Prologue
How did God come up with the idea of creating stars?
I aimed for the sky; but I forgot I was not a bird. I aimed for heaven; but I forgot I was not an angel. All the time, I just fell down.
Life is an unpredictable journey. But like every journey, it has to end at a certain point. In this journey, we come across many adventures and bigger journeys. The longest and the journey that I will never forget is that six seconds in the air between the bridge and the river. I bet that I had some connection with the river, rain, and water. I always was drifted towards it, those blessed and unblessed droplets of water.
Those six seconds felt like a very long time. I gazed at the raining sky. I gazed at the moon. I gazed at the beautiful stars. They formed an image of her. My tears were mixed up with the rain. How marvellously had God created the world! How God came up with the idea of creating stars, the moon, and then something like me? Compared to them, I was created in his sleep. Well, my world was going to end in a few seconds. Death was calling!
I had not cried in ages, but that time when I started crying I was unable to hold back my tears. They were constantly falling, drying my body, drying my heart but not lessening the pain. I felt death. I accepted it. I honoured it. I deserved that. I did not want to see the sunrise again. I gave up the control of my body. I let it fall the way it wanted to. I splashed on the water, backwards and the desire to swim died. I let the river do whatever it wanted to with my body. The world was better without me. After all, I was the evil. I closed my eyes. The feeling of dying was not that bad. It felt better than living with the circumstances I was in. Slowly, I lost the control of my body. I felt numb. Her memories surrounded me and I got lost in them.
“How are you feeling?” a woman asked.
I realised that I was in some bed. My head was hurting and I was unable to feel my legs. I looked across. It appeared to be a hospital. How did I survive? Why was I not dead?
“The man standing outside just saved you from drowning. What did happen? Was it an accident?” came the words from that curious and surprised woman.
“No, it wasn’t an accident,” I assured her.
“So, someone tried to kill you? Was it an attempt of murder?” her curiosity heightened.
“You can say so,” I said.
“Oh my God! Do not be scared. I am calling the police. Well, who tried to kill you?” she said, terrified and surprised.
“You don’t need to worry. I was trying to kill myself but I guess; I failed!” My lips uttered the words.
Chapter 1: The Thrill in a Fear
Goose bumps…
October the 11th of 2012, a date that is engraved permanently on my brain! The day that I first met her! Even after so many years, I still remember every detail of that day. It was the same date my father died 5 years ago, an evening where the summer and the winter were both fighting for their respective supremacy. The empire of the summer after leading for a long time was smashed by the army of the wind of the winter. The season of the struggling summer and winter is one hell of a contest to enjoy. It was rejoicing each part of me for a new beginning and at the same time reminding me of the aimless fight my father fought for his life, before winter conquered summer a little time ago.
My hands were touching the watch that I was wearing, repeatedly and my eyes kept looking at it not to see the time, but to see and feel the last belonging of my father. That was bringing a smile and tears, both at the same time. As promised to myself in the first week, when my father died of cancer, I donated blood that day and attended a day at the hospital for cancer patients.
I woke up at four and with a jacket that my father used to wear; I headed out in a field to grasp the first rays of the sunrise in my eyes. That gave me the feeling that he was present there, watching the sun as it rose and cracking some jokes. I could feel him in the air. I promised him that I would make him and Maa proud one day.
I visited All India Centre for Cancer Treatment (AICCT) as a routine since I joined college. I learned what hope meant. There were hundreds of people, men, women and children not sure of whether they would be able to wake up once they sleep. The only thing that was keeping them alive was hope; hope of seeing the sunlight again the next day they wake up; hope to say hello to their loved ones again, once they said goodbye.
God serves us like a silent guardian. He can speak to us in any character that we can possibly imagine. If required, he can speak to us in a demon character, challenging or daring us to fight and struggle. These characters do exist in everyone’s life, but they neither are felt nor seen. They are the angels. Everyone sees their angel daily, but they do not realize it. God has his own ways, to forgive, to punish, to challenge and all. We spend our life debating to believe in God or not and end up realising that we do not even know what believing in God means.
In the evening, everyone gathered in a common room and a group prayer was held, “Itne Shakti hume dena data, man ka viswas kamjor ho na.” The group prayer at the hospital made me find peace of mind. Yes, that was incredible. Hope Maa and Baba were there! They would have been so happy.
