‘Hmmm.’
I put up an angry front when all I want to do is hug him.
His apartment is a lot cleaner than I imagined it would be. There are no Old Monk bottles rolling about, no plastic containers with dried food, no Coke cans. The room is a far cry from how he used to live back home—like an animal. He’s a changed boy.
The room is lit up in RGB lights from CPUs and keyboards. There’s a dull hum around.
‘It was hard to live like that, Didi,’ he mumbles.
‘When has it not been hard for us, Gaurav?’ I scold him. ‘Our lives have been a hurdles race, just one thing after another and just when we were at the finish line, you ran in the opposite direction. You could have stayed.’
‘Aanchal,’ Daksh interrupts, ‘maybe he shouldn’t have run away. But I can give it to you in writing that none of his classmates are as serious as he is about his career.’
‘You mean his classmates who will have a college degree within a year?’
‘He’s driven, Aanchal. Surely, you can recognize that. He’s like a horse with blinkers on, like you were. Who cares if his finish line is different from his classmates?’
‘Does this . . .’ Vanita waves at all the PCs on the table. ‘Can you earn money from this?’
‘A lot of money, Vanita,’ answers Gaurav shyly.
He hasn’t been able to meet Vanita’s eyes even once. It’s also the first time he’s not addressing Vanita asDidi. It’s weird.
Daksh cuts in. ‘It’s a serious attempt.’
Daksh takes Gaurav’s phone from his hand and hands it over to me.
‘Check his phone. The alarm is set for 6 a.m. That’s when he gets up to train. No social media, nothing, just relentless gaming. All he needs to do is play his cards right. A streaming channel, a mysterious persona, some merchandise, an active but managed social-media presence. With his work ethic, he can really make something out of this. All I’m saying is, take him to Delhi and tell your parents that it’s going to work out for him. He will need all the support. Shouldn’t he get that from you guys? His family? Where else would he turn?’
I turn to look at Gaurav. He has teared up. My heart breaks a little to see my little brother helpless, lost at sea, alone. He looks at me, hopeful.
‘Oyebuddhu,’ I tell Gaurav. ‘I have a flight in four hours. I will see you at the airport. Let’s tell Maa–Papa their son is a . . . gamer.’
22.
Daksh Dey
‘Tell me what Uncle–Aunty say,’ says Vanita, getting into a cab. ‘And thanks, Daksh. Next time be less oversmart and let me do things for her.’
‘If it’s coming down to how far you will go for Aanchal, you will never beat me,’ I tell Vanita.
‘Boys and their overconfidence,’ she smirks. ‘We will see.’
‘Can you guys stop?’ asks Aanchal.
‘No.’
‘No.’
‘I love you,’ Aanchal tells Vanita.
‘I should go now,’ says Vanita and gets into the cab.
She waves as her cab leaves the hotel porch. Aanchal and I come back to the hotel. Inside the lobby, there are long lines again. Everyone who came for the conference is now checking out.
‘I should be leaving too,’ says Aanchal. ‘I’m late.’
‘Yes, you should. I don’t want you to though. I just . . . don’t.’
