by Nikita Singh
‘Well . . . I was looking through some of my old stuff with Mom in the morning and we found this. And I realized I have not done even one of these things. Okay, one—Visit New York. But that’s it. My entire life, I have not achieved anything. And now, there is no time.’
Shourya laughed. ‘Get a leash on all the drama, man. You’re talking as if you’re dying or something. You still have a lot of time. Relax.’
He noticed Lavanya freeze for a second, and then stammer, ‘But, but . . . I wanted to do these things before I turned twenty-five. This is a before-twenty-five list. And I have done none of the things on it.’
‘Okay,’ Shourya said, observing Lavanya closely. She was definitely hiding something. ‘Let’s do this then.’
‘What?’
‘Yes, why not? I am here for two more weeks. What about you?’
Lavanya seemed to think about it for a minute before saying, ‘Two or three weeks, I guess. At least till New Year’s Eve.’
‘Perfect. We’ll start working through your list tomorrow,’ Shourya said, tossing the list back to her. ‘You should put this down on a new sheet of paper, by the way, this one’s coming apart.’
‘I will. But are you serious?’
‘Absolutely. We start tomorrow. Think of this as my end of the deal. You help me move on, I help you complete the tasks on your list. Win-win.’
Lavanya looked unconvinced.
‘I’m going home now,’ Shourya said. ‘I have several missed calls from my distressed sister, but we begin tomorrow. See you.’
And with that, he wished her goodnight and left, feeling much lighter going out of the house than he had coming in.
7
Lavanya slept well that night. When she woke up the morning after, she felt better than she had in a while, her head was not aching and she could breathe through her nose. She took that as a good sign, and in the same spirit, dialled Shourya’s number.
‘’Lo?’ came the groggy response.
‘Hello! Get up! We had a deal, we have to start today!’
‘What are you so chirpy about?’ Shourya groaned.
‘We are starting today. We had a deal.’
‘Stop saying we had a deal.’
‘We had a deal,’ Lavanya repeated.
‘Suryavanshi.’
‘Kapoor.’
‘If you don’t hang up right now and let me sleep, we won’t have a deal for much longer,’ Shourya threatened.
Lavanya did not say anything.
A few seconds later, Shourya said, ‘You’ve not hung up, have you?’
‘No.’
She heard him exhale loudly, followed by the sound of rustling. ‘All right then, I’m up. What is the first thing on your list?’
Lavanya pulled out the sheet she had hidden under her bedcover the night before—her ‘Lame Girl Dying Wish List’ of all the things she wished to do before dying. Compiled from the three short lists she had found from her teenage years. Of course, she had left the ‘dying’ part out.
‘Learn to play the guitar,’ Lavanya read out.
‘You know you can’t excel at playing the guitar overnight, right?’
‘I know. But I can start. Besides it won’t be that much trouble. You know how to play; you can teach me. Remember back in school I always wanted to learn from you but we never found time? Well, we have time now.’
‘Do you want to come over?’
‘No, you come here in the evening.’
‘Then why the hell did you wake me up now?’ he protested indignantly.
Lavanya laughed. ‘Go back to sleep. I will see you in the evening.’
She folded the top part of her list, tore away the title, shredded it into tiny pieces and threw them into the trash. She could not have anyone seeing that.
She got out of bed excitedly; she had plans for the day. Shourya had promised to help her complete her list, but she wanted to get a head start on it and she didn’t need him for what she had in mind. And it would be a great surprise for him too.
She showered, dressed and ran downstairs, feeling more alive than she had since she got the news. It was the first time she did not feel sick, or like she was progressing swiftly towards an impending death.
There was silence in the house. ‘Mom?’ she called. She had expected her dad to not be there; it was past the time he left for work. But she was surprised to find her mother missing too. ‘Mom?’
She went into the kitchen. A plate with halved boiled eggs, almonds and sprouts sat on the table, covered with another plate, and a note beside it. She helped herself to half an egg and read the note. Gone to school, Mom. Lavanya remembered her mother telling her she had to go to school early for some event, some kind of a Christmas celebration before the school closed for the winter break.
