by DICE Media
The lethargy was intense. Dhruv had been trying to convince himself to get up and work but had not moved an inch. He needed to get some work done or he would feel bad later and not be able to sleep. Finally, after what seemed like ages, he mustered all his willpower and managed to get up. Half the battle won, Dhruv stood staring at the formulae scribbled on the whiteboard above his desk.
Hearing Dhruv get up, Akash too woke up from his slumber.
‘We ate too much for our own good, didn’t we?’ he mumbled, his lips barely moving, his eyes droopy.
‘Yeah, and drank a lot too.’
‘Whisky, biryani and kebabs. Such a perfect afternoon!’ Akash smiled contentedly.
Dhruv smiled back. He felt much better, all thanks to Akash. He had surrounded himself with great people and was feeling really thankful for them.
‘I know. We just needed some sad ghazals by Jagjit Singh and we would have a mehfil in the office!’
‘And babes, Dhruv. Don’t forget the babes.’ Dhruv was about to give him a cold look of disapproval when he remembered all that Akash had done for him that day. A smile broke across his face. Just Akash being Akash, he thought. He wouldn’t change him for the world.
Dhruv took out his mobile phone from his pocket to check for messages from Kavya. There were none. This was very unlike her—usually she would have immediately called and comforted him.
He was banking on her to take away all the despair inside him. She must be caught up with something. I’m sure her ass of a boss is giving her a tough time and keeping her away from her mobile phone.
Just as he was about to put his mobile phone back into his pocket, it beeped. It was a message from Kavya. Dhruv was already smiling. Just a small reminder of her presence was enough to make him feel happy and warm.
But before he could read the message, his phone beeped again—and again and again—almost twenty times.
‘What the hell!’ exclaimed Dhruv. He opened the chat to see that Kavya had sent him multiple photos. He was amazed at what he saw. She had drawn a photo story for him!
Once upon a time, there was a boy called Dhruv who was very nervous because he was racing the fastest boy in town.
The winner would get 100 Twix bars, fifty shawarma rolls, fifty momos and forty French toasts.
Given that all of these were among his favourite things, Dhruv was in no mood to lose.
But how do you defeat the fastest boy in town?
The race started, and at the halfway mark Dhruv started to feel very tired. He couldn’t run any more.
Just then, Dhruv heard somebody cheering him on from the sidelines.
Amidst the crowd, his eyes locked in on his best friend, the Biryani Monster, who was cheering for him with all her might.
That encouraged Dhruv and he started to believe in himself. He ran and ran like he had never run before.
Before he knew it, he had defeated the fastest boy in town and was celebrating his victory with his best friend.
As the two of them hugged, his best friend whispered something into his ear that he would never forget: You will never walk alone.
The last image tugged at Dhruv’s heart. He was overwhelmed and smiled brightly.
He wished he could pull Kavya close and squeeze her into a bear hug that very instant. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, write odes to her, serenade her and build monuments as a testament to his love for her.
But for now, a simple gesture would do. And he had just the thing in mind.
4
After a taxing day at work, Kavya took a cab back home. She wondered if Dhruv would be home. As she reached their apartment, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar and there was loud music playing inside. Puzzled, she stepped into the living room.
Her eyes widened with surprise and joy on seeing Dhruv dancing away merrily, holding the portable speaker in his hand. He had his sunglasses on; there were two or three long gold chains around his neck and one earring stuck to his ear in complete hip-hop style. Kavya brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle her laughter.
‘What the hell are you doing, Dhruv?’
Dhruv jumped.
‘What the fuck! You scared me, Kavya!’ He grinned and turned up the volume.
‘Bloody Biryani Monster, come here!’ He laughed and pulled her close.
Such a crazy, cute boy! Kavya thought. She watched him dance, noticing his movements, his clothes, his accessories . . .
‘Are you wearing my jewellery, Dhruv?’
‘I’m Bappi Da, bro!’ Dhruv shouted over the music.
Kavya’s gaze fell on the single earring Dhruv was wearing.
