Second Cousin

It was just another mundane Monday in my life. Poor Mondays! They are hated by most of us, and I am no different. As usual, I was waiting for the Metro at Pitampura metro station. I use it 6 days in a week to reach my office at Connaught Place. That’s where I work as a marketing executive. Let me tell you, 6-days-a-week work schedule sucks!

The timeboard indicated 3:00. Ideally, the next Metro was to reach the station in another 3 minutes. As I waited standing in one of the metro-staff-maintained queues, somebody caught my attention.

Well, I can write pages on this gal, but I’ll rather keep it short. She was an amazingly beautiful girl, pretty much like a cute doll who has put on some weight. Okay, I have this strange liking for slightly plump girls, provided they are charming, sweet, bubbly, and have innocence marked all over their face. The girl in picture fitted the bill.

She was right in front of the queue next to mine. As the metro halted at the station, people lost their senses. The mad rush ushered in, everybody hoping to be one of the few lucky ones to grab a seat. Way back in the queue, I had no chance anyways.

A minute more and the gal was out of sight. As the automated doors got shut, the air conditioning effect started to show signs of death. I was not much bothered about the temperature though. I started to look for the damsel.

Luckily, she was right there, occupying one of the Ladies Only seats, sitting quietly. People still had courtesy, I thought. I managed to stand next to her, clenching one of the support handles. As far as I remember, I have been commuting by Metro for the last 5-6 months, but never had I developed so much fondness for any of the commuters.

A man in his 30s was sitting next to her. At each station, as the metro train stopped for a while, I wanted the gal to stay and the man to leave. He stared at the girl whenever he got a chance. Okay, okay, even I was gazing at her, but I had my intentions right. Who knew what this man was like?

God heard me. The filthy man’s journey ended at Shastri Nagar station. And it was the beginning of my journey, with the lass. As the man stood up, I quickly pounced upon the now vacant seat.

“Thank you uncle,” I greeted the man with a fake smile. He gave me a dirty look on being treated an uncle, and a final dirty look to the gal. Bastard!

Anyways, he was now not in the picture, and will never be again. This is what happens when you travel and meet people. There are slim chances that you’ll meet them again. But wasn’t it true for this girl too? The thought scared me.

She was busy reading a novel. I couldn’t figure out which one. Was the book title important? No, not at all! I wanted to initiate conversation with her, anyhow. The time was running by, and I had to think fast. Then, the notion struck me. The title was indeed important, atleast to strike the conversation.

“Which one?” I asked hesitatingly.

“Sorry…,” she looked straight into my eyes. My heart stopped beating for a second. Thankfully, the beat resumed after that one second.

Girls come with a Handle With Care tag, and I am ought to remember that. Her Sorry…probably meant Who the hell are you, and why are you talking to me when I don’t know you.

“Sorry, didn’t get your question.” Oh, so the hell was at bay at the moment. It was the question of not getting my question.

“I mean…I mean, which novel is this?” I fumbled.

“Oh, this one. The latest by Chetan Bhagat. 2 states – the story of my marriage. I just love him,” she replied, with a twinkle in her eyes. I wish I was Chetan Bhagat.

“Absolutely. Great writer,” I supported her view. Honestly, I had never heard of him.

“So, where are you heading to?” I wanted to learn how much more time I had.

“The next station,” she stood up as she replied. She would be out of my sight in a couple of minutes, and that would be terrible for me.

I had to think of something, quickly, something which could stop her. As she stepped out of metro, I shouted, “I know something very interesting about the man you love.” I don’t know what did I say and why, but it helped.

“About Chetan Bhagat,” she exclaimed. “Okay, mail me. niharika_87gal@hotmail.com”

At times, mail IDs tell you more than you ask for. Her name was Niharika, and she was around 22, and that she was a gal, of course! I wanted to tell her she had a lovely name. I did that when I mailed her. I also mentioned it was fantastic talking to her, and that she was charming.

This is what she replied:
“Hi. What was the interesting fact you wanted to tell me, about CB.