After a long day, I sat in a park close to the hospital, alone, and watched the beauty of the fight for dominance over the climatic condition. It was thrilling me to feel the wind waves touching my hairs and blowing it. I was cherishing that exciting moment.
As they say, your life is just a sum total of your sins, goods, happiness, grief, suffering and other good or bad deeds that you have done. The result of the sum is always zero before you die. That means you have to grieve for your sins in one way or the other and you will be greeted by contentment for all your good deeds. The equation made with these is what we call the equation of one’s life.
By the way, I am Ashwani. Right since I was a child, I wondered who God is. What he is like? I wanted to see him as in real. So once, I asked my Maa about God. She always told me many stories about different Gods, how he is just one coming on earth in different bodies and faces and killed the monsters and evils whenever required. So that is how my love for God started. She told me that one day when I would grow older; God would come to me in any sort of form in my life. So I asked her whether God had come to her, to which she did not reply anything, she smiled. I assumed that she had not grown old enough.
I was at the time a third year student of National Law University, Delhi, waiting for a miracle to occur in my life. It was a five year integrated LLB course. Oh yes, I qualified for the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET).
Suddenly, I saw a girl sitting nearby on a bench, alone. The moment my eyes met with the pleasure picture of that girl, who was struggling with the wind to keep her hair from not coming over her face, I felt as if I was watching the favourite scene of my favourite movie. As if, I was watching the final over of the world cup final of India vs. Pakistan, as if I was having my favourite food in my favourite restaurant. The glow of her face was just activating all the veins joining my heart. She was designed so perfect that she no longer seemed human. That day I knew that the angels do exist. That was the first time I saw my ‘Pari’. Suddenly, it came to my mind that the entire fight of summer and winter was over that beauty of nature, which was right in front of my eyes. Yes, I had witnessed a miracle with my naked eyes. Words cannot describe the beauty of nature sometimes. I could not stop my urge to look at her face. Someone has truly said that a human cannot resist the look of a pretty face and awesome food. How did God come up with the thought of creating her?
Soon, she started to cry and not a minute later, it started to rain.
With the dim light of the park and the lights produced by the lightning that started to strike with the rain, I saw her even better. She was wearing an amazing pink suit, her hair was long and brown, and her eyes were black.
Our eyes met for a second and even that scared the hell out of me.
Everyone left the park except for her and I was just deciding to leave or to go and ask her what was the reason for her sorrow. Well, I was going to be a lawyer and as a lawyer, I was obliged to help others in pain. That was my excuse to myself for talking to her.
As I approached her, I waved my hand and said, “Hello!”
“Hello yourself!” She said surprisingly.
Her voice just made me forget all the things I dreamt to say to her. I even forgot who I was. I felt so honest for the first time in my life.
“I know it’s none of my business, but why does a girl like you need to cry?” I asked concerned.
“What do you mean by a girl like me? And actually, it is none of your business,” she replied, mopping her tears.
“Life is too short to be wasted crying, planning, and saving smiles for the future, while there is a whole bunch of entertainment out there waiting just for you to kiss them, smile, and laugh at them. Right since the time I saw you, I could not resist the urge to ask the reason of your melancholy. Right now, as we speak, my heart is pacing and my body is too icy. And you’re crying that will give me goose bumps,” I recited like a poem in a shivering tone.
She shot back, “I am fine. Let’s check your goose bumps then.” I was not sure if she was irritated or surprised.
She smiled. Well, that was a little embarrassing. I hated myself for being such an idiot. I started walking a little nearer to her.
“Actually, I wasn’t literally talking abou…” I said.
I fell! I fell on cow dung. How did God come up with this bullshit idea of creating something like cow dung? He must be in a naughty mood that time.
“Hey, hey! Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes! I am good! I am good!” I replied like an idiot.
I raised my hand to her and cow dung was all over it. She gave me a ‘ewwww’ look and then she started laughing.
I just said good-bye to her and felt embarrassed. Why did that happen to me? Although, every part of me wanted to stand there and watch her smile amazingly, I returned to my hostel. I swore not to go to that park or see her again. I made her smile but I ruined mine. The embarrassment of that night overtook all the amazing feelings and thoughts generated in my heart and mind.
