They were in a menswear outlet, looking for clothes that would suit Praveen. He had just bought a pair of shirts and pants that he would wear later for the casting of the photo shoot. Just a casual shirt and cotton pants. Now the official dress for the party if there was an invitation to launch the first film.Praveen looked restless in the shop after so many shirts he had seen, none of the prices match. All expensive according to the size of his pocket.Why did Ashita invite me in here? Whispered his heart."Praveen, this shirt suits you," said Zoya, taking a maroon shirt made of soft fabric from the display hanger. Praveen looked at the shirt. It's good and looked classy. But his eyes were more on the price tag. It said 3000 rupees. Crazy! Expensive, he hissed. Almost a third of his first honorarium."Good! But I couldn't stand the price. Let's find something else!" "All the clothes in this shop are expensive, Ashita," Praveen said in a half whisper."But this is good for you!""I
They looked at each other. A few seconds, then Zoya turned her gaze in another direction. Even though her heartbeat was soaring faster, she tried to control the situation."Calm down Zoya! There's no way Sunil knows you with this appearance. And if he approaches you, just pretend you don't know him!" She calmed down herself.Zoya looked him like she's seeing a stranger, and continued to step inside the shop without looking back. She hoped Sunil didn't meet her. She didn't even look back. Completely ignorant of Sunil.Five minutes later she was back in the fitting room area. Apparently Praveen had left the fitting room."How about it, Praveen? Did you fit the shirt?"asked Zoya. " Do you like it?""Yes, but I won't buy it. Too expensive for me," Praveen answered frankly."Then I will buy it for you, Praveen!" Zoya said and smiling sweetly."Ashita! I...." Before Praveen finished speaking, Zoya immediately cut him off,"I bought it for you! Please don't refuse. If you do, I'm leaving now
But his instincts couldn't stay still. Just as the ricksaw left, he ran over to the other auto ricksaw that was parked waiting for passengers. He darterd into it and ordered the bajaj driver to follow thericksaw which Praveen and Zoya riding riding."Which one?" asked the driver, looking around for the bajaj that Sunil was referring to. There were many vehicles passing by."That Bajaj!" said Sunil pointing to the bajaj in which Zoya was getting away."Where is it going?""Don't ask too many questions! Just follow where it goes!"No asking again, the driver started the bajaj. There was a deafening sound of the engine, and white smoke billowed from the exhaust. The three-wheeled vehicle sped up and started to chase. Because it was a little behind, the driver started to increase his speed, faster. He easily overtook the other vehicles in front one by one, leaving Sunil reeling behind. When he tried to overtake the minibus that was blocking in front of him, the driver slammed the handleb
They had seen three different rented rooms, but none of them matched. Two were too bad and the location was not far from the recycling place. Lots of sacks filled with used goods on the side of the road making for poor access to the rented house. The rent money was also not comparable to the facilities. Praveen was not interested let alone Zoya.They had entered the wrong way, they shouldn't have gone through this alley. From the outside, it didn't look like there was a recycling place for used goods inside.And the other one, it turned out to be a special rent for women. Actually it was not easy to find a place to live in Dharavi even though this was a slum area."Where do we go next?" asked Zoya."Aren't you tired, Ashita?" Praveen asked glancing at the girl. Zoya shook her head even though her forehead looked wet with sweat."Or you are hungry maybe?""A little. But I can bear it. We'll search again, but not anywhere near here. The area over here is worse I think. Totally not for
Two servings of biryani were served plus two glasses of orange juice. Seeing the large piece of chicken thigh perched on top of the yellow rice made Praveen even more hungry. He took a sip of the juice first to moisten his throat and then said,"Let's eat. I'm getting hungry,""But I still want to hear from you, Prav!" Zoya half insisted. Praveen stared at her."You just called me, what?""Prav! Why?"Praveen smiled. There was a blush on his face."I'm glad you call me that. This is the first time someone calling my name like that. Sounds fun too."Zoya smiled back. She also wondered why suddenly mentioned Praveen's name by shortening it."Come on, tell me about yourself even if we want to eat. I want to know!""I already told you! There's nothing more to tell," said Praveen starting to eat. Of course he didn't want to say that his mother raised him by selling vegetables at the Chandrapur market because his father had died of TB. Or how he worked in a pottery factory to raise money to
They had been circling in the mall for more than two hours, but Avni, didn't want to leave the mall. Sunil had also complied with her desire to buy dress. The girl was good at choosing expensive clothes. But she wasn't happy and unsatisfied."Where are we going next? Eat, done! Shopping already! What else? Aren't you tired?""Ah, honey! It's as if you don't even know girls! If a girl goes to the mall, she won't be tired even if it's just window shopping.""But you've been shopping for clothes, haven't you?" asked Sunil looking at the girl.Avni did look beautiful, but thanks to the makeup on her face. He didn't know if the face without makeup, Sunil was not so sure."Let's walk around," said Avni."I'm tired, Avni!""You're tired of walking like this? How about we watch a movie to relieve your tiredness?" suggested the girl, but sounded more sulky."I'm not in the mood this time," Sunil refused."Come on! You can sleep while watching!""Sleeping while watching? How come?" asked Sunil
The sun was already leaning west, four o'clock in the afternoon. Praveen still hadn't found a place for his new rent even though he had been touring here and there with Zoya. The place as his wishes was full of all, nothing was empty.Dharavi was indeed the most densely populated place in the world. The area which was only 2 km square meters inhabited by more than one million people. You could imagine how crowded people were there. Although the buildings were mostly semi-permanent, but one room could be filled with five to ten people. They slept like sardines. Most of them were workers trying to save on rent so they could raise money to send back home. Usually those who had rented didn't care how many people live in one room. What was clear that every month they receive money according to what they have set.Not surprisingly, usually the room doubles as the kitchen as well. Every inch of space was so valuable, and utilized optimally.It's stuffy, maybe that's the impression that came
The room looked dim, but it could still be seen it was empty. The man immediately looked for the switch on the wall and turned on the light. In an instant it became brighter.Only a loose room with one small room which may be a bathroom that doubles as a toilet. At the far end, there was a door leading to a small balcony and a window.The size of the room was no more than four by five meters. For one or two occupants it may be more than adequate, as long as there was not a lot of furniture.It was pretty clean too, with plain walls with no scribbles or poster marks."How is it? Do you like this room?" asked the man."I like this room. Pretty clean," even Zoya answered. Praveen sayid nothing.Of course, compared to renting in densely populated Dharavi, this was much better. More representative and adequate. Moreover, there were bathroom and toilet facilities inside, of course they would not mix with other residents. It's just that the pocket was not yet reachable."This room was just v