Regards,

Niharika Chauhan”

Gosh! She was least bothered about what I wrote about her, for her. All she was concerned about was CB. I again wished I was him.

Fuming, I did not reply to her for a few days. But that made things worse. I kept thinking about her. Then, I mailed her:
“Hey. I know Chetan personally :) I am one of his second cousins.”

I had no clue whether she would buy this or not. Apparently, she did.

“Hi. It’s great to know this!

Regards,

Niharika Chauhan

9910071633”

What was that supposed to mean? I did notice the addition to her signature, of course I did. Should I call her? Yes I should. That was a clean hint. I mustered courage and called her up after 2 days.

“Hello. Whoz this?” she asked in a firm tone.

“Adesh,” I replied softly.

“Adesh, who?” Of course, I was no Barack Obama.

“Adesh…Metro…Chetan Bhagat,” I summarized.

“Oh, Hi! Howz my CB?” Now this was extreme. Again…CB. What about me, someone who had spent sleepless nights thinking about her? I wanted to hang up.

“Fantastic. He is doing great,” I said, rather sarcastically. “By the way, he is married,” I warned her.

“Haan, I know. But I am a big, big, big fan of his.” I wondered how big.

“Anyways, so how are you?” Ok, so I did exist.

“I am fine, almost,” stressing extra bit on almost.

“I am doing good too,” she added. Did I ask?

“So, when can we meet up?” She popped up this question when I was way too pissed off.

“Why?”

“Well, there’s a lot to talk about. You know CB so well and…”

“And?” I interrupted.

“And I want to meet you. Kab mil sakte hain?” It sounded more of an order than a request.

I could have refused, but I liked her a lot. Her glance in the Metro that day…still set my heart racing. So what if she would only talk about her love interest and I would have to construct all sorts of stories; atleast she would be there with me!

I prepared a possible questionnaire I could be confronted w.r.t. Chetan Bhagat. I struggled a lot gathering information about someone I had not even heard about, about someone I was least interested in. It was tough, but it was all for Niharika.

I had a sense of déjà vu when I met her. She asked me everything about CB I hadn’t prepared for. That always used to occur to me during exams, during the school days. Whatever set of expected questions I used to prepare for, they never appeared. I guess I have always been like that, a bad guesser.

I had a real tough time facing her, but had to ensure she doesn’t catch my bluff. At the end of it, it seemed I had won the QA round. She sounded excited all the time she conversed with me, talking about Chetan Bhagat, his work, his upcoming projects, and what not. Is a second cousin supposed to know all this about a celebrity brother, I wondered.

We met again, and again. We mostly talked about him only, but that didn’t matter much to me now. I had fallen in love. Gradually, she did shift her focus to me, but I wondered if I was just a ladder to reach Chetan Bhagat, the man she admired so much. She hinted multiple times that she wanted to meet CB. For obvious reasons, I always pretended I never understood what she wanted. Then one day, she was straight-forward.

“Listen, I want to meet my idol. I really do,” she amicably placed her hand over mine while we were sipping Coke at McDonalds. I would call that emotional blackmailing. I did not want to refuse, but this was something beyond my reach. I could not gulp down the soft drink any more.

“Yes, why not. Anytime.” I exuded so much aplomb while making this stupid commitment. I ain’t sure if even his real second cousin would have been so sure about making her meet CB.

“Really! Oh thank you so much. Love you,” she said excitedly, flashing a big, lovely smile. I love you too, I wanted to confess.

I told Niharika bhaiyaa is out of town and will be back in 2 weeks’ time. This meant she was with me for another two weeks. But that was it. Once the truth would be out in the open, she’s gonna leave me. Worse, she is going to hate me, forever.

We met daily. As we spent more and more time together, Niharika shared a lot about her personal life. Those were the golden days of my life. I prayed to God for a miracle to happen. Split from Niharika now meant death. Then God flashed a signal.

Chetan was on a visit to the neighbouring town, to speak on Gen-X potential and the contribution today’s youth can make to the society. I decided to attend the session. No, no…I was least bothered about contributing to society. But I had to meet Chetan.

