Those enchanted four and half years

Chapter 17

One day I and Amey went to watch 'Hum dil de chuke sanam.' As we sat sipping coffee in the café after the movie, I said, "What a nice, touching movie it was."

"It was bullshit," Amey said.

"You didn't like it?" I asked.

"What was there in it to like?" Amey counter questioned me.

"The loyalty the loving husband has for his wife, and how it teaches his wife to be loyal to him," I said.

"This only happens in movies. You know what Aish should have done? She should have enjoyed romancing Salman khan before marriage. And then after marriage she should have enjoyed with Ajay. All would be satisfied that way. Due to these fucking loyalty issues, no one enjoys till the end."

I was staring at him, listening in disbelief. "By 'enjoyment', you mean 'sex'?" I asked.

"Of course! Anyways, no sex, no action...what was there to watch then?"

I was surprised by his take on the movie.

Next day in Pharmac lecture, I told Arun we watched the movie.

"It was a nice movie," he said.

"You liked it? Even if there was no sex, no action?"

Arun looked at me, puzzled. These were not my words, he understood.

"So Amey didn't like it?" he asked.

"No," I said.

Arun smiled and shook his head.

"Then what kind of movies does he like?" Arun asked.

"He likes all those 'dhisshum dhisshum' types, action packed English movies with computer generated fake animals drooling their saliva everywhere..." I said.

Arun laughed. "Do you watch those with him?" he asked.

"No...never," I said.

"You should," Arun said.

"I should?" I asked, perplexed.

"Yes...see these are the small things that make a difference. If you go with him for such movies, he will know that you love him, that inspite of hating such movies, you watch them only for him."

"Okay, so is that why he watches romantic movies with me? To show that he cares?" I asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Arun said. I was confused.

"I mean," he continued, "If he really watched for you, he wouldn't have said it was bad. Anyways, I don't know, maybe he cares and that's his way."

"Who did you watch it with?" I asked Arun.

"Why?" Arun raised his eyebrows.

"Just out of curiosity," I shrugged.

"With my girlfriend," he said.

"And who's the unlucky girl?" I asked

"Find out," he laughed.

A few days later, I met Amey in the library. We went for a short stroll, a study break.

"I am going to watch James Bond tonight," he said.

"Shall I come with you?" I asked, taking Arun's advice into consideration.

Amey turned to look at me in disbelief. "You? James Bond movie? Hahaha," he laughed a villianish laughter.

"Why? Why not?" I asked.

"You don't watch those type of movies, right?"

"Yes...but I can give you company," I said.

"Okay then, I will pick you up at 5 pm," he said.

"Okay," I said. I was hoping that he would decline my offer and go with some friends. Now I was left with no option.

The movie was horrible. The loud sound, the constant action, alternate firing of guns and crashing of cars wore me out. To add to my woes, I did not understand the story at all. How could anyone pay money and buy such headache? By the time the movie ended, my ears were ringing, brain was churned out and I was having a terrible headache. When Amey dropped me back at the hostel, he said, "I know you didn't like it. But thanks a lot. It means a lot to me."

'Thanks to Arun,' I said in my mind as I smiled back.

Thatnight, I had a dream. I was standing against the barricade at one of the pointsin Mahabaleshwar. I knew the view of the deep green valley beneath was verybeautiful. However, it was not visible as it was completely covered by fog. Thefog would not clear, would not reveal the reality beneath...and I woke up.