CHAPTER-4 .... yeh dosti hum nahin thodenge...... (part-two)

                          

                             Saurav Sundas alias (madatha) is a silent assassin hailing from Rajasthan, handsome, modest, intelligent and above all 'a dream boy' for most of my junior class girls. I say he is a silent assassin because, for a naked eye he looks very innocent, but I bet a year of friendship with him reveals a lot more aspects about him which you wouldn't have dreamt even in the wildest of your dreams.Talking about dreams, I am reminded about an incident that happened in my 5th class, the year we both became friends. Mr.Unstoppable, Prady, had gone to a girl and inquired if Saurav was her dream boy? Dream boy, he certainly was to any other girl but not to this one. She was supposedly the cutest looking among all my class girls and so with it comes an air of self-pride. Anyways, what happened next was the opening of the flood gates, her eyes swelled up with tears. However what made this whole issue worse was that everyone around thought that it was my friend Saurav who had bribed Prady to do the necessary inquiry. 

                       That was the beginning of Saurav's tryst with Prady which worsened as years rolled by. This was followed by the 'slap-gate' issue in my 6^th class, when Prady gave a tight slap to Saurav during Bindrani mam’s  geography lecture. I personally believe that Saurav deserved that [ how could he doubt Prady’s integrity and loyalty towards Bindrani mam. He was her right hand, helping her in all her work and also going to her house for personal attention…  studies of course….] That controversy was followed by Prady’s enthusiasm in trying to get Bathu Raidu and Saurav together in 8^th class which only added to his misery. Oh! Didn’t I tell you who Bathu Raidu was? Here of course, the credit must go to me….

                       It was in my 8^th class. Saurav and I were once again in the same section and there was this ‘Bathu Raidu’ that joined our school that year. The year had gone by without anyone noticing its trail. However, one man seemed to be extremely happy at the way the things were going on and that was my dear friend Saurav. Final examinations were over and those were the days we were going to school only for having some fun. As the class was buzzing, with boys playing their ‘mundu cricket’ and girls playing with their dolls [ I sometimes wonder what is it that’s there in a doll and not in a boy that attracts  a girl’s attention and admiration towards it despite boys mindlessly going behind them?—Hey some mysteries have no  solutions. So forget about it.] Anyways, so Saurav calls me aside to one corner of the class and then began my most unforgettable and unexpected conversation…..

Saurav:  “Dude! What do you reckon about LOVE?”

Deejay:  “LOVE they say is MAGIC, but isn’t MAGIC all about ILLUSIONS.. So I doubt its realty.”

Saurav:  “Have you fallen for anyone recently?”

Deejay:  “I keep my eyes open and walk”, I lied remembering what one of my class girl had said.

Saurav:  “Tell me about our class girls… what is your order of preference with respect to likeability.”

Deejay:  I told him mine. [ I don’t remember now]

Saurav:  “what do you think of Bathu Raidu?”

Deejay:  “yaa she’s good, shy and innocent..”

Saurav:  “of course that’s why I couldn’t resist but to fall flat for her.

Deejay:  “Dude! What did you say?..... You are what???”

Saurav:  “Yaa man…. Will you help me in my love?”

Deejay:  “of course dude!, A friend in need is a friend in deed.”

                           The conversation ended there and indeed I did my part to perfection, went to my gang straight up and made my friend’s secret love, a public information. That was the beginning of an era filled with teasing (and sorry to say) harassment to most of our classmates… the emergence of a naughty gang called BOB…. Band of Boys!!!  However it reached heights when something extraordinary happened in my 10th class.

                           As I had mentioned earlier Saurav was a dream boy sort to most of my junior class girls… some even worshipped him. That’s because his looks can make anyone wonder, "Who said looks don't kill?"  Yet, there is one sad side to his tale and that is about this extraordinary talent of his in attracting girls who, by their physical appearance and their physique can fool even the brightest among us about the ingenuity of their GENDER. Yes! You heard me right. In fact that is partly the reason why the name 'madatha' adorned him. Does that name sound a little weird? Well the girl who owns it is even more weird and behaves a lot more weird. Unfortunately for him, she was just mad after him and also went to the extent of scribbling his name all across her hands—MAD LOVE. So our work was quite simple. Whenever we intended to tease him, we would just get her into our conversation and the embarrassment is right in front of your eyes. Once I remember having spread rumor in school that they both were dating and were in some sort of serious relation. This of course brought a bright smile on that girl’s face quite contrary to the expression that my friend had.