‘Is that my earring?’ she exclaimed, relief flooding her body.
‘I was so scared that I’d lost it. I spent hours looking for it at work!’
‘Yeah, you forgot it here in the morning. Why are you talking so much? Dance with me!’
‘Tamma tamma loge’ was playing on loop. The song bugged the hell out of Kavya, but not right now—she was too busy doting over Dhruv at the moment.
‘This is how you get a song out of your head!’ Dhruv yelled, grinning.
‘Thank God! I was feeling so bad . . .’
‘Now stop talking so much and please just start dancing, Kavya!’
Kavya smiled, kicked off her shoes and joined in, forgetting everything as they swayed to the music.
After fifteen minutes of dancing with reckless abandon, Dhruv knew the coast was clear and it wasn’t ‘too soon’ any more. ‘Your shirt is looking really nice,’ he said impishly, poking Kavya for a reaction, knowing he would get away with it.
Kavya pretended to slap him really hard and he turned a full 360 degrees, pretending to fall down because of the impact. He got up, reduced the volume and then stopped and stared at Kavya with a knowing and grateful smile. Kavya, too, stopped dancing, looked into his eyes and smiled. It was the perfect moment.
‘I’m sorry, Kavya.’
She let out a laugh and jumped towards him with her arms wide open. Dhruv picked her up and embraced her, wrapping her tightly in his arms and swinging her around. It had been a long, hard day for both of them, but now everything was good, all was well.
5
They were lying in bed, doing their usual chit-chat. Kavya was telling Dhruv about her blunder at work. Dhruv listened, playing with her hair.
‘But how did this happen?’ Dhruv was astonished and burst out laughing.
‘Don’t laugh, Momo! You know I didn’t . . .’
‘How can I help it? It’s too damn funny, Kavvu!’
‘You have no idea how boring it gets at work. And I was distracted anyway. I had told myself that I would not stay on Facebook for more than fifteen minutes. But then I saw this really cool article that talked about ten places to visit in under five thousand bucks.’
‘What? That’s it?’
‘Yes, just five thousand bucks, Dhruv! We could do one every month! So I started reading the article. And then I started planning holidays with you to those places. My concentration said, “Bye-bye, Kavya! See you later!”’
Dhruv sympathized but also wanted to give her practical advice like he felt he should.
‘But you can’t be on Facebook when you are working, Kavvu. It’s as simple as that! But, wait, who am I to give you any advice? I’m also on Facebook the whole day . . .’
And then he remembered.
‘Hey, you know what? Download this app called Self Control. Akash uses it all the time. You feed in your work hours and it blocks Facebook during that period. That way you can’t access Facebook in those hours even if you don’t delete Facebook or the Self Control app.’
To Kavya this seemed like a drastic measure. ‘That will make my day a million times more boring, Dhruv!’
‘But you will also not make mistakes like these then.’
‘Hmm . . . that’s true,’ Kavya agreed half-heartedly, twirling a curl around her finger. It seemed too much to ask.
‘Thanks .
. . Daddy!’ she said, trying to make Dhruv uncomfortable.
But Dhruv was not somebody to be embarrassed so easily. He took advantage of the situation and turned towards Kavya with a creepy smile. ‘You know, that word really turns me on. It really, really does . . .’
‘Shut up, Dhruv!’ Kavya laughed, pushing him away.
‘You know what I did after lunch today?’ she said, changing the topic.
‘What?’
‘I ordered Fifty Shades of Grey as a gift for my boss—anonymously!’
Dhruv’s eyes widened.
‘What! Are you mad or what, Kavya? Like seriously?’
‘Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All you need is a little push!’
‘Batman!’ Dhruv laughed, recognizing the quote immediately.
‘What’s Batman, Dhruv? Say The Dark Knight.’
‘By the way, your boss can figure out who it’s from. All he has to do is register one complaint. You’re so screwed, Kavya Kulkarni!’
‘Are you serious? Oh, no!’ She couldn’t really afford to mess things up with her boss any more.