Bang! The depression is gone…
It had been two and half years since I was in college. It was like a brand new life. I had adapted to this life and was enjoying the taste of its every meal, literally.
Thinking about studies, the first thing that comes to my mind is ‘GLASSES’. That was the name given by us to my roommate – Sarthak. He wore the thickest glasses anyone can possibly wear. ‘Sarthak and his alarm wrist clock’ was among one of the hottest topics discussed in our hostel. He had an alarm set for everything. He had time fixed for everything even for toilet. I always wondered how the hell he could have the pressure to shit at a fixed time every day. He was like alarm beeped it is time to shit; alarm beeped, it is time to piss. Whatever my circumstances were, I was not allowed to use the toilet in his time, whether he used it or not. One day, I went to the bathroom in his time and he was about to break the door. I always wondered what God’s mood was when he created Sarthak. God must be experimenting and something must have gone wrong in the experiment.
And the best part, he was always studying and had a book in his hand everywhere he used to go. He went on a walk, he had a book; he went to the toilet, he had a book. He was just… Different!
Digvijay was another friend of mine. We called him DG bhai. He was a cool and smart guy, a leader type. He was fond of pizza. All of his conversation had a reference to pizza at least one time.
DG and me always played many pranks on Glasses to piss him off. Once, we locked the bathroom from outside and hid the key. When Glasses woke up for his routine toilet, he could at that time kill anybody.
We three were great friends.
When I returned to the hostel that night, DG and Glasses were already there in my room playing chess. It was little after 8 o'clock and so it was the refreshment time for Glasses.
DG said, “Ashwani, see I am winning the game! It’s time to have a pizza.”
GLASSES said, “Don't be so sure.”
DG asked me, “Hey! Why are you looking so frustrated?”
I did not say anything and went to my bed.
Both of them came to me and started jumping over me.
Both shouting, “Apna bhai depression me hai. Let his depression bang out of his body and mind.”
I was just shouting, “Leave me bitches!”
Soon there was a knock on the door and voices came from outside, “Who is in depression? Need any help of ours?”
Actually, that was a technique invented by DG and myself. Whenever we saw someone in a sad mood, we tagged them as depressed. To overcome his depression, he was willingly or unwillingly made to lie on a bed and anyone was welcome to jump over his body, until he confessed that he was not depressed anymore. After that, he was made to sit and he was asked the reason for his melancholy. Next necessary steps were taken to solve the problem as a team. We once broke a bed in that process last year. In my defence, the fattest boy in our hostel was in depression.
GLASSES said, “It’s the devil himself. Wait buddies! I am opening the door.”
I shouted, “Hey, I am not depressed anymore. Let me tell you what happened. Please do not let anyone jump over me.”
They both stopped jumping.
This technique was first implemented on Glasses. Once he got 87 marks out of 100 and a girl got 89. He was sad as hell. I had got 72 and DG, 59. We were happy with our marks, but Glasses was over reacting with his sadness. He said he was depressed.
“I can't get such low marks. This is cheating. I will complain tomorrow,” GLASSES said.
I replied, “Just relax buddy, we have got less marks than you, yet we are happy.”
GLASSES said, “But I studied well. And Sneha, she used to ask questions to me in class and she has got more marks than me.”
Sneha was our classmate, a cute charming girl with great talking and learning skills. Everybody knew that she liked Glasses. And I could see in the eyes of Glasses that he was into her too. But he never admitted and treated her as if she was his enemy. Every time, talking about a girl with Glasses ended up in him saying, “Girls are just a distraction, I have come here to study and become a successful lawyer.”
That day, he confessed that everyone was his competitor and therefore his enemy, even Dg and me. At the top of the list was Sneha. We could not take any more of his shit. DG told me to hold his legs and he held his hands. Then we threw him on the bed. He was talking too much, so I took a piece of cloth and put it in his mouth and started jumping over his body.
That technique was invented in the first year and then became a tradition in our hostel. From that day onwards, Glasses never complained of his marks.
Anyways, back to the place when DG and Glasses stopped jumping over me. I sat, feeling the pain they caused and related everything that happened. After listening to the goose bumps part, they were laughing as they never laughed before.
Both laughed, "Oh boy! Goosebumps! Cow dung! That’s why you are stinking!"
I wanted to hit them with anything so hard that they would never be able to laugh again.
"I washed it outside the hostel. I am not stinking,” I explained.
