by Sachin Garg
This plan had a real chance of working. I didn’t want to waste any time. And within a few moments, we were in a cab to Panchsheel Park, where the publisher’s office was. I really wanted the odds to be in my favour this time.
**I had to continue calling her Navya. She was the girl I knew and interacted with. I could not switch to Nayanika, even though I came to know her real name.
Searching for her
It was almost like seeing a Mc Donald’s outlet empty; the publisher’s office one such unbelievable anti-climax. We had expected a jazzy floor with lots of corporate looking busy people walking around. Instead, we came across a rather decrepit office, with a few old men sitting. To think that these were the people behind a fancy publishing company was a bit of a letdown.
The only female employee there was a girl in her mid-twenties. She was the front desk manager, who guided us to the room of the Managing Director. He was Anirban Basu. Those huge hipster specs didn’t really compliment his dark and wrinkly face. Plus, if he weren’t moving his mouth to chew whatever he was chewing, someone would have mistaken his red lips for a coat of rich lipstick.
We sat in front of him, and I let Vandana take charge.
‘Sir, my name is Vandana Manchanda and I am a journalist. We are doing a cover story on the upcoming fiction writers in India and for that we wanted to interview Ms Navya Sharma. Also, we wanted to talk to you regarding the same.’
‘What can I do for you in that respect?’ Mr Basu said, coming straight to the point.
‘Well, actually we needed her contact details.’
Mr Basu got a little alert when Vandana said that. For the first time he looked at us, scanned us from top to bottom.
‘So are you from a newspaper or a magazine or TV channel?’ Mr Basu asked.
Vandana and I didn’t reply immediately. We looked at each other and then Vandana said, ‘Newspaper.’
‘Oh okay, I see. Which newspaper?’ Mr Basu asked.
Vandana hesitated, and then after thinking for a second, she said, ‘Hindustan Times.’
Mr Basu was an experienced businessman. These little hints, these pauses and the look we had on our faces, were more than enough pointers for him to know that we were bluffing.
‘I am sorry, but Navya has given us strict instructions not to share her contacts with anyone.’
‘Not even media people?’ I asked.
‘Especially the media people.’
The conversation was over from Mr Basu’s side. It was time for us to leave.
He picked up the phone on his desk, and asked the receptionist to connect him to Jaaved Khan, who I knew was a famous author.
Vandana and I walked out of his cabin with our heads hung.
‘Now what? I have no ideas whatsoever,’ I said.
‘Is it? I thought it was quite obvious.’
‘Lady Buddha, please enlighten me too,’ I said, sarcastically
‘Did you notice he asked the receptionist to connect him to Jaaved Khan, the famous author?’
‘Yes, so?’
‘That means the receptionist has the database we require.’
‘So? You think she will give it to us?’
‘Samar, she is a woman and you keep forgetting my talent.’
‘Of helping guys chat up girls? You think it will work on her? She isn’t eighteen and gullible.’
She gave me her trademark wicked smile.
‘Hi, what’s your name?’ I went to the receptionist and said condescendingly.
‘Well, Aradhya. Why?’
‘I am joining as Sales Manager. I am Samar Garg.‘
She gave me a confused look, as she probably wondered why she had not been told that they were getting a new Sales Manager. Thankfully, she decided to play along.
‘Oh hi,’ she said, extending her hand.
‘Well, ever since I walked in, I’ve noticed you’ve been sitting idle. So I was discussing stuff with Mr Basu and we decided that need to add more responsibilities to your profile.’
‘It’s nothing like that, sir,’ she said, and went onto list whatever she had done in last one year to convince me that she was doing a lot. I was just waiting for her to be done.
‘Well, that’s okay. Also, I need to speak to some authors. And I am going to start with Mr Jaaved Khan and Navya Sharma. Give me their phone numbers.’
‘Sure, sir,’ she said and went back to her computer. She scribbled something on a piece of paper and gave it to me.
