Anyone Else But You... (17 page)

“Wait. I am about to beat Sasha’s high score
,
”
Sahana said without caring to reply to his greeting.

Rishav looked at Sahana with astonishment.

“Umm
…
That’s rude, you know”
Rishav replied with a tone of disappointment.

“Uhuh,
”
Sahana replied without looking at him.

“Donee,
”
Sahana
said with an enthusiastic tone.

“You’re rude,
”
Rishav replied.

“Yeah yeah, I know. I had to beat her score, you know. Plus you were panting. You needed time to breathe easily.”

“True. But still…That’s not how you greet your friends whom you’ve
called from so far to meet you,
”
Rishav said.

“Oh God.
Will you get over it? And it’s my choice how I greet people. If they don’t like it, guess what? I couldn’t care less about
‘
em. And you’ve come from near my se
ctor and that’s hardly ‘so far’,
ok
ay
?”Sahana said with indignation.”

“Fine, fine.
Got over it,
”
Rishav said, afraid that he would offend her and this chance of meeting her would go to waste if she got angry.

“Goo
d. So
what do you wanna do?”Sahana asked him while sitting on the bench with folded legs.

“Umm… t
alk?”
Rishav replied as he sat next to her on the bench.

“No. That’s stupid. If I wanted to talk I would’ve spoken t
o you on the phone, you dumbass,
”
Sahana said.

“Oh yeah.
Why are you sitting like this?”
Rishav asked her.

“Because, idiot, the grass is not cut and there might be some insects lurking. Or snakes
maybe?
What if they crawl up my legs and bite me?”Sahana shuddered.

Rishav laughed uproariously.

“What’s so fun
ny? One could die you know,
”
s
he said
,
offended.

“Oh G
od. Get up. Let’s go eat
phuchkas
. Now don’t ask me what
phuchkas
are.”
he said as he caught her hand and pulled her up.

“I know, ok? They are
gol gappes
”
She replied.

“How did you know?”
R
ishav asked surprised that she knew the Bengali term for
gol
gappes.

“Long story.”

“And we’ve got all the
time in the world. Tell me all,
”
he said.

She told the story about how she was
watching this show where this B
e
nga
li girl was interviewed and she said that she loved
phuchkas
and a video
was shown
of her eating them.

“Wow. Even stupid TV shows ca
n be quite informative at times,
”
Rishav replied with a smile.

“Shut up, ok? There w
as nothing else on TV that day,”
Sahana replied.

They walked towards the street vendor and stood with their plates in their hands.

“I love
‘
em. Like really. In my hometown every corner has them.”

“
No wonder you’re so into eating,
”
Rishav taunted.

“Oh please, ok
? I eat because I am depressed,
”
Sahana said while popping the huge
gol gappa
i
n her mouth.

“And why are you depressed?”
Rishav asked, intrigued that someone like her was suffering from depression.

“It’s a depressing story. And I don’t want to t
alk about it. It is family stuff,
”
Sahana said, while she wiped the water she spilled on her shirt.

“It’s good to share.  The burden lessens
you know?
Why don’t you talk to Vanya about it?”
Rishav said.

“Wow. I haven’t thought of that before
,”
she said with sarcasm dripping from her voice, “Oh my god. You are so intelligent. How can I ever thank you?”

“I was just giving some advice
,
”
Rishav shrugged.

“I think I have e
nough people in my life giving me unwanted advice. I definitely don’t need another one.”

“O
k
ay, o
k
ay
. No advice. Fine?”
Rishav said, raising his hand in the air.

“Yeah,
”
she murmured.

“
Waise
if you want to share something, I am all ears. I won’
t tell anyone anything. Promise,
” Rishav said in a meaningful tone.

“I know you won’
t tell anybody. But it’s boring… a
nd depressing
..
.
a
nd sad. And uhhh
…
what’s worse than that?”She asked.

Rishav paid the vendor and they walked towards the park. Sahana sat with her legs folded.

“They are not gonna eat you,
”
Rishav said.

“Yes, yes. The omniscient Rishav
Sen knows that the poisonous insect living in this jungle will not bite me. Right?”

“O
h god.
Ab
tell me already?”
he pleaded.

“W
hat?”
S
ahana asked.

“Umm your sad story?” R
ishav asked.

“Oh that. Well you see…” S
ahana began telling him the story of her life.

After an hour, S
ahana look
ed at her mobile and shouted. “O
h crap. I am late.”

“I
t’s ok
ay. Take an auto,” Rishav said, trying to calm S
ahana down.

“God!
What am I gonna do?”
S
ahana panicked.

“It’s okay
bubah
. We’ll grab an au
to. It’ll take max five minutes,
”
Rishav said.

“
Let’s go,
” Sahana grabbed his hand and they ran towards an auto on the main road.

Rishav didn’t ask for the fare. It didn’t matter. She had to get home. It was already dark. And from what he had heard of her life, he was pretty scared.

“W
hat the fuck will I say to them?” Sahana asked herself as she bit her nails.

“
Bhaiyya, jaldi
”
Rishav told the auto
driver. “It’s fine. You’ll reach. Say that the rickshaw was charging you too much and you had to walk. Ok
?” Rishav explained to S
ahana
,
trying to calm her down.

“Y
eah ok
ay
. Fine.
Urggggghh…my life,” S
ahana groaned.

“Listen, S
ahana. Yo
u’ll get out of this murk soon e
nough. You need to keep your head till then. Ok
ay
? Don’t do anything stupid. Geddit?”
Rishav said.

“Yeah,” Sa
hana said with a sad smile.

She look
ed up at Rishav and said, “D
on’t tell anyone. Ok
ay
?
Not even your best friend, your
mom or your dad. No
one. This will go to your grave. If I find ou
t that you did, you are so dead.”
Sahana said with an assertive tone.

“Y
eah
y
eah, Like you can.
Ab chal. Tera sector aagaya
ha
i,”
Rishav replied while laughing.

Sahana hit him.

“Shut up,
”
s
he said.

She got out of the auto before her sector’s gate. The sky was already dark and the street was deserted.

“Thanks for coming,” Sahana said to R
ishav as he got out of the auto too.

“The pleasure was entirely mine, miss
,
”
Rishav said with a bow.

“Right
,
”
she said. She leaned and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“B
ye” she said as she ran like a penguin towards her sector’s gate as Rishav’s ears went from pink to red in the speedin
g
auto.