Adventures of Spiderman in India [On Halt]

Chapter 4 - A stranger in the apartment

Note - Peter Parker struggles to settle down in India. (Disclaimer - first few lines in first paragraph are lines of a Quote by Rashida Owe.)

Even though we are hurt, we should find a way to get through it. Life goes on whether we want it to or not. The world keeps turning, no matter how bad we feel. This is why we have to learn how to bounce back and keep moving forward and Peter was really good at bouncing back and moving forward. What he had learnt from his entire life was life goes on and we should go on too.

Peter had already settled down in India comfortably. He was waiting for the things to calm down but with each day, things were getting worse with Pakistan. He wanted to listen to the motherly voice of Aunt May but his phone was broken in his unplanned journey. He hated when she acted like she was his Mother, probably because of the fact that she loved him and cared for him more than his own mother did and he was too stubborn to accept this reality. He just wished he could say sorry to her for missing the dinner with her. She probably had baked his favorite cherry pie for him. He never liked hurting her but with his each action, she was hurt more and more. He just wished he could make her happy, just for once in his life.

He missed New York too. He missed the snowy nights and he missed the wind which brought him the memories of Mary Jane. It was not that New Delhi was worse place to live in but everything was strange in here. People, weather, food, language, culture, girls, everything about this was different than New York. It was a change in his life and it was human tendency to avoid changes in their life as much as possible, to never get out of their comfort zone, to try to walk down the path they planned for themselves but alas, life was never that simple but still he was getting used to his new life in there. The people in India were too polite and rude at the same time. Most importantly, they were also helpful like Rohit. Rohit helped him to get a job at a cafeteria. The people visiting the cafeteria mostly were businessman, employees and students of nearby high school. So language wasn’t a problem in there but the way people stared at him was strange.

The only thing which troubled him the most was the food. The food in India was so spicy that even his Superhuman spider powers weren’t able to fight it. He never used toilet so many times in one day but in India, he had to. Now his stomach was strong enough to digest the Indian food and he thanked god for the change in him.

“What would you like to have, ma’am? We have a special Bacon and Lamb burger today,” Peter was on his usual night shift at Smokeys Cafeteria. He asked a lady standing in the queue.

“I will take a Moo Burger with extra cheese, Peter,” the lady said as she looked at Peter and blushed hard. Most of the people knew his name by now. You just need to keep a monkey in a group of lions and every lion will know it is a Monkey provided all the lions are vegetarians. If they are not vegetarians, then monkey's existence on the Earth may get threatened though. Peter had learnt this from his experience with Karan on his first day of arrival here...

The lady was a usual customer there. Peter recognized her by her face but it was hard for him to keep Indian names in mind. He noted down the Order on Notepad he was carrying and asked the lady to have a seat until her order was ready.

He walked inside the kitchen and told the chef, “Make a Moo Burger with extra cheese and this is the last order I am serving today.”

“Okay, Peter,” Chef said without even looking at him. He liked the way Peter worked at the cafeteria. He also liked the fact that the number of girl customers coming in cafeteria increased after the arrival of Peter. Everything was sweet until it brought you profit.

Peter served his last order for that day and changed himself into his regular clothes. He walked out of the cafeteria and heard a lady’s voice from behind, “PETER!”

Peter looked behind him and found the same lady whom he served his last order to. He politely asked, “Yes ma’am? How can I help you?”

“I am Nikita. Don’t call me Ma’am. It makes me feel like I am too old.” She was too old. Peter had to work hard to keep his mouth shut and he replied politely instead, “I am sorry but it is really hard to keep the Indian names in mind. Ni-ki-tha, isn't it?” Peter tried to pronounce her name and the way he talked was funny. Nikita laughed as Peter said her name in a strange accent.

“You are cute,” She said while giggling and moved a bit closer to him. “Would you like to go for a coffee sometimes?” It was very rare that an Indian girl asked you out for a date but Peter wasn’t aware of that.

“Mmm.. I will think about it, Nikita. I really don’t have time for these things for now. Hope you understand,” Peter said, trying not to sound rude.

“Yeah, totally.” Nikita said in sheepish tone.

“Everything is cool between us, isn't it?” he wanted to confirm that he didn't hurt the lady.

“Yeah sorry. Do call me if you change your mind. My number is written on it.” She laughed nervously, handed a piece of paper to Peter and walked to the parking lot.

The cafeteria was close to Peter’s apartment so he always preferred to walk from cafeteria to apartment and vice versa. He could observe people while walking and learn new things about them which may prove helpful for him to live until he was in India. He picked up a pack of Cheetos and a few bottles of beer on his way. He reached his apartment and looked at an old man closing the shutter of his bookstore. The bookstore was close to Peter’s apartment.

“Hey Mr. Malhotra. Hope you are doing Good?” Peter asked the old guy in a cheerful voice.

Mr. Malhotra looked at him slowly. His white hair were shining in the street light. He adjusted his spectacles and jokingly asked in a playful voice, “What could happen to a strong guy like me, huh?”

Peter laughed wholeheartedly and Mr. Malhotra smiled at the guy's happiness. Peter said, “Tell Mrs. Malhotra that Peter missed her.”

“Yeah. I will, I will. I am really jealous of you young man. She kind of has a crush on you.” Mr. Malhotra joked as he locked the shutter of his store.

“That’s not funny anymore Mr. Malhotra.” Peter said embarrassingly. He indeed didn't understand that Mr. Malhotra was joking.

“I am just kidding you dumbass. How’s your stomach now?” the old guy asked with lines of concern appearing on his forehead.

“Doing pretty good,” Peter answered with a smile.

“If you ever need those cherry pies again, do tell me. She likes cooking,” Mr. Malhotra said in a bright tone.

“I will, Mr. Malhotra. Good night!” Peter said. Mrs. Malhotra reminded him of Aunt May. She was caring, just like her.

“Good night young man,” Mr. Malhotra answered back and drove away in his car.

Peter walked inside the gate of his apartment and unlocked it. He smelled something which was like a humanly presence but he always got such thoughts in his mind like his first day in his apartment. He turned on the lights, walked in the hall and placed a pack of Cheetos and the bottles of beer on the table. His ears twitched as he heard some movement behind him.

He turned quickly and shot two spider webs at the person standing behind him, close to the wall. The person was probably trying to hide but instead, caught himself into the spider webs but before the person was stuck inside the webs, he pressed the button of a shock gun he was carrying. Peter felt the shock run through his entire body as he shivered. He tried to say, “Who the fu….” but fell on the ground.

He lied there on floor looking at the stranger. The image of the stranger blurred with each second in front of his eyes and at last, his eyes got closed. The stranger tased Peter and threw him into the state of oblivion.

The stranger looked at the calm face of Peter as he was stuck to the wall inside the spider web. It was hard to recognize whether that smile was cruel or compassionate, “You are too quick, Spiderman!” he said and closed his eyes to sleep as it was getting dark outside.

Note -  RIP Spidy?