“…so now you know how you all can make a difference. Right guys?” The entire hall clapped in unison while I was busy yawning as Chetan Bhagat ended his speech.

“Now it’s my turn,” I murmured to myself. I waited until the famous author finished signing autographs.

“Hi Chetan. Excellent speech.”

“Thanks,” Chetan acknowledged as he hurried towards the exit.

“Listen,” I shouted. “I need you.”

“Need me?”

“Yes,” I answered and ran towards him. I narrated the whole incident, involving me and Niharika.

“I want you to act as my cousin…second cousin, for a day.” Chetan stared at me with this are-you-in-your-senses look on his face.

“Okay fine, for a few hours…,” I tried reducing the time frame. The expression remained unchanged.

“See, I know you are a busy man. But my love life is at stake. You have to do this for me,” I pleaded. “I love her as much as you love writing.” I don’t know if this comparison made any sense, but Mr. Bhagat seemed to have got it.

“Okay. All is fair in love and war. I will do this for love,” Chetan agreed.

“Thank you so much!”

Chetan told me he would be coming to Delhi for an interview, and that is when he can help me win my love. He was nice enough to share his cell number, and I promised it would not be leaked. I had started to understand his fan following.

“Two hours. Won’t be able to stretch beyond that,” Chetan made it clear as he left. I nodded in agreement. Something is always better than nothing, I recalled the old adage.

Niharika hugged me when I met her after I was back home. She hugged me again when I told her she would be meeting her idol next week.

Everything shaped up as planned. It was Chetan who fixed the meeting venue and time. As I entered The Retreat I noticed Chetan waiting for us at the reserved table. The fans kept him busy meanwhile.

“Hope I am not late,” I grinned.

“Where is she?” Chetan seemed curious to meet her. Of course, she was the reason he was here.

“There she comes,” I announced as the gorgeous gal entered the dimly-lit food joint.

I expected her to jump in joy as she approached Mr. Bhagat, the moment she had been waiting for so long. But that didn’t happen. She was rather calm and composed.

“Hey CB. How are you? Never thought we would meet like this,” she winked at CB. Now what was that?


Before I could analyse the situation, Chetan interrupted my thoughts. “Oh, by the way, this is Niharika, my second cousin,” Chetan introduced her to me. I sat there, bewildered.

“And bhaiyaa, he is Adesh, the love of my life,” she blushingly looked at me. I was speechless. It’s like you announce to a beggar that he had just won for himself a lottery with prize money of 50 lakhs.

“You guys enjoy. I guess you have a lot to talk about,” Chetan smiled and left in a jiffy.

There was pin-drop silence for a few seconds. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier when you already knew…,” and she silenced me with her fingers across my lips. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Boys do cry.

I leaned forward and kissed her gently. She put her arms around me and whispered…I love you.


(End of story)

My Pal, Online

“Abhay, I am going out. Inform mom if she asks,” my sis waved me goodbye. Didi left for her office. Mom was busy doing laundry.

Like all other days, I had nothing to do. This year, college vacations were no fun. It was boiling outside at 45°C, and evenings were no relief with heat waves refusing to settle down.

I stepped into the virtual world to kill time. I hadn’t had much success in the last few days, trying my luck contacting girls with different tastes. Neither did I get a response from apparently sweet ID cutiepie_rashmi, nor from nasty ones like sexybitch01 on the chat messenger. Guys are so desperate, I tell you.

Anyways, being a Delhite, I always hunted for girls in Delhi chat rooms. May be I could get hold of someone pretty one day, who knows. I did the same…that day.

“Hi.” I got an instantaneous reply when I pinged decent_gal09. I am not sure if I am decent enough, but thought it would be a good experiment to chat with a decent gal.

Without much delay, I quickly typed, “Hello. Would you like chat decent with me?” Of course, I was expecting a ‘Yes’. That’s why she was here for, the decent_gal09.

