‘So let’s see who goes first,’ said Pavan, spinning the bottle and taking charge. Trouble always followed when Pavan decided to take charge. Pavan’s thin hands with protruding veins proceeded to spin the bottle. Except that the talkative Malayali spun the bottle with such gusto that the smooth beer bottle actually kept spinning for a while. The bottle finally stopped.
Everybody squealed. Jaishree. Jaishree was the first person that the ominous beer bottle had chosen as its victim. ‘Okay, so truth or dare?’ asked Pavan in a teasing voice. ‘Truth,’ muttered Jaishree, blushing. Jaishree and Souvik could together start a blushing academy. The mere thought of getting embarrassed was enough to make them blush.
Souvik decided to step into save his lady fair. ‘I want to ask the question,’ he said quickly more to prevent any other male voice from making his girl blush with any awkward question.
Ankur sat up straight. Souvik would ask Jaishree a question! Ankur secretly wondered if it would be the question. Hardly. After all, Souvik was such a private person. He almost gave the word ‘private’ his own private meaning. Yet this would be interesting. Ankur, like everybody else, waited.
‘What has been the best compliment a guy has ever paid you?’ Souvik asked with a twinkle in his eye. Everybody almost let out a bored sigh. This was ‘Truth or Dare’ not ‘Grin and Bear’. But considering this was Jaishree, the question had to be tame.
Jaishree as expected blushed. ‘I was once told that I ought to get a good husband,’ she trailed off shyly. There was an obligatory collective teasing sound. Souvik was thrilled with the answer. Just that it bothered him a bit to see her use the word ‘told’. He would have felt a lot better had she specified ‘written’. After all, he was looking forward to writing her name with his.
Jaishree’s dainty hands then reached out to spin the bottle and as if in Divine justice, the bottle stopped at Pavan, the one bent upon drawing out people’s secrets. This time there was an excited anticipation. With Pavan, anything went.
‘What has been the most outrageous pass you ever made at a girl?’ There was a small giggle, probably from one of the girls. Most of Pavan’s actions towards the fairer sex, were unintentionally outrageous. Even if it was enlightening supposed juniors on the pathetic college conditions.
‘There was this one time when I was seated at a fancy restaurant next to a girl who ordered fresh salted crabs. I was accompanying my dad for a business do and this girl was probably his boss’s daughter. But she was just too hot! When her crab arrived, I thought I was being very smart when I said, “Wow! The crab still has his eyes… probably to watch you all through dinner!” That was it! The girl got delusional! She actually felt the crab was looking at her after which she simply refused to look at both the crab and me!’
Pavan didn’t have to say more. The party erupted into peals of laughter. One had to give it to Pavan, he sure had a rather hilarious way of narrating incidents, complete with vivid gestures.
Once the laughter subsided, Pavan crawled crab-like away from his cushion to spin the bottle. The bottle again spun longer than usual. This time it stopped at Ankur. Again there was a collective squeal. The loudest from Ankur himself. He enjoyed being a spectator for such events, and being in the direct line of fire was not what he looked forward to.
‘Truth, Truth,’ Ankur specified, even before he was asked, as though he was a khadi cap wearing follower of the Mahatma. Heck, Ankur was even willing to take off on a Dandi March, if the question got too awkward.
‘Okay okay,’ reassured Vyas patting his back, even as his eyes glinted mischievously.
‘What is your wildest fantasy?’ and everybody again listened in anticipation.
Ankur blushed. Then he suddenly became serious. His wildest fantasy would be to bury Rohit in his own farmhouse and get Sonali to bail him out of jail. If only he could say that.
Ankur shifted uncomfortably which others took to be shyness and egged him on. The males in the group were looking for some ‘hard core’ answers. And Ankur was about to disappoint them.
‘My wildest fantasy would be simply my girl and me, together in a classroom…,’ even as Ankur said this, his eyes darted towards Sonali but he quickly averted his gaze. There was almost an annoyed collective moan, but Ankur was not finished yet, ‘…giving each other oral lessons.’
