Story - Some win some lose

Usual Talk@A shared Room in a Mumbai Suburb
Characters:
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Rish: The lover boy
Piyush: The unwilling support shoulder
Udi: The unintended victim of Rish’s love-story sessions
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‘I think I love her,’ said Rish apparently looking at the ceiling fan.
‘I know that. I know that pretty well,’ replied Piyush curtly trying to submerge his head under his pillow.
‘What do you know, Piyush?’
‘That you love her and that you sometimes think.’
‘What else do you know?’ Rish insisted.
‘That if you utter it one more time, I will throw you out of your bed,’ replied Piyush from under his pillow.
‘Dude, here I am sharing my love story with you and instead of supporting me like a good friend should, you are threatening me. Whatay insensitivity! No wonder you’re single,’ snapped Rish, getting up and looking at Piyush.
‘Buddy, I’ve heard your love paeans so many times in the last three years that sometimes I feel am in love with her,’ said Piyush, nonchalantly pulling his bed sheet over his head.
‘Huh! What will…’
The love-story session between Rish and Piyush is interrupted by a loud kick on the door followed by the entry of the third flat-mate, Udi. ‘May I ask what you rascals are up to at 2 am in the night? Why don’t you two go to the ‘Gateway of India’ and talk there? Please, for God’s sake, let me sleep. I’ve got to go to office tomorrow and I have work to do,’ said Udi with mock anger filled with frustration.
‘What Udi! I also have to go to office. And for your kind information, we work in the same office. You’re a kind man yaar. Will you not listen to my love story?’ said Rish in an attempt to seduce Udi into the conversation.
‘Story? You call it a story? An idiot loving a myth! No actually, an idiot thinking he loves a myth? Even porn flicks have a better storyline than that!’ Udi snapped as he picked the water bottle and began gulping water.
‘No yaar, it’s not like that. Today I discovered how deep my love is,’ revealed Rish.
‘Pray how deep it is? I hope it’s deep enough to drown yourself? If so, just do it and sleep,’ was Udi’s response as he continued drinking water.
‘Listen yaar. Today I found that even if she needs me after she gets married and has two kids, I will still go for her,’ Rish said as a sheepish smile surfaced on his face.
‘Well, the rate at which you are going, I’m sure that that’s a very likely scenario. I heard she’s getting engaged and that too to some loser from your college itself. I heard someone say that the girl had made a really smart choice. She hooked the second best loser of the college as the biggest loser could never gather courage enough to tell her,’ said Udi.
‘Come on yaar. Don’t say so. I am pretty courageous,’ Rish meekly protested.
‘Oh...oooo. Please tell me about just one act of courage of yours,’ Piyush, silent till then, finally chipped in.
‘Well, I loved her. It takes a lot of courage to love anyone. I did my part, and now she should do hers. A love story can not be one-sided after all.’
Piyush fell down laughing. Udi could not help but give a frustrated smile and heave a sigh. Rish, as usual, smiled in a way that left Udi utterly confused. Was it the smile of a guy who knows he is a loser and is okay with it or of someone who just acts like one? He always wondered.
‘Haah! Sometimes I wonder who the bigger idiot is. You, who rediscover your love each night or we, who sacrifice our sleep to hear about your discovery,’ said Udi.
‘No yaar. I really love her. You know sometimes I wonder what will happen when we meet on our 25th alumni meet.’
‘What can possibly happen?’ Udi said with a frustrated sigh.
‘If she tells me, ‘Rish, you never told me. I was waiting for you to’. I might commit suicide then,’ said Rish in a dramatic tone.
‘Ah, God! Why don’t you tell her right away and save yourself from committing the sin of suicide?’ said Piyush in desperation.
‘Right now, I’ll live for 25 more years. Whereas if I tell her and if she says no, I’ll die right away,’ reasoned Rish.
‘Ah, hell no! God why don’t you take this guy to heaven and save us from murder? I guess I’ll go mad if I stay here for one more minute. I’m going to sleep in the hall,’ said Piyush and walked off with his pillow and blanket. Udi stood there in silence for a while staring at Rish who followed Piyush’s movement out of the room, and finally broke into an idiotic smile.
‘Why don’t you do something about it?’ Udi suggested. ‘What can I possibly do yaar? I tried in college but it did not happen. I think it’s too late now,’ replied Rish.
‘No, no. It’s never too late. You should try at least once. Why don’t you tell Parima?’ Udi insisted.
‘What is the point yaar? Nothing will ever come out of it,’ replied Rish.
‘What will happen? At worst she’ll say no. But then it’s pretty much the same anyway.’
‘I already know she’ll say no. So what purpose will it serve?’ Rish insisted.
‘It’s not serving any purpose anyway. So, why not try and be over with it?’
‘Why, at least I know I could’ve had a chance but did not try. Which is better than knowing I never had one,’ philosophized Rish.

