There is something erotically romantic about waxed legs. Apart from the smoothness, they make for a flauntable texture. Prashant’s incessant fascination for the same grew to a maddening high the day he saw her in the black shorts as she walked out on the sandy beach near Aguada fort in Goa. Now, the aforementioned black shorts are as important as ‘the blue denim skirt’ we will talk about in some time but their magic was two-fold. The definite demarcation of color and the inherent frenzy-ness of being short in the first place only added to the sunny charm. Ah! You should have seen her walk with the black purse hanging loosely from the sides and swaying as a swift boat does in rocking waters. You should have seen the look in Danny’s eyes as she pushed down her glares from over her head to cover her eyes. Hey, I never told you about Danny either! Ah! There is so much you don’t know. I guess I am the one to blame!!
There was a tree. The tree was strong and solid. It was old. Very old. Prashant liked the tree. He also liked Karuna. Well, he more than liked her. He enjoyed being with her and some would say that it is equivalent to liking someone but he hated the fact that ‘liking’ was not the verb that defined his disposition. It was a mere word and as all love stories, it was not a surprise that he upheld his position beyond the comprehension of words. He had developed this strong hatred towards words and he avenged himself by writing crappy lines and mocking it. “Ahh!! See bastards. I hate all you words and this is my revenge. I will make you look pathetic.” The silent laughter was loaded with a lot of hatred; wait I guess it was disgust. Or was it disgruntlement? Aww!! These words got me too, now didn’t they? No wonder the poor kid perished.
So I will tell you another episode from their story. It is of the time when the world was creating a ruckus over a lot of things. There was a batsman’s century, a politician’s cheek and of course there was a song. There always is a song. The song that interests us today ladies and gentlemen is called ‘Kolaveri’. Don’t ask me what it means. Like all hypocrites, get boggled by the beauty of the word and that would suffice for now. Prashant was a hopeless romantic. Truth is we all are. Some are too proud to accept. Some are too modest to humble beneath it but it is those who have mastered the art of bearing the fact and letting the ruckus pass that interest me. Well, it’s another fact that my interests don’t bother Prashant and I detest that the bastard has not shown any affection towards my diligence. Well chuck it. So here it is:
“Bye. I think I will miss you.” Of course he knew he was lying. He was sure he would miss her. The thinking just gave you some face.
“I might miss you too.” Ahh! Clever reply Karuna. Well done. Playing by his rules are we? Let me tell you something readers. ‘Might’ is dangerous territory not just because it briskly dwells on indecision but because it plays with your expectations and fans the air of dilemma. Stay away. Stay safe. True story!!
“Aren’t you sure?” this game was far from over.
“I don’t know”. SWEET!! Keep him wanting you more. Karuna; you heartless wench. You sure know how to keep someone wanting you and wanting you more.
“When will you know?” Dumb question. Isn’t it? Read again. Stress on the ‘will’. It is impregnated with content, his question I must tell you. Not only does it estimate the time of knowing but it assumes a hard fact of ‘YES! I will know’ in the first place. Not such a dumb moron, now is he?
“When the time is right. You will know and so shall I.” She tilted her head at exactly 22.5 degrees to her right and blinked once after a long pause during the course of which her eyes not once left his constant gaze save the one time while she quickly glanced at the clock as it was 2 o’clock and it was time to leave school. Friends were waiting. He walked to his red cycle, kicked back the stand and drowned himself in the crowd of the five dozen cyclists leaving school. He stopped once near an open heath that the government called as airport. There was just air; no port. Amandeep stopped along side and took to the cold water hand pump quickly as if out of routine. Silence scares people. Try it. People will treat you with respect and accord more seriousness than required to whatever you say. Prashant enjoyed the heroism for some time before he got back to the present.
That was over six years ago.
Presently he sat in a well lit office’ doing math’. Trust me! By the looks he bore on his face he wanted to ‘do’ a lot more. Shujit walked up to the bay with his callous walk and his stupid head. Silently, like a snake approaching its prey he walked to his seat. Prashant sat unarmed for the merciless torture he was about to undergo without sign or warning.
“So tell me Prashant, what do you call a guy who can suck an entire army?”
“I have no clue. But I am pretty sure it is not me.” The lack of interest would not deter Shujit’s enthusiasm. He would respond; for a question asked has to be answered. Acting otherwise would defeat the purpose of asking the question in the first place.
“It is suck-sena…vibhav saxena” Ahh!! Brilliant. That will make his day. Prashant looked up and retorted with “Dude! You are lame aren’t you?”
“No! I have two legs. I guess you have an eye less. Tell me something, if you can see two legs with one eye, then based on the laws of unitary method, will you see four legs with two eyes?” He left before Prashant raised his head, hand or voice.
Shujit was Prashant’s flatmate. He was a hopeless romantic just like we are but he confided in few and rightly so! He rode the streets with a ‘Bullet’ between his ass. Oh and yeah! The ‘bullet’ referred cost him a third of the savings he would have attained had he ‘done’ math for half a decade. But why the fuck are we talking about Shujit? He is not Prashant.
Our hero turned to Shaila (the short girl with eyeballs so prominent that you are tempted to pluck them out and put them back given that you do not know what to do with them) and said “I need your laptop for this weekend! I am planning to see her after a long time.”
She smiled. He smiled back for he knew that she knew. He was after all a hopeless romantic, now wasn’t he?
*****End of episode****
