The wait for the end... Part 6

They were the late summer days, sometime in June. The spicy humidity made way for the heavy monsoon showers that would pour down, not until July. The initial budding showers, popularly known as the ‘mango showers’, were a divine respite from the blistering heat. Their sudden and slight teeming made the Earth smell so beautifully that even les parfums de Davidoff couldn’t incite.

Neeti and her very close cousin, Nitya had decided to shop till they dropped. Well to be precise, it was Nitya’s plan and Neeti could never win an argument with this girl. Nitya had a certain charm about her which only some women could carry off well. She was a complete woman with not even a 0.5 percent of Tom-boy characteristic. She liked big, dangling ear-rings, perfectly matching necklaces, floral prints, heeled-sandals with the flawless click-clack sound. She was a woman so womanly and was so proud about it that even the most handsome/manly men found it daunting sometimes in her presence. But her absence made a bigger dent and she was the heart of all the parties her friends threw.

Neeti and Nitya began the shopping spree in Camp, Pune, only because Nitya knew Neeti was quite low and it was only the class and sophistication of Camp that could ameliorate things, since nothing else had worked. Nitya shopped and shopped. They didn’t spare a single showroom, small or big, without paying their due respects.

By evening, Nitya was tired and her sandals hurt her feet. She needed a good pedicure, she thought to herself. She noticed that Neeti, after all this while when it was time to go home, was turning out to be a zealot, the real her. Nitya tried to persuade her so they could go home but Neeti was ready for a party.

“Nee we have to be home by 9pm else you know what happens” proclaimed Nitya.
“Nutty come on! We have to go on a ride. Zooming speed! I’ll ride the Activa. Lets’ do something... something like... Got it! Lets’ cover our faces with the scarves and do some Adam-teasing... On the ride!”
“Nee u nuts! Hahahaha... Girl! What if they follow us and you know... trouble us etc etc.”
“Come on Grandma!” Neeti had that mischievous look and a smirk and Nitya knew exactly what it meant
“Nee you are... hahahahaha... Lets’ do it baby!”

“Yuhuuuuu!!!” And they both screamed in unison, unaware about the fact that at least a dozen people were gaping at them already.

Just then Nitya’s cell phone buzzed.

All Neeti could hear was “Oh Hi” then “Oh No!” and “How come” followed by “Where are you right now?” and lastly “We’ll be there in 30 minutes”.

“Meeth has met with an accident and we have to go and visit him.”
“No comments!” Neeti scowled.

In 20 minutes, the girls reached Kowhai, a lounge in a chic part of the city. The bouncer outside asked them for their passes, which they obviously didn’t have. So he instead coaxed them to pay cover charges. Nitya, smart that she was, said to him very curtly,
“Sir my friend is inside and he met with an accident right here, in YOUR lounge. He called me only so I could quickly help him with some bandages and money. So now if you don’t let me go, I may have to seek legal help.” Nitya then turned to Neeti and said “Neeti you are doing your third year in law and I think you may want to intervene.”

Neeti was too flabbergasted to understand what was going on. After a small tap on her hand from Nitya, she realised she had to respond. She made a faint attempt at giving a professional smile. She then heard herself say “Sir, we’ll be out in 15 minutes flat. Else you can sue us.”

The bouncer, a very tall and hefty guy, saw the truth in Neeti’s eyes and said “Okay ladies, here you go. But 15 minutes only. Else my job will be at stake.”

“That won’t happen. I won’t let it.” Neeti said with poise as if she owned the lounge.

The bouncer liked that confident remark and opened the door for the ladies. Nitya called Meeth and asked him where his table was. Meeth raised his hand and asked her to walk down 10 steps and look up.

The girls finally managed to find the table. There were three young men at a small low lying table and two vacant seats, one was next to Meeth, the other was alongside another guy who wasn’t acquainted, at least not to Neeti. It was by protocol, that Nitya sat next to her friend Meeth and it was by default that Neeti sat next to that unknown guy. Meeth and Nitya exchanged their Hellos and ‘Long time no see’. Meeth introduced his other to friends to the girls.

“Nitya you know Tejas. And Tejas, this is my Nitya. Her sister Neeti” Tejas and Nitya had seen each other before and knew very vaguely about the other. Neeti gave a plastic smile, but looked good with that too.“And this is Aman. Aman we’ve met Nitya before, so many times, right? This is her sister Neeti.”
“Neeti, you look great. I wonder how a girl can look so good in a simple Adidas white tee and smart blue jeans.” said Meeth.
“Just like a guy can look good enough in a plastered leg and a beer mug in his hand.” Aman immediately shot Neeti a look. He liked the presence of mind the girl flaunted. Neeti looked at him and smiled, not a genuine one though.

Nitya and Meeth were gradually absorbed in their conversation which was a good and enjoyable mix of gossip and old memories.

“So, Neeti, right?”
“The music here is loud but I guess we’re sitting close enough to hear each other.” This time Neeti smiled. A big one. Probably, even a few tones mocking.
Aman enjoyed that stint.
“So what do you do?”
“I’m a photographer, well an aspiring one.”
She didn’t ask Aman what he did and so Aman offered it himself.
“I’m into Insurance. I am a manager in an MNC. I have normally, a lot of targets to achieve and many places to travel.”

