It was only when Kritika had reached back her hostel room that this little intruder was discovered by her, lying at the bottom of her bag. ‘Jive-2009’ read the CD cover, letters in black calligraphy over a plain white cover. The back side showed it to be a Concert recording of Local Indie bands, and barring one or two of these, all of the other names that were listed there, she had never heard of before.
With an intention of returning this CD at once, Kritika stepped out of her room, but she had barely made it to the stairs when a sudden invisible force thrust it out of her hands and sent it clattering down the steps.
She felt a cold shiver running down her bosom, having strongly felt an energy presence near her before it dwindled away as rapidly as it had manifested itself. With her wits still trying to grapple with the situation, she climbed down those stairs and found the CD lying in the hallway at the bottom, its casing cracked.
Picking it up with ginger fingers, she returned with it back to her room, knowing that the store would not take it back in its present condition. She went about pacing the length of her room for the next several minutes, feeling unnerved as she replayed in her mind countless times the scene of that CD flinging itself out of her hands, as if it had a life of its own.
Half her mind was set upon throwing away this article of possible black art while the other was curious to play it. After much deliberation, it was curiosity which prevailed over fear, and as such Kritika got that CD out of its casing and prepared herself to insert it in to her laptop.
Ready to duck, in case her laptop blew up in her face or something, she timorously slid back in the CD ROM and then as the CD came whirring to life inside her laptop, she with a thumping heart awaited for the events to unfold themselves.
Thankfully, nothing of the cataclysmic sort she had imagined occurred, instead a video popped up on the screen showing a stage set at the very ridge where she had been to earlier this afternoon. The stage was bathed in dancing spots of psychedelic lights, and visible in the nocturnal background were the silhouettes of the Christ Church and the Jhakhu Hill. The area around it was surrounded by a large crowd of excited, shrieking youngsters, making it a typical scene for a Rock concert.
Eventually a young man with a Mohawk appeared on the stage, and after screaming welcomes to the crowd and the city of Shimla, invited the first of the bands to ‘gettt thissss eveningggg rollingggggg’.
A band of boys, all dressed in loose fitting coats and pants with walking sticks in their hands began a tap dance routine and then began to sing to the beats created by their feet. It was different, peppy and quirky and it did not fail to bring a smile upon Kritika’s face.
And so what had began as an inspection in to the supernatural, turned in to a deep engrossment in the music that was being performed on that stage. One amusing act was followed by another wonderful one, each of the bands that came up having something different to offer, and clearly the intentions of the universe in bringing to her this CD were to just expose her to these zippy spirited artists.
‘Ping.’
She was interrupted by a message on her IM, it was Kamal.
“Hey Sweetie, sorry have not got a chance to call you, been busy the whole morning. How is Shimla?”
“It is mesmerizing to say the least. The whole place is akin to heaven,” She replied.
“Wow that is great to hear. Hope I can visit you there soon.”
“Well if you come, I don’t think you are ever going to be able to leave.”
“What! Don’t tell me you are planning to keep me in some kind of captivity there.”
“Ha! For now I am totally captured by this concert video I have come across. Some of these songs are really beautiful, and since they are of local Indie bands, I don’t think most people would have even heard them.”
“That is a pity! May be we can change that. Why don’t you send me some of the clippings? I shall upload them to my YouTube Channel.”
“That sounds like a terrific idea. I will get working on them then. Check your inbox tonight.”
“Whoa! Now I am scared. Last time you said that I received that stupid break up letter from you.”
“Never going to let me forget about that, will you?”
“Just being cautious.”
“There is no glory in caution.”
“It is your love I seek, not glory.”
“Yeah, right. You and your silly lines. Anyhow, I need to go grab something to eat. Time just flew by while I was watching that concert. Love you. And do check your inbox tonight.”