Lavanya gulped down her breakfast with a glass of orange juice, and called for a cab. The website said her cab would arrive in half an hour. She could not control her excitement. She had wanted a dog ever since she was a child. Back then, her mother had been against the idea because she was working full-time as a school teacher and her father was never home. She reasoned she did not have the time or energy to take care of a pet, and Lavanya was not old enough to be responsible for the dog herself. So she had let it go.
But ever since she had seen the flyer that came with the newspaper, about a six-week-old, three-legged, black bulldog, she had not been able to get his image out of her head. He had a fourth leg, but it was mostly useless. Lavanya wanted to give the poor creature a home. Her mother was only working part-time now, and could use some company. It was too quiet in the house. It was only after her mother had mentioned how hard it had been to get used to living without her that Lavanya realized how she had left the house empty and her mother without a companion when she left for the US. Ever since then, every moment of silence in the house was doubly pronounced for her.
Getting a dog would be the perfect solution for that. She did not know how long she had, and she could not leave her mother alone again. When she saw the flyer with the little puppy’s picture on it, her decision was made. She could not think of a better plan.
When her cab arrived, she jumped off her chair and dashed out. She gave the cab driver the address and waited anxiously to meet the new addition to their family and bring the little guy home.
‘Lavi?’ Mrs Suryavanshi called. ‘Are you home?’
Lavanya whispered, ‘Down, boy,’ to the tiny ball of energy that was jumping around her excitedly. ‘Yeah, upstairs. I’ll be down in a minute. There’s someone I would like you to meet.’
‘Who is it?’
‘Just a second. I’m bringing him down.’ Lavanya could barely conceal the excitement in her voice.
She cradled the puppy in her arms and walked down the stairs carefully. He snuggled his head into her arm. They had spent just five hours together, but it felt like they had known each other forever.
‘Who—?’ Her mother paused. ‘What is that?’
‘Mom, meet Toughy,’ Lavanya grinned at the shocked and horrified expression on her mother’s face. She lifted her arms and brought the puppy forward. ‘Toughy, this is your new mom.’
‘What do you mean by that? Is it going to live here with us?’
‘Toughy’s a he. Don’t be mean!’
‘Lavi, I have told you I do not want a dog. I cannot look after him. It is too much work. Plus you know I am scared of dogs!’ Mrs Suryavanshi had panic written all over her face.
‘No, you’ve never told me that! You always said you don’t have time to look after a pet. But now you do. Besides, it’s high time you hired a full-time maid to take care of things around here. You should not have to do everything on your own,’ Lavanya suggested.
‘I do have a full-time maid, Sangeeta. Her sister just had a baby, so she is on a leave, taking care of her. But she’ll be back in a week.’
‘There you go. Problem solved.’
‘But I cannot be around dogs. They have very sharp teeth.
’
Lavanya chuckled. ‘You’re being such a child, Mom. Toughy is never going to hurt you. The poor puppy just needs love.’ Lavanya bent and put him down on the floor.
‘Where did you get it . . . uh, him from?’ Mrs Suryavanshi took a step back and Toughy limped towards her.
‘Mom, let him smell you. He is just trying to get familiar. I found a flyer with the newspaper. He is only six weeks old. If someone didn’t adopt him, the owner was going to have him put down.’
Toughy sniffed Mrs Suryavanshi and then hobbled around her in circles, the same way he’d been doing with Lavanya upstairs.
‘See, he likes you!’ Lavanya bent down and scratched his neck. ‘Do this, he likes that.’
‘No!’ her mother looked terrified.
‘He won’t bite you. He’s just a puppy. Once you get to know him, you will fall in love.’ Lavanya pulled Toughy up and held his good front foot out. ‘And this tough guy is just the best.’
Her mother still did not look convinced.
‘Come on, Mom. Just touch his belly once, you will see.’