Soon the alarm beeped.
GLASSES announced, "It’s time for our dinner."
DG said, "Ashwani, you deserve a treat today. I will order pizza. Do not be sad. At least you made a crying girl smile."
Then he called Domino’s pizza and asked to deliver pizza to our hostel.
DG explained, "Yes paneer peppy cheese burst! The name is Mr Goosebumps."
Both of them laughed again. I hit them both with a stick.
Soon the delivery boy came. At our entrance and he shouted, "Delivery for Mr Goosebumps."
Everybody in the hostel was shocked to hear that name. We took the delivery and ate the pizza. Yes, the taste of pizza can make you forget all the pain and embarrassment.
That day, I was tagged as Mr. Goosebumps.
The badge of honour…
Sarthak was originally from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He had a small family, mother, and an eleven-years-old mentally challenged brother, who had some physical problems in his legs. Both his legs were not of the same size, which made it hard for him to walk. There was some money problem in his family too.
When Glasses qualified for AILET, he got a scholarship, which included college and hostel fees. His only target was to earn enough money so that he could manage the treatment for his brother. That was the reason for his dedication and alarms and all. His mother's salary was not enough to maintain a family. So, Sarthak (Glasses) took tuitions to earn money in order to manage his pocket money and he was saving money from the first year of college for his brother's treatment.
DG was from Lucknow. His parents were both gynaecologists. In other words, he came from a family with lots of money. He was a single child of his parents. It was a surprise that he still qualified for AILET and that also with a decent rank. He was the guy whom everybody in the college knew. He had the talent to impress anybody with words and could make anyone his friend. He was the member of many clubs and groups in college, which organized many events. Hence, he was always loaded with money. Through him, we got to know many people. I never heard him asking his parents for money.
The story of my life and family is quite complicated to be discussed now. So we will come to that in a while. My family has four members. My Tauji, Akhilesh Srivastava was a senior professor of IIT Delhi. I have a sister and a grandmother.
My sister, Khusi is the most amazing thing of my world. She turned 16 when I was in the third year of my college. She was in class 11th and had started preparing for IIT-JEE. She got admitted in Vidya Mandir Classes (VMC).
Dadi was too awesome. We used to watch cricket together. She was a great fan of cricket. She knew more about cricket and players than I did. She was a fan of Dhoni. She even had managed to meet him and had an autograph from him. If India was winning then it was okay, but if somehow India was losing, she cursed the players responsible along with their father, mother, sisters, brothers, wife, relatives, and everyone. She was a great cook too. She taught me to cook many a times. I used to visit home at least once a week and in vacations, I always went home to dadi and Khusi. We three used to play cards together, make new dishes, and watch movies.
Tauji was a noble man. He was a kind of man who lives with some code and rules. He was a serious type of person. Being dangerous was part of his code. He once told me, "When you become old and weak, people think of you as less dangerous and start taking you less seriously. So, don't let anybody know your weakness."
Being dangerous was like a badge of honour for him. It was a sacred power that an individual can have. As an example, my sister was back to study when he was home. No one ever dared to talk with him in a loud voice.
Tauji was a charitable person. He donated more than fifty per cent of his earnings to a hospital, which was free for poor people. He was the founder of that hospital.
My college was situated in Dwarka sector 14, New Delhi. National Law University Delhi or NLDU in short. This was the college one could get through AILET. It is one of the most prestigious colleges in India to pursue a career in law. The faculties were awesome and one of our senior professors was a friend of Tauji. So, no matter what, I had to score well in that paper or a sweet complain would be sent.
I am a great swimmer since my childhood. That was the source of my pocket money. There was a swimming pool nearby, where trainers were required for swimming lessons. I applied and I qualified. I got to be a trainer in that pool, twice a week, Saturdays and Sundays, 3 hours in the evening.
The naked boy…
Our hostel was inside the college campus. In my hostel, the first room was mine, which I shared with Glasses. It was the room number 1, the origin of every plan and every dirty prank. In every sorrow and joy, that was the place to gather for anyone in the hostel.
Glasses was the first friend of mine in the college. We did not make any other friends for few weeks. It took around a month to settle with Glasses and his mysterious wristwatch. I still remember how I first entered my hostel room and Glasses were already there, who gave me an hour of instruction of how I had to manage to live with him. I hated being in that hostel. I had no friends and in the night, there was a mysterious sound right at midnight scaring the shit out of us.
