When a Lawyer Falls in Love (7 page)

‘He thinks you are a friend too, and that’s why he thought it was safe to ask you out!’ Sonali asserted, even as the doe shaped eyes of her friend clouded with confusion.

‘So what do you think I should have said?’ asked Jaishree, in perhaps the longest sentence of her day.

‘I don’t know,’ replied Sonali, getting up as she saw a crowd of girls coming down the stairs. ‘That is seriously something only you can decide,’ said Sonali, leaving her beautiful classmate more undecided than ever.

Ankur sat by himself on a stone parapet built around a tree. It was a free hour and Ankur decided he would be better off spending time with himself, away from the noisy chatter of his classmates, two first benchers in particular.

Ankur had never really looked at the campus with the kind of leisure and silence that he was doing now. In silence, everything acquires a quiet serenity. The black freshly tarred road serpented through the lush green trees on either side with buildings situated at some distance from each other.

The government in a rather rare gesture had donated a sizable portion of land to train the best lawyers in the country. Towards the edge of the campus lay the faculty housing as also the graveyard, the two being mutually interchangeable. No wonder the boys had bumped into Professor Prakash Mahapatra that evening, thought Ankur with a wry smile. He only hoped that the professor had not gossiped with the entire department, or there would be a law against law students entering graveyards.

There was also an oval lake at the far end of the campus precisely in the diagonally opposite direction from the graveyard and the faculty housing. It was here in the moonlight that many couples from the campus would pretend they were on their honeymoon while they were still in law college.

A three star hotel faced this lake, and at night, its reflection fell on the shimmering waters.

All this could be seen from the terrace of the boys’ hostel and during college festivals, some guys would actually smuggle in girls from outstation colleges and a whole group would then sit on the terrace beneath the night stars. Truly, being in college was in itself a blessing.

Beside the lake, the trees with their outstretched branches formed a green canopy over the tarred road. And then there were the quaint buildings, like the library.

Ankur had a lot of memories associated with the library, yet they were all the wrong ones. ‘A library helps me unwind,’ Sonali had once said and Ankur remembered with a grin his own views on the subject. It made him rewind and then fast-forward his way out of the place.

Yet there it stood, as imposing as ever. He would always think of Sonali, each time he saw a library, thought Ankur sadly. But now due to the imposing presence of a certain Mr Rohit Randhwah, Ankur no longer saw himself accompanying her anywhere. Even to a library.

Ankur had never actually stopped to think about Rohit Randhwah. Besides the fact that Rohit was an interfering, domineering loud mouth, Ankur hardly knew anything about the guy. There had to be something really good about this particular specimen of a man, for Sonali to continue to prefer his company.

Appearance wise, Ankur felt, Rohit resembled a piece of the moon, used not as a term of endearment, but on account of all the craters on Rohit’s face that pimples had left behind. Otherwise with broad features and a perpetual frown, Rohit wasn’t the kind of guy who would have girls fainting to be in his company.

Yet that didn’t stop him from believing that he was God’s gift to mankind. More specifically to womankind. Ankur almost choked at the thought of Sonali and Rohit together. One internship together and Sonali was orbiting around Rohit. Idiocy was contagious, Ankur was now convinced. He should calmly talk her out of this, thought Ankur even as a zillion questions clouded his own brain. ‘One tight slap’ had been Sonali’s favourite phrase for a while. If only she had let her creepy boss know this. Just why couldn’t she have filed a lawsuit against the very lawyer under whom she was gaining experience? Ankur was suddenly tempted to do the same. Both against the lecherous lawyer and Sonali herself.

There ought to be a lawsuit for heartbreak, thought Ankur sadly. He suddenly realised that forgetting Sonali would be as easy as attempting to erase the graffiti scribbled on the desks in class. At least the desks could be repainted, thought Ankur. His heart, never.

Fourteen

Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. When Pavan Nair set about to do something, the urgent services of all three was required. A handloom exhibition had come to the city and Sonali’s Gujarati soul had been awakened. She simply had to go. And she simply had to take Jaishree Subramaniam along, who simply could not travel by public transport. Hence Pavan’s Ambassador was requested for.

Since it was the two girls going alone, Rohit decided to go along. Since it was the two girls alone with Rohit, Souvik decided to go along too. And since Jaishree was uncomfortable with the idea of just two couples, Vyas and Ankur decided to pile on. And of course Pavan was going because it was his car!

