Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Notes from the Past: Part 8

October 2006, Healthline Hospital, Green Park, New Delhi

His eyes felt so heavy, as if someone had placed a few tonnes of pebbles on them, making it impossible for him to open them. When he finally did, he surveyed the room. It was all a blur. He realised he was in a hospital room and sitting on the chair next to his bed was a person he didn't recognise. He was a young man, with long hair and a kind face. He imagined this is what Jesus would look like. He shook his head and tried to get his vision to be less blurry.

"Who are you?"

"Oh hi Chotey, I mean Arnav.. I am Jun.. Arjoon Bose, Anjali's friend."

Ah so this was the new boyfriend. Arjoon Bose who was just referred to as The New Bengali Boy by mum and dad during dinnertime conversations was Anjali Di's current special friend. Arnav was not sure why the boyfriend was being referred to as the new Bengali boy. Not like there was an old Bengali boy, but he was quite the hot topic of conversation in the family, mostly because Di had kept him away from the family. Until today that is. Just like Anjali Di had a new business idea or a new thing that caught her fancy every few months she also had a string of young suitors, forever getting bored with one and moving on to the next.

Normally she had a type when it came to a boyfriend. The guys usually were a project of sort for his Di, who was a Ms Fix-It. They all had some baggage, which ranged from the usual mommy issues to more bizarre ones like guys who wanted to live the life of an ascetic. Dad used to call them Anjali's waifs. She wondered what Arjoon Bose's deal was. Arnav knew little about him, except that he was a Bengali. And according to his mother, the worst kind of Bengali, the JNU-type. Except that in the case of Arjoon, at least he actually went to JNU, so it was forgivable that he was that type. His thoughts about Arjoon came to a halt when a nurse came in and said cheerily, "Aha Mr Raizada, you are finally awake. You look good as new now." He did not need to look into a mirror to know that he looked like a wreck. Looking at his phone he realised that he had been asleep for two straight days. Slowly the twelve hours prior to it came back to him.

"So what happened that you ended up so sick and dehydrated?" the nurse asked as she checked his temperature and other vitals.

What had happened was that Khushi Kumari Gupta had set him off in quest of a ring which eventually led to them missing the original train and being stranded in godforsaken Barh. Khushi was normally so calm and a person of such few words, he had been surprised to see an altogether different side of her during this trip. Most surprising was her weird adventurous streak. When they missed the train he had expected her to either freak out or be all guilty, but she seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

"This is the third time I have missed a train," she had announced, almost with a hint of pride in her voice.

"And that is a good thing because?" he had asked as they picked up their backpacks to go and meet the stationmaster to see what other trains they could hope to catch.

"It is not good. But it is not as bad as you make out. There will be so many other trains that we can catch."

"Yes. But we had reserved seats in an AC coach. Now we will have to travel in some general compartment."

"You are just spoilt. This is how the other half lives."

"Haha. You are playing that card now? The other half."

"I am not playing any card. Anyway, chodho, I am sure the stationmaster will offer some solution."

The station-master was a surprisingly helpful sort and said that they would be able to catch a train back to Delhi that night, he would even get them onto the third ac coach. Alternately there was a passenger train which would arrive in another fifteen minutes and they could take that. They would reach almost twelve hours ahead of the ac train, but would need to travel in the general compartment. Khushi had looked at him at this, the grin on her face seemed almost like she was throwing a challenge his way and that is how the two of them found themselves in the general compartment of a train.