The world is where your smile is

Chapter 3

Nitish's temper rose at about the same rate his fingers swelled and it sunk in that he wasn't going to be back on the field anytime soon.

Moreover, as they boarded the flight to Bangalore, he discovered he had got the middle seat again.

"Give me the window seat, Rinku," he said.

"No, I want you beside me," said Venky.

"Give me your aisle seat then," said Nitish.

"I want you beside me too, Nitish bhaiya," said Rinku promptly.

"So there's only one choice left," said Venky. "You sit in the middle."

Nitish scowled, because he didn't see any other choice. As the flight took off, his scowl gave way to a sigh.

"I'm the unluckiest guy on the planet!"

"Phweh," said Venky.

"What--is--that--sound--supposed--to--mean?"

"That you're not unlucky," said Venky. "You don't even have any hairfall started!"

"You have?" asked Nitish gloomily.

"Yeah," said Venky, more gloomily.

Rinku sighed deeply, nose pressed against the window.

"You've been on millions of flights, Rinku," said Nitish. "Don't the clouds get boring?"

"You never let me have the window seat," said Rinku, still ogling at the clouds.

"I always--!"

"And the clouds are magnificent," said Rinku, like it was a very normal thing to say.

Magnificent.

Nitish didn't know why these bits of grand language from Rinku threw him off this much. Maybe because they were increasing in frequency. Maybe because even Russ had wrung Shreyas' hands vigorously the other day after Rinku successfully sang an English song along with him.

"I'd been trying to get him learn for years," he'd said. "You got it done in a month."

"Because he's our skipper, after all," Venky had put in instantly.

"At this rate, I'll forget my name," Shreyas had said, with his arm around Rinku as they all laughed.

Possibly all but Nitish.

The food arrived. Nitish refused. Rinku eyed him.

The coffee arrived. Nitish refused. Rinku eyed him.

After half an hour of silence, Rinku offered water to Nitish. Nitish refused.

"Um, Nitish bhaiya?" said Rinku.

"What?"

"This won't help, you know that, right?" Rinku asked.

Fully in English now.

And Nitish felt more tired than ever. He felt miserable because he had no idea why he was so bothered at something as simple as a person speaking English...but it was somehow like when he was feeling so low, so detached, he did not even get his Rinku.

Because...wow. He was changing too...everything was changing. 

His fingers had started to hurt like hell now, and the world was alien.

Rinku let Nitish brood in silence for a few minutes. Then:

"Bhaiya?"

"Yeah?"

"I know how you feel, but how is not eating or drinking anything going to help you?"

"I'm not sure..."