Soon a month passed and GLASSES became a good or should I say the only friend of mine.
One hot summer day, when I woke up from my good night and sweet dreams, I felt a massive headache and hotness throughout my body. I saw Glasses who was already up.
"Hey! Take rest. You have high fever. It will be fine by evening. Nevertheless, we will meet a doctor in the evening," GLASSES recommended.
I nodded with a yes and then he left the hostel for classes.
An hour passed and I was still not feeling well. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I was too lazy to open up so I ignored. After two to three desperate knocks, I opened up. I saw a naked boy standing there. I mean, he was just wearing his underwear and shoes and nothing else.
When I opened up, he hugged me.
The naked boy said, "Hey buddy! Can you help me?"
I was scared as hell. Indeed, I was not much of a fan of the ‘Dostana’ movie.
Even I was not wearing any shirt. So that moment was embarrassing.
I asked surprised, "Hey... You are...?"
I was trying to come up with some mixture of words to speak to him, but then he entered my room.
The naked boy said, "Your room is awesome. Everything in here is in a systematic way."
"Yeah, that is the creativity of my roommate. Please, do not touch anything on that side of the room. He doesn’t like it," I said firmly.
Glasses was kind of amazing when it came to the organization of stuff. On his desk, there was a small bookshelf in which there were seven different sections denoting each day of the week and in every section there were some books and notes. In his cupboard, every bed sheet and clothes were kept clean and in an organized way.
The naked boy asked, pointing to my cupboard, "Is this your cupboard?"
"Yes it is,” I answered.
He opened it up and took out my best shirt, which my sister had gifted me on New Year eve.
The naked boy said, "I am borrowing it. I will return it in the evening."
"Actually, it is a gift from my sister."
"It is awesome buddy. I do not have any shirt yaar. I have to go on a date today. You can come too. Her friend is also coming."
"I am sick. I have this fever and headache from the morning."
"Oh god! You think you are going to make it? I am keeping this shirt in case you die."
I was irritated. I just wanted to sleep. So I told him that he could borrow it.
The naked boy talked again, "I was kidding yaar. See, fever, and headache in most of the cases are just your state of mind, nothing else. You are new here. You are nervous and not feeling good to attend classes. So your mind maintains a situation so that you can skip the reality."
"What is the reality?" I asked.
He said, "Reality is the fact that life is too short to be wasted sleeping, crying, planning, and saving smiles for the future, while there is a whole bunch of entertainment out there, waiting just for you to kiss them, smile, and laugh at them."
I smiled like a little dog because my words were not qualified enough to argue with him. And yes, I copied that sentence in my mind and pasted many a time.
He wore the shirt. I would say he was looking great with a certain kind of confidence present over his face, even though he was in his underwear. I want to clarify it again that I am not such a fan of the ‘Dostana’ movie.
He then got in front of the mirror and combed his hair with his hands and spit.
He said to himself, in front of mirror, "Hey, this is Digvijay. You can call me DG bhai."
"You want a girl with whom you are going on a date to call you bhai?"
"Fuck no! This is Digvijay. You can call me DG."
"Okay, all the best then."
"I have some medicine for you. Let me bring it."
"Okay, thanks."
He left and I heard voices like, "Girl, I am gonna rock your world," “DG bhai, you are looking awesome,” "DG bhai, shirt mast hai."
After 10 minutes, there was a knock on the door and as expected, it was DG with medicine.
"Take this now with water and you will feel completely fine within half an hour," said DG.
I said, "Thanks. By the way, I am Ashwani."
He stood in a fashionable way and forwarded his hand with a charm and confident smile all over his face.
"It’s Digvijay, but you can call me DG bhai."
Then he hugged me again and left for his date. I kind of liked him. I took the unwrapped different looking medicine with water. It tasted like sugar, but in half an hour, I was feeling completely fine.
Soon, GLASSES came back from the class and as usual, he had a book in his hand. I told him about Digvijay. He took off his glasses and he was Sarthak now.
Sarthak said, "I know that boy. I mean, I have heard of him. He is not a good guy. You must stay away from him."
I protested, "But he was just so friendly, I couldn’t be rude plus he gave me the medicine that worked."