The boys in the group caught on fast enough, while Sonali and Jaishree shifted uncomfortably. Yet their awkwardness was lost in the boisterous laughter that followed. Things sure were heating up.
Ankur rather gratefully leaned across to spin the bottle and the next victim was none other than his own dear roommate—Vyas. Again there was collective renewed enthusiasm. The Truth and Dare game was without a doubt very interesting. Especially for the guys.
‘Are you a virgin?’ asked Rohit pointedly. The guy always believed in coming straight to the point. A sudden hush fell over the group. Even before Vyas could decide that he was ready to answer a daring question, Rohit had decided for him. ‘You’ve had a girlfriend for almost four years, haven’t you?’
This was getting too personal for Vyas. He would have liked to wriggle free but everybody rather involuntarily waited with bated breath.
‘No…I mean yeah…I am a virgin…though of course Caroline and I have fooled around quite a bit…,’ That sure was some confession. But Ankur was hardly surprised. Caroline was without a doubt, quite foolish, and in her esteemed company Vyas was soon gaining a reputation as a confirmed idiot. It was quite natural for two fools to be just fooling around.
There was a moment’s silence as everybody took time to digest the news. There was a nervous laugh in an effort to return to normalcy. Rather dense animal vibrations seemed to have started descending on the place.
Vyas in a bid to avert the collective stares reached out to spin the bottle when Sonali stopped him.
‘Enough guys! It’s already late, Jaishree and I have to get back to the hostel,’ and before anybody could realise it, Ankur found himself neatly rearranging the cushions as everybody got up to leave.
Twenty-Two
Ankur was lounging at home watching a music channel when his cell phone rang. It was Sonali. Ankur sat up straight. This was perhaps the first time ever that Sonali Shah was calling on his cell. This had to be important. Ankur had hardly registered his own hello, when Sonali’s shaky voice was heard saying, ‘I'm done with this Rohit episode.’
There was a moment of stunned silence at Ankur’s end when he found himself saying, ‘Why?’ Logically, he ought to have said a curt, ‘So?’
‘I can’t explain over the phone…just come over,’ Sonali said, and the phone clicked dead. Perhaps the line had got disconnected? The unpleasant news must have scared away the airwaves. It certainly scared away the sense of luxury Ankur was experiencing a minute ago.
Ankur uneasily paced the carpeted floor. His family was undoubtedly quite rich with his father running a successful textile business, but Ankur preferred only the first four letters of the word textile. Perhaps that’s why his rich parents allowed him to pursue law and legal texts with such fervour. Anyway, they had an elder son Abhyaas, who was doing his business management abroad and was learning the tricks of the trade to add to the family wealth. With millions being made, a legal advisor within the family was a good idea, someone had wisely advised.
At that precise moment though, Ankur wished he could go somewhere for legal advice. After all, how is one to react when one’s ex-girlfriend calls to say that her present boyfriend has dumped her? Technically there was no reason why Ankur should go running after this girl. In fact she had made him run, had hurt him and had made every waking moment of his torture. But then, not going would also be torture. Then again, he shouldn’t be at the beck and call of Sonali Shah. To think she had actually begun dating someone and Ankur had to quietly watch.
Ankur’s ego decided on something, but his eager heart suggested something else altogether. He would go, Ankur finally decided, shrugging. Sonali needed him an
d he simply had to be there for her.
The Shah household was part of the fifty odd flats in an area where the most prominent landmark was an overflowing municipal dustbin. Strategically located.
Sonali lived in an apartment where the elevator never worked. And if it did, the lift gate had to be banged shut hard so that it could go down or up, with the mere impact. Bright green walls with paan stains greeted Ankur as he climbed the staircase, as did many noisy children playing in the corridors. It was middle class India, at its best.
An out of breath Ankur stood on the fourth floor in front of the nameplate that read ‘Jitesh Shah’. A fair and chubby boy of ten opened the door but before inviting him in, turned to inform everybody in the house about the stranger at the door. Sonali emerged from one of the rooms as did a portly figure of a rather sour-faced old lady, who was Sonali’s grandmother.
