Junak Baruah wants to win the prestigious short film competition in his university. But with hundreds of participants and a stellar jury on board, winning means making a film that's never been made before.
And that means breaking the rules and taki...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The locally brewed alcohol was really strong.
Junak woke up to a splitting headache, with blinding light strewn over his face from the windows – the thin curtains did little to keep the sunlight out. His body felt stiff from sleeping on a new bed, especially one with such a thin mattress.
As he groaned and made a desperate attempt to shield his eyes, his fingers fell on a piece of paper that was stuck to his forehead. He pulled it off. It was a yellow sticky note with neat small words scribbled on it. Junak had to squint to read it –
You're sucha lousy drunk, I never NOT have fun watching you like this. Anyway, wake UPP!!!! Niri and I are going out. xoxo
Scoffing, he crumpled the note and threw it away. He then slung an arm over his eyes and let out a sigh. Hangovers were by no means new to him but Banhi's comment about him being a lousy drunk did raise a bit of anxiety. Especially when he remembered that a certain curly-haired dude was there.
Pulling himself out of bed was a chore, and coupled with the fact that the bathroom was located outside, a few metres away from the main house, and the water was only a few degrees above the freezing point, Junak wished he could just sleep the day away. He couldn't of course; he had work to do and his grandparents to impress.
When he was finally done, he found his grandfather sitting on a large wooden chair on the porch, reading a newspaper. Bright sunlight poured across the lawn, lapping over the porch as well. Junak felt the warmth seep into his bones as he approached his grandfather. "Good morning, koka."
"Morning?" the man said without looking up from the newspaper. Though he seemed to be reprimanding Junak, there was no displeasure or hostility in his voice. "Do you know what time is it?"
It was 11 am. Still morning according to Junak's schedule. "Sorry, koka. I had a nice nap."
"Your friends are already out and about." He closed the newspaper, folding it neatly. "They are really nice girls. Very spirited."
"Yeah."
"Come, sit with me. Did you see your grandma on your way?" Junak nodded. "Good, then Priti will be bringing us breakfast."
The us got to Junak. "You didn't have breakfast yet?" he asked as he sat on a chair next to the older man.
"Why, I was waiting for you!"
Looking back, perhaps Junak would realise he should've felt love and warmth at this, or felt guilty for making the old man wait for him. But at that point, all he felt was irritation. Who starved just to have a shared meal, especially when the other person had no idea they were being waited on? Either his grandfather was too dumb or this was some ploy to make him feel bad; Junak did not like either of the possibilities.