       

                           However in all this, what is appreciable of my friend is the fact that he had never shown his discomfort or his disgust in front of that girl, because he felt that he had no right to hurt her feelings. Not just that, with all his good looks and the knowledge of girls running behind him, he never once tried flirting with any of them. This is the Saurav Sundas of my 10^th class. Today he just finished his engineering. Not much in his life has changed—girls still go mad after him, he still doesn’t give a damn about it, madatha still adores him. The only significant change that had taken place in his story is the fact that he has finally fallen in love with a girl. And she is none other than ‘MADATHA’ herself.

                            “True love transpires between two hearts, not between two physical bodies…”   Thanks to my friend, I will remember this lesson for the rest of my life….

 PS: Any resembles of characters in the plot to any individual living or dead 

        is purely "INTENTIONAL" n author has physic pleasure behind it... ;P

                         

         

     

CHAPTER-4 yeh dosti..... hum nahin todenge...............(part-one)

me and my best friends!!!

      

                               So there I was, in class 4, aged 9 but heartbroken twice. I found myself spending days gloomily and with little fun and frolic. It is at this crucial juncture in my life that I would like to introduce you all to the central characters of my plot, my best friends who made this journey of mine a lot more comfortable. Friendship they say is like a rope given to a drowning man in sea. Drowning, I certainly was. Though the entry of these friends into my life is not simultaneous, it would not be wrong to admit that the sweetness of their friendship never allowed me to keep track of it either. I deem it GOD’s will.

                             

               First among them is……………

                      Prady Menon alias (PAPA) is an excited extrovert from Cochin, a fire cracker, multi-linguist, talkative and above all my dear FOOLISH friend. I say foolish because in the six years of his stay in our school, he tried his luck with six different girls and all with some weird strategies. But what surprised us (his friends) was that those six strange girls have all fallen for those weird strategies and were madly in love with him. Anyways what makes him foolish in this whole issue is that, when a girl is about to buy his stupid strategy, he would jump to another girl and start calling the previous one his dear own sister. And coming to his strategies, they are not even worth mentioning. The girl whom he finds himself interested in, he would start abusing her, fighting with her, calling her all names like..... @#$@#$% (oh! My God what not) and finally one day he realizes that he always had true love for her and starts going behind her. He believes the best way to strike love is to start it with a fight (the old bollywood way or is it the SALMAN KHAN’S way?). Given the fact that most of my class girls were  Mr. Sallu’s diehard fans, I guess it wasn’t such a bad idea though. However the problem is, when these girls start to appreciate these stunts of my friend, he would by then find another girl interesting. This thing went on and on till the end of our schooling. So guys, if you ever meet this guy anytime and finds him abusing and complaining about a girl, be sure that this girl is his next JULIET…..

                      The funniest moment that I can recollect about him is as to how that name PAPA (a telugu translation for baby girl!!!) got christened to him. On one friendship day evening, all of us went to one of our class girl’s house (precisely prady’s new love). The story goes like- he goes inside the house, with all of us accompanying him, encounters her servant maid and blurts out in pure telugu…..

                     “PAPA  INTILO  VUNDHAAA?” ….. The servant maid was like “………….” Now who was that papa supposed to be? This, the maid had no clue. You can’t blame the maid for that because you don’t need education to let you know that a girl studying in her class 10 is not a papa (a baby girl!!!). We were like rolling on the ground for his appropriate use of language and the name ultimately got stuck to him forever.

                    That was my foolish friend prady, foolish yet innocent, fire cracker yet soft and kind within and above all my dear dear friend. At hindsight, I believe that it was with him that I fought much, times when we were reluctant to talk to each other for months together after those fights, yet it was those fights that brought us both even more closer and bonded us eternally. I can’t help but think of one such incident, the last of those series of fights that I probably had with him and one that kept us both at bay for 6 long months….

