Revolution 2020 (26 page)

‘It’s
good. It will hit me soon.’

‘Relax, my
driver will drop you home,’ I said.

She held her
sandwich tight with both hands and ate like a famine victim.

‘Slow down,’
I said.

She said with food
in her mouth, ‘I haven’t had anything since breakfast.’

‘Even in
school you used to stuff your face,’ I teased.

‘Provided you
left any food for me!’

‘Hey, I stole
your tiffin
once
, and that too half of it. I am still serving
my sentence,’ I said.

‘Oh, really?’
she said. ‘The teacher punished you for only one period.’

‘But I am
still stuck with you,’ I said, looking totally depressed.

She picked up a
french fry from her plate and threw it at me. She missed. It fell on
the sofa.

‘Oops, pick it
up, please. I can’t dirty my own hotel,’ she said.

She kicked off her
shoes and sat crosslegged on the bed. I went to pour her more wine.

‘I’ll
get high,’ she said but extended her glass. She sipped and
checked the time. The bedside clock said 8:30 p.m.

‘How long can
you stay?’ I said.

‘Until nine,’
she said. ‘Half an hour more.’

‘Ten?’ I
said.

She shook her head.
‘Mom will ask a hundred questions. Unless ... I tell her I have
to do a double shift,’ she said.

‘Tell her
that,’ I said immediately.

‘I have to
stay for eight more hours then. Till 2 a.m.’

‘Perfect,’
I said.

‘Are you
crazy?’ she said. ‘I cant be in your room till two!’

‘Why not?’
I said. ‘When do we ever get to catch up like this?’

‘If my
boyfriend finds out ...’ she said and went quiet. She leaned
back against the headboard.

‘Finds out
what?’ I said.

We had finished half
the bottle. I poured myself some more wine.

‘That I am in
another man’s room for so many hours, he will kill me,’
she finished.

‘He will?’

She grinned. ‘Not
literally. But he would get, like, really mad. Break something.’
She picked up a pillow and threw it at me, playing the part of a
possessive boyfriend.

‘He will kill
you if he finds out it is me,’ I told her.

‘He’s
not finding out,’ Aarti said.

I got off the sofa
and came next to the bed.

‘You are doing
that double shift,’ I said, pointing to her phone.

‘You sure?’
she said. ‘I will eat your head till two in the morning!’

‘That’s
what you’ve done all your life,’ I said.

She hit me with the
other pillow. I caught it and kept it aside. She placed a finger on
her lips, signalling me to be quiet. She called home.

‘Mom?’
she said. ‘Yes, I am still at work. Double shift, what to do?’

Her mother spoke for
a few seconds. Aarti continued: ‘Stupid Bela was to do this
shift. She has made some excuse for not coming. Ever since her
engagement, she bunks so much.’

Her mother spoke
again. Aarti looked irritated.

‘Why should I
get engaged because Bela did? Yes ... I will one day, mom ... Okay,
fine ... Yes, the hotel car will drop me ... Bye.’

She kept her phone
on the bed, and looked exasperated.

‘You okay?’
I said.

‘I think at
some point a switch flicks in the heads of Indian parents. From
“study, study, study” they go “marry, marry,
marry’’’

‘You don’t
want to?’

‘I will,’
she said, and patted the bed. ‘Why are you standing like a
show-piece?’

I sat on the bed,
careful to sit a little away from her.

‘You are
paying a lot for this room. Please be comfortable.’

‘Huh?’ I
said.

‘It’s my
job to make our guests comfortable, she said and smiled a
guest-relations smile. Even with the specks of red wine on her teeth,
her smile was downright beautiful.

I bent to take off
my shoes and socks. ‘You don’t need to call Raghav?’

She shook her head.
'He won’t even realise it. He is working on a big story,’
she said. She poured herself some more wine.

‘If he calls?’
I said.

She placed her hand
on my mouth. ‘If he does, you go shh ... and I will deal with
it,’ she said.

Her touch was like a
spark.

She removed her
hand. ‘So Mr Director, how is work, life, everything?’

‘Everything is
work. It isn’t easy to run a college,’ I said.

‘Only work? ’
She imitated her mother, ‘What? You should get married. Why
aren’t you married by now?’

