Ouija

seat in the front row. He seemed like he was not at all affected by the verdict upon him last night. I noticed that many of the students were glancing at him. All eyes changed direction only when the professor stepped in. The professor began his class:

  “Today is the first day of the new month August and we begin it with a new topic. And our topic of discussion is Knee joint. It is a complex……….”

  Deva was completely unperturbed by the looks he got. And, when the classes began, he was busy taking notes as usual. I slept through half the class. I tried to listen but kept dozing off. I was glad when the class finally got over.

  Deva was the first one to get up from his seat. As I bent to pick up my bag, Tarun brushed past me. He called out to Deva and went over to him. Most of them stopped what they were doing and looked at the direction of these two guys standing at the door. I couldn’t make out what they were talking. I thought I would ask one of them of it later. But I realized that the conversation wasn’t going smooth when Deva yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “Last night you apparently got your life partner, while my death was prophesied. There is a whole wide world of difference between the two and you say we’re in the same boat? No.” Deva then disappeared behind the door. Tarun walked back to take his bag while muttering, “What the heck man? I try to play easy; he scorches me in front of everyone.”

  “Dude, don’t worry. He’s just terribly upset over this. It’ll get alright soon enough.” I convinced Tarun. Little did I then know, that it was only the beginning of what was about to come.

  I found Deva sipping coffee at the college café. The break was about half an hour. So I went up to him. “Hey, why did you yell at Tarun? What did he say like that?”

  “He came and told that he was sorry about my verdict and that he wouldn’t go hunting for his life partner for the next one year.” He said between sipping up his coffee.

  “He was caring and all you did was yelling. Why man?”

  “He wasn’t being caring; he just didn’t want me to think that he didn’t care at all. He was trying to be nice.”

  I was quite furious over Deva’s reply. Here was a guy being sorry and he yelled at him disgracing him in public. “Your life might be on the line. But what you did to him was wrong man. Think what will happen if he really find Amodhini?” I didn’t wait for his reply. I walked away.

  _______________________

  I lay in my bed, thinking of the day I had. Everyday practicing for the upcoming culturals kept my day interesting. I was a better singer than I had imagined it to be. Not as scary as I feared. Only the co-ordination was something I worried because I had trouble keeping up with the rhythm. Winning the culturals was the only thing that mattered now; because it was the only thing between our house and the ‘Overall Championship’ troph-

  “Don’t say it to anyone please. You know how bad it will be if everyone comes to know. As much as I’m happy; I’m equally confused and worried about this.” I heard Tarun saying from outside my door.

  “If this happens now, you know what it means right?” said my roommate. He always said things in a way that they intrigued me. And one man’s secret is another man’s pleasure. I looked up at my watch. 12.15 pm. Things had changed a lot ever since I joined med school. One of the many things is that I lost my habit of sleeping early. But I was already in bed because of the fact that I had culturals the next day. I stepped in to my slippers and went out of my room. “What’re you guys talking about?” I asked.

  “Nothing” was all I got. There was a small storm brewing between groups of guys. Whatever it was, if it meant that I had to stay out, it either meant I don’t belong with them or I’m going to be the victim. I had to get friendly with the guys so much so that they see me as one of their own. That’s what I was eager to get done. Days rolled on with me spending more time with these guys. There seemed to be no quarrels as I imagined. I got to know many guys’ girlfriend names. Of all of them the most curious thing seemed to be the fact that Tarun was meeting a girl. I didn’t get any other information on who the girl was. Nobody spoke much of her. So I thought it probably wouldn’t be important. With progression of days, the Ouija board and its curse seemed to be forgotten. Even a mention of those nights occurred hardly. We were having internals week after week and mid-semester exams were closing in. Nobody even found time for anything but studies.

  “Dude, we need to get out man. We have been spending too much time with studying.” We were sitting at the college canteen and grumbling over our heavy studies and bitching about professors. The canteen was almost empty because, the lunch break for the other batches is a little later than ours. We were the sole source of noise in that canteen until Tarun yelled from the canteen’s entrance towards us

  “Guys, I got committed.” He ran to our table and took a seat. He was out of breath.