                    It was in my class 10. Those were the times when everything in our class seemed not so smooth. There was misunderstandings and arguments in the air. And prady was one who would never fail wanting for one such. He yapped (he still denies he hasn’t) something bad about my then crush (MISS. ANONYMOUS) which actually brought tears to her eyes. And like any sincere and foolish boy friend, I immediately sensed that something was wrong with my friend. Rationale betrays man when he is smeared with love of his opposite sex. So there I was- losing the little common sense that I had, I barged into the class room to find prady cooly sitting in the middle of the room. “I was born DECENT, but education ruined me and made a ROGUE out of me.” So I used all my knowledge about slangs which I learnt in my 10 years of schooling and started hurling them at prady. Prady was no less. And as we did what we were both best at, quite a few girls surrounded us in anticipation to learn new Sanskrit words, some of which they were quite familiar with, while others as new and strange as their boyfriends were. As the incident was picking up acceleration and shifting to the last gear, my friends came to our rescue and pulled us both apart. So, as the incident was to come to a closure, I had decided to use the ultimatum. With all my strength, I showed him our youth’s symbol, that which comes to our help at times of frustration and helplessness, the MIDDLE FINGER…

                   This act of mine, I came to know later, created some interest in some of the sections of my class, GIRLS. One such enthusiast was Bhimaja , my neighbor in class. After I got cooled down, she pokes me at my desk, to get clarity over confusion. She says, “When you were angry, you used some slangs, those I understood. But what about some symbols? Was that some kind of innovation or what? Especially, what was that middle finger supposed to be?”

                 ‘How am I to explain to her what that meant? Do I need to cut across all boundaries of decency today?’ I thought to myself. With some thought into her question and with best efforts to find a way to explain to her and quench her thirst for knowledge (I don’t know how this was going to make her more knowledgeable), I finally came up with a solution. In the meanwhile, she sensed that I was feeling a little uneasy about her question. Anyways finally I told her, “In a crude way, it talks about first night” (oh God!!! This was how I tried telling her what  F**K OFF  meant?)

               “Is that all, why do you give build up as though you were to tell something that is unheard of or not to be talked about? We girls also know about these things, but use different symbols to communicate the same meaning”, she frowned. How am I supposed to react? On one side I lost my best friend (I know that this time it’s gonna take a lot of time to patch up) and on the other side, this senseless talk. I just nodded. For your information, six months later the patch up did happen after a lot of effort, but this time it only aided in making it unbreakable. We became the best of PALS…..

       

CHAPTER-3 " Separations are inevitable......"

            Days chased months and months chased a complete year. Soon march came and so did our final examinations. I began to feel the ripples of tension that was building up inside me. Hey! don't get me wrong. It was not the exams that I was tensed about. But it was this weird policy that my school followed, where in every year they would shuffle the classes within different sections to accommodate socializing among students. Now do you get what I meant by getting tensed? Yes!, I started to appreciate the old adage "Separations are inevitable." The young Romeo and Juliet of the 20th century were to be soon separated by the Merchants Of  Venice.[oops! was it the merchant of Venice who separated them in history?... I never understood Shakespearean properly. Pardon me for my ignorance, u still get the essence of it right...] So there you go, once again I was single but would I be able to mingle?   

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           New academic year brings with it new joys, new challenges and new hopes- hopes in the form of beautiful girls. And in this particular section of mine there were girls..... and girls everywhere. Yet, the thought of not having Sruthi by my side in the classes pained me a lot. Just as how, the sky without the stars, the trees without the leaves, the ocean without the waters and an actress without.... (or is it with!!!) the clothes on gets so boring to look at, similarly my life without Sruthi began to be both boring and painful. The empty space next to me on my bench stared mockingly at my loneliness and I was left to ponder in the darkness that I had created for myself. And then finally the light came..... That day, the sun rose not just in my city but also in my life.....

          "The warmth of its RAYS;

           On touching my heart made it COOL.....

           As one miss Shalini RAY;

           Came from Bombay to join our SCHOOL....."

                                                             ---Deejay--

         Arnold Squaginacher and Barbie dolls were once again back into my world and soon Sruthi was just a past that I had already forgotten. But little did I realize then that Shalini was just a distraction I had created for myself to forget the happy times with Sruthi. However, just as how a passing cloud that brings with it a glimmer of hope of an afternoon rainfall, passes by without any worth.... she too had gone, left our school and went away into the limitless oblivion....end of Shalini. That was when I came to realize that "Girls and pain are but two sides of the same coin." You crave for one you get the other one free......

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CHAPTER 2- pehli nazar mein kaisa jaadu kardiya....

