Daksh Dey
It’s odd to think of Gaurav as a grown person, as a twenty-year-old. He was sixteen when I first met him, only two years younger than me, but to me he was a shrimp, half a man. To think he’s old enough to run away from his home to pursue a career in gaming is nuts. I’m outside an old apartment building in the suburbs of Mumbai, which is where he’s reportedly living. Finding him was easy. I searched Mumbai gaming Reddit threads to find a guy who staked his degree to join the gaming community in Mumbai. I found not only his address but also learnt that he’s seen as a strange but talented gamer in those circles.
I ring the bell.
I hear footsteps. A young, short boy, not more than sixteen, in a tattered T-shirt and shorts, opens the door.
‘Yes?’
‘You’re not Gaurav unless you have grown smaller.’
‘I’m Sameer, Gaurav’s teammate,’ he answers. ‘Are you here with the food we ordered?’
‘I’m here for Gaurav,’ I tell him.
‘Gaurav!’ shouts the boy.
Gaurav walks into the living room. He’s wearing an old grey T-shirt that’s been washed way too many times and shorts. Headphones hang around his neck. He’s taller now but even skinnier. Most of his face is hidden behind an unkempt, sparse beard. He’s pale as if he has never been out in the sun. He looks like a famine survivor. He has a buzz cut, and golden, round-framed spectacles rest on his nose. He looks like Harry Potter was locked in Azkaban, and a few Dementors let loose on him.
‘Who are you?’ he asks, fixing his specs. His voice is an ugly rasp as if someone has stepped on his trachea. Like his voice started to break and then stopped midway.
‘Daksh,’ I say. ‘I met you in the Andamans four years ago. You stole my Nintendo. Ring a bell?’
There’s recognition in his eyes.
I continue, ‘Aanchal’s looking for you.’
He looks confused and angry.
‘I don’t want anything to do with them. You can leave,’ he tells me sharply.
‘Unfortunately, that would require me to disappoint your sister and there’s no way in hell I’m doing that.’
‘Whatever, dude. Just leave.’
‘Don’t call me “dude”.’
‘Did you hear what he just said?’ threatens the younger one, Sameer, the little boy. ‘Now leave!’
It makes me laugh.
‘Dude, please leave,’ says Gaurav. ‘I don’t want anything to do with that family. I told them that a hundred times. They need to leave me alone.’
‘You mean the family who raised you, made sacrifices for you? You have to think this through, Gaurav. Just call Aanchal.’
He rolls his eyes at me and responds angrily. ‘That’s such a cliché, Daksh. Which family doesn’t make sacrifices? Literally, everyone. They couldn’t have left me on the side of the road, could they? Big deal. And what are you doing here?’
‘Because I have a crush on your sister, always had. So if you are making her unhappy, that’s a less-than-ideal situation for me.’
‘You still have a crush on her?’
‘Do you have a problem with that?’
‘Vicky might have. She’s still with him.’
‘That doesn’t change anything,’ I say. ‘But on a side note, I do think what you’re doing is pretty cool. According to Reddit, the way you manipulate creep equilibrium and adapt your item builds is top-tier DotA play. So yeah, congrats on that’
‘You . . . you think what I’m doing is cool?’