*******
Many a beautiful songs he had received in his inbox last night and Kamal was sitting in the college canteen, listening to one of them on his tabs, a beautiful romantic rendition of a melody, when he suddenly felt a hand being laid upon his shoulder from behind.
As he turned to look, he found Anoothi standing there. As was the norm, she had a serious smile on her face and some books in one of her hands.
“What is it you are listening to?” he heard her ask as he paused the music that had been playing in his headphones.
“It’s some sort of an indie girl band, Angels in the Shadows they call themselves,” Kamal replied, as he began taking out the earplugs. “You want to have a listen?”
“May be later, I am in a bit of a hurry right now. Just came here to invite you to a little party I am having at my house tonight,” Anoothi told him.
“A party? Why?” he asked.
“The thesis I had submitted for my doctorate, it has been accepted,” Anoothi announced the reason for the coming celebrations. “You are now looking at Dr. Anoothi Rai.” She did a little curtsy, her balance awkward at best for the heavy books she was laden with.
“That is wonderful news Ma’am...Sorry Doctor,” Kamal rose up and gave her a congratulatory hug. He knew that Anoothi had been working towards this doctorate for a couple of years now, and it was a lovely thing that she had finally achieved what she had been striving for.
“It indeed is. So do me a favor and don’t be late for the party, I hate late comers as much as I hate historically inaccurate facts,” she brandished him a grin. “I will be on my way then, got a few more people to invite,” she said, ready to step away.
“Does one of these few people include our English lit professor by any chance, eh?” Kamal teased.
“You are lucky I have not told my father about your little fling with Kritika. Only been dating her after she graduated, eh?” Anoothi taunted back. “Try that sophistry on someone else Mister,” she shook her head and chuckled. “Anyhow be at my house at 7 sharp, and don’t be late. In my parties, the VIP is the one who arrives on time.” And with that she walked away.
Some fifteen minutes later Kamal was walking across one of the college’s lawns when he found Raghuvir, sitting there in the grass with a cup of tea and Walt Whitman’s leaves of grass in his hands.
“Hey professor, in a poetic mood today I see?” he jested as he sat down by his side in the grass.
“I exist as I am, that is enough.
If no other in the world be aware I sit content.
And if each and all be aware I sit content.”
Raghuvir thus quoted a verse from the book he had been reading, there was a quaint peace on his face as he idly ran his fingers through some blades of grass.
“He really was a magician with words, Whitman,” Kamal opined as he soaked in the verse the professor had just recited.
“More of an enchanter I would say,” Raghuvir said, as he looked at how the sunshine that fell and glistened across the surface of the freshly mown mead.
“I guess we would have to agree to disagree,” Kamal quipped. “So you know about the party tonight?” he ventured forth.
“Of course, I am dating her remember,” Raghuvir replied as he closed the leather cover of the book of poesy that lay in his lap and took a sip of his tea.
“Well you look quite excited about it I must say!” pointed
out Kamal at the lack of enthusiasm he noticed in Raghuvir’s manners towards his seeing of the history professor.
“Yes, I am a bit perplexed you can say, even somewhat conflicted right now,” Raghuvir confessed.
“And why is that?” Kamal inquired.
“I don’t know, one moment she is this wonderful intelligent woman, the next she is peeved like she had smelled the devil’s smelly armpits,” Raghuvir revealed with a wistful sigh.
“She is a petulant tempest on occasions I agree, but I don’t see that as a reason for you to stop seeing her,” Kamal said in a frank manner as he attempted to placate the professor’s doubts. “We all have our little oddities, in a way that is what makes us beautiful as human beings, or else we would just be some sort of utopian, homogeneous, freaks of nature. To love I believe is nothing more than embracing these oddities we find in each other.”
“The perspective you put on this whole subject is a refreshing one I must say,” Raghuvir commented appreciatively, as he saw that there was indeed a lot that was true in what Kamal had just said.
“Well, I do tend to dabble in the art of love every now and then. I am not always a technology brute as people suppose me to be,” Kamal said with a sheepish smile.