Mrs Suryavanshi crouched down next to Lavanya hesitantly. She reached for Toughy’s stomach, touching him first with one finger and then her entire palm. She rubbed his tummy, a slow smile spreading through her face as he lolled his head back and wagged his tail in delight.
Lavanya met her eye, grinning widely. ‘How do you like your gift?’
Her mother smiled back.
Shourya dropped Shreela off at the tailor’s for the final fitting of her wedding lehenga. Hopefully, this chapter in the wedding planner would be closed by the end of the day. Choosing the lehenga had taken Shreela three months. She had searched every store in Chandni Chowk before flying to Mumbai and checking every store there, followed by a trip to Kolkata. She had gone around in circles three times before final selecting one from Delhi. When Shourya heard this, he counted his blessings for not having been here to witness it.
‘Take care, Bhaiya,’ Shreela said as she hopped out of the car.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ he rolled his eyes.
When he had returned home the previous night, she was still up, as he had suspected. However, surprisingly, she did not grill him too much about what it was that upset him. She only wanted to know if he was feeling better and when he told her he was, she seemed to buy it. He had told her he had met Lavanya, and that seemed to convince her that all was well.
‘Do you want me to come inside with you?’ he asked half-heartedly.
‘No, it’s okay. My friends will be here in a minute.’
‘Thank you,’ Shourya grinned, relieved he did not have to sit through any part of a fitting session.
Shreela made a face at him and waved goodbye as he pulled away from the store and headed towards Lavanya’s house. Shreela’s wedding was only five days away, and he had been caught up all day, getting all the preparations in place. Organizing a wedding was no mean feat. He had insisted on hiring an agency, but both his mother and sister wanted to do it themselves, saying it was too important an event to let someone else handle it. Of course, ‘themselves’ really meant Shourya, and all of it ended up falling on his shoulders. He was happy with the way things were going. Unless there was a last-minute emergency, everything seemed on track for the wedding. He was amazed at himself for pulling things off with time to spare.
It had been nice to hear Lavanya sound so happy that morning, for a change. She had been texting him all day, asking him to come soon, saying she wanted to show him something. He wondered what it could be.
He found out soon enough. As he pulled up in front of her house, he saw a small bulldog hobbling up and down the front yard. Lavanya was sitting on their spot on the stairs, watching him play.
‘Is this what you wanted to show me?’ Shourya asked, opening the gate, his ancient guitar in one hand.
‘Yes! Meet Toughy!’ Lavanya’s excitement was visible on her face.
‘Tuffy? As in Salman Khan’s dog in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?’
‘Kind of. Because Salman is the love of my life. But this puppy’s name is Tough-y. Because he’s a brave, tough boy. Aren’t you a tough boy?’ Lavanya bent down to pet the dog.
Shourya crouched down next to her and ran his fingers against Toughy’s back, before nuzzling his ears. The puppy yelped happily and started running in circles around him.
‘Yes, he likes doing that,’ Lavanya said.
‘Are you dog-sitting him?’
‘No! He is ours. I got him for Mom. She was really scared at first, terrified; you should have been there. It was hilarious. But now, mere hours later, she absolutely adores him!’
‘Who wouldn’t? Look at him—his tiny legs wobbling and his cheeks drooping down so cutely.’ Shourya caught Toughy in his arms and petted him, moving his index finger in circles on his forehead. His ears were facing front and he had a patch of white under his chin, running till his belly. ‘So, excited about your first guitar lesson?’ he asked Lavanya.
‘Yup.’
‘Shall we begin out here?’ Shourya looked around. The sun was about to set, but it was still bright outside.
‘No way. I do not want the world to witness my humiliation. We will sit in my room, where nobody can see us, and hopefully not hear us either.’
Shourya laughed. ‘C’mon. You won’t be that terrible.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Actually, I don’t. You might really suck at it.’
‘Haha,’ Lavanya drawled, turning to Toughy. ‘Come on in, boy! We gave him a bath this afternoon, and he has been running around ever since. He is only six weeks old; he must be so tired.’
‘I don’t think he wants to come in though.’
Toughy was busy playing with a sock, trying to rip it apart with his teeth.