“Travelling. Wow! I like that. I have travelled to very few places though but have enjoyed every bit of it. Last time...” Neeti was unstoppable. She went on and on. Aman gave a few inputs here and there but preferred listening to her. Then after a while, Aman made a small joke, on which Neeti burst out laughing. Her laughter was a thundering. She laughed her heart out. Aman was so surprised at the reaction that his laughter was stopped even before it started.

It was right there that Aman gave a meticulous look to the girl next to him. He saw she had a clear complexion with a nose little crooked, big mesmerising eyes that could swallow a whale. He noticed that the compliment Meeth gave her was a complete understatement of what she really looked like. She was gorgeous in that simple white tee and blue jeans. The dull lights of the lounge couldn’t hide her small ears that looked innocent, as if they heard nothing bad. Her eye-brows were thick and the lashes beneath them, hid her eye lids just enough.

Neeti was still jabbering with Aman. After a few moments, they both looked around and realised three pairs of eyes staring. Nitya’s, Meeth’s and Tejas’s. To them it looked like, Neeti and Aman met each other way before, in the history of time. Neeti looked at Nitya and felt a bit embarrassed.

“Nutty we should be leaving now. Else the bouncer will have us for dinner!”
“Nee I think you are right. We have a lot to talk.” Nitya had a naughty look.
Just then Aman interjected.
“Hey you can sit for some more time. I’ll go and talk to the bouncer. No problems then. Don’t go... I mean no need to go.”

Tejas noticed the desperation and exchanged a quick look with Meeth.

“Aman, I’m sorry but I have to leave. I had a nice time. See you guys. Bye. Nutty come on.”

Nitya bid her byes to all and the girls got out from there. They went to the two-wheeler in the parking lot just when Neeti realised there was something she had forgoten. She walked back near the lounge and to the bouncer.
“Sir you are a kind man. Thank you so much.”

The bouncer was speechless; he just managed to smile and saw the girls zoom off on their blue two-wheeler.

On the way Nitya pestered Neeti with all sorts of questions about Aman. Nitya said that she found Aman cute. Neeti didn’t think so but she kept mum. After they reached home Nitya made a last attempt to tease Neeti and get something out of it.

“You dumbo! Aman was drooling over you. I could see it. Me and Meeth stopped talking and looked at you guys for more than 10 minutes and you didn’t even realise. Aman had ‘that’ look, honey! He has your number too.” Nitya winked.

“What? I didn’t give him my number.”

“Well, I did. A long time back when you were finding a job, Meeth asked me to contact Aman . That is when I gave him your number. If you remember you have even spoken to this guy. Just two lines because he said that he was in a meeting and would get back to you, which he didn’t. But now I guess, he must be repenting and I’m sure will want to get back to you under any pretext. Hahahaha”

“Nutty its’ not like the way you think. I was all upbeat and wanted to have fun. Just when Meeth calls and you quickly chuck our plan and zoom me off to meet him. I still had that bubbling energy stored in me and given the first opportunity I used it in talking to Aman and that’s about it.”
“Nee you are boring. Lets’ get into the house now, else you know what music will play.”

The next day Nitya received a call from Meeth around brunch time. He wanted all the five of them to meet, again. Nitya sensed what it meant and told Neeti about the call.

Neeti decided this was a good opportunity to rectify the wrong signals she unintentionally sent out to Aman. The girls after a lot of discussion agreed to meet them. Same place.

“Hi, Neeti.” Aman gave her a heart warming smile.
“Hi.” Neeti didn’t return his smile. She made sure she didn’t sit next to him. For a long time she spoke to Tejas. They sounded like some huge business deal would be signed and ultimately a conglomeration of two huge business empires would be on cards.
Aman found it a little funny. So he quietly asked Neeti “Are you okay? You don’t sound enthu. Today.”
“I’m good, never felt better!” Neeti didn’t even look at him.

The evening passed quite awkwardly, for all. But at the end of it, Neeti was happy that she had put in efforts to clean the mess and though not completely, had succeeded.

Suddenly a huge wave hit the platform and Neeti jolted. She realised she was still sitting next to Kashif on Marines Lines, with his hand on her head. She looked around just to make sure the second time. All the memories she had so far seemed so of-this-moment even with her eyes wide open. It seemed like yesterday.

Kashif looked at her as if he had read all her thoughts all the while and had hoped he’d feature in somewhere. But that meant too much to ask for. It was hoping against hope.

Neeti looked at her watch and saw that the watch had struck 11pm. The night had prevailed. She moved and very slowly stood up. Her eyes hurt but her lips managed to smile. Kashif got the hint and stood up. They walked to his car, sat inside and turned on the radio. It was the Ghazal show being played and every song suited the circumstance. Kashif keyed the sedan to start and drove, while Neeti opened the window and let the wind blow on her face and mess her long untied hair.