“You are indeed not my dear friend, you are indeed not,” Raghuvir patted his back in brotherly affection. “And I believe you have saved me from making one grave error today.”
“Well that is what I am here for, to save people,” Kamal went on with his jesting. “So I pick you up at six?” he asked.
“You better, for in her parties..” Raghuvir began.
“The VIP is the one who arrives on time,” they both blurted out together before falling in to hearty girlish giggles.
“Alright professor, I will see you at six then,” Kamal stood up to take his leave after the chorus of laughter had finally dwindled.
“I will look forward to your arrival, like a budding VIP ready to sprout out of his magical lamp of power, influence and wealth,” Raghuvir said, only momentarily able to keep a straightish face before he fell back in to the grass in wild guffaws again.
*******
Kamal as planned, arrived at Raghuvir’s apartment exactly at 6, and the two men drove out of there 5 minutes later, determined to be at the party on time. Owing to its decrepit condition and the added city traffic, Raghuvir had calculated that it would take Rosa some 40 minutes to drag them down to Anoothi’s place, which was around seven miles from where he lived, and even if they did hit a few extra bumps on the way, he could not see them getting late for the party in any possible way.
What he had not fathom though was good ole Rosa during their journey having a quarrel with one of her front tires, before in a moment of impulsive rashness, she would discard it altogether, sending it rolling down its own separate way on the road. Now other cars in the world, no matter how much of a jerk their tires were being, seldom took the risk of parting company with them, since that always carried a greater risk of them losing their own balance and turning over, and very well banishing themselves to a life in a dingy scrap yard thereof. But our Rosa had no such fears, for her speed limitations put her beyond any such risks. And she was proved quite right in her conjectures, for only after a few seconds of breaking ties with that fool; she easily managed to come to a wobbly screechy halt.
Raghuvir, who had failed to foresee this act of whimsical rashness, carefully stepped out of the now tilted car and groaned in frustration as he looked irately at the discolored front axle, stripped of its wheel and grinded in to the road.
“Although I do not utter profanities often, but we are so fucked,” he said with a heavy sigh to Kamal as the latter came out, and it turned out to be a regrettably precise prophecy, for despite their best labors, it took them close to two hours before they were able to locate themselves a mechanic, get the wheel remounted (not the original but the spare one, so at least Rosa was happy) and get themselves going on their way again.
It was already close to nine by the time they reached the neighborhood where Anoothi lived.
“She is so going to kill us,” Kamal announced with a nervous shake of his head.
“Kill you right away, of course. Me, no, I am not going to be that lucky. Death shan’t have me so easily. Torture, painful torture shall befall my lot before that,” Raghuvir bemoaned, he had been trying to keep Anoothi updated about their situation but on the third call she had hung up on him and had not picked up her phone since then.
“I have an idea, why don’t you get her a present? May be it will help her forget about our lateness!” Kamal suddenly proposed, and before he had even finished his sentence, he brought Rosa to a lurching halt in front of a mini Market Complex they were then passing by.
“Oh she won’t forget, but it is worth a shot,” Raghuvir agreed.
“How about...that huh?” Kamal said, pointing with his eyes towards the display of a lingerie shop on the first floor of that complex. A number of faceless mannequins stood there, dolled up in elegant and sensuous female undergarments.
“That?” Raghuvir replied, his voice doubtful.
“Yeah, what is wrong with that?”
“Well, I mean, isn’t that kind of too personal? I mean, we have only been out on just one date.”
“Oh come on professor, be a little adventurous in life for once. So what it is a little personal, I say shed off these chains of societal propriety for once, break free from these manacles of customs, burst asunder the fetters of banality, it is time to jump head first in to the well of life and drink up its sweet elixir!” And by an ardent thump of his thigh, Kamal concluded the passionate speech. Presently, he seemed akin to some feisty young Colonel, trying to inspire his men to overcome their personal frailties and rage battle against a stronger and more defiant enemy.