“Yes. Would like to know you more,” was the quick response. I was unstoppable now. I told her everything she wanted to know, and we had pretty interesting conversation for close to 2 hours.

“See you tomorrow then.” With a promise to meet again the next day, she left. Conversing with Preeti really made me feel good, and the impatient me just couldn’t wait for the moment when she would be there for me, with me, the next day.

Days passed, but she never appeared online. I logged on to the messenger daily at 10 in the morning, hoping against hope that she would appear from nowhere. She never did. Then one day, it happened…she was online!

“Hi.” I pinged her hesitatingly.

“Hi Abhay. I am so..so..so..sorry. I know you must be very angry. But you see, it’s not my fault. I was not well all these days.”

I was a bit, infact, a lot upset about the fact that she did not turn up when she promised so. But the extra so’s did the trick for her. Well, when a sweetheart feels apologetic for something she was not actually responsible for, I was not supposed to be angry anymore.

“No, no. It’s fine. How are you now?” I asked, expressing concern.

“Well, much better. Did you miss me….?” Preeti asked. Of course I did, but did she actually expect me to? This was just the second time we were meeting online. Some guys can be luckier than others, I thought.

“Oh, yes. I did.” I inserted a smile emoticon in the chat window. She followed it with a blush smiley. We were progressing.

She never fell ill again. We met online daily, same time. At times, twice in a day. I gave it a damn if the temperature was now breaking 5-year or 10-year highs. I was pretty happy staying indoors. I never thought life can be so beautiful. If merely communicating your feelings with someone online can make you feel so gay, what would it be like meeting her. Was it possible? I had my fingers crossed.

We met online again that day, like all other days.

“Hey sweetheart! Good morning.” I used these affectionate words often now.

“Gm sweety,” Preeti reciprocated.

“Never asked you all these days….you are from Delhi, na?” I just wanted her to type YES.

“No, I am not. Who told you this?”

“Nobody. Actually…you were in that Delhi chat room the first day we chatted, if you remember, so….,” I reasoned.

“Oh, yes. That was JLT.”

“JLT?”

“Just Like That.”

I would have to upgrade my chat lingo, I thought. But I was not ready for that response. Today, I was to ask her if she would like to meet me. Being in different cities, will that dream remain a dream? I had no idea.

“So…which city?” I queried, half-heartedly.

“Bangalore. But why did you ask that?”

“Nah, JLT.” I was quick with my chat lingo upgradation. Apparently, she was happy meeting me…only online.

“Shall I ask you something?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” I typed, with dying excitement and enthusiasm.

“Would you like to meet me in person?”

The nearly dead excitement was now alive again. I wanted to mention that I was dying to meet her, but decided not to.

“Well…don’t know. Yes, would like to,” pretending I was just about okay with it. “But how? I mean, you are in Bangalore, and I…..”

“Not to worry. I am coming to your dilli next week, to meet a friend. I won’t mind meeting two,” she put a smiley in the chat window.

next week - the words echoed in my mind. I was thrilled. For the first time in my life, things were shaping up better and faster than I had anticipated.

“Ok great!” I exclaimed.

Preeti left, informing she won’t be available for the next 2-3 days. I did not ask why. I was anyways meeting her in a week’s time.

We connected through messenger after 4 days. We chit-chatted for good 3 hours that day. She told me she was out for her cousin’s wedding. That she had great fun. That she was very curious to meet me. She also shared her pictures she had got clicked on the wedding day. Man, she was a beauty!

“Hey, you look very pretty.”

Always complement a girl on her looks, even if you don’t really mean it. It works! But Preeti was indeed mesmerizing.

“Thanks,” Preeti batted her eyelids through a smiley. These smileys are fun, I tell you.

“Won’t you send yours?” she demanded my pic.

“Actually…I don’t have looks as killing as you,” I hesitated.

“Did I ask how good you look? But I just want to see you.”

I sent my picture across. She said she found me cute. Apparently, looks didn’t matter to her.

“Now we can recognize each other easily,” she smiled.

