TRE(3)

“63 again”, I thought to myself - dis is the 4^th time that I am flunking. “What’s wrong with me? During my engg degree I was among d top 30 in class (ok, so d class strength was 35), but I never used to fail.” Maintaining a CGPA of 4 was now a concern for me. Neil, Shagun, Varun were all 5 pointers. Neil and Varun did not say anything. Sometimes its gd that ppl don’t say anythng and let time fill the gap. ”Cheer up, don’t worry.”, said Shagun with an amiable smile.

“Again?”, said Ananya (much less amiably) after seeing my not-so-charming face. Ananya was in the elite group of toppers in her batch. Clearly, she was upset, more than I. Maybe she was egoistic, she had a problem telling her friends that her bf is a totally useless moron (I had to agree with her on dis). I am good at nothing. ”Cheer up, lets catch some coffee”, I said. ”Shut up”, she said. Now this is weird - I flunked and she was behaving as if she had flunked, maybe this is the love for me dats why she is upset. Guys do get carried away when dey r in love, don’t they? Dey start assuming things. ”Okie, from now onwards, I am in charge of your studies.”, completed Ananya. ”Aye aye cap’n, but let me tell u that I am a bad student, I do naughty stuff all d time ma’am”, I told her, followed by a wink and a smirk. ”Dat v vl see”, Ananya said, before I started to daydream of me as SRK and Ananya as Sushmita Sen (MAI HOON NA) and both of us doing dat rain song.

I hated my school to d core, I never liked going to d skool (like a normal child) but if der was a teacher like Ananya, I bet that d literacy rate in our country would touch the sky. All the guys would agree with me on dis, I mean if der’s a hot teacher why d fck would ppl bunk lectures. A 100% attendance would be marked if d hot teacher is der. I personally feel that the HRD ministry should change d eligibilty criteria, instead of 60%, dey should make 36-24-36. Anyway, Ananya was a gd teacher, she use to xplain things to me very nicely (teaching I mean). I precisely remember dat day, she was in a red top and black knee length skirt. Waow she was looking amazing. Hott. I simply couldn’t stop staring at her and she was blushing all d time. It started off as a joke but one thing led to another and we moulded in to one body and one soul (too cheesy I know). I never imagined in my wildest dream dat I would lose my virginity before 40 and dat too to a gal like Ananya. Lying der, I thought I had everything. The most beautiful gal, very gd friends, not so gd marks and thodha-bahut paisa. However, as rightly sd by smone, assumptions r bad to have. That was d silence before d storm.

Me and ananya were enjoying a coffee after having our regular teacher-student class. “Ask your friend Shagun to act normal.”, Ananya said, “Rishabh is nt a toy of hers”, she completed. I pretended to ignore wt she was saying. I didn’t want to get in to dis. Shagun and Rishabh had again had a fight. Now dis is wt happens if ur friends are a couple, it tends to affect ur own relationship. ”Bloody Rishabh, he had to make Shagun’s life hell and top of dat cos of his chutiyagiri my gf is upset.”, I sd to myself. “Are you listening or not?”, asked Ananya. ”Yeah baba, anyway leave it na? I heard der’s a nice hill station nearby, dey provide small cosy huts, we vl go der dis weekend, ok?”, I said with d most innocent smile dat I can put up (which is equivalent to Rahul Mahajan’s smile - wtever it can be described as). ”You always think abt dat only, when vl u be serious?” Said Ananya, before getting up nd going. “Ananya wait, wait.”, but before I could complete it, she had already disappeared. Dumbstruck, I sat and finished my 35rs worth of coffee. ”A lot can happen over coffee”, was written on d coffee house. I totally buy dat. Just when I was about to leave, I heard, ”Hey wats with Shagun, she seems to be upset.” It was Neil. He looked kinda worried. ”Regular fight man”, I sd. ”Wats the fckng problem now? Must be dat scummbag Rishabh’s fault only”. The tone in which Neil said that clearly showed his animosity towards Rishabh. ”Let it be, cos of dat, even Ananya is pissed with me”. I said. ”Let’s go for a smoke.”, sd Neil. ”But I just had a coffee”, I retorted. ”Shut up, get up u sissy, chal..u want a feel of my foot up your ass?”, asked Neil. That was it, I simply followed him after that.

