Part-Time Devdaas... (2 page)

T
he year 2001 changed my life in more ways than one and if there was any
kasar
left, 23
rd
October of that year completed it. Diwali had always been special for me. The only thing I hated about it was the crackers. I never understood why people spent money to buy smoke and noise. Everything else was fun – dressing up, wearing the traditional kurta (which sat in the wardrobe for the rest of the year thereafter) and visiting the local temple where a crowd gathered religiously, as if it was one big date fest.

Early that evening, my dad woke me up and asked me to get ready as he wanted me to go shopping with him. Shopping with dad was always painless, unlike with Radhika or Mom. Zip zap zoom and he would be done; as a consolation, I would get bagful of stuff for myself too. I wasn’t sure where dad intended to shop that day since the stores we usually went to were on the other side of the city. He suddenly parked the car and asked me to get down. I squeaked with joy as I saw him enter a bike showroom. I ran behind him.

“Baba... if you are joking... this is not funny!”

“Consider it a bribe to not drop out of engineering,” he said and smiled at me.

And there it was – the blue 200CC mean machine.

“Zero to sixty in seven seconds flat,” the sales guy was saying.

In those days, when guys my age used 100cc bikes which made fart-like sounds, this baby was a total boner. How cool could anyone’s father get!

“Thank you so much, Baba,” I said hugging him.

“You are welcome. Now, will you tell your mom about this?” he said, sounding genuinely scared.

Later that evening, I picked Shashank up. To me the world seemed different that day – my very own bike was something that I had wanted ever since I had learned to ride. When you are constantly around someone like Shashank Sachdev, you are without a doubt invisible. Six feet tall, athletic body, fair skin, stubble or a dimple if clean shaved with floppy hair – girls would never notice a five-feet-seven-inches tall anorexic frizzled-haired guy like me. I would always end up feeling like his sidekick, so the bike was without a doubt an ego boost for my shallow self esteem. We aimlessly rode all over the city. I was just beginning to feel like the hero of my own story when Shashank got a call from some girl named Neha who asked Shashank, who in turn asked me to take him to the Greenwood Park
c
offee
s
hop where she was waiting for him. I realised my time of being a hero was nearing an early end. All the way to Greenwood Park, I whined about how irritating it gets to listen to his moronic conversations with girls, so I declared that I’d drop him and leave. But by the time we reached, Shashank had cajoled me to wait.

As we entered the coffee shop, I saw three girls sitting in the cafe. I quickly peeked at all three of them. There was a fair one, whom I simply glanced at assuming she was Neha. The other two were of my interest as I would probably spend the next two hours or so staring at them or listening to them. One of them was dark-complexioned, with a look on her face which said
“My mom has asked me not to talk to guys so I’ll mace you even if you so much as look at me.”
The other one was dusky with a cute smile. She got up as we entered and straightway hugged Shashank. He introduced her as Neha. I was merrily surprised. Then I looked at the girl I had overlooked. I cross my heart and swear to die, but I literally observed her in slow motion – fair skin, pink lips, no lipstick, small dark brown eyes carved with just eyeliner, long eyelashes, layered brown hair, a groggy voice and the smile that left me breathless. There was something about this girl that all of a sudden made me feel numb. Hrida.

As expected, Shashank disappeared with Neha, but I had no complaints. I was thinking of what to say that would not make me look like a fool when Hrida spoke.

“Hey your eyes,” she said staring into my eyes,“They are beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I said a little embarrassed.

“What exactly is the colour?” she came close to me and my heart started pounding. “Shit! They are olive green!” she said.

“Yeah, the only saving grace on my face, rest is just a disaster.” I giggled. 

“If you are fishing for compliments, then I must add that you have a great smile too.”

“Nothing like that.” I started grinning.

“Yes, confirmed it
is
pretty amazing.” She said and winked. Suddenly all my nervousness disappeared.

“You don’t seem to like wearing a sari,” I said.

“Arrgghh, I hate it. I had to wear it because of these fools.” She looked at the third girl, “I’d any day prefer pulling up a pair of denims and a tee. Festival or no festival.” 

The third girl got a call from her mother and had to leave. The evening couldn’t get any better for me.

“So what’s with the auntie? What’s her problem?” I asked about the third girl.

“Nothing’s wrong with her. She is just not used to hanging out with guys.”

“She literally punched me with the look in her eyes,” I said and Hrida started laughing.