He shot back, "Yeah, but are you kidding me? You can let anybody enter our room and mess with our things. How careless you are."
"Okay, sorry. I should have stopped him. However, it is not going to happen from the next time. I promise you," I said.
Sarthak was pissed at me. For the next half an hour, he searched through his stuff to see whether something was missing.
As the sun was wishing us goodbyes, there was a knock on the door. GLASSES was at his desk, studying. Listening to the knock, he took off his glasses and put it on the table. I opened up and it was DG. He had a big box of pizza in his hand.
He exclaimed, “It is enough for three of us.”
GLASSES looked at me with his angry eyes and through his eyes, he said get-him-out-of-here. But DG went to him and said, “You are Sarthak? I am your new buddy, Digvijay.”
He forwarded his hand for a handshake. Sarthak shook hands. Then, he took his glasses and wore it.
Sarthak said, "I have a lot of work to do."
He turned to his books and notes.
DG said, "Oh fuck! Holy shit! You are totally a different person with glasses on. It is as if you are Bruce Wayne with glasses and Batman without glasses. Just like Gangadhar and Shaktiman! So, like every dual face superhero, you deserve a different name. Glasses are the source of your mysterious power. This side of you will be called ‘GLASSES’ from today."
That is how Sarthak got the name, ‘GLASSES’.
It was funny the way he said it. Even Sarthak smiled for a while and got back to studies. We opened up the box of pizza and after several requests; Sarthak joined us too. That pizza was marvellous. We ate it all.
DG said, "This is the best pizza anyone can possibly make in Delhi. I have tried every place in Delhi and I assure you, this is the best."
He never told us about the shop from where he bought it.
"So how was your date?” I asked.
DG said, "Your shirt was lucky. I have washed it and once it is dry you can take it. By the way, how are you?"
"I am great. Your medicine worked in half an hour only. What was that?" I replied.
DG explained, "It was just a pile of sugar kept in my cupboard for a while, not any medicine."
Sarthak could not stop laughing.
I asked, surprised, "Are you kidding me?"
DG said, "See, the point is that you got well. You were not sick internally, but you wanted to be sick and when I accessed the hope of getting well in you, you got well. Even a pile of waste sugar got you well because you believed in that. It’s all about believing, my friend."
I was thrilled by his reply. That was the second freak I was going to be friends with in the college.
After dinner, he left.
GLASSES said, "I don’t like him. So if you are going to be friends with him, don’t let him enter that door."
I sadly agreed with him.
Inception…
Few days passed by. We ignored Digvijay. I kind of liked him, but due to Sarthak, I had not to tag along with him.
It was a Saturday evening. Everyone was in the mess for snacks and tea. Exactly at 5:30, the alarm beeped and GLASSES took off his glasses and got back to be Sarthak.
Sarthak said, "It’s time for our snacks. Let us go."
As we went to the mess, everybody was sitting and DG was standing in front. He greeted me with “Hail DG” and most of the sitting members shouted the same. Sarthak and I took our snacks and we sat.
DG announced, “Now that everybody is here, let’s go for a movie. There is a new movie of Leonardo Dicaprio, ‘Inception’. I guarantee you fellas it is awesome. Those who will not watch it are real suckers. Are you coming or not?"
Most of them said yes. I had never been to any theatre in my entire life. I wanted to go, but Sarthak was not ready.
DG said, "So hurry up! The show timing is 7:00 to 9:30. Meet me in here sharp at six."
After snacks, we went to our rooms.
"Let us go to the movie, Sarthak. It will be fun," I said.
Sarthak said, "Fun! That’s why you are here? We are here to study and become successful lawyers not to watch movies. So go back and study. They are just distractions."
I protested, "But sometimes having fun is good. It is not like we are doing any crime."
Sarthak said, "I have decided. We are not going. Now get back to study."
I argued, "You have decided? I am sick of you taking every decision for me. I am going."
Suddenly, there was knock on the door. It was Digvijay.
DG said, "Get ready fast! We are really going to enjoy."
GLASSES ignored both of us and got back to studies.
DG asked politely, "Hey! GLASSES! Let us go."
GLASSES replied, "I have work to do. Don’t force me. You two go and have fun."
"That’s what your life is? Saving fun for the future? Enjoy the little things because they are the things you are going to miss few years from now when you look back to your past," DG said.