‘Do something about it! What’s the point of your PhD? Put it to good use and think of a solution!
‘Just cancel the order, you idiot!’ Dhruv said lightly.
Kavya couldn’t believe the solution could be that simple.
‘Oh, yeah! That was so easy! Why did I not think of it?’ she said, laughing with relief.
‘So, what’s for dinner?’
‘I’m not that hungry.’
‘No, don’t say that!’
This couldn’t happen. Dhruv was always hungry. How could Kavya not be too?
‘I’ll just reheat the French toast from the morning and eat them,’ Kavya said.
‘That’s all gone,’ Dhruv pointed to his belly.
‘Dhruv!’
‘What could I do? It was so tasty, and I was really hungry. So I ate it,’ he said in a very matter-of-fact way.
‘What do we eat now?’ Kavya started pouting again.
‘I have an idea! Do you want to eat some pasta?’
‘Are you making it?’ Kavya was in no mood to cook.
‘Yes, I’ll make it, you sloth bear.’
‘Okay, cool, then I’ll have some!’
Then, feeling sorry for Dhruv having to do everything, she added, ‘I’ll come and help you chop the vegetables.’
No sooner had she said that than Kavya changed her mind.
‘Actually, no. I’m not going to do that. You do all the work, and I’ll just talk to you and distract you.’
‘Thought so!’ Dhruv smirked. ‘I was wondering how my sloth bear had offered to work?’
And then they cooked, talked about their day, and planned to go for all those under-five thousand-rupee vacations.
Just before sleeping, Dhruv asked Kavya for her sketchbook and carefully tore out the last page of the photo story she’d made for him.
He got up and stuck it on the section of the wall dedicated to Kavya’s sketches, drawings and doodles. For him, it was her most precious work yet. It wasn’t just the nicest and most beautiful gift she had given him—it was the best thing anyone had ever done for him. He felt very special. A sign above the pictures said ‘Not for Sale’. Yes, none of this was for sale. He was glad that there were some things money couldn’t buy.
Dhruv returned to bed, kissed Kavya good night and cuddled her. He fell asleep looking at the picture on the wall.
GOOD NIGHT
1
Kavya and Dhruv lay in bed, with Dhruv listening closely as she read aloud from Roald Dahl’s The Wish.
‘ . . . and the next thing he saw was this bare hand of his going right into the middle of a great glistening mass of black, and he gave one piercing cry as it touched. Outside in the sunshine, far away behind the house, the mother was looking for her son.’
‘Wasn’t it nice?’ she asked him as she closed the book.
‘I didn’t really get the end,’ Dhruv said, snuggling up to her.
Dhruv had almost fallen asleep when he noticed that Kavya was reading Roald Dahl, one of his favourite authors. He had asked her to read out loud to him, as he often did. She had obliged, as she always did. Kavya loved reading to Dhruv, especially because it would make him wrap his arms around her and give her his undivided attention. A discussion involving their interpretations and perspectives of the book usually followed.
‘I think it is about how children are busy with their own adventures, and how we grow up but our parents keep looking for that little child, or something like that . . .’ Kavya mused.
There was a long pause. Dhruv’s face was scrunched up in thought as he pondered over what Kavya had just said. Kavya, meanwhile, was getting ready to sleep. She took off her bracelet and kept the book on the bedside table.
‘That does sound nice, doesn’t it?’ said Dhruv. ‘Thank you, Kavvu. No one could have said it better.’ He kissed her tenderly. ‘Uff! Now I feel like calling my mom!’ he moaned.
‘I know, right?’ Even Kavya was missing her mother.
‘All right, I’m going to sleep now.’
‘Me too,’ Kavya said, picking up her phone. ‘I’m going to set an alarm for tomorrow. I have a long day.’
‘Set it for when you have to wake up, and not an hour before that.’
Kavya was a snoozer. She had a habit of hitting the snooze button at least four or five times before finally waking up. This meant that her process of waking up started more than an hour before she actually got out of bed.