“Really, I should do that?” Raghuvir asked again, still finding it hard to make up his mind.
“Well of course professor and you better do it fast, unless you want to reach that party after it has ended,” Kamal warned. This spurred Raghuvir in to action and he quickly got out of the car and walked with a brisk gait towards that market complex.
Kamal was watching him go when he got a call on his phone from Kritika, attending which had him take his eyes off the professor. It was some ten minutes later, as he was putting down his phone, when Raghuvir returned and stepped back in to the car holding a small plant in one of his hands.
“Got it,” he announced triumphantly.
“A plant? Wait a minute, why had you gotten her a plant?” Kamal asked, confused.
“What, you told me to get one for her!” And Raghuvir signaled towards the first floor of that complex with his eyes, just like Kamal had done earlier, only he was not pointing towards the lingerie shop, but rather at the nursery located next to it.
“Damn, I was not talking about getting her a plant professor,” Kamal grumbled.
“What were you talking about then?” Now it was Raghuvir’s turn to feel confounded.
“Ah, forget about it. We are quite late as we are,” And Kamal put Rosa in to acceleration, for whatever acceleration meant for that hoary contraption, and got them back on the road to Anoothi’s house.
*******
“One of the biggest occasions of my life and you guys are more than two hours late, anyways I welcome you.” It was Anoothi’s sardonic smile that welcomed the two of them at the doorsill of her house.
“The car, it broke down,” Raghuvir tried to explain, as he had done so before on the phone, causing the unhappy woman to turn her sharp gaze away from him and on towards his pal.
“I will never understand what is it with you and that car? Why in seven hells would you hang on to that piece of junk is beyond me. If it was up to me, I would have long razed it down to a flatbed,” Anoothi spat out.
Kamal did not make any replies, instead started to prod Raghuvir’s side with his elbow. “Give her the plant, give her the plant,” were the fai
nt murmurs he muttered in to his ear. The plant, although not the best choice for a gift in his eyes, might turn out to be the only thing that could save them here.
But as Raghuvir was about to extend that plant forth towards Anoothi, a bunch of children from the building engaged in a game of tag came running in to the hallway where he and Kamal were standing, and he had barely any time to register their presence before one of them slipped and ran in to his back, causing the plant to drop from his hands and go tumbling down to the floor, where it shattered with a loud clack, spreading a debris of broken pot pieces, dirt and flora at the threshold.
“Lovely, first late and now breaking things for me to clean up at my own party, what more can a girl hope for!” mumbled an even more upset Anoothi as she went back in to the house to get the cleaning supplies.
“Wait I will help you,” and Raghuvir, that aficionado rushed after her, but as he was hurriedly making his way through some of the amused looking guests in the party, his eyes missed the empty beer bottle that was lying on the floor up ahead. As he tripped and went hurtling down, in desperation he grabbed for a table that at that moment was within his arm’s reach, but although he managed to prevent himself from falling, the table and the bowl of punch upon it were not that lucky.
“And while I am at it, I will grab a mop and some gloves for picking up glass fragment too, oh lucky me!” Everyone including Raghuvir heard Anoothi exult in false joy before she disappeared in to the storeroom.
Over the next half an hour or so, as the party was put on a hiatus for the cleaning of the mess that their arrival had created, Raghuvir and Kamal were seen shrinking back in to separate corners of that living room, two hapless creatures afraid of the light.
It was only when the music resumed, and the accusatory gazes from the people around them began to abate, that they gathered the courage to step out of their crevices, but only to sneak like thieves in to the balcony of the apartment.
“Some luck we are having today,” Raghuvir sighed, before leaning against the balustrade and taking a whiff of the cool and fresh nocturnal air.
“Well, when life gives you lemons...” And Kamal brought out from behind, two beer bottles that he had managed to pilfer while making his way out here.