GLASSES replied, "I am happy with what I am doing. Please don’t disturb and just go."
I signalled DG to go. We went to the movie at a nearby theatre. That day I knew what living a life was, what enjoyment meant. The movie was awesome. The whole time DG was cracking jokes and giving his philosophy on how one should live and enjoy. He was quite convincing. I knew he was going to be a great lawyer. I loved his company.
When I was back, Sarthak was sad.
Sarthak said, "I am sorry to force my decisions on you. You can be friends with whom you want."
It’s okay. But you can come with us sometimes. It’s not bad to have fun in a while," I said.
Sarthak explained, "You think I don’t like to have fun? I do. But I can’t afford to have fun. My father left when I was eight and my brother was just born, physically and mentally challenged. My mother got a small teaching job in a private school. She merely maintained our family. We could not afford my brother’s illness. So his condition persisted. Now he is eleven, but the same. I am saving each penny I can to save him. That’s why I can’t afford to have fun. I have to study hard because I have a family to feed. My mother can’t work much longer."
I was stunned. I saw some tears in his eyes. I felt very sorry for him. I consoled him that everything was going to be fine. I promised him to help him anyway, I could.
Bhopal…
Days went by. DG had become a good friend of mine, but I limited my friendship outside my room so that Sarthak could not be disturbed. One day, Sarthak got a call from his mother asking him to come home, as she was sick and so was his brother. That night, I saw him most frightened.
I assured, "Hey! Relax! Everything is going to be fine. If you want, I can come with you."
Sarthak said, "No, I need you to attend all the classes and prepare notes of each of them."
I left him at the station and returned to the hostel. I told everything to DG. The next day one of the professor gave an assignment carrying 5 per cent of total marks of that subject to be submitted in the next two days and another asked to take a class test carrying 10 per cent of total marks. As soon as I got back to my room, I called Sarthak.
"Hey! How is your family?" I asked.
Sarthak said in a sad voice, "Not good at all! My mama and his daughter are coming in four days. Maa is suffering from typhoid and my brother is having problems with his legs. They are hurting and he can’t sleep at night."
I wanted to tell him about the test and assignment, but he had more serious problems that were needed to be dealt with. So I didn’t add anything to his problems.
“Okay buddy take care of your family. If anything is required, let me know. If you need me to come, I will.”
“Thanks. I will ask if I need anything.”
I told DG about the problem. We decided to write the assignment of Sarthak; I wrote 26 pages and DG wrote 21. DG told me that he would handle the class test too. On the day of the class test, he bribed a senior for two pizzas in exchange of giving the test on behalf of Sarthak. That senior was the topper of his batch. Everything happened as planned.
That evening, Sarthak called and he was crying.
“Ashwani, can you come please? Maa is not well. I am going to admit her in the hospital. My brother is alone at home, sick. I can’t take care of both of them.” He sounded super tensed.
“Oh! Sure, I will come as soon as possible,” I assured.
“And if you can, please arrange some money.”
“Okay, I will try. Don’t be tensed. I am coming. Everything will be alright.”
We hung up. DG was in my room at that time. I told him.
“Oh boy! Let us go. He needs us. I will take care of the money. He can return it to me later,” DG said.
At that moment, a large amount of respect got built inside me for DG. A boy who was ignoring him; he was ready to help him up to that limit! No wonder why everybody loved him.
He opened his laptop and booked tickets for Bhopal for that night only. By morning, we were in Bhopal. Sarthak messaged me the address of the hospital. By nine, we were in the hospital. Sarthak was surprised to see DG. He was about to cry then DG hugged him and said, “Your state of mind, your sadness, or happiness can’t play any role in the betterment of your family’s health. So play the best role you can. Greet your mother with a smile not with tears.”
Sarthak told him okay like a little child. Then we went to see aunty. Sarthak told us that he had to take his brother to a doctor. Digvijay agreed to stay with aunty and Sarthak and I took his brother to the doctor.
The doctor said that this pain would occur once in a month or two, until he was going to be operated. The doctor assured that after the operation, his legs would be completely normal. The cost of operation was around five to six lakhs. He gave medicines for the pain. We left his brother home and went to the hospital. As we were going to enter the room, we saw Sarthak’s mother and DG laughing.
