Keeping the Promises (6 page)

After about ten minutes, the warden came out and asked Ansh to come inside alone and he followed.

“So tell me Ansh, what happened? What was Dhruv doing in the girls’ hostel?” Mr. Kaushik asked.

‘How do I know uncle! I don’t even know what I was doing on the football ground.’
Ansh thought, but he knew this answer of him would confirm their involvement in property loss.

“There was a bet between them uncle, for who can climb it! They had no intention to harm any girl, sir!” He looked at the warden and he was smiling too, along with Mr. Gajjar. Ansh too knew that there was no way on earth they would have believed him.

“I told you, sir! This must be one of his mischiefs. He has been mischievous from childhood. Besides, he means no harm to anyone ever. You can ask Ansh. He is Dhruv’s friend since the day they both marked their first step in school,” Mr. Gajjar defended his son’s actions.

‘Are they convinced? Seriously? No way, I bet I would find uncle’s cheque-book in his pocket.’

“But stepping into the girls’ hostel without permission is a criminal offence, Mr. Gajjar!” the warden said. Ansh thought to increase the amount of his argument.

“Well, I think that should be settled sir! You want me to call our dean and talk about this? At last he is going to be the one to take a final decision.” Then Ansh began to understand why Gajju called his father. Few more cheques and Dhruv might get a room inside the girls’ hostel. Well, he wouldn’t mind joining him there. No one would.

“It is okay, Mr. Gajjar, but there is one problem. I can save them from legal actions, but your son will have to leave the hostel,” Warden said.

Kaushik uncle looked at Ansh and smiled.

‘Yes, it worked uncle. Bingo! No more cheques!’

“That won’t be a problem sir! I already have an unused property in Vadodara City, which is just ten kilometres away from here. They will shift there, and I’m sure that property damage you are talking about, they are not involved in that.” Ansh lifted his gaze at the warden; he wasn’t happy, wasn’t even smiling. He was sure that warden wasn’t happy with what he had to get settled with; lack of evidence, thank you.

Three of them came out. All friends were looking at Ansh with a big question mark expression. He just had to smile and wink; it was enough for them to understand they all could sigh in relief.

“Dhruv and Harsh, you will have to write an apology letter for getting MISPLACED in the girls’ hostel,” the warden said.

“And you and Ansh are going to shift to our house in the city. Your friends can also join you there if they want. Ansh, don’t worry, I’ll inform your parents about it,” Mr. Gajjar said.

“Yes, uncle!” He meekly replied.

“And I’m expecting you two at the parking lot. I want to have a word with you two.” He demanded and walked out.

“Dude, your dad is really cool! He settled everything in less than thirty minutes!” Shilpan said in joy.

“You have seen only one side of him bro! Now I’m going to face another.” He was right, so right. As they walked to the parking lot, they saw him standing outside his car waiting for them. His driver was sitting inside.

“First of all, congratulations to you both for the result!” He was calm. It was the same silence that calms everything before the tornado; the real tornado was waiting to explode.

“Thanks uncle!” Ansh said and he smiled.

“Thanks dad!” Gajju said and he didn’t respond.

“Just answer my question. Are you responsible for that property damage? And I’m sure you have a good reason to convince my faith in you why you went in girls’ hostel,” he said.

“May be dad,” he replied looking down.

‘Man! Are you nuts? What the fuck do you want to be? An ideal son?’

“What do you mean by may be?” Mr. Gajjar asked with a confused and angry look. They were sweating by that time and this time too, the heat was merely playing a minor role.

“Dad, when results came out, we decided to party, and alcohol was also included in it for the first time. After that what happened is still an enigma. I climbed there because my friend was there and no one knows how he reached there.” He answered.

Mr. Gajjar looked at Ansh, this time not smiling. He knew Dhruv was going to get the piece of his meat. Ansh was thinking about intervening, but before he could come up with something, SLAP!!! A father slapped his son tightly; this was the second time Dhruv was getting slapped on the same day.

“Ansh, in the past, when he used to get into things like these, you were the one who always pulled him out. But I guess this time you also got carried away with him!!” He was right. Ansh looked down.

‘Just don’t slap me man! I’m not your son. Even my father doesn’t slap.’

“Promise me Dhruv! That this is the last time I’m pulling you out of this mess.”

“Promise dad,” Dhruv said.

“Now, you see that new white Volkswagen Vento?” He asked, pointing towards a new white car.

“Yes, dad!” Dhruv said, barely glanced at it.

“This is for you, as I promised. You passed the first year with grace marks but you passed, so here it is.” Dhruv got his energy back in no time and hugged Mr.Gajjar in joy. Ansh was just witnessing a great father-son equation.

“Listen, drive responsibly. When you are holding the steering wheel in your hand, you don’t hold just your life, but you hold the lives of all other people who care for you. If you over speed it and something occurs, it affects their lives more than yours,” Mr.Gajjar instructed, handed the keys to Gajju and sat in his car.

After he went, they started walking towards the hostel.

“Dude you almost got us killed,” Ansh said.

“No buddy, it was an obligation for me to tell him the truth. If you remember a few years back, when I got in some serious trouble, I lied to him, which led me into more trouble. Then he took a promise from me that I won’t tell a lie whenever I would get in any trouble. That’s why…”

After hearing this short satire of his, they turned to the hostel and saw their three friends coming.

“Dude, really you’re going to leave the hostel?” Shilpan asked.

“Yup, but no need to worry! Poor warden has done us a favour. Now we can have more fun. At both the places,” Dhruv said and winked.

“You can fuck yourself anywhere Gajju. Just give me the key. I saw you got a new ride,” Aakash demanded.