Udi stood there for a while, waiting for Rish to break into his usual smile. But it never happened. For a change his gaze was fixed and his eyes appeared sincere. He wondered if they were moist too. He could not bear the silence as he could feel Rish’s helplessness in it. He left the room in a hurry as Rish took his pillow and started adjusting it.


Attempts Usually Fail@College Get-Together in a Mumbai Restaurant

‘Hi Parima.’
‘Oh, hi Rish. How are you?’ replied Parima with her large black eyes roving all around before settling on Rish’s face.
‘I’m pretty good. Am only three pegs down right now so am good. Two more pegs and only I will be good,’ said Rish with eyes fixed on Parima, as he broke into a wide grin and blood shot into his ears.
‘Hahaha…Ya…ya. Hold yourself. I still remember the day you got drunk in campus and almost convinced me to marry you. God, I was so taken aback. For a moment I thought it was for real before I saw that bastardly smile of yours.’
‘Haha. Yeah, for all you know it might have been for real,’ smiled Rish, his eyes widening as he sipped from his glass.
‘I know you better than that. Achcha, show me what’s in your plate? Curry, my God. Where did you get that? I want it. Do you mind if I take some from your plate?’ Parima said.
‘Only if you excuse me for that night’s behavior,’ said Rish as his shoulders started shaking nervously.
‘No, no. That I’m never going to do. I’ll always remember that and tell your wife that you tried to seduce me,’ said Parima, bursting into laughter with her head falling back as she almost spilled food over Rish.
‘Ok, Ok. Take the curry anyway. Listen Parima, I wanted to talk to you about something,’ said Rish, his tone turning grave. Parima looking straight into his eyes as if to ascertain why, said, ‘Rish, I think I know what you want to say.’
‘You know it?’ blurted Rish, his body frozen and shaking at the same time.
‘Yeah, you’re not the first one. Quite a few have said that to me before. Girls have a stronger sixth sense.’
‘What, what have they said to you before.’
‘That Riyo is not the right guy for me. I can do better than that etc. etc. Were you not going to say the same?’
‘Ammm…yeah…no…not exactly,’ managed Rish. ‘It’s okay. You can be frank. I don’t mind. See Rish, I am not like other girls. I think differently.’
‘Of course you do,’ murmured Rish.
‘I know people say he’s not good looking. Some wonder if he can match my professional success. But are relationships based on career? Are all good-looking and well-to-do couples happy? Isn’t love enough for two people to marry?’
‘Yeah. You are right. Love is enough. It’s good enough,’ said Rish, his head down and his hands fiddling with his glass.
‘So you’ll be the only one meaning it when you tell me what a nice couple we make. Isn’t it?’ she chirped.
‘Yeah, I’ll be genuine,’ he said looking up at her.
The expression on his face puzzled her for a moment and reminded her of something. Something from that drunken night of campus, but she couldn’t figure out why. She caught sight of her friend waving from behind.
‘Achcha listen, I need to catch up with other people. See you later. Call me sometime,’ she said before vanishing in the background.
‘Yeah, sure!’ said Rish to himself as he moved towards a group of his batch mates.


Usual Talk-Part II@A Shared Room in a Mumbai Suburb

‘So, what happened at the party? Did you talk to her?’ asked Udi with Piyush shuffling clothes in the cupboard.
‘Yeah, a lot!’ chuckled Rish, as he bent down to take his shoes off.
‘And did you find out what she thinks of you?’ enquired Udi, settling on the bed looking visibly excited as Piyush readied himself for the response.
‘Not exactly. But I did find something interesting,’ said Rish, glancing at Udi for a moment before busying himself with his shoes.
‘What! What did you find out?’ asked Udi getting increasingly impatient as Piyush held the doors of the cupboard with both his hands.
‘That we both love curry,’ said Rish, finally taking his shoes off and getting up.