We are Forever ft. Us

Voices of reasons and otherwise

December, 2013

In the same flight, across from Rohit, Virat and Jinks who had their heads together, whispering, Jaddu was sighing deeply.

"You have no sense of humour, Ash."

"It's not funny to tell lies and traumatize your friend so much that he couldn't sleep for three days," said Ash severely,

Shikhar went off into another peal of laughter, clapping Bhuvi on the shoulder.

"But Bhuvi said he forgave me," wheedled Jaddu. "Didn't you, Bhuvi?"

"Yes," said Bhuvi, albeit a little unhappily.

"HAH!" Jaddu roared.

"For heaven's sake!" Rohit called across the aisle. "You'll give someone a heart-attack someday."

"He already gave Bhuvi one," Shikhar said, still choking with laughter as Rohit turned back to his companions to resume his whispering. "I can't believe you fell for Jaddu's story."

"I am a great story teller," said Jaddu in a very off-handed tone.

"He is," Bhuvi had to admit.

"However good he is," snorted Shikhar, "how could he make you believe he's possessed by the spirits of Jamnagar's unrested—?"

"Unrested victims of the zombie apocalypse of the 17th century," obliged Jaddu.

Ash snorted, too.

"He screamed like he was being tortured," protested Bhuvi. "He did sound like an unrested soul."

"How many unrested souls have you heard in your life?" asked Ash.

"One—" Bhuvi paused. "None, as it turns out."

Jaddu chuckled. "Want to hear the full story?"

"No," said Ash.

"Yes," said Shikhar.

"Bhuvi," Ash said distinctly.

"What?" asked Bhuvi, blankly.

Ash gritted his teeth. "Tell them you don't want to hear the story again," he hissed.

Jaddu gave Bhuvi a very sinister look.

"Oh!" said Bhuvi quickly. "Oh, I wouldn't—mind, I mean—it was a good story—"

"If I didn't want to hear the story myself, I'd call Virat and complain that you're bullying Bhuvi, Jaddu," said Shikhar.

"Better avoid it, it'll be a bad beginning to our first South Africa tour together," said Jaddu, sensibly, Ash thought, because Virat did not take kindly to people bullying Bhuvi. Of course, when Virat himself emotionally blackmailed the kid, it didn't count as bullying.

"The story," persisted Shikhar.

"Right, right." Jaddu raised his palms in a grand gesture. "I will not keep my admiring audience waiting any longer. So the story starts on the 6th of the 6th month of the year 1666 where a spaceship of zombies descended upon earth, and happened to land in my hometown Jamnagar."

Ash made a huffy noise. "Obviously it lands in Jamnagar."

"It did," said Jaddu, nodding. "It did indeed. There were 66 zombies in the spaceship, and within 6 days, they had spread through the entire town, hunting for souls to steal."

"Whoa," said Shikhar.

"And not just any soul, mind you," whispered Jaddu. Bhuvi, Shikhar and Ash all leaned in a little automatically. "First, they took the souls with birthdays on on 6th June. Hi, Jinks!" he shouted suddenly, making his audience jump.

"Hi," Jinks called back.

"Be glad you weren't born in 1666 in Jamnagar," hollered Shikhar.

"Er...all right," said Jinks dubiously.

Jaddu was back to whispering. "There were only four such souls. Next, they looked for souls born on the 6th day of any month..."

"So you have to thankful yourself, that you weren't born in 1666," said Shikhar.

Jaddu flashed a creepy smile. "As it turns out, not. By the time they had taken the souls of everyone related to the number 6, there came an almighty storm in Gujarat, that destroyed nearly everything and freed the souls."

Ash gave his loudest snort yet.

Jaddu appeared not to hear him. "The souls were freed, but they could not return to their body, and they could return to be assimilated with the universe, and they have been roaming around ever since, searching for peace. And every year, they catch people who are born in Jamnagar on the 6th day of the 6th month to possess to get a temporary semblance of peace. Till their victim dies, and they have to wait until the 6th day of the 6th month for new souls to possess—"

"And if no one is born a particular year on 6th June, they look for the next closest thing—people born on 6th day of the 12th month—December," blurted out Bhuvi, "which was how they got Jaddu."

Jaddu morphed his face into a funereal expression. Shikhar and Ash stared at Bhuvi.

"Do you, or do you not realize it's a story Jaddu made up to scare you, Bhuvi?" Ash asked in exasperation.

Bhuvi went red. "I—I forget it sometimes. The way he says it." He turned to Jaddu. "But you could have told me you were joking sooner. I couldn't stop worrying about your health."

"I know." Jaddu winked.

"And the prankster, as always, stays unremorseful," declared Shikhar.

Ash turned to Bhuvi, shaking his head. "You should seriously learn to take a stand against Jaddu and Virat."

Bhuvi mumbled something.

"And you," Jaddu told Ash, "need to develop a sense of humour."

"I laugh at funny things," said Ash.

"You didn't laugh when that girl from the crowd last month called you Ashley," pointed out Shikhar.

Bhuvi hid a smile as Ash gave them a deadpan and pretended to be going to sleep. Jaddu and Shikhar laughed and laughed and laughed till the coach yelled at them to stop.

Shikhar's phone rang, and since wifi in flights was a rare luxury only on international ones, he hastened to accept the call and utilize the luxury.

"Hello? Yes, yes, of course I recognize you, chachu, how are you? No, it's tomorrow—" He indicated a bye to the other three, whispering, "my uncle called to wish me, it'll take a while," and walked up the aisle to the empty seats up front.

"Tomorrow is his birthday," said Bhuvi, and added diffidently, "We'll be landing near midnight in South Africa time...can't we do something to surprise him?"

"Bhuvi," Jaddu censured in a wise tone. "You have a lot left to learn. Midnight before birthdays isn't the time to surprise a person. They would already be expecting it!"

"Not if the midnight before birthday comes four hours after we've landed in a new country, no," said Ash. "D'you have anything in mind, Bhuvi?"

"It's nothing great," said Bhuvi, "but I was thinking..."