“Ya great ride Gajju! I’m getting the same, but in blue colour,” Shilpan enthusiastically said to quote the line,
‘Boys and cars, a deadly combination.’

“So, two places, two cars and five wolves. Seems like this town will go on fire,” Harsh simpered.

But one thing is still and will remain a mystery forever.

What the hell happened that night? And how did they end up waking up in those places?

The three of us broke into laughter as I finished. This was the memory of a lifetime. Though I got rusticated from the hostel, I did not regret it. Well, I regret the trouble I gave to my father because of that, but keeping that apart, it was a hell lot of fun.

“And you guys still don’t know what happened that night?” M asked.

“No, everyone tried to remember what might have happened, but none of us do,” I answered.

“Aakash does.” Ansh winked and we guffawed again.

Ansh was feeling sleepy so he stood up and went out. M and I chattered about the event for a while until she had all her answers. Just before we went to sleep, she said, “Mithu, it’s promise time.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I said with obeisance.

“Promise me! You’ll be the string which will hold your family and friends together.”

“Promise, my love!” I accepted without any reservation.

Few days have passed and yet I feel like it happened an hour ago, the reunion where I met his…our friends. We laughed together, we ate together and somewhere down the line, without letting each other know, we cried together. They all couldn’t stop guffawing when Dhruv narrated the hangover part. Everyone had come with their own theory of what might’ve happened. Aakash, who knew more than anyone else, was surprisingly sitting quietly with a smile on his face. There was an awkward silence when Dhruv narrated the part where he tied him with that rope. I could see their hidden smirk behind the silence.

He comes with a smile on his face, opens the door and sits inside his car.

“Where to?” I ask without attempting to hide my cheer.

“My secret place…” I snap at him, dumbstruck by the answer.

“What? You are not kidding right?” I ask in skepticism.

“No, let’s go.” I hug him in joy as soon as I hear it.

He drives me to the riverfront. It is better now, only for people. He liked it more when it did not have any railings so that he could just sit for hours and let his feet relax and to get massaged naturally and obviously – to think about me. It is now more clean, beautiful and near perfect, but not for him. I can see it in his eyes.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I say and hold his hand. Although it is not his secret place anymore, but he still loves it here.

“Let’s start then! You will love today’s part.” He chuckles.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I coyly answer, knowing that today he might introduce me to you all.

And he starts reading.

My name is Nirali Shah. I’m his first love…even before M, but not anymore. He is the first and last person I fell in love with, and even with all his pain, anguish and frustration, he cannot take that away from me.

4 February

O
n that day, there were two different orchids, the usual purple ones and the second, having a stripe of white. Orchids are odourless but she used to smell it every day and when I asked her why she was doing this, she said that she could feel my presence in them. I then used to muzzle that she could feel me more by giving me a passionate kiss and she – as if waiting for me to say that – would lean towards me to give that passionate morning kiss. I then used to run my fingers across her waist, which could ignite her passion even higher. Although we’d been in a relationship for the past two years, we did not get intimate with each other completely, but we surely ascertained many hidden secrets about us. The fourth note along with the flowers said,

Your waist, always a favourite for my fingers to run across,
Your most sensitive navel and flat belly,
A pinch on it provokes you to embrace me in your arms,
You cannot take that away from me
.

She looked away, blushed and poked me to give her another kiss. She asked me to get my hands off her waist, but I knew what her heart was echoing – it was commanding me to make my grip even tighter, my love broke into moans with every kiss.

I was making breakfast with Ansh while M was playing games on my iPhone in our room. There was an awkward silence between us, and we both knew why.

“She is coming today Ansh!”

“I don’t care Gajju!”

“Yes, you do, accept it.”

“Will you stop her from coming if I say I do?”

“No, you know buddy, I need her for the part I’m writing.”

“No, you don’t! I have told you everything and there is nothing more she can spice you up with, even with her most amazing lies.”

“I know you told me everything from your side but remember, there are always three sides of any story – their version, your version and the truth. And my job is to write the truth for my girl.”

I winked and patted his back. He stood still without uttering a word. After all, it was about M.

In the afternoon after lunch, my blue-eyed girl and I were sitting on the bed when Angie knocked the door.

“Hello! Hope I’m not causing any disturbance.”

“No ma’am, you are more than welcome. By the way Angie, someone is getting older,” I quipped with a wink.

“And someone is getting fatter,” she retorted.

“By the way, Ansh is outside, you met him?”

Before my girl could speak anything, she replied, “I’m getting engaged Dhruv!” she mumbled.

My eyebrows went up in shock. “What?” I knew they were hiding something, but I surely didn’t expect this.

“What? How?” I arched my brows at her.

“I told you Gajju, you missed many things here, you were lucky,” Ansh came inside and sat beside me. Angie was quietly looking down.

“Stop it guys! This is not the time to speak about it and if you want to fight, do it outside. I’m having my last dates with my boyfriend and I won’t let you guys spoil it,” M admonished. Everyone had to obey her; we were quiet in no time. That afternoon when my girl went to sleep, I heard Angie’s version of the story and penned it down with all my heart and of course, some old faded memories.

On that day, we had a quiet dinner, having Ansh and Angie with us. I was regretting why I left them when they needed me the most, but there was no way on earth I could say it. She was already blaming herself for that. We four were sitting in our room waiting for me to start.

And so I started reading.

After enjoying their dinner till late in the night, the boys were in a hurry to drop Angie at the girls’ hostel. On the way, they saw a girl sitting on the sideway bench. Her hands covered her eyes and it appeared as if she was crying. Angie told Dhruv to stop the car and he obeyed.