dark brown faces, hairstyles that looked like experiments by hairstyling interns, knee length t-shirts with prints of demons and monsters, jeans that fitted tightly like ladies’ leggings, shoes in unexplainable colours, pierced eyebrows, lips and noses, and arms tattooed with one of the most clichéd designs.

“Arjun?”

One of the boys said stepping forward. “Ad’s boyfriend!!” He introduced himself in a god-knows-where-it-belonged-to accent. “Renzil.”

“Huh?”

“My name is Renzil!” he said raising his pierced eyebrow in attitude.

“Ya, I heard that.”

“Then what didn’t you get?”

“Who are you?”

“Bro have you lost it? I just told you I’m Renzil,” he said while rest of the dodos laughed.

“Seriously? Or am I just imagining things?” I muttered looking up in the sky. “Yes I got that, Renzil. I meant what do you want?” I asked.

“Stay away from Ad,” one of the boys with golden rebonded hair spoke for him.

“And who’s that?”

“Quit playing games with me; Aditi is mine.”

“Good for you.”

“So you are not taking her out for dinner today.”

The authority with which he said that amused me so much that I chuckled out loud, irking the rest of the roaches. Renzil stopped them as they began to close in on me.

“Look bro...” He said trying to patronize me by putting his arm around my shoulder. “I’ll make it very simple for you to understand.” Suddenly maturity replaced authority in his voice.

“Okay!” I said in a mocking tone.

“I have stopped
ma
boys cuz I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hmm.”

“But it won’t be good for you if you take Aditi out for dinner. In fact, I don’t want you to see her anymore.”

“Thanks for that,
Aditi’s boyfriend,
but I suggest you don’t stop
your boys
the next time.” I endearingly patted his cheek and walked away.

Though sushi is visually very enticing, I could never figure out a thing when it came to eating it. Everyone in
Bombay Wasabi seemed to know Aditi, so I assumed she was a regular. She waved at the girl at the reservation desk and pulled me in the restaurant. The restaurant looked like a lavish film set. A Japanese village replica built on a high roofed floor. Cozy woody looking shacks built over a huge artificial water body and were connected to each other by bridges. Red lanterns with traditional Japanese signs, life size statues of Buddha, a huge fountain in the centre of the restaurant, Tibetan staff dressed in traditional Japanese costumes, colourful food highlighted with spot lights on large sushi bars spread on the sides of the floor looked spectacular. This was all on the thirty-fourth floor so each shack had a breathtaking view of the city below. I didn’t even know places like these existed in Mumbai.

“You like this one?” Aditi asked pointing at a shack, I shrugged.

Aditi turned and told the girl, “Send someone fast, I need something to drink.”

“You seem to have some muscle out here,” I said.

“Ya sort of… happens when your dad owns the place,” she winked at me.

“Oh, nice.” I was pretty stunned, so that was the only reply I could think of.

“Listen, I want to booze but these people won’t let me. Will you please order some whiskey for me? Please, please please?” she said as she saw the waiter walking towards us.

“Okay, but just one, alright?”

She jutted her lower lip out to show her sadness. “Wokay.”