My phone rang. It was Shashank. It better be something important, I thought. I picked up and he asked me to meet him near the fountain just around the corner. He asked me to bring Hrida and the other girl along with me. As we reached near the fountain, I saw Shashank on his knees in front of Neha and he was holding something in his hand which looked like a ring to me. I have to agree it was romantic with the multi-colour fountain behind them and the music that was playing, but it was by far the cheesiest thing I had ever witnessed in my life. I buried my face in my palms. Hrida on the other hand was thoroughly enjoying the scene. 

“She said
yes
, she said
yes
!” Hrida said jubilantly as I saw them hugging in full public view. Yukk, couldn’t Shashank have found any other place? I thought, but I didn’t mind as Hrida was holding me by my arm. 

I made a puke face at Shashank. Neha seemed really happy as she hugged Hrida.

“Someday, it’ll be you,” he said to me.

We started walking towards my bike. Shashank and Neha held hands as they walked. Hrida and I followed them. She seemed exceptionally happy too. I started the bike and Shashank jumped from behind. As we began to leave, Neha hugged him again. Hrida smiled at me.

We sat in silence. Shashank was probably thinking about Neha and I couldn’t stop thinking about Hrida. She was different from the rest of the plastered Barbies I had met or dated. She was fun and honest. She cracked jokes and laughed at them herself. She was carefree and the zing with which she talked simply amused me. I wasn’t sure if what I felt for her was love or not, but I knew one thing for sure – I had to meet her again.

I
sat there as Hrida walked out of the cafe. I watched her go till she disappeared out of my sight. She left me with the same numbness that I had felt when I had seen her for the first time on Diwali seven years back, only this time I felt bitter emptiness inside me. Shivers went down me as reality began to sink in. I left my bike at the cafe and began to walk. A riot of conversations broke out inside my head.

“How could she simply leave?” Voice One asked.

“Because you asked her to?” Voice Two said.

“But why didn’t she refuse??” Voice One asked.

“You begged her not to.” Voice Two said.

“Didn’t she feel anything when she left. After all, we have been together for seven years??” Voice One asked.

“Maybe she didn’t really love you.” Voice Two said

“Does it mean that I’ll never see her again, no calls, no messages, nothing?” Voice One asked.

“Yes that’s pretty much what you asked her to do,” Voice Two said.

“Fuck!!! What have I done!” Voice One Screamed.

I rang the doorbell and stood blankly staring at the door till she opened it.

“Arjun yaar, its one a.m.!”
Devika whined. I stared back with wet eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I broke up with Hrida,” I said and hugged her.

Cut to 1994:

In the year 1994, my dad was transferred to Mumbai. Radhika chose to stay back in Pune to complete her last year of school with her friends. I barely had any friends in Pune and staying away from Mom and Dad was never an option. But I hated everything about Mumbai – the traffic, the crowds, the weather, and especially the rains. However, I had no option but to make peace with the fact that I had to stay there forever.

I was admitted in the same school my dad went to. I saw his name on the board written against
‘School captain-year 1966’
and understood why he had been so happy about the school. It made me smile with pride. 

I was made to wait on a bench outside the principal’s cabin. Beside me was a girl named Devika. The supervisor came out with a list and took us to a class on the first floor. ‘VI A’ I read on the plate as I followed him into the class. The supervisor introduced us to the class teacher and left. Miss Anita Singh – 27 years old, unmarried, beautiful, fair, round face, big black eyes, shoulder length hair, a bit on the shorter side but great figure and she wore the sari below the navel. She introduced us to the class and then asked them to welcome us. Devika inched towards me in nervousness as the class said,
“Welcome Devika and welcome Arjun”
in a synchronised tone.

That year we were to only two new students in the class, so we were the obvious targets to be bullied. During recess on our first day, someone emptied a water bottle on Devika’s desk and she unknowingly sat on it wetting herself. Everyone laughed at her. Seeing Devika embarrassed, I quietly went to the loo and splashed some water on my behind. Noticing my wet pants, the kids forgot about Devika and began pestering me.
b
ut as long as they left Devika alone, I was okay with it. Ever since that day, Devika and I were always there for each other. I was the fourth boy on roll call and she the fourth girl, so we were made to sit beside each other. We would talk for hours, walked home together. We even went to the same tuition classes. It did not take very long for school to be fun for me.

Devika was some kind of smiling knight in shining armour coming up with solutions to all my problems. It had been fifteen years since then and not much had changed. I wished Devika would come up with something that would pull me out of my misery. That night Devika spooned me to sleep.