  “How did you propose?” asked Janani.

  “I proposed over the phone. She asked me if I ever had the thought of loving her. I asked her why she asked that. She told that she just had a thought. I told her it was more than a thought to me. She didn’t reply. I knew it. So I told ‘I love you’ and she agreed immediately.” Tarun ranted with euphoria.

  “Agreed huh? This is love, man. Not some business contract.” joked Vidhya. We all laughed at it. The next thing was everyone asking for a treat. “I would love to. But I was so excited, I forgot my own wallet. Someone has to cover me for now.” he replied. We finished our lunch and left for our practical. Me and Tarun were in the same batch so were headed to the same lab. We took the lift together. In the lift, I wished him, “Congratulations!” He thanked in return. My curiosity didn’t let me end the conversation there. I continued to ask him,

  “By the way, I forgot to ask. What’s the name of your girl?”

  “Amo-….” he paused. The realization hit both of us.

  “Amodhini” he finished.

  “Nice name……You know what it means I guess.”

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you earlier. I didn’t know if I could, because you were good friends with Deva. Please let me explain.” He looked to me to see if I was ready to listen to his explanation. I agreed with a nod of my head. With my cue he began.

  “I didn’t go searching for this love of my life. We met during the inter-college culturals. That too I didn’t see her. One senior asked me to guide her to the arenas. So I helped her out with all of it. Only when I was about to leave she told me her name. I was shocked. But I knew what I told to Deva back that day. At the same time I couldn’t lose her too. While guiding her I found that she was from one of the local colleges. I asked my friend to just keep tabs on her. I told them not to deliver any information to me either. I just didn’t want to lose her. Then we met in that Trichy college culturals and once in the town. Then things happened of its own. But I didn’t want to get committed till the year was over. She kind of indirectly hinted me to propose and she seemed to be tired of waiting. So, I had no other option. You see, I know I don’t sound convincing. I compressed the whole thing. Hope you get what I mean. I did consider all this, even though he yelled at me that day. Please ….don’t mistake me….I didn’t have much choice.” He went on for another few minutes to try and explain that he was being sorry about the whole thing. Even I was convinced not to tell this to Deva.

  Deva spent his time mostly by himself. If at all he kept any company, it was me. But even with me the time was very limited. I didn’t really prefer his company. The mid-semester exam results arrived in January and I flunked in Anatomy. There were only two more Internals and I had to clear both. The February internals was an easy chapter and I managed to clear. But things weren’t easy when the March Internals came; it was all Neuro-anatomy. I had no clue of what it was. I spent the day before the internals in his room learning. He was explaining to me most of the topics. After a whole day of preparation, I was all tired and fatigued. My phone rang

  “Toss it over.” I s
aid. He took a glance and he rejected the call.

  “The call isn’t important.”

  “Oye, give it here. Who called?” I said.

  “Exactly; my point. The caller of course is very important”

  “Who the hell called man?” I was beginning to get annoyed

  “Whoever the hell is Amodhini is.” I had stored Tarun’s new number as Amodhini because that was his nick name. I definitely didn’t expect the call.

  “It’s Tarun. That’s how all of us tease him. We just didn’t want you to get upset by the mention of that name. It’s nothing else.” I lied.

  “I knew this long back actually” he said.

  “Oh! What do you know?”

  “You seem alarmed. So there’s something that I should not to know. Now, what will that be? I’m curious” he trailed off.

  “I just – I mean I was wondering why you didn’t mention it before.”

  “You didn’t either. So I thought it never mattered really and…. Do you guys still believe that board? After all this time?”

  “You don’t? I’m afraid we do believe. What if it was true? Would you still be sitting here working you ass off? Live a life, man. And you were the one who freaked out that night, remember?” I fired back angrily.

  “What if it isn’t true?” I remained silent not having an answer.