‘Hi! Come in, sit!’ Sonali said opening the grill door to let him in. Ankur spontaneously removed his shoes and placed them in a corner. A middle aged lady with a kind face also made her appearance smiling. ‘Namaste, aunty,’ Ankur said respectfully. Mrs Shah smiled back her approval and told him in Hindi to make himself comfortable. Sonali meanwhile had disappeared to get refreshments. Ankur sat alone for a few minutes in the modestly furnished drawing room. Portraits of long dead Gujarati ancestors hung from the walls. The wrinkled faces staring at Ankur seemed to suggest that most of them had transformed into framed garlanded photographs at ripe old ages. Naveen, Sonali’s little brother who had opened the door, peeped in once to look at Ankur as he sat alone in the living room.
Sonali appeared with a tray full of steel bowls. Dhokla, khandvi and khakra filled three soup bowl shaped vessels, while a fourth empty plate was for Ankur to help himself. One had to give it to the Gujaratis for being so hospitable. The sight of so much food served as a neat bribe. Ankur was willing to hear any sob story however long and convoluted, as long as he could keep nibbling at the food!
‘So what happened?’ asked Ankur programming his voice to sound sympathetic even as his teeth bit into a spongy dhokla. The two ladies had disappeared into different rooms and Sonali was a little at ease.
‘Rohit tried to hit me!’ Sonali said in a low voice.
‘What?!’ yelled Ankur almost choking over his dhokla. ‘Why…what happened…I mean, how dare he?’ Ankur rarely spoke fast when he had tasty food in his mouth. Yet the news was too shocking.
‘I can’t tell you here,’ said Sonali, looking around. ‘Let’s go to the terrace.’
The thought of leaving so many snacks untouched would have depressed Ankur, but at this moment, the news itself was even more depressing. Ankur readily surrendered his half eaten dhokla and got ready to go upstairs.
‘Finish your dhokla,’ Sonali urged as Ankur got up to wear his shoes.
‘You finish with this stupid affair!’ Ankur wanted to retort even as he hastily swallowed the soft yellow homemade preparation.
‘Ma I’ll be back in ten minutes,’ Sonali shouted as she adjusted her dupatta and opened the door.
‘Rohit has been doing drugs, for a long time,’ Sonali said, as she leaned on the high parapet wall on the terrace of her apartment. Ankur was glad it was a high parapet or he himself risked toppling over with the news. Sonali Shah was dating a drug addict?
‘Rohit, for all his wealth, comes from a broken home… besides he couldn’t take the pressure of being a law student,’ Sonali was saying.
‘Don’t justify his deeds. We are all law students!’ Ankur snapped, irritated.
Sonali remained silent. She had a feeling that Ankur would get angry.
‘So he tried to hit you?!’ asked Ankur, angry at the very thought.
‘Rohit would get into these violent spells during his mood swings,’ Sonali said quietly. ‘He would rave and rant about his family, but never once did he actually hit me except…,’ Sonali trailed off.
‘Except, when?’ Ankur wanted to know. The lawyer in him was in all seriousness prepared for a court battle.
‘Except when he tried to force himself on me…and I resisted,’ said Sonali, her eyes fixed to the floor.
‘So you both would actually sit and pet each other?!’ Ankur asked, the anger, hurt and jealousy clearly showing.
‘Never!’ Sonali countered emphatically. ‘That was just the reason Rohit tried to hit me…he wanted physical intimacy,’ Sonali stated solemnly.
Ankur was livid. If only he could punch the sullen boor. Ankur grit his teeth angrily. What agitated him more was the fact that it seemed that Sonali had done nothing to retaliate. She simply ought to have murdered Rohit. At the very least. Intelligent women indeed make foolish choices.
‘Listen, didn’t I tell you going around with Rohit was a mistake?!’ Ankur asked, his anger still not ebbing.
In life, there were always two kinds of people. The ones who after an event wriggle a finger and declare, ‘I knew it!’ and the others who shake their heads and say, ‘Didn’t I tell you?’