We laughed and
clinked our glasses together.

‘I will have
to get engaged soon though,’ she said. ‘The pressure is
building.’

‘How about
Raghav?’ I said.

‘Obviously, he
is not ready at the moment. He’ll do it if I push him,’
she said.

‘Are your
parents okay with him?’ I said.

‘They love
him. My father broke the family tradition of politics to join
services. He admires Raghav’s passion.’

‘Even though
he doesn’t make money?’

‘He will. One
day he will,’ Aarti vowed. ‘And why are you talking like
my relatives?’

She picked up the
remote and switched on the television.

‘This is so
boring,’ she said and flicked through the news channels. She
stopped at Channel V, where an item girl danced to a remixed video.

‘She has
totally done her lips,’ she said, ‘and a nose job, and
possibly a boob job.’

‘What?’
I said, shocked at her choice of words.

‘Boob job. To
fix your boobs, make them bigger,’ she said.

I looked as shocked
as I felt.

‘You are my
best friend,’ she said and playfully punched my arm. ‘I
can totally be myself with you.’

She flipped channels
again and suddenly we were watching
When
Harry
Met
Sally
from somewhere in the middle.

‘Men and women
can’t be friends,’ Billy Crystal said to Meg Ryan, a
toothpick in his mouth.

‘Of course,
they can be. Look at us,’ Aarti said impatiently and increased
the volume. ‘I love this movie.’

‘You have seen
it?’ I said.

‘Yeah, have
you?’

I shook my head. I
didn’t watch English movies.

‘Come, let’s
watch. I’ll tell you what happened so far.’

I moved closer to
her. I dimmed the room lights from the bedside panel while she
summarised the plot for me. Harry and Sally went about their lives,
meeting and fighting several times but never really connecting even
though it seemed obvious that they should. We watched the movie in
silence.

‘Wow, we
finished the bottle,’ she observed after a while. She lifted a
pillow, placed it in my lap and rested her head there for the rest of
the film.

‘You
comfortable?’ she asked, looking up at me from my lap, her eyes
twinkling in the TV light.

I hesitated a
little, then placed my hand lightly on her head and gently stroked
her hair. She didn’t object. It felt wonderful to be with her.
I couldn’t think of a happier moment than this in my life so
far.

‘Aarti?’
I said.

‘Yeah?’
she said, her eyes still on the TV.

‘Is it okay
for you to lie in my lap like this?’

She nodded, her eyes
on the screen.

‘Why did you
run away from the river that day?’ I said.

‘I don’t
want to talk about it. Watch the movie, no,’ she said.

‘Will you run
away again?’ I said, my voice heavy.

She sensed the
tension in me. She muted the television and sat up.

‘You okay,
Gopi?’ she said, the words slightly slurred. The TV light
flickered over our faces.

‘Run now if
you want to,’ I said, my voice barely making it out of my
throat. ‘Because if you stay for a while in my life and then go
...’

I had spoken too
much. The Australian wine had managed to open up an Indian heart.

‘Shut up,’
she said and placed her palm on my mouth again, ‘Drama queen.
Sorry, drama king!’

But I meant it, I
couldn’t bear to be away from her.

‘I am lonely
too, Gopal,’ she said, ‘so lonely.’

‘Why?’

‘Raghav has no
time. My parents can't see why I want to work. They can’t
understand why the DM’s daughter has to slog. All my
girlfriends are getting married, planning kids and I am not. I am
weird.’

‘You are
different,’ I corrected her.

‘Why am I
different? Why can’t I just be normal - satisfied to be at
home, waiting for my husband?’

‘That’s
not normal. That’s backward.’

‘Raghav
stresses me out. I want to support him. But he can’t seem to
get his act together. He rejected a tie-up with a newspaper for the
sake of independence. How is he ever going to make money like this?’

‘I thought you
said he will one day,’ I said.

‘I put on a
brave face. But I can discuss my fears with you, no?’ she said.

‘Of course,
you can,’ I said and caressed her cheek.

We turned to the TV
screen. One night Sally was feeling low. Harry comes over to her
house. He comforts her. They end up kissing. I don’t know if
the scene motivated me or the wine or the fact that I felt I might
not get another chance. I leaned over to kiss Aarti. She looked up at
me in surprise. However, she did not protest. Just stared.