‘But this is only Jaaved Khan. Where is Navya Sharma’s number?’
‘Sir, actually . . . she never shares her phone number. In fact, she keeps travelling and keeps changing her number. She is always quite hard to reach.’
‘But it’s important that I speak to her for marketing purposes. There must be some way to reach her?’
‘Well, actually, whenever I’ve bumped into her outside work, she never used to be in her senses. She used to be high or something.’
‘You mean like high on weed?’
‘I don’t think it was weed. It was something stronger. Someone told me what she does. I can’t recollect the name of that substance right now.’
‘LSD? Acid? Hash?’ Vandana guessed.
‘No. It was some drug I had never heard of. It sounded straight from the Chemistry lab.’
‘Oh, I think I know what you are alluding to,’ Vandana said.
‘What?’ Aradhya and I said in a chorus.
‘Methamphetamine, right?’
‘Yes! That was it!’
‘How did you know that?’ I asked Vandana.
‘That’s not important. Let’s concentrate on Navya for now. You have any idea where can we find her?’
‘Well, I know that her present boyfriend is DJ Vyk. So I think if you find out where he is playing, she should be easy to trace.’
So Navya had a boyfriend. On one hand, we had taken the next step towards finding Navya. On the other hand, she had gone a step away from me, as she now had a boyfriend. It hurt.
‘Thanks, Aradhya. Tomorrow is my first day at work. I’ll see you tomorrow,’ I said and we left the publisher’s office.
Vandana called for a cab to Rohini.
‘So this is it,’ I said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean it’s time we ended our quest. Navya has a boyfriend. She has moved on. I should move on too.’
‘Shut up. We are not giving up at this stage. I know your generation. Boyfriends mean nothing today. Half of you are in relationships simply because it’s fashionable to have a trophy around.’
‘You really think Navya is like that after all that I have told you?’
‘Samar, commitment is a huge delusion your generation is living today. It is a scam they unknowingly pull off every day. And for all you know, she has forced herself into it to stop thinking about you.’
‘Whatever. I can’t do it.’
You might think of Vandana either as a crack head or as a pure genius. But there was one thing about her: When she wanted to convince someone, she could convince people for anything.
We had a good long discussion on it, which soon turned into an argument. And yes, she convinced me to at least, go look for her, meet her and then give up if I still want to.
We came back to my flat. I didn’t feel up for a conversation or any more research about the guy Navya had supposedly fallen in love with. I retired to my room and waited for Vandana to break into my room, once again. But she didn’t come this time.
I saw the sun go down through the window. I was just lying on my bed doing nothing. Sometimes you need to blank out. Just exist, hang in there like a vegetable or blah, watching things happen without reacting or doing anything. That’s what I was doing.
I got to see Vandana’s excited walk only around eleven in the night.
‘DJ Vyk is playing at a club called Urban Pind tonight.’
‘Getting inside won’t be a problem; go, get ready now!’
‘I like the confidence V
andana, but I’m sorry. I’m not up for it this time.’
‘Shut up and concentrate on getting into the best shirt you have,’ she said and went back to her room. I heard the water dripping from the shower. She was taking it very seriously.
I looked into my cupboard after several weeks. In the right most corner, there was a maroon shirt I liked. Right below it was the white T-shirt I had bought in Goa after working extremely hard to earn the money for it.
I slipped into the maroon shirt and threw my hair under the tap. I had to put some gel in my hair to make them look civilized. I also shaved my stubble. I then ironed my favourite trouser and polished my shoes which had gotten dirty because of pure disuse.
I was hoping she wouldn’t overdress.
Vandana came out wearing a neat and classy shirt with a trouser. Basically, she was sporting a corporate look. The list of unexpected and crazy things that Vandana did was unending.
‘Today, we will look like a boss and subordinate from an MNC, who are hanging out after work.’