  He helped me with it by saying, “One more topic and then you go to bed. You can learn the rest tomorrow. I’ll go and get the Histology papers from Abhinav.” He told and left the room. Abhinav was the class topper. He had all of the notes which he hardly shared with anyone else in the hostel. But he made an exception for Deva as he was one among the toppers. He came back minutes later saying that Abhinav was in the library. We sat there revising; now and then we took a break now and then chit-chatting about the things going around us. My phone rang for the second time. It was from a guy named Shivram

  “Hey Gaurav, This is Ranjit.” came Ranjit’s voice.

  “Yeah. What’s up?”

  “You saw my phone anywhere? Its missing.” he asked.

  “Oh! No man. You were having it earlier this evening in your room” I said recollecting from what happened earlier.

  “If you come across my phone, let me know. It’s missing. Thanks.” He hung up. Deva plucked my phone.

  “No more phone calls, till you finish studying.”

  “Okay boss.” I mocked at his dominance and continued my studies. When I was done with my portions, I took my books and searched for my room keys which apparently I must have placed somewhere in the room. But I had a feeling that I left it on the desk, but it was nowhere to be seen. Deva found it for me and I left for my room.

  No sooner I came in Tarun too followed me in. Before I could ask him the reason he called me earlier, he himself told me, “It’s about Amodhini. You see there’s still five more months for August. But by then my relationship is promising to be good and when it does I’ll become intimate with her. She has got a phone now. She even sent me a photo of her. See” He showed it to me. It was a photo of a girl. “All of this seems to be headed to one conclusion. Deva’s demise. I don’t know, maybe it’s time that we tell him what’s going on. He should enjoy his last days. But here he is…sitting here and….” His voice trailed off.

  “Working his ass off?” I helped him complete

  “Yeah. That’s what I mean.”

  “Look. I appreciate your concern but don’t do this to him. Knowing your death date makes you half dead. If you are trying to purge your guilt, ditch your girlfriend. Not him” I said sounding annoyed. He left.

  Sheepishly I climbed the stairs of my hostel. The day’s class had me exhausted. I opened my room and fell into my bed. I lay there trying to sleep. There was some noise outside my door. Soon enough they possibly would knock at my door. I decided to open the door, so that they wouldn’t knock. As soon as I opened the door, a few guys came in. I got a few ‘Hi’s.

  “Dude, you saw my phone with someone or anywhere?” asked Ranjit

  “Weren’t you searching for it last night? You still didn’t find it.

  “The ring is going. So I’m assuming I should’ve misplaced it. Still didn’t find it.” He seemed disappointed.

  “Try searching in-”

  “Hey, I need your deo.” Deva entered into the room and interrupted my sentence.

  “It’s in the cupboard. Take it.”

  Deva used my deodorant and he left. He left the cupboard door open. I muttered under my breath. But then Jamaal muttered something loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “Your phone is in this fellow’s cupboard Ranjit.”

  I was shocked. I had no clue how it ended up in my cupboard. Nobody else came into my room that evening or any time after the internals. It made no sense. But what really matted was that I had to explain this to Deva. So I converted my thoughts into words

  “Look, let me explain. I have no clue how it ended up in my cupboard. Nobody else came into my room also. It makes no sense. And why would I take your phone? I have a better phone actually” I said, flashing my phone. He plucked it out of my hand and threw it out of the door. Thus, my words turned into deeds. I watched as my phone crashed on the floor outside. I only hoped that things dont go from bad to worse. Just then,

  “Hold it, Ranjit. No violence.” Deva re-entered my room.

  “Give my hundred bucks” he demanded pointing his fingers at me.

  “What hundred bucks?” questioned Ranjit as if Deva had asked him.

  “Oh. A bet. I told Gaurav that people don’t reason out things in desparate moments, but he said that people would. The phone-missing-thing was my drama to prove it. This was going so wrong for Deva. Ranjit clenched his fist. Deva turned to me and told,

  “See, Ranjit clenching his fists now only proves me all the more right. I think I deserve a hundred and fifty now”

  Irritated, Ranjit went out of my room. His gang friends followed him out. After a few seconds of silence I said to him “Thanks”

  “That’s not the point. Now, where are my hundred bucks? He still demanded

  “You were kidding. Weren’t you?”

  “Ranjit wouldn’t be pleased to hear that.” He replied. I pulled out a hundred rupee note. Just before he took it from my hand I pulled it back.