QUATTRO(4)

Gazibo(Infy smoker zone) that night was full of stressed Infoscions, who were der to take out der frustration. One puff of smoke followed by gaalis to d system/educator/watchman/anythng really, was the normal routine there. To my surprise, or shall I say shock, I noticed Ananya sitting there with Rishabh. Now it’s ok for friends to sit together but holding hands with that bastard’s shoulder resting on her’s (head resting on her shoulders?) was a horrifying sight for me…d gal u love with d guy u hate is a terrifying combination. Neil, on spotting dem sd, ”That bastard must be crying, asshole saala, wt acting. I don’t know how ur gal takes all dat crap frm him”. I didn’t know this either cos dis was d first time that I spotted her with him so close. I didn’t know wt to say or how to react but I thought that she is a gd frnd of his, just like I was good friends with Shagun. “Naah, der’s nothing”, I tried to convince myself.

“Let’s go and chk on Shagun”, Neil sd, breaking my thoughts about Ananya nd Rishabh. ”Okie, lets go”, we headed towards her hostel. ”Come down”, I messaged Shagun. She was in a pink tee and pyjamas. She was looking stunning. Sometimes I wonder how anybody can be rude to her. On seeing us, she almost broke down. ”Why r u still with dat guy, he doesn’t respect u.”, sd neil with a concerned look. ”I am tired, I don’t want to talk abt it.”, said Shagun. ”Pls stop running away frm dis, u hv to face it shagun”. Neil continued, ”Shut up Neil, mind ur own business”, sd Shagun interrupting Neil, ”I need some time to think, I vl talk to u later Ranveer.” Then she sd bye to me nd left and made sure dat she doesn’t make eye contact with Neil. Neil’s face was like Sreeshanth’s face was after getting whacked by Harbhajan.

“Cheer up, she didn’t mean anything”, I said, seeing Neil’s insular (meaning check kar, I’m not too sure) face. Somehow I had always felt that Neil had had a thing for Shagun and Shagun did too. She once said to me that out of all of us she finds Neil cute and that he was a gentle guy (to which I sd LOL). However, his Casanova type behaviour was of concern to Shagun, and what could she do, this arse never did confess nythng but I am sure that he has some feelings for her. They had these vibes between dem similar to a bollywood story where after 10 songs, 1 millionaire dad (who wants his son – the ‘hero’ to be d CEO, bullcrap), 5 fights, 2 airport scenes and, if lucky, 1 smooch (smooches, in case of Emraan Hashmi) d hero and heroine find out dat dey r made for each other. I hoped that dis also ended d sm way, with a small change dat I get to kill Rishabh. As soon as dese thoughts left my mind, I could hear an inner voice saying ”khaana,khaana,khaana”. Oh dat was d bhukaad in me. Soon Varun joined in and we finished our much anticipated dinner. On d way back I met Ananya. ”Where were u, why is ur cell switched off?”, asked Ananya, to which I casually replied, ”shyaad battery nahi hoga”, making sure I don’t gv a hint dat I hv seen her with that ass rishabh holding hands. ”Where were u Ananya?”, I continued. ”Oh I was with a frnd frm class, she had some queries, so was helping her with dat”. Clearly she was lying, I was totally exasperated but I wanted to gv an equable look in which I was miserably failing. I couldn’t understand why. “Let it be.”, I sd to myself. I waved goodbye to her and headed back to hostel to hv a gd sleep after hvng a eventful day nd thnkng abt why d heck she was lying nd also about d module xams. Two days later, what I feared came true, I flunked again. Now to be in Infosys I now hv to get very gd scores in compre(main xam). Ananya as usual was upset with me nd to top dat also due to Shagun nd Rishabh. They again had a fight. Wats wrong with them? Why do dey always fight? Dey should simply call of deir so called relationship. This is what I thought. ”Why can’t u pass, everyone else can”, askd Ananya. ”I don’t know, maybe I am nt made for dis”, I answered. ”Shut up, der’s nthng like dat”. ”Educators only tell when u go to productions u vl hv to learn everythng from scratch, den wats d use of dis??”, I questioned her. ”Don’t gv such excuses, life is nt abt speaking, its abt doing thngs, u shld first be true to urself”, sd Ananya before I interrupted, ”Right, u shld be true to urself not to others.”. ”What u mean?”, retorted ananya. ”Wt d hell were u dng dat day at Gazibo holding dat bastard rishabh’s hand??”, I asked her. ”So u r spying on me? Ranveer u r hopeless, u don’t trust me. At least Rishabh trusts me and listens to me unlike u who doesn’t gv a damm about wt I am saying”. ”Don’t compare me with dat motherfucker, I warn u Ananya”. ”…and don’t u use such foul language with me, and don’t dare to address my friend like dat, I warn u Ranveer”. It began to sound like dose saas bahu sagas which are never ending with each one of us having a go (or taking a dig) at each other and it ended with Ananya saying, ”I think we should take a break, I can’t go on like dis with u”, continued Ananya, ”I want my space Ranveer.”, she said with tears trickling down her face. Dat didn’t stop me and I sd, ”Damn it Ananya just admit that u r ashamed of me, more importantly of my marks which I feel is no way to judge a person”. ”Get lost, u hv gone mad. I don’t want to talk to u.”, completed Ananya before storming off to her hostel with tears in her eyes. I headed towards my hostel. Dat night I hd a lot to thnk about, thoughts abt Ananya and the compre danced in my mind.