‘Erm, okay, as you say,’ I said, half thinking. Vandana looked at me, top to bottom and said, ‘It’s hard to tell in formals where does one come from. We are all corporate brothers.’
I looked at her a little more properly and I noticed that her style was not bad at all. For the first time I realized Vandana actually had a pretty body, as she was slim and quite well shaped for her age. I noticed a hint of make up on her face which made me realize that for forty year old, she had aged pretty gracefully.
‘Come, stand next to me,’ she said, as she stood in front of the mirror. ‘Yes, I think we can pass off as being boss and subordinate.’
‘So you think you and I can get through the personality check on the entrance of Urban Pind?’
‘I am sure we can. Trust me, I have been there a few times,’ she said with a plain face, leaving no clue that whether she was kidding or was serious.
Just then, someone rang our doorbell. Nobody used to ring our doorbells normally. But today, it was even more surprising for two reasons –
– Nobody knew I was in Delhi and home.
– It was eleven thirty in the night and an odd hour for someone to drop by unannounced.
I went and opened the door. A man in his late twenties was waiting. ‘Your cab is waiting, sir,’ he said.
We reached Urban Pind and got off the cab. I looked around and I saw impeccably polished faces; I bet they had bathed in a concoction of foundations and expensive perfumes. There was a bit of a fog around, but I think it was hookah smoke as it was the month of June.
‘Let’s go back Vandana. You have the cab driver’s number? He wouldn’t have gone far yet.’
‘You sissy, here is what we will do. We will keep our chins high and as we will walk in, we will exchange a gentle smile with that guy who is wearing a black coat.’
‘You think this will work?’
‘No.’
It took a second for me to realize that she had said no instead of yes. It didn’t do a lot of good to my confidence. But still, we gave it a shot. And it didn’t work.
The bouncer told us it was an invites-only day at the club which was code for You-should-have-seen-yourself-in-the-mirror-and-invested-on-clothes-and-makeup-before-coming-to-a-posh-club.
‘Now what?’
‘I hate it when you say this ‘now what’, with a nasal twang like a helpless kid.’
‘What option do we have?’
‘You are fucking twenty one year old. Think of an option,’ Vandana shouted at me. This was the first time I was seeing her get angry.
‘The only option I can think of is to go back home and go to sleep.’
‘From where I am seeing, that’s not really an option.’
‘Then you please guide me as to what you do see as an option,’ I shouted back at her.
She gave me a disappointed look. And as I looked at her, she had a confused look on her face, as if she was thinking of something. Just then I saw in the backdrop there was a woman who was looking at her as if she knew her. She started approaching her and touched her on the elbow. Vandana turned around and looked at her as if she had seen the scariest ghost ever.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘I was praying to every God I believe in that I don’t bump into you and look, what God has done,’ Vandana said, with great dismay.
‘There are one thousand clubs in Delhi. You mean to say you chose to come to Urban Pind and hoped not to see me? And you want me to believe that?’
‘We had our reasons, Divya. Just help us get inside and please leave us alone.’
Divya didn’t argue anymore and managed to somehow suppress her anger. She led us inside the club. As we followed her, this time nobody dared to stop us and instead the same bouncer smiled, nodded his head and welcomed us inside.
Who the hell was this Divya and what did Vandana have to do with her?
I’m Not That Guy
‘How do you know this woman?’ I shouted into Vandana’s ear over the loud music. She decided to ignore my question. As we walked in, Divya was walking behind us. She escorted us to a table and started talking to the waiter. It was more than evident that she was telling him to take good care of us. I presumed it meant all the drinks were on the house.
I finally located him behind the DJ console and he really seemed to be enjoying his music. DJ Vyk: A relatively short and fair guy, sporting a beard style I had never seen before. And if those weren’t the disco lights shining intermittently on his head, he had pink streaks with beads.