  “Why did you do this?” I asked him

  “You lied to me about Amodhini.” He replied.

  “What?” I was worried if he found out the truth. But he had.

  “Tarun found Amodhini in the culturals.” He told me.

  “How did you know?” I asked being surprised.

  “Word gets around.” He said and plucked the note from me.

  “Why save me from Ranjit then?”

  “Gaurav and Deva are best friends.”

  “No, we’re not.”

  “Yes. We are.” He said with a smile on his face. “You only lied to me so that I wouldn’t be feeling bad.”

  “Tarun promised not to get a girl so you wouldn’t feel bad. So is he a best friend?” I questioned.

  “ I yelled at him for making me feel better. And that was the end of it. But you were about to get beaten and yet you are here being nice.”

  Deva wasn’t a guy with whom you can easily be friends with. He was smart. And that’s what I needed, a friend who should essentially be intelligent enough to help me out in times of need. I was glad that we became friends. But that gladness was short-lived.

  The next day some of us were sitting under a tree in the lawn. It was lunch break. We were having some ‘boys talk’ and teasing each other.

  “Deva, last night when I came by your room, there were some phone-bills. Are you paying your phone-bills?” I questioned.

  “Oh! I was cleaning my suitcase. Found it in there, those were old bills. Speaking of phone, is your phone alright, I mean after what happened last night?” He told.

  “Luckily, yes.” Just then Tarun
come out of the library block and he seemed to be headed to the canteen.

  “Hey, I have a plan for his girlfriend.” Deva told me, with his eyes on Tarun.

  “What? Don’t try anything stupid.” I warned him.

  “Who told you my plan is stupid? It’s actually brilliant. I will live for a hundred years if it works. If all goes well, his relationship would be a little unfortunate.”

  “For God’s sake, don’t do it.” I cried.

  “You don’t want your best friend to live? That’s mean. And there are no spirits and no God’s either. Anything that happens anywhere in the world is simply random. There is no Karma or a supernatural force that governs over us.” Saying so, he called out Tarun. I was worried if something might go wrong.

  “Hey, how are you?” Deva asked.

  “Im doing……go-… good” Tarun stammered. It looked like he too sensed that something was not going right.

  “Heard you got a girlfriend?” Deva asked him. Now everything was going to go wrong.

  “Girlfriend? Me?....No man.” Tarun’s face lost its color.

  “Stop lying. I heard Amodhini’s got a new phone. When you came that day and promised you wouldn’t hunt for a girl, where is the promise now?” said sounding angry

  “You’re asking about the promise now? I buried it the moment you yelled at me in front of everyone. Try looking into that moment, you might find my promise.” replied Tarun raising his voice. Now even I was shocked of how Deva knew about Amodhini’s new phone. He only told me about it two days ago. Shivram and I pulled Tarun away from there to avoid a scene. But just then something new began

  “How the hell did he find out about the phone?” Tarun asked me.

  “Mm…I have no idea. Word gets around.”

  “It’s true. Word gets around but not this fast.”

  “I might be his friend but I didn’t tell him. Not anybody.” I tried to explain the truth.

  “Neither did I tell anyone. Don’t you see Shivram blinking at our talk.”

  “Sunday night, you suggested that we tell him. Now you’re annoyed?” I said.

  “You disagreed. If you had told me this earlier, I could have prevented confronting him like now.” And he began to walk away towards the canteen.

  “He has a plan. Be careful.” I told aloud. Tarun paused in his steps for a few moments and then carried on. I stood there wondering how all of this happened. Deva had gone back and taken his place under the tree as if nothing happened. I went up to him and asked him to explain how he found out about the Amodhini’s phone.

  “Try figuring it out. I don’t want to spoil the suspense.” he said.

  “Screw the suspense. Tell me now.” I ordered in a friendly way.

  “As you wish. Only last night I heard the name Amodhini. If you people had been teasing him by the name ever from last August I would have heard of it. So you started teasing him all of a sudden and the only reason to it is because he should have met her. I stole Ranjit’s phone when I told you I was searching for