PUNIT’S POV
Hang on, I need to stop by this store. Anki wanted me to get some stuff for home. But that doesn’t matter, we can keep talking. Ok, wait. Let me just find a parking space.
Talk about luck, all spaces have been taken up, as usual. Now finding one is going to be a pain in the ass. Oh damn, here we go again with the language. Oh, thank God! There’s one.
At the store now. Man, I love the blast of cold air from the air conditioner on my face each time I walk through this door. Is there anyone else like this or is it just me?
“Good evening, how are you today?” That was the store manager. He kind of knew me pretty well as I stopped by often.
“Awesome like always, you?”
“Wonderful day here!”
“Perfect!”
“Enjoy your shopping,” he said.
“Thanks, I’ll see you around!”
I’m at the pulses & legumes section now. I didn’t have a list with me, didn’t need one either. I knew exactly what we needed.
Okay, where was I? Yes, Anki... where it all began.
Our first meeting wasn’t so... well... pleasant. I was in the 5th grade and she was too. When she walked in on me, I was standing on the grounds somewhere under a big tree and sobbing like a girl. Two of her classmates were already around and trying to console me, but it wasn’t working, I just wanted to go home.
“What happened? Why’s he crying?” she asked curiously.
“That bully Sibal beat him up,” said one of the girls named Rachel.
“What? For what?” she was irked.
“Does he even need a reason? He’s the son of the chairman, isn’t that enough? Who’s going to question him?”
“The other day he and his cronies beat up that boy Ankur,” spat Vaidehi, the other girl, “and now he’s at home. Apparently, he suffered some ligament or muscle tear!”
“Why do they even allow it!? It’s bullshit!”
And that’s the first time I set eyes on her. Thanks to all the tear build-up in my eyes, my vision was a bit blurry. She was a little chubby, kind of cute, had pigtails and a guitar strapped over her back. She was a little tall for a girl, in fact, she was way taller than the other girls. Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I was a newcomer there? I’d just joined that school a week or two ago, whereas, she was there for years. And I was already hating it. I don’t even know how she was getting along! But maybe, she wasn’t being picked on much. Good for her!
I missed my old friends, all the fun and the jokes. Whereas over here, all that I could expect was teachers who wouldn’t even care sixpence about you, snooty classmates, and bullies like Sibal Mukherjee! God, I hated him like anything!
In just a week’s time, I had become his favorite target. His justifications for picking on me were silly like he found me funny? Too tall and lanky? Or because I had pimples on my face? Or he thought that my shorts were too short? That’s ridiculous!
Anyways, I was crying. Like really hard. And I wonder if I’d looked funny to her because I was in a pair of shorts and had knobby knees.
The girls just stared at me helplessly, not knowing what to do.
“Don’t cry, yaar,” said Rachel pitifully.
“Yeah, you’re a tough guy, you don’t have to cry over his silly jokes.” That was Vaidehi’s share.
I wasn’t sure why exactly I was crying. Was it because it hurt where he hit me? Or because I felt humiliated? Or because I was scared? Or because I wanted to run away from there? All that I knew was that I didn’t like it there. Not at all.
As for Anki, she just kept staring at me. Even through my tears, I could see the inferno in her eyes. She wanted to kill. Like a terrorist.
“Where are you going?” asked Vaidehi as Anki whipped around and marched away.
“Principal!” she answered. “Enough is enough!”
