Page 15 of Someone to Love

‘Nili, as in the colour?’ Atharv asked, taken aback.

‘Dad couldn’t get over them,’ she said, laughing and pointing a finger at her eyes.

‘From what I know dads never get over their daughters,’ said Atharv. ‘I am Atharv.’

‘Nice to meet you, Atharv.’

‘Nice to meet you, Nili.’

As they walked in silence, Nili, fed up of the attention she got from boys all the time, wondered why this boy felt so different from the rest already.

As they walked in silence, Atharv told himself not to be stupid. He didn’t quite know what he was hoping for, but he knew that this wasn’t the right time for it. His heart was not ready. Not just yet.

It was in the beginning of their second year that she first saw her, though of course, she had heard a lot about her by then. Koyal was looking at some pictures from an event at IMI and her eyes fell on a stunning girl standing next to Atharv. Tall and fair, with impossibly delicate features, this girl could easily have been an actress or a model.

‘Whoa!’ she exclaimed and pointed a finger at the girl in the picture. ‘Who’s this, Atharv?’

‘Ahh, that’s Nili,’ he said carelessly and went back to his book.

Koyal stared at the picture for a few seconds, lost in thought. If for six days a week he sees a girl this pretty, how much of an eyesore I must be for him on Sundays.

‘You never told me Nili is this pretty,’ Koyal said, wondering why she was feeling so shocked and, well, cheated.

‘Yes, she is pretty,’ he said with a quick smile.

‘She is standing next to you in every photograph,’ Koyal mumbled, continuing to stare at the smiling girl in the photograph and thinking hard.

After a disastrous midterm examination – You never studied, Koyal, of course you were going to flunk! No, Atharv, no one studied, but I was the only one who flunked! – Koyal decided she wanted to get drunk.

One Sunday evening, Atharv took Koyal drinking to a disc he chose after meticulous research. Her first night of binge-drinking, thought Koyal, giggling excitedly as she downed one drink after the other. The more she drank, the more absurd her antics became. At one point, she climbed on to the tabletop and then tried to pull Atharv, who had been watching her with a resigned look on his face, too. At first Atharv was horrified, but Koyal was dancing with such abandon that, as he watched her, he began to smile. He was quite lost in the carefree beauty Koyal radiated that he did not quite notice it when her expression changed. When, a moment later, she had thrown up all over the table, Atharv woke up from his dreamlike state, startled. By the time he reached her, she was laughing and, for some reason, Atharv started laughing too.

The manager appeared, his face red, and ordered them off the premises of the discotheque. Atharv had to look at Koyal only once for her to start laughing. Atharv tried hard not to, but he was soon doubling up with laughter too. The irate manager threatened police action and that made the two of them laugh harder. It was only when they saw the bouncers heading towards them that they sobered up and left. By this time, Koyal was spent. She was slurring Amitabh Bachchan dialogues and giggling nonstop.

Finally, at three in the morning and with the help of Koy

al’s horrified roommate, Mayuri, Atharv sneaked her into the girls’ hostel. Mayuri watched in silence as Atharv tucked Koyal into bed. ‘Sleep now,’ he whispered to her, gently patting her forehead.

‘It was fab,’ she said in a hoarse voice.

‘It was fab,’ he agreed.

She smiled weakly, he shook his head.

‘Sing me a lullaby,’ murmured Koyal after a pause.

‘What?’

Koyal burst out laughing. ‘Just kidding,’ she said sleepily and Atharv grinned.

Mayuri watched from a distance as Atharv continued to gently pat Koyal’s forehead. Koyal was still looking at him when her eyes, heavy with sleep, finally closed. Atharv stood by her bed, still and unmoving, his hand lingering on her forhead, gazing at Koyal’s sleeping form for a long time.

Mayuri watched the little scene in silence, afraid to even breathe, should that innocuous act disrupt the calm that was surrounding the two in a haze of something very beautiful and delicate.

‘Are you sure you guys are not in love with each other?’ Mayuri asked Koyal the next morning.

‘Ugh.’ Koyal made a face. ‘That’s too many words in one sentence for me to understand!’

Mayuri laughed in spite of herself and looked indulgently at her roomie. When she had met Koyal first, Mayuri had, like the rest of the batch, taken her to be a spoilt girl, easily given to strong emotions and frequent violent outbursts. She couldn’t understand why a sensible guy like Atharv invested any time in her. However, with time, as she got to know Koyal, her weird ways and her kind heart, Mayuri was forced to change her opinion.