Ankur obviously belonged to the second category.
‘But Ankur, at no point was I actually seeing Rohit,’ Sonali justified, in an almost pleading voice.
‘Really?’ asked Ankur, sarcasm dripping from his tone. ‘Making long disappearances from class was obviously just for xeroxing notes, wasn’t it?’ Ankur retorted, remembering that incident.
‘Ankur, I would actually be visiting Rohit in rehab.’ It was Ankur’s turn to be silent. So Rohit had admitted himself in a clinic. He should try an asylum next time, he thought, seething.
‘But where was the need, especially if you weren’t his girlfriend?’ asked Ankur, stressing on the word ‘girlfriend’.
‘You know Anks…when I was harassed by that lawyer, Rohit was the only one who stood up for me. This was the least I could do for him,’ Sonali said, her eyes filling with tears.
‘Yeah but…,’ Ankur softened his stand. ‘You could have told one of us, we would have accompanied you while visiting Rohit…,’ Ankur suggested gently.
‘But Rohit swore me to secrecy. He didn’t want anybody to know about his drug problem,’ Sonali said again, in a low tone.
‘But this is ridiculous!’ declared Ankur, his sense of reasoning and agitation returning. ‘It’s not as if Rohit is such a great guy that you needed to take an oath for him. It was decent on his part to help you that time but…,’
Ankur trailed off emphatically. ‘Besides what about your awe inspiring astrology? How come you didn’t predict the disaster called Rohit?’ he demanded, simmering on slow flame. Everything that irked him about Sonali burst forth like an angry bubble.
‘Karmic debts. We all have our karmic debts to repay. Besides, Rohit taught me a lot.’ Sonali replied calmly, looking away from Ankur and into the horizon hidden behind sky rise apartments.
‘Yeah, like what…? The best places to get cocaine?’ asked Ankur, sneering.
Sonali didn’t answer, though her hurt was evident.
‘You know Ankur, I come from a normal middle class family. The reason I’m doing law is so that I can hope to earn and make money. But in conservative Gujarati homes, girls are not encouraged to work. For a long time I had taken this unwritten patriarchal rule as one of the laws of society. Being the eldest in the family I was getting ready for an early marriage and had decided that I would work only if my husband and his extended family would give me the “permission”.’
Ankur listened intently. It was rare for Sonali to be talking like that.
‘Yet that day when I saw Rohit stand up for me and in no uncertain terms declare that there was no reason why I ought to meekly assist in that lawyer’s office at night, something simply clicked. Rohit somehow made it clear that I needn’t compromise my own values and ideas just to please someone else,’ Sonali said, her voice now infused with new vigour and spirit.
Ankur was still a little confused. He didn’t quite know how to react. So in the final analysis, was Rohit the villain or the hero of the piece?
&
nbsp; ‘And do you know how I lost my glasses?’ asked Sonali smiling and turning to focus her eyes on Ankur.
‘Rohit stomped on them for you,’ Ankur helpfully offered.
Sonali laughed. ‘They say hypermetropia or far-sightedness is caused when one is uncertain about one’s future. It is an ailment that normally only middle aged or old people suffer from since as one nears retirement, life itself becomes a little hazy. Yet imagine me, an ambitious Gujarati girl got these specs while I was still in my teens. Somehow after that internship, however unpleasant it may have been, I learnt that regardless of society, I could choose to “see” my future, exactly as I wanted to! This message was obviously carried to my eyeballs. After all, one’s optic nerves are said to be one of the most sensitive in the body,’ Sonali finished, with a laugh.
Ankur wanted to laugh too. At himself. Just what was he supposed to do right now? Sympathetically click his tongue and ask Sonali to get back to Rohit or promise to be that sincere friend who will dutifully visit a battered women’s home and drug rehab clinic, whichever one Sonali chose to admit herself into. Yet the next sentence suddenly eased Ankur of all his doubts.
When a Lawyer Falls in Love Page 8