***
PUNIT’S POVOkay, got what I need, and now I’m headed home!We’re planning to cook some khichdi tonight. And she’s a great cook, have I told you? Give her any ingredient, she’ll make something great out of it, and one look is all that she takes to get ideas.So, where were we? Ah, yes! That day, she headed to the principal’s office to complain. Well, it didn’t work. Ask me why I’m not surprised. That guy was a chicken and didn’t have the spine to lift a finger against the chairman’s son. Well, I can't blame him. He has to save his ass. He and he alone must, because, no one else will save it for him.So, one afternoon, as I was taking a cautious stroll in the school grounds, (cautious because, you know... this bully Sibal would be lurking in the corner waiting to bash me up) I chanced upon a ruck
Note: Going forward, the story will be in Punit’s POV until specified. I don’t know why the heck I was following her, I mean, like what exactly did I want to find out? Beats me. Maybe it was the way she walked around with that guitar strapped over her back. It made her look so special as if she wasn’t already. I learned that she took music lessons when the rest of the school pigged out on their lunch. How fab is that?But I’ll admit it, I was shit scared. From the way I was going on, I was damn sure, someday, I was going to get caught tailing her, by someone or the other. And if it was going to be her who caught me red-handed, well, God save me. I’d seen the way she’d mauled Sibal. She was strong and didn’t give a damn about anything or anyone. Yet, something told me that she’d have spared me. She would, right? Um...So, one day, it happened. She c
It was the annual school fest and I had big plans. Really big plans!I’ll be honest, I was shit scared. For one, people were for sure going to laugh me out the gates. Two, Sibal would laugh me out to space. The very thought of it made me shudder. But it was now or never. It was hard finding the stuff I required for this feat, but I did, and I just had one more thing to do.“So, what will it be?” asked a senior girl sitting at the desk. She was entering the names for the fest in the notebook before her.“Fancy dress,” I stated and moved out after making sure that she got it right. I literally strutted down the corridors, as if I’d just enlisted myself in the army. Well, it was as good as that.Yup, fancy dress. That’s what I had signed up for. I had a never before unique idea up my sleeve, but I was scared.As I strolled down the third-flo
D-day was here and Punit’s knees wouldn’t stop buckling. Oh, how he wished that Anki was there. A few more minutes was all that he had to face his greatest fear: the stage.All morning, they’d practiced that song together, the one they were planning to perform, and he wasn’t at his best. In fact, he was at his worst. He went off-tune and off-beat consistently, irritating the devil out of her.“What the hell are you doing!!!” she blasted.“S-sorry,” he mumbled.“What ‘sorry’? You were so good yesterday. So, what happened now?” she questioned angrily.Punit pondered over for a while before speaking. “I don’t think I can do this,” he told her queasily.At that, she gnashed her teeth. “I swear, I’ll smash this guitar over your head! Don’t you dare fuck up a
Post her solo performance, Ankita hurried down the corridors in search of Punit. She was kind of worried and hoped that he was okay. Two, their duet was up right after the fancy dress competition. She wondered if he was in the state to do it. She hoped he was. But knowing him, she highly doubted that.She was about to whip past the empty classroom around the corner on the top-most floor and take the flight of stairs to the grounds when she saw him huddled inside.“Punit?” She walked in through the door.He looked up from the terrible state that he was in. He was a mess. The kohl around his eyes was smudged from crying, his face was pale and sweaty and his hair was all roughed up. Sniffling, he ran a finger under his nose and looked away.“What?” She shrugged, completely shocked at his state.“I suck,” he blurted in a clogged voice.&ldqu
Oh, how she wished that looks could kill! Because, by now, Punit should have been glared to death by Ankita.They were on stage performing their duet, and Punit was clearly messing it up. He was offbeat, off-tune, and everything else that could possibly ruin a good song.What the hell is he doing!!!!?She thought desperately. She badly wanted to shut him up. But he kept going faster and faster that the audience was in splits. He finished up much before the song was actually supposed to end and bolted out of there.For the sake of it, some of them applauded, but most of them were hooting and howling.Ankita felt humiliated. Never before had she faced something like this! People had only admired her after every performance, but this...! She swore to God that when she caught up with him, she would pound his head into the wall.***Much later, when Punit had fina
Punit scrunched up his face and stayed under the table, hoping that they would spare him. He didn’t have the guts to face her, not after promising a stellar performance and giving muck in return.“Punit, drop it, man, she’s gone,” came Vaidehi’s voice after a while.He pulled out, his face red and sweaty from bending over for so long. “She’s gone?”“Yup!”He sighed, feeling so flustered. “See! What did I tell you!!? She’s still mad at me! Or else she would have talked to me. But she didn’t! See!!!”“Why do you want her to make the first move? Even you can talk to her, right?”“And get myself killed? No way!”“She won’t do anything,” replied Vaidehi.“Right!” His words were dripping
“I seriously thought you’d blast at him,” Vaidehi admitted on their way back to class. Ankita chuckled and strolled along. “Are you seriously letting him sing again?” she asked curiously. “Hmm? Well, yeah,” Ankita shrugged. “Why though? Won’t he mess it up?” “He might. But let’s see. He’s got a great voice. And I want that. I want that for my songs. It’s the kind of voice I’d always wanted.” Ankita looked dreamy. “He’d sound fab especially for the latest one you wrote,” said Vaidehi excitedly. Ankita always told her about the songs she used to write and compose. It was her dream to be a filmmaker one day and she made sure that knew the ins and outs of the art, from story to screen to music, everything. “True! I can’t wait to hear that in his voice! Now, if he’d only stop freaking out!” “What’s your pla