I kissed her again,
this time more insistently. Nothing for two minutes and then she was
kissing me back. We kissed again and again. I kissed her lips, her
cheeks, her forehead, her nose, her ears and her lips again. I
switched off the lights.

When I hugged her
again, she said, ‘This is wrong.’

‘I know,’
I said, ‘but I can’t stop.’ My hand reached for her
shirt buttons.

‘No,’
she said and gripped that hand hard.

I slid my other hand
under her shirt. Thank god, men have two hands; nobody could make out
otherwise. My palm was, at last, on her breast.

‘Gopal, you
realise what is happening?’ she said.

I shook my head.

‘We
shouldn’t...’ she said.

I shut her up with
another kiss. She wriggled a little, but I kept kissing her. She
started to respond. Slow at first, then matching and finally
outpacing me.

‘This isn’t
right, Gopal,’ she panted, biting my lower lip.

I answered in
kisses. The movie had ended. I heard shampoo commercials in the
background as I tugged at her top to take it off.

‘Don’t,
Gopal!’ she whispered but raised her arms to make my job
easier.

I removed my shirt.
This time when we embraced, her warmth and softness melted into me.

‘I care for
you so much ...’ I said.

‘Stop
talking,’ she said, interrupting my garbled speech.

I gently pushed at
her shoulders to make her lie back on the bed. I removed the rest of
my clothes.

She looked away.

‘What?’
I said.

She shook her head,
without making eye contact.

I slid next to her.
She kissed me passionately, but whenever I paused to look into her
eyes, she turned away.

I reached down to
unbutton her jeans. She halted me one last time.

‘I have a
boyfriend,’ she reminded me.

‘I have lived
with that for years,’ I said.

‘I am not that
kind of girl, Gopal,’ she said on a sob.

‘You are an
amazing girl,’ I said, my finger dipping into her navel. I
paused to kiss her there. ‘The most amazing girl in the world.’

I placed her hand on
my body. I went back to undoing her jeans. Girls wear the most
unremovable, tight jeans in the world. I found it impossible to take
them off without her help.

‘Could you?’
I said, after a five-minute struggle.

My request brought
forth a giggle. She wriggled to take them off. I waited and then drew
her close to me.

‘Gopal,’
she said, and held me close. Passion repressed for years came forth
unleashed. I bit her and kissed her all the time that I was becoming
one with her.

I knew my life would
no longer be the same again. What happened only magnified my love for
her. They say men withdraw after sex. But I wanted to draw her close,
cuddle and keep her with me forever. Spooning

her tightly, I
kissed her hair as she looked ahead with no particular expression.

‘You are
wonderful, Aarti. Every bit of you is wonderful.’

She half-smiled. I
raised myself on an elbow.

‘Did you like
it?’ I said.

She nodded but
looked elsewhere.

‘Look at me,’
I said. She did turn her eyes to me, but looked past me.

‘Are you
okay?’ I said.

She nodded.

We lay down again. A
little red LED beeped on the ceiling.

‘What’s
that?’ I said, worried it could be a camera.

‘Smoke alarm,’
she said.

We remained silent
for a few minutes.

‘I cant live
without you, Aarti,’ I said.

‘Don’t
say that, please,’ she said.

‘Its true. I
love you,’ I said.

‘Please,
stop!’ she said and sat up on the bed, covering herself with
the bedsheet.

‘What’s
the matter?’ I said, holding her arm through the sheet.

Her phone beeped.
She looked at the message. She let out a deep breath as she punched a
reply.

‘Can I wear my
clothes?’ She slid away from me.

‘Huh?’ I
said. ‘Sure.’

She draped the
bedsheet around her, picked up her clothes and went to the bathroom.
I switched on the lights. A confused mix of emotions stewed in me.

She obviously
cares for me, for no girl will do what she did otherwise. Yet, why
was she acting distant? Does she expect me to tell her I will be
there for her now? Or is she regretting it? Is this going to bring us
closer or take us further apart?

I was naked and
confused. I couldn’t resolve my confusion, but I could at least
wear my clothes. She re-entered the room while I was buttoning my
shirt.