‘I need to buy him a ball and a nice fluffy box bed. I saw one online, but I want to go to the store and get it tomorrow. He has been living in such unfortunate conditions. He lost one of his legs to bully dogs when he was only a few days old. Poor kid.’
Shourya observed Lavanya as she watched Toughy play. Her face was free of worry lines, and for once her lips did not have the downward curve he had noticed on several occasions the last few days.
Lavanya picked Toughy up and gently pulled the balled sock out of his teeth. ‘If you tear this too much, you are going to choke on it,’ she whispered to him.
They brought the puppy inside with them. Mrs Suryavanshi was sitting near the living room window, reading the newspaper and sipping what looked like herbal tea. Mr Suryavanshi was watching the news.
‘Suryavanshi family catching up on world affairs this evening?’ Shourya remarked. Lavanya’s parents looked up.
‘Hello, Uncle!’
‘Shourya,’ Mr Suryavanshi took his outstretched hand. ‘Come, sit. How have you been? Lavanya’s mom told me you’re in town. Your sister’s wedding, huh?’
‘Yes, Uncle. This weekend. All of you have to come. It’ll be great to have you there.’ Shourya always had trouble relaxing with Lavanya’s father. He tended to become formal and polite. He had always only heard Lavanya’s side of the story, and so whenever he met her father, he would try to act casual, as if he did not know Mr Suryavanshi’s secret, but ended up coming off as stiff and proper.
‘Of course we will be there, beta,’ Mrs Suryavanshi chipped in. ‘I bumped into your mother at the jeweller’s the other day. She is so happy about the wedding.’
‘Yes, she is. I think she started planning the day Shreela was born,’ Shourya laughed. ‘Although, in all probability, Shreela started planning from the womb itself.’
‘Oh, I can imagine. I would be lying if I said I have not planned for Lavi’s wedding myself!’
‘Mom!’ Lavanya, who had been hanging back with Toughy, shushed.
‘It is true. Which mother does not plan her daughter’s wedding? And it is not as if you are not a marriageable age now. We should start thinking about your future . . .’
‘I cannot
believe you are bringing up the marriage discussion again. Does it seem like the time and place?’ Lavanya’s nostrils flared in anger.
‘Don’t listen to your mom, Lavi. You are free to do what you want,’ her father interjected.
There was silence. Shourya looked at Lavanya, who muttered through clenched teeth, ‘I know.’
Mrs Suryavanshi got up just then and took Toughy off Lavanya’s hands. ‘I will put him down to sleep, but first, he needs to eat. This puppy needs to be fed so many times!’
Lavanya turned to Shourya and said, ‘When you are done here, come up, okay?’ She stomped away without waiting for a response.
Shourya stood rooted to the spot. What just happened? He chuckled nervously, trying to dissipate some of the tension in the room. ‘Sensitive topic, wedding?’
‘Oh, you know, girls these days,’ Mrs Suryavanshi said quickly. ‘You go on ahead. Lavi is very excited about learning to play the guitar.’
‘I can’t wait to see how this goes,’ Shourya laughed.
When he went upstairs, Lavanya was sitting at the foot of her bed like she had the previous night.
‘That was, umm . . . something?’ Shourya said, standing at the door of Lavanya’s room.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘You do.’ He shut the door behind him and stood directly in front of her. ‘What was that . . . thing with your father downstairs? Are you still punishing him?’
Lavanya did not speak. She did not even look at him.
‘God!’ Shourya exclaimed, the answer evident. His threw up his hands as he attempted to comprehend the meaning of this. The hours they had spent, sitting outside her house, preparing her to go in and face her life. The nights they had spent awake, talking on the phone, trying to get her mind off what was going on in her home. He had thought it was all in the past. But it was still just as real as it had been years ago.
‘How . . .? How can you still be punishing him? Has it not been over a decade? True, there were cracks in your relationship, but what I saw downstairs was not mere cracks. Your relationship is still fucking broken.’
‘Time is not as powerful as they tell you it is.’ Lavanya looked up.