Beyond the Beats

Chapter 97. Real players

I went with my crew for the open underground dance battles. Vibhan had his hawk-like gaze on me, while I tried hard to control myself from getting excited and jumping in a battle.

"Bhoomi, remember your promise," Vibhan warned me.

I gave him an okay sign, and we moved among the crowd to see an ongoing match. We discussed about the two crews battling, and I was arguing with Akshay and Rehman when I noticed something interesting in my peripheral vision.

On our right, at a distance, around seven to eight girls were gathered with two guys. While the guys stood aside, two girls danced against each other, other girls joining in the subsequent rounds.

Oh, are those b-girls?! I should go and say hi.

"Oye, Bhoomi, where are you looking?" Rehman asked and snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I glanced at my captain, Vibhan, who was busy conversing with Yasir and Pratik; I pointed at the b-girls, and Akshay scratched his head.

"I want to go and see what's going on there. I will just watch. You can come with me too," I told him.

"Akki, you stay here. I will go with her and beat her up if she tries anything. I know she will mess up anyway," Rehman said.

Akshay agreed and warned me to behave. I nodded and went with Rehman to watch the b-girls. As soon as we reached there, Rehman shook his head.

"They also play safe," he commented. "The movements are too dull and slow."

I felt bad since I was aware of the breakdancing situation among girls in our country. There was a growing interest among the youth and younger generation, but compared to the guys, the girls were far less, and there was a huge difference in the skill plus confidence level. I had met a few b-girls that were doing great, but apart from a few known faces, the other aspiring ones were struggling a lot.

"What's their fault in this? Not everyone encourages girls to take breakdancing," I told Rehman. "I am lucky that my family lets me do whatever I want."

Rehman nodded. "Yeah. There is a good proportion of girls in the hip-hop scene, but breakdancing is still pretty dry of female presence."

"Can I have a match?" I asked him hopefully.

He refused. "Not on my watch. Can't you stay true to your words for even a day?"

"Come on, bro. I will just have one match. You can already see that the level is not high, so maybe I can make some friends too - and if they get impressed, maybe they will agree to join Ritvik Bhaiyya's classes."

"Ritvik Bhaiyya does not need you to advertise for him. He is already popular. Don't dare to play tricks with me."

I sulked and kept poking him. He didn't budge, so I thought of a plan. I apologized to Ganapati Bappa in my mind and started commenting on the girls and how they were lacking energy and all. Rehman scolded me to keep my tone in check, but I acted arrogantly, and as a result, the girls got angry.

"Who the heck do you think you are?" one of them glared at me and others agreed.

"I am also a b-girl," I announced proudly.

They scoffed and waved me off. They stared at Rehman and realisation crossed their faces. They started murmuring among themselves, and Rehman smirked at me.

"See how popular I am?" he taunted me and ran a hand through his hair.

"Are you showing off because of your boyfriend?" one of the girls blamed me while looking at Rehman. "Just because you got a popular BF, doesn't mean you can look down upon us."