‘I didn’t complain but if they do it the next time, I would tell the teachers.’
‘They left the same papers with Sahil Ahuja as well. He came to apologize and assure me that he had no part to play in it.’
‘He came and talked to you?’
‘Yes, he did.’
I had never seen Sahil Ahuja talk to anyone except the teachers whom he terrorized. He always took the last seat of the class which was a vantage point for audacious behaviour. From there he routinely threw good and crude jokes alike at the teachers, little paper bullets from rubber slings at us, and frequently got expelled from the class. Though now he ranks middle in class, he had failed twice in the fifth standard. Being two years older than all of us gives him three extra inches of height, making him the only person in the class who’s not shorter than Brahmi. Sahil smiled when he caught my eye. I turned to Brahmi to find her smiling back at him too. And I could be overthinking here but I saw Sahil Ahuja looking at us through the day. I kept leaning forward and backward in my seat to block his view of Brahmi’s hair.
It was only later while we were in the Blueline bus and away from Sahil Ahuja’s imposing presence and his devilish smile that I remembered what I had been meaning to ask Brahmi.
‘My Dada stayed out the entire night. The girl he is in love with was in Delhi and they were in the same room,’ I said.
‘My cousin too had a love marriage. So when are they getting married?’ she asked.
It was the first time I smiled today. Brahmi knew what being in love means. Isn’t it just wonderful when you can sleep and wish to wake up the next day? I don’t feel like killing myself today and it feels absolutely awesome.
15 May 1999
Today was the first day of our summer vacations.
While our classmates celebrated the time off from school Brahmi and I opted for extra assignments for the time. She didn’t say anything explicitly but she opted for them after I did. But then again hope is a bad thing. Maybe she didn’t do it for me but for the same ulterior motives I had. Our school was renovating the physics and biology labs during the summer vacations and we could be the first ones to try out some of the equipment. Since we are both non-medical students the summer vacations were the only time we could go to the lab and cut open some frogs like our classmates in the biology section.
‘They might ban dissecting animals soon,’ Brahmi complained.
‘That’s sad. Are you sure about handling knives?’
‘It will give me practice,’ she said and chuckled.
‘That’s not a laughing matter.’
‘Is it not?’
Today we didn’t meet to cut open a frog. I had to meet Zubeida Quaze and I asked Brahmi to tag along. I needed someone on my team. I had maintained a demeanour of equanimity but Brahmi had seen through it and suggested bunking school. ‘Don’t worry, the auditions for the debating society are today,’ she had said. We both went first, fumbled, got rejected and then sneaked out. Where, I had asked, and she brought me to Lodhi Gardens, where we picked flowers and got chased by watchmen.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘I have no choice,’ I said.
‘You look nervous,’ she said and gave me her water bottle to drink from.
‘I am not nervous.’
‘But why do you want to meet her? You can be with your Maa–Baba on this and ask Dada not to get married to her.’
‘I can’t do that to Dada. Dada is in love. You know what heartbreak feels like.’
We were to meet Dada and Boudi, wasn’t she to be my sister-in-law, at United Coffee House.
‘Shouldn’t they be here yet?’
‘He’s being cool. Being late is cool for him.’
‘What?’
‘His definition of being cool is warped. As you can see. In love and not sure if he’s going to get married! How nonsensical is that?’
Brahmi laughed. ‘True.’