‘After a round of three shots, I called for a Fresh Lime Soda. Divya was around all this while, keeping to herself; neither talking to me nor to Vandana. Finally, when she decided to disappear in the swarm, the awkwardness lurking in the air came to an end. Vandana was unsuccessfully trying to hide her bewilderment since the time we had bumped Divya. I had never seen her so winded.
She then spoke, breaking ten minutes of tedious silence between us, ‘You will never know how thankful you should be for bringing you here.’
‘I really am. Now can I ask what the hell was going on?’
‘No.’
‘Okay,’ I said, deciding to let her be.
‘I asked Divya about DJ Vyk. And she told me that Navya comes every time he plays. Earlier, she used to sit here on one fixed table. But after her book became viral, her readers kept disturbing her. So now she sits in some different corner every time.’
‘By the way, that dude on the DJ console there is DJ Vyk,’ she said. I had spotted him already, but I turned around to see him again.
DJ Vyk had several women around him and one could see he was quite sought after amongst the ladies. He seemed someone worthy of having Navya as a trophy girlfriend. He was good looking, successful and artistic. Where my best talent was making crystals in the chemistry lab; whom was I kidding?
‘But where is Navya?’ Vandana asked.
‘I have no idea.’
‘Let’s take a walk around,’ Vandana said and got up from where she was sitting.
We walked around the whole club looking for that face. But she was nowhere.
‘I think you should call Divya again,’ I suggested.
Vandana gave me an are-you-fucking-out-of-your-mind look.
So we decided to wait till DJ Vyk’s performance got over and hoped that he would then go to meet her, and we will follow him.
We looked around: Everything was way too pretentious for us and we didn’t bother comment on anybody. In another life, I might have enjoyed the music or the skin show by the girls. But I was way too preoccupied that day.
DJ Vyk finished at two, after playing the-one-final-song three times, while we sat there discovering new threshold levels of our patience. He climbed the stairs and went upstairs. There was a door which we had passed by earlier without noticing, simply because it seemed way too unimportant. It seemed like one of those doors which lead to an abandoned garage or a secret huge junkyard. DJ Vyk entered the door
and we followed behind him. Once we were inside, we realized that it was actually a VIP Lounge. The entrance might have been kept nondescript to keep it low key.
I stepped in, thinking of Navya. My heart was racing. This was it. Months of waiting and I was finally going to see her again. Will she recognize me? Will she be happy to see me? What were the chances that I will step in to see her lip locked with DJ Vyk’s?
I looked around. There was more smoke that my nose could handle. Once my eyes got used to the smoke and the darkness, my eyes fell on the faces there. No one seemed human in that cabin. Some were lying around; like it was their bedroom and they had no energy. While others were snorting and injecting stuff like there was no tomorrow.
I noticed a syringe in the hands of a guy who had only half a body. And then, another guy took the same syringe and inserted whatever was remaining in that syringe in his veins. They were sharing a syringe, which meant that if one of them had AIDS, other would get it too. Once the second guy was done, he passed on the used syringe to a girl on his right, but she was too dazed out to notice.
And then my eyes fell on her, the girl.
I had seen her before with a blank look on her face but the look today was completely shocking; She was visibly not in control of her senses and was totally phased out. She wasn’t aware of what was happening to her. Vandana was looking at her too. In spite of the noise, when Vandana moved her lips, I knew what was coming out of her mouth.
Methamphetamine.
I went and stood in front of Navya. Her eyes fell on me but her expression didn’t change. Her eyes were watching me but her head didn’t have the capacity to process me. And then she looked away, as if I was just another face she saw in a day.
Just then, DJ Vyk, who had been sitting beside her, got up. I didn’t realize I had been staring at her rather awkwardly.
‘What are you staring at?’ he said, clearly wanting to pick a fight.
I couldn’t get my eyes off Navya. There were a few more guys in the room and DJ Vyk seemed to hate us already. But I was too overwhelmed on seeing Navya to comprehend the tense environment building up in the room. Thankfully, Vandana was well in her senses.