Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Notes from the Past: Part 7

August 2006, Priya Complex, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

"Khushi, stop looking so freaked out. It is just a movie for god's sake," Preeto said, pulling at her rather forcefully causing her to yelp in pain.

"But, kissi ne dekh liya toh," she had asked, still not convinced that this was a good idea.

"Toh," Preeto had said. This was normally Preeto's chosen response to most of her questions that she felt did not deserve an answer. It was effective too, because Khushi never knew how to respond to this.

She had been a Delhi University student for about sixteen months now and not once had she bunked college and played hookey. Preeto had however been working on this because she maintained this was abnormal behaviour that required immediate attention. And after months, Khushi had finally been persuaded to assert her normalness and agreed to cut class to watch a movie. Once Khushi had agreed, Preeto had picked the movie, the just released Ajay Devgan starrer Golmaal. And not just that, she had also convinced Khushi to come to Priya Cinema, which was a considerable distance away from both her home as well as their college. The film had just released that day and of course, the theatre was packed.

"Maine kaha tha na, picture houseful hi hogi," she had said, both annoyed and relieved at the same time. But this was Preeto we were talking about, and she would most definitely find a way. She always did. And sure enough after a chat with one of the guards, who took her to meet the popcorn vendor, who in turn took them to meet the man who ushers the patrons in with the torch, she managed to get two tickets.

"Preeto, tujhe na desh chalana chahiye," she said when they finally took their seats.

Though she found Gopal, Lucky, Madhav and Laxman's shenanigans amusing, she was relieved when an hour and a half later they broke for interval. She could feel the start of a headache, some of it was to do with the movie and having their seats too close to the screen, but much of it had to do with the fact that she was stressed. Cutting college was the most common thing that every student ever did. It was also relatively harmless. It was in many ways, as Preeto had pointed out, rather normal. Cut classes to watch a movie, or go shopping, or hangout at cafes, or sometimes be inside the college campus and still choose not to attend a lecture. It is not that Khushi was one of those students who had hundred percent attendance. She did choose to skip classes when Baba needed help around the mithai shop, or when she was running behind on an assignment and knew that the professor would give her flak, and sometimes because she just didn't feel like it, especially on days when she didn't have track practice. In that sense, unlike what Preeto said, she was normal. But skipping class to watch a movie, seemed somewhat duplicitous to her. Maa and Baba thought she was in college, when in fact she was watching a movie. That too at an expensive movie hall where she noticed the popcorn and colas were marked up by at least thirty percent when compared to Golcha Cinema at Daryaganj, where she usually watched most movies. Preeto had gone to use the restroom and had asked her to buy a large butter popcorn and cola. She joined a queue, anxious that the movie might begin and also that she might meet someone she knows. She just wanted to quickly get into the darkened movie hall. Maa used to always say this, "agar kissi cheez ke baarein mein bahut zyada sochti rahogi, toh pakka waise hi hoga." Maa did not say this in the context of how reinforcing positive thoughts could help you achieve pretty much anything, but more along the idea that obsessing about bad outcomes, might lead to just that. And the thing is, mothers are never wrong.

"Khushi Kumari Gupta!"

Of course, Maa's prophecy had to come true. It was her obsession, which would cause her to meet someone whom she most definitely did not want to meet. Nervously, she turned behind to look in the direction that the voice was coming from. And out there next to the entrance to the hall she spotted Lavanya holding two large popcorns and a friendly smile on her face. Lavanya Kashyap, her classmate and good friend from New-Ons, the one who had been friendly with her inspite of the fact that she was a misfit, but with whom she had barely been in touch with since they left school. It is not as if she had deliberately done this, it just so happened that she got caught up with her college-work and sports, and Lavanya too seemed to be busy. Once or twice that Lavanya had called her she would hang up almost immediately because something else needed her attention. And after this, she would never call back. However, through Aakash, with whom she was more regularly in touch with, she did get some bit of information or the other. Like she knew how Lavanya was no longer interested in running, but that she was now in the St Joseph's basketball team. Aakash had said that Joseph's did not have coaching and training for track and field, which is why Lavanya had made the switch. Plus, in Joseph's basketball and cricket were the only two sports that were considered worth their while because corporates funded their stylish jerseys. Khushi had been a little baffled about how someone could make such a drastic switch of interest and squander away years of training and skill-building, but she never had got a chance to speak to Lavanya about it.