‘But you know that I need an hour to wake up!’
‘But it disturbs my sleep. You keep hitting the snooze button every fifteen minutes. Thirty seconds after you hit snooze, you’re sleeping like a log. But I don’t work like that. From the first time the alarm rings, I’m up. And every time it rings, I get more and more annoyed. Then I feel sleepy the whole day. Please, Kavya!’
Dhruv had tried his best not to let his annoyance show. She realized it would be difficult for a light sleeper like Dhruv to adjust to this.
‘Okay, okay. Sorry, Momo. I’ll set an alarm for thirty minutes before I need to wake up. Okay?’
But thoughts of her boss shouting at her made her panic.
‘Sorry, sorry. I’ll set it for forty minutes before I have to wake up.’ She reconsidered. ‘No! Forty-five minutes. Please!’
Dhruv could not stay mad when Kavya was being so cute. In an instant, all his irritation vanished and he started laughing. He couldn’t help it. Kavya was so animated when she was upset or worried.
‘Okay, Baba. Set it for whenever you want!’ he said affectionately and pulled her into a tighter embrace, kissing her cheeks.
‘Good night. I love you!’
Kavya smiled. ‘Good night! I love you too,’ she said.
The world felt warm and safe in Dhruv’s embrace.
Dhruv moved ever so slightly, and there it was—the perfect position to curl up and sleep. Kavya had already fallen asleep with the sheet pulled over her head.
* * *
Slap! Smack! Whack!
Kavya was jolted out of her sleep.
‘No! No! No!’ Dhruv shouted angrily.
‘Oh, no! Don’t tell me this is happening again!’ Kavya wailed.
They had forgotten to check whether all the windows were shut. One had somehow remained open and numerous mosquitoes had made their way in.
Kavya switched on the light by her bedside. Dhruv was lashing out at the mosquitoes like a madman.
‘What breed of mosquito is this? Immune to everything! I’ve tried mosquito coils, mosquito repellent creams, everything! Nothing works!’ Dhruv was sleepy and frustrated.
Smack! Kavya randomly slapped her hands together and two mosquitoes lay splattered on her palms.
‘Yay! I killed two!’ She flicked the dead insects off her hands and sneakily wiped the blood on Dhruv’s T-shirt.
‘Amazing! Congratulations, Kavya. Two down, 200 to go!’
‘
Momo, please let’s just cover our heads and go to sleep. I have work tomorrow. And you know I have to get up extra early.’
‘All right, I’ll try.’ Dhruv sighed and killed another two or three mosquitoes.
Kavya switched off the lights and they covered themselves with the sheet. But two or three minutes later, the mosquitoes had found their way inside the sheet too. Dhruv threw it off and switched on the lights.
‘Kavvu! Kavya! Please get up. Please do something. Get up!’ Dhruv almost lifted her out of the bed.
‘Ughhhhhh! You’re not going to let me sleep either!’
Kavya knew that this tantrum was not going to end unless she found a fix for the problem.
‘I am going to find a solution to this once and for all,’ she declared and grabbed her mobile phone from the bedside table for some quick Internet research.
Smack!
‘Ouch!’ Kavya yelled in pain and stared at Dhruv. He was so hell-bent on killing the mosquitoes that he hadn’t realized he had actually hit Kavya on the arm.
Something had to be done.
2
‘That will be Rs 380, Ma’am,’ a tired pharmacist told Kavya. After trying every home remedy that the Internet had suggested, and failing miserably, Kavya and Dhruv had decided to walk to the nearest pharmacy and buy the best mosquito cream they could get their hands on.
‘What? How can it be Rs 380? All we bought was mosquito cream and two ice creams!’
Kavya started checking the prices of the items they had bought.
The pharmacist shifted uncomfortably and pushed something towards her. It was a pack of condoms. Dhruv sheepishly took out the money from his wallet and paid the man.
Kavya glanced at it and couldn’t help smiling. But then she took a second look at the cover.