Part-Time Devdaas... (9 page)

T
he day you admit yourself as an engineering student, you solemnly sign on the warrant of persecution and agree that you’ll, without any objection, allow your mind and soul to be sodomised by the atrocious demands and treatments bestowed upon you by the professors, who feel righteous to vent their personal and professional vexations by bullying you at every possible opportunity. There are students who bear the blisters with smiles and mirthfully show it off. But since I was thrown into this black hole with my hands and legs chained to a tetra pod, my mouth occasionally blared out my frustrations at the professors.

One such incident cost me the afternoon of 31 December and I was holed up in the cementing lab that resembled a rat-infested cave. I could see orgasmic pleasure beaming from our professor Miss Mary Mathews’ face when she asked me to rewrite the whole semester’s experiments.

Ms Mathews looked like the ugly step sister of Cinderella. A round, grey-coloured face, her oil soaked hair tied with a rubber band while a moustache similar to that of a boy going through puberty adorned her upper lip. She had a manly voice and spoke flawless English with a heavy South Indian accent.

Whenever my phone vibrated, she looked up from her files and raised an eyebrow which almost touched her hairline. It was five in the evening and Raghu had been calling me for the past four hours. I pushed the phone in my pocket to avoid anymore stinking looks from Ms Mathews and got back to wasting ink and paper. An hour later, the phone began vibrating again; after a few minutes of enjoying the vibration in my pocket, I pulled the phone out.
Seventeen missed calls!
All of them from Hrida. I felt a sudden rush of blood in my body. I simply stuffed all my files in my sack and ran out of the lab, leaving Ms Mathews screaming behind me.

I started my bike and throttled it out of college. At a safe distance away from the college and Miss Mathews, I stopped and dialled Hrida’s number. My heart began to pound.

“Hi...” she said.

“Hi... you called?” I asked adjusting the rearview mirror to see my face.

“Yes...” her voice filled with controlled eagerness.

“Why?”

“How are you?”

“I’m good...” I said resting my elbows on the fuel tank my face still visible in the mirror.

“I called to tell you that I’m done.”

“Done with what?”

“Done with being pissed at you.”

“Hmm...” I saw a smile grow into grin in the mirror. “I love you,” I said after controlling myself for a while.

“Thank you,” she said. Who the hell on this planet replies to an
I love you
with a
thank you
? But she had scared me enough in the past eleven days, so I kept my trap shut.

“When can we meet?” I asked.

“What’s your plan for tonight?”

“We are going to this party at Yeoor hills.” I said. “I wasn’t planning on taking anyone, so I’m still a stag.”

“Well now you are not… I’m coming with you,” she commanded. “But I have to be back by one, max.”

“You will, I promise. Be ready by nine, I’ll pick you up.”

“OK, bye. And hey, thank you again,” she hung up.

Yeoor hills was a part of a national park which the people of our city used as a makeshift hill station. So having any party there was illegal. But as I said, in our country, no one cares, hence everything can be managed. The money provided by our parents wasn’t ever enough to pay for our vices, so managing events and arranging parties were the easiest ways of making a quick buck. Raghu and a common friend of ours had arranged this party. Good music, good food, lots of girls, lots of booze – back then, it was the definition of a kickass party. But that day, none of it mattered. All I cared about was that the girl I loved was with me, smiling her heart out and dancing freely. She was happy. I began the new year smiling, dancing, and laughing with my friends and Hrida beside me.

Fifteen minutes after twelve, we left the party to keep up with Hrida’s deadline. Riding down through the dark forest roads, I heard three
wows
and two
oohs 
from her before I was finally asked to stop. She squeaked with joy and ran to the peepal tree which had hundreds of fireflies flying around it. It looked like it was decorated with white rice bulb string lights used during Diwali
.
I switched off the headlight and there was total darkness around us. The only source of light was fireflies shining on the tree. Hrida stood there mesmerized. In a few minutes, she returned and swiftly hopped onto the bike.

There was this happy silence for a while till we rode down the hill. 

“I had fun today,” she said looking at me in the mirror. I could clearly see the love in her eyes as she smiled. 

“Me too,” I smiled back, there was again a moment of silence with both of us looking at each other.

“Didn’t it scare you back there in the dark?” I asked as I hit the highway.

“No, besides why would I be scared when you were with me?” she winked at me.

“Do you really have to go home right now?” I asked trying to push my luck.

“I’ve promised mom so she’ll be waiting. I haven’t been out for so long before,” she said. “But we still have ten minutes.”

“I love you.” I said. She just blushed. “And I’m sorry for saying those mean things.”

“Did you seriously think that this through-the-mirror-apology of yours will be accepted?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, what do you want me do?” I stopped the bike a hundred metres away from her building gate.

“Scratch your head a little and get back to me with something creative,” she said and got off the bike.

“I really thought I had lost you,” I confessed.

“Don’t worry, you never will,” she said patting my head like a dog. “Can I leave, please?”

“Please stay for a while!” I said pouting.

“I don’t want to go, but it’s past one.” I knew she really meant it when she said that.

“Fine.” I said as she extended her hand towards me. Not knowing whether to kiss it, squeeze it or pull her close to me, I held it for a few seconds before she left. I stood there and watched her go. She turned back a couple of times before disappearing into the gate.

The smile, the glint in her eyes, the spring in her walk, the blush on her face – all of it was for me… because of me. Finally, for the first time in my life, the girl I was in love with loved me back. It had been just over two months that I had met this girl and I barely knew anything about her. She was yet to confess her love for me. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life but I decided that I was going to marry her. I lay down in my bed with thoughts of Hrida whirling in my mind. I went through everything she said to me, reliving every moment I spent with her that evening. I finally decided to write her a letter asking her to forgive me. I rushed to my computer and typed out a letter.

Letter of Repentance

To,

Miss Hrida Bapat,

It has come to my notice that my action of using mean words and generalising you in the category of selfish snobs who have ill treated me in past could be seen as offensive and extremely hurtful, considering my claim to love you. I never intended to hurt you and I feel terrible for being so harsh. I want you to understand that I was merely heartbroken when I got to know about your boyfriend through your message. Though I can now see that it was no fault of yours and my actions were fuelled by my anger. Please accept my heartfelt apology. Moving forward, I shall attempt to curtail my erratic behaviour. That said, I would very much appreciate it if you accept my apology and forgive me.

Sincerely, your just friend (for now),

Arjun Kulkarni.

I slept wishing that the clock would speed up by a few hours so that I could see her again. I woke up in the morning and rushed to the courier office and couriered the letter to Hrida’s house.

I had been staring at her gate in the rearview mirror for twenty minutes before she emerged out of it. As she neared my bike, I turned and looked back at her. I sped off as soon as she sat on the bike. The letter that I wrote had had gargantuan effects on Hrida. The moment I hit the highway, she planted a kiss on my shoulder.

“Apology accepted,” she said and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“Thank goodness,” I continued smiling. “I hope it didn’t create any problems for you at home.” She began to laugh.

“No, not at all, in fact your packaging was so flawless that my poor mom rushed to me with a worried expression.”

“I’m sorry about that.”