" Class 2 was when I joined this public SCHOOL;

  A place where many a friends did I POOL;

  Walking into the class, I saw her face SMILING;

  Ouch! out went my heart to her eagerly FLYING...."

                                                               ----deejay

                 As I walked across the main gate of  M.V.P. Public School, little did I realize that this was going to be my home away from home for the next 9 years of my life. A 3-storey building, with multi-coloured flags fluttering on the terrace, and a play ground much bigger than the terrace on my house, for the first time since I heard that I was joining a new school, I felt confident that it was not going to be such a bad idea studying there.

                As I was staring and studying the surroundings, I felt a soft palm on my shoulders. "Hi! can you show me the way to the principal's office?", a sweet girlish voice inquired pleasingly. I was like "..........", but unconsciously my hand went in the direction of the principal's cabin. Was she saying thank you? God knows, all  I could hear was a beautiful song that was in the air.... pehli nazar mein kaisa jaadu kardiya..... Guys there was no thundering, no lightening not even flowers falling over us..... but I did meet my first crush. A ringing bell brought me back to reality as I started running to my class room.

              As I walked into 2 std-A, the song was back again and I realized that towards the corner of the class, sitting alone on an empty bench and smiling at me was that same girl I saw that morning. Yes! she was in my class and she was to soon become my best friend in life. Her name was SRUTHI SAXENA.....

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            It didn't take much time for us to become best of pals. We did talk a whole lot of time, she about her barbie dolls and me about ARNOLD SQUAGINACHER (oops!!! even till date I don't know how to spell his name) and the then latest flick TITANIC.(Is that sounding a little unbelievable, what else did you expect? Ok may be I was talking about my toy cars and trucks instead). What we talked is not important.We talked and felt that these moments would last for eternity. But one thing bothered me a lot. Slightly taller than me, standing next to her, I would reach  Sruthi's shoulders. Now that only meant that for the following few days my mom had consistent pestering from my side to switch from BOOST to COMPLAN. Who cares about Sachin when its an issue with your girl friend.

         Coming back to story, one monday morning........

          After ransacking the whole shop, I finally got what I had been searching for. It was a beautifully designed wrist band with the alphabet 'D' studded on it embedded with diamond like objects around it. That day was  friendship day.... a day I was going to remember for different reasons for the rest of my life.

         After pouring out my hard earned money over the counter and having bargained with the shopkeeper for ten long minutes, I finally got hold of the band and headed to school, having made up my mind never to visit that shop again. It had robbed me completely of my monthly allowance--Rs 25/-.

        Upon reaching the school, I went straight to my class room. Sruthi was already sitting on our bench and scribbling something seriously  on her notebook. That must be some assignment. Why would girls get so serious about these petty homework, I don't understand. Anyways swinging my hands I went towards her trying to show case the band and  when I came within the hearing distance, I started of in a filmy tone...." Agar woh muje sacha dosth nahi ban sakthi toh, blah blah......"

       Having seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai  'n' number of times by then, I had known that dialogue by heart. She was clearly oblivious to what was happening around her until she realized that I had tied something around her wrist. Her instinct reaction was---"In our religion, we tie these to our brothers on RAKSHA BANDHAN day." What the hell??? Is she suggesting that I look like her cute little brother, who according to me, knows nothing more than eating and farting...[ by the way I had met her brother previously on a sunday at her house. In the 3 hours that I had interacted with him, he kept asking his mother to either give him some more choco-biscuits to eat or help him in cleaning his ass after going for a shitty shit...] When I heard these words the first thing that came to my mind was a 25 Rupee note flying in the air.[Yes! 25 Rupee note..... what's your problem damn it?... that's how I pictured it in my mind. Moreover I didn't have time to think about such a stupid thing at such a crucial time.] How can a kid belonging to the millennium generation be ignorant about friendship band and kuch kuch hota hai, this I didn't understand. Damn all her barbie dolls. As I was lost in these thoughts, I heard her saying; "But I thought we were friends", she frowned. On hearing these words, a smile cut across my face and I simply said," Yes! we are friends, not just for now but forever."

                 When I explained to her about the friendship band and as to how I had sacrificed my monthly allowance just to make her happy, she blushed and I noticed a twinkle in her eyes. With that she lent forward, came closer to me and imprinted something on my cheek. Guys! no prizes for guessing.. that was how I had experienced the first kiss of my love life....

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