Namaste New York: A Novel

  ***

  By the first week in January, the university posted the grades for the fall semester, and as expected, Vijay had excelled and Raj's performance was fairly average. Lucky, on the other hand, had achieved perfect scores in all of his subjects, making up for his below-average midterm performance. He gave all the credit to Goddess Lakshmi, and not wanting to tempt fate, he decided to continue to stay away from Anna and all other girls. He had to do everything in his power to keep Goddess Lakshmi happy.

  As with any other university, there were few secrets within the student body, and Vijay and Lucky quickly cemented their reputation among their peers as the new academic hotshots. Their sudden fame polarized their class, as some students vied to become friends with them, while others kept their distance, seething with competitive jealousy. Dan was in the latter group, though he was not so much competitive as just plain jealous and pissed. He had barely made passing grades in his subjects, despite the fact that his dad's money had paid for several tutors. He knew he was in real danger of being dismissed from the institute, and his family would never stand for that. They would disown him or kill him; he wasn't sure which. Dan's grades in the spring term would have to be outstanding if he was going to avoid disqualification, but the tutors weren't doing the trick. They were good, but they could only work with what they had, which in Dan's case, wasn't much.

  Dan stewed about his problems for several days, until one afternoon he was sitting outside in the commons, smoking a cigarette, when he happened to see Lucky and his new group of friends enter the library. Dan watched the scene with a look of contempt, slowly blowing rings of smoke out of his mouth. Stupid PIGS. So what if they were smart, Dan thought. Look at the way they dress. Where did they find their clothes, a dumpster? Nothing ever fit. Their pants were always too short, their sleeves too long, their sweaters unraveling, pilling, and sometimes threadbare. And their haircuts. Did their mommies cut it for them? Ridiculous. Dan stared at Lucky and decided he was either too oblivious or too poor to take any pride in his appearance. Maybe his groupies could start a donation jar to help Lucky get a decent haircut or some new clothes, or some laser skin lightening for his dirty looking face.

  "Stupid kid doesn't even have enough money in his pocket for a subway ride, yet here he is, strutting his ass around like he's somebody important," Dan mumbled to himself. "Can't even afford a pair of pants that are longer than his ankles, or a coat that doesn't look like he stole it from the bum he passed on the street. Can't even afford?" Dan stopped in mid-sentence. He quickly snubbed out his cigarette and ran up the steps to the library.

  Students were surprised to see Dan in the library, but he just waived amicably to everyone as he strode through the lobby, looking for Lucky. He spotted him, and walked towards him purposefully.

  Lucky saw Dan's quick stride in his peripheral vision and he looked around frantically for the best escape route. He jumped out his chair, abandoning his books, but Dan grabbed him by his sweater. "Hey, dude, not so fast! Where are you going in such a hurry?"

  "What happened? What did I do?" Lucky said, the fear obvious in his voice.

  "Nothing, man. I just want to talk to you," Dan replied. "Relax."

  "What do you want?"

  "Dude, seriously. Chill. Do you want something to drink?" Dan asked, his hand on Lucky's shoulder.

  "In the library? No. It is not allowed," Lucky replied, giving in to the pressure Dan was putting on his shoulder and plopping down into a chair.

  "Hmm, right. So you must be wondering why I want to talk to you, am I right?" Dan laughed. Lucky glanced around the library and noticed that everyone was looking at them.

  "So let's not waste any more time." Dan sat in the chair opposite Lucky. "I heard that you could use a job." Lucky tried not to react. Dan leaned in closer. "Listen, I know you're from a poor area of India. My dad is also from India, so I have a lot of sympathy for you, man. I think I misjudged you before, and I wanted to apologize. We have a lot in common, you and me. I think we could be very good friends."

  Lucky knew that Dan was a liar and that he was obviously up to something, but he couldn't imagine what it could be, so he kept quiet.

  "Look, man, we had problems because of that bitch Anna. But she's gone! She doesn't belong to you or to me. So we're cool, right?" Dan asked, slapping Lucky on the back and laughing.

  Lucky wasn't happy about the way Dan spoke about Anna. "What do you want, Dan?" he snapped.

  The librarian gave Dan a stern look.

  "Hey, hey!" Dan said, lowering his voice to a whisper, his hands mockingly held in the air. "Don't get angry, little man! I'm trying to be your friend. Listen, I just want you to help me out with my studies, that's all. You know?do my homework and papers. I'll pay you for it. How about a thousand dollars, how does that sound?"

  Lucky glared at Dan. His advisor had assured Lucky an on-campus job if he did well, and he couldn't have done better than the 4.0 he'd earned in the fall. But a thousand dollars was a lot of money, and Dan was also a management major, so his assignments would be very easy for Lucky, and he could certain use the extra cash?

  No. Working for Dan would be too humiliating, and Lucky knew that Dan wasn't going to stop harassing him. In fact, he was pretty sure that the bullying would only get worse if he started working for Dan. He was also afraid of getting caught, since he knew that cheating in the American education system could carry severe consequences. Most importantly, Dan had called Anna a bitch. Lucky might have decided to stay away from Anna, but he still had good feelings for her. His anger rose into his cheeks, and he briefly thought of punching Dan in the face, but he looked at Dan's arms and then at his own and decided against that plan. Instead, Lucky stood up, flipped Dan the middle finger, and walked away.

  Dan jumped up from his chair. "Two thousand!" Lucky didn't break his stride. "Three thousand dollars," Dan said in a voice too loud for the library and much too loud for the unsavory bargain he was trying to strike with Lucky. Lucky whipped around, and Dan smiled. Lucky held up both middle fingers, thrust them at Dan, and ran into the elevator, frantically pushing the button to close the doors before Dan could catch up.

  Lucky breathed a sigh of relief when the doors finally shut. It felt good to stand up to an asshole like Dan. He closed his eyes and took a moment to bask in the glow of superiority, but unfortunately, the feeling would be short-lived. Lucky had no idea what destiny had planned for him in the days and weeks to come.