“True. Another thing Preeti, since we are going to meet soon, I hope you won’t mind giving me your number,” I asked.

“Oh…yes, yes. But you see, I lost my cellphone yesterday. By the time I’ll reach Delhi, I will get a new one. Will give you the number when we meet. Fine?”

Not a big deal, I thought. Just wanted to meet her now. She asked for my contact number, promising she would call me as soon as she would reach the capital city, my city.

I spent the next 3 days restlessly. She was to call me on Sunday after reaching Delhi. Sunday passed, but she didn’t call. I was in bed when the phone beeped.

“Nice song, dude,” I heard this when I picked up the phone. The caller tune was set to Kaise Mujhe Tum Mil Gayi from Ghajini.

“Preeti!” I almost jumped in jubilation. Such a sweet voice had to be hers. Thank goodness, I was not diabetic.

“Where were you? I was waiting for your call the entire day. And…how are you?” I asked in one breath.

“Relax. Arre baba, my flight got delayed.”

“Oh, okay. I thought….”

“Now give rest to your thoughts. I am here!” She said excitedly.

“So you haven’t got a number yet. It’s a landline you are calling from.”

“Oh right. Told you na, arrived late. But will call you myself. We are meeting tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow….yes, tomorrow.” Now when the moment had finally arrived, a certain sense of nervousness wrapped me.

“Where do you wanna meet up? I don’t know much about here.”

“Where in Delhi does your friend put up?”

“Yes, I am at my friend’s place only. Model Town,” she responded.

“How about CP? A metro ride can take you right there,” I suggested.

“I would love it. I’ve learnt it’s a cool ride.”

“Certainly is.” Having traveled by Metro umpteen times, I was sure she would love it.

We decided to meet at 2 pm, as we could not fix it for evening due to other commitments. The thoughts of how everything would go the next day kept me awake for long. I wanted everything to be just perfect.

I took my own time in getting ready the next morning. I had never paid so much attention to how I would look on a particular day though. She was special, after all.

I thanked God for the clouds that appeared from nowhere and covered most part of the sky. The weather was now electrifying. I wanted to ensure she doesn’t have to wait for me. I reached at the pre-decided spot well in time. It was 1:45. As my wrist watch struck 2, I started to get impatient. It was as if I was expecting her to be right there at 2.

Each passing second was getting heavier. I was constantly scanning for her face in the crowd. 10 more minutes passed, and now I just wanted to be with her.

The next moment, I felt a gentle touch tapping my back. My heart skipped a beat. It had to be her. I quickly turned around.

“Just see how long you have been sleeping,” I heard someone calling out from a distance. I realized it was mom’s voice. I rubbed my eyes, now half-open.

I looked around. Mom? But where was Preeti…Oh my God…was I…was I sleeping?? But when did I chat with Preeti? Ok, hold on. This was unreal. Or was that unreal?

“Mom, when did I sleep, do you know?” I asked mom in a low tone, as she entered the room.

“Don’t know. Look at your computer screen.”

Now I remember. I had laid down my head while my computer my booting. I must have dozed off during that period of time.

I was heartbroken, almost. It was all fictitious – Preeti, our bonding, and most importantly, our meeting which could have changed a lot of things…probably a relationship that was all over even before it could kick start.

A few days passed, and once in a while, the dream I had experienced occupied my mind. It was a beautiful dream, after all.

I did not feel like chatting again. The fantasy dream was bothering the real me. But then, it was just a dream after all. After some days, I logged onto messenger once again. I was not enjoying the time I was spending online. And nobody was actually responding to my ‘Hi’s and ‘Hello’s today.

“I’ll shut down my PC in a while if I do not get any response. It’s frustrating,” I murmured to myself.

I answered the call of nature, and returned back to my system. What I saw on the monitor screen left me dumbstruck. I was shocked, and I was stunned. I did not know how to react.

A new chat window was open. No, it was not a response from any of the gals I had pinged.

“Hi. This is Preeti. Would you like to chat decent?” said the message window from decent_gal09.

(End of story)