I could hardly sleep, I was turning left and right. Agitated, I thought I vl sort dis out with Ananya first. I looked for my cell nd dialled her number. D phone rang, Himesh Reshammiya singing “tera tera tera surror”. “Damn, dis guy is everywhere.”, I thought to myself. Anyways no one responded to the ring. I thought it must be in silent mode, so I decided to try her hostel. To my surprise, no one answered. Ananya used to live alone as her roommate had just completed training and had left for her assigned DC(development centre). I dialed it again, the only sound I could hear repeatedly was d sound of d ring. I checked my watch, it was 12 AM. Where could she be? I decided to try calling her again, dis time on the cellphone, but again all I could hear was “tera tera tera surror”. Den I decided to take a walk thinking dat she might be out der or maybe in a foodcourt, but at d sm time my blood was pumping up thinking dat she must be with Rishabh. Here again I was wrong. She was nowhere to be found. As I was strolling, I met Rohan, a classmate of ours was who had just finished slogging his ass off, I mean after studying.”Dude, u r here? I thought u also went with dose guys”, said Rohan, to my surprise. ”Yeah, I am very much here, and which guys r u talking about?”, I asked. ”Your gal and Rishabh, I saw dem leaving d campus on bike some time ago. Ananya was kind of sad dude, everythng okay ?”, he asked. I was stunned beyond words (just like bobby darling’s parents would have felt when dey cm to knew abt his/her gender), felt betrayed (just like every international music director feels when dey see PRITAM’s name in credits) and was ready to kick Rishabh’s ass (just like Wayne Bridge wanted to when he cm to knew abt John Terry and his wife). ”Oh okay, I mean she is okay. Just a regular fight, dude. Anyways thanx.“, I sd before I waved him goodbye. Full on charged, I thought I vl gv a call to Rishabh nd have my say. ”What d fuck is he doing with my gf when he is supposed to be with Shagun and work on their relationship? How can she do dis to me?”, filled my mind. I dialled Rishabh’s number. At the first ring, he didn’t pick up but at the second, an unfamilair voice said, ”hello”. I was not sure whose voice dat was but wanted d voice on d other end to feel how angry I was. I said, “Motherfucker, u r going to get pasted”. Dat same trembling voice again said, ”Hello, hello, wats wrong with u?”. “Don’t you hv d guts to speak to me?”, I said, frustrated. Though it was clear, it took me some seconds to realize dat the person on the other end was not Rishabh.

“Arre yaar,hindi mai bolu? English nahi maloom?”, said the voice with a underlying South Indian accent. ”Kaun ho tum? Rishabh kahaan hai?”, I asked. It was a long pause before he sd, ”Tum Risabh ko maloom?”, dats d way most South Indians ask.”Haan“, I said though I wanted to say naah I can’t be dat bastard’s friend. With a sympathetic tone he continued, ”Achha, tumahara dost ka accident hua hai, uske saath ek ladki hai, dono bahut serious hai, jaldi se Columbia Asia aa jao.”, said the voice sound before disconnecting. I didn’t know how to react. It took some time for me to digest what had happened. My face turned all white from red, the earth slipped out from under me. Flinching, I fell on my knees and a tear trickled down my chin…..