“I have never seen my mother so happy. I will say that Digvijay is a great guy. I am his fan now. I was wrong about him,” Sarthak said.
Digvijay paid half of the hospital bills that Sarthak was not able to pay. The next day Sarthak’s mama and his cousin came. His mother got discharged and we took her home.
The fear of taking risk…
Now, it was the time for us to get to the hostel and to our regular routine life. Both of them were normal now and had people to take care of them. The next day, we left for Delhi. We arrived at night. We got fresh, had dinner and when Sarthak and I were about to sleep, there was a knock on the door. It was DG.
“Thanks friend for what you did. I owe you big time and sorry for my rude behaviour,” Sarthak said.
DG revolted, “You faggot! That’s why friends are made, to cover your ass when they are being kicked. Now you understood or not that friendship is not wastage of time, but a smart utilization of time?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“So, both of you are ready to enter ‘the awesome DG gang’?” DG asked.
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Okay then let me show you what fun is. Let us go to my room.”
Then we all went to his room that was on the second floor. He went inside the room, took out two empty glasses in which milk was provided in the mess and then turned off the light. It was 12 in the night and everybody was sleeping. He warned us not to make any noise. Then he took us near the ladder.
DG whispered, “When I tell you to run, you both run to my room, smoothly.”
One by one, he threw both the glasses, which landed perfectly on the ground floor just two feet away from where the warden was sleeping. The warden was a very strict man. The horror sound of the GLASSES made everybody in the hostel awake.
“Run!” DG declared.
We all ran to his room and he shut the doors. Everybody, especially on the ground floor started to shout, “Who was this!”
The warden was scared as hell by the sound. He was sleeping wearing only his underwear. In his underwear, he roamed all the floors, but was unable to catch us. After few minutes, when everybody was back to normal, Sarthak spoke.
“That was insane! You used to do this! Every night we got scared. I was sure that there was some kind of ghost in this hostel,” said Sarthak astonished.
“Didn’t you enjoy the fear of getting caught? The fear running across your veins when you were running? The fear of taking a risk! That was a lesson to both of you. You must know what is the fear of taking risk is. And admit it, it was fun,” DG said.
I started to laugh. Soon, both of them joined me.
The next morning, when the warden went to the bathroom, we locked the door from outside using a spare lock and key. He was locked in the bathroom for two hours. Then someone smashed the lock and took him out. Not a single student of the hostel gave a damn when he was locked.
There was a reason for targeting the warden. He was a giant pain in the ass, since we were in the hostel. He many a times didn’t allow us to go outside for no reason. Sundays and Wednesdays were mess special days. In these two days, we got special food like chicken or special dishes of paneer, sweets etc. The warden used to limit our intake and most of us didn’t get sweets as he took them and used to sell them outside. Everybody was pissed with him.
Sneha…
The class was about to start. I was sitting on the first bench with Sarthak. DG was sitting on the last bench. Suddenly, a cute girl wearing glasses came and asked Sarthak, “Can I sit here?”
“Yes!”
She forwarded her hands for a handshake and said, “I am Sneha.”
Sarthak shook her hands with a voice, “I am Sarthak.”
I just looked at both of them and then at DG, whose eyes were struck there only and we smiled a surprised smile.
Soon class started and the teacher came.
“Good morning class! Today I am going to announce the marks of your class test,” the teacher said.
Sarthak whispered to me, “What the hell! There was a class test?! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Teacher saw us and gave an I-will-kick-you-both-out-of-the-class look.
“Two students have got full marks, Sarthak and Sneha,” the teacher announced.
Sarthak gave me a how-the-fuck-that-happened look and I signalled him to look back, where DG was holding his collar and shaking it. Back at the hostel, we explained him everything.
Soon, Sarthak and Sneha became good friends and I shifted to the backbench with DG. As per our request, Sarthak changed a little in his daily routine. An alarm for one hour in morning and one hour in evening was set in his watch to have fun with friends.
That’s how two years went by and in two years, DG dated seven girls back to back; two of them were in our class only. None of the relationship lasted for more than two months.
Sn
eha was into Sarthak, but he limited the friendship up to the class only. He had strictly told her not to call him if it was not about studies. When DG teased him and named Sneha as Mrs. GLASSES, he panicked and said, “There is nothing going on between us. I don’t talk to her if it is not about studies.”