Thus the secret seven set off, bunking the afternoon session on a lazy Friday to grace a remote exhibition with their presence.

While the girls would shop, the boys had decided to relive their childhood by taking roller coaster rides. And with seven adults in a rickety old Ambassador, it seemed like their wishes were coming true. The roller coaster ride had already begun!

Pavan was at the wheel with Ankur and Vyas, fighting for space as they sat in the front, while Jaishree, Sonali, Rohit and Souvik sat squeezed at the back.

Jaishree was sitting on Sonali’s lap. Souvik would have gladly offered to take her on his own, never mind that he himself was barely balancing on the edge of his butt.

Rohit sat pressed against Sonali, something which made Ankur want to turn around in the congested vehicle and wring Rohit’s neck. At least that way Rohit would feel the suffocation Ankur was going through with Vyas’s long arm touching his sweaty neck as it rested at the back of the seat.

Besides, there was also a bright red stuffed toy in direct line with Ankur’s nose that made annoying sounds and jiggled irritatingly as it hung from the rear view mirror.

But most annoying of all, was Pavan himself, who drove the car in a manner that seemed like he was steering a tractor. Vyas had quite conveniently taken the window seat, so Ankur was stuck in the middle. Even as Ankur sat fuming in the heat, it hardly crossed his mind that he ought to be thanking his stars for small mercies. The car, after its ‘smooth’ run at a speed that only Ambassadors are capable of, sure enough, soon came to a groaning halt.

A family vehicle that is made to carry seven lawyers is a prime case for the Automobile Federation, if not for the Human Rights Commission. And the Federation was the only place the jumbo vehicle could be wheeled into when it finally broke down. This the lawyers would have gratefully done, except, that at the time of the tragedy they were on the outskirts of the city. With a few stray dogs for company. The collective groans of the lawyers as they tumbled out of the car was not something the car mechanics would be able to fix.

‘My legs are actually numb,’ announced Souvik as he bent and slapped his knees after they all tumbled out of the car. Vyas just closed his eyes and yawned in response as he stretched out his tall frame in all directions.

Rohit gave both a disdainful stare and then proceeded to enlighten everyone with, ‘I think the car has actually broken down.’ Insightful statement, indeed. Especially when the party stood next to the parked car with its bonnet facing heavenwards.

‘Listen, I think we need a mechanic,’ Sonali declared. The quality time she had spent with Rohit was definitely having its impact. Ankur looked around. The most accurate geographical description of their location was the middle of nowhere. Miles of arid vegetation surrounded them, with the blue Ambassador having crossed the last traces of civilisation a few light years ago.

‘How will we get back?’ asked Jaishree for the first time, her voice jolting the male brains into action, especially Souvik’s.

‘I think we ought to pair off and look for help. I’ll go with Ankur,’ said Souvik.

‘That’s a good idea!’ added Pavan, perhaps the only intelligent thing he had uttered in a long time.

‘I will go with Rohit,’ Vyas declared, perhaps sensing that his roommate would like the arrangement. Ankur smiled. He would feel a lot safer leaving Pavan with the girls. For obvious reasons. Rohit scowled but was led away by Vyas who had transformed into a weathercock predicting directions.

Souvik and Ankur had gone some distance with a jerrycan when Souvik finally spoke, ‘I hope she is still not angry with me.’ Angry? Ankur was lost in his own thoughts when the word jerked him to reality. Angry? Of course she was angry. Everybody was angry with everybody else. After all Ankur certainly was. He was even angry with the jerrycan that needed to be filled.

‘Err…what…angry about what?’ Ankur asked, as they neared what looked like a village.

‘You know…the whole asking out thing…I thought she’d be mad at me,’ Souvik said gloomily looking into the distance. Mad. The word registered in Ankur’s head. Asking out. Even that registered.Ankur had the mad desire to ask someone out—Rohit. Ankur wanted to ‘ask him out’ of the bloody planet. The planet that had no garages, no water pumps, only stray dogs staring disinterestedly.

The afternoon sun had chased all civilisation indoors and Ankur and Souvik seemed to be bravehearts walking in the middle of the road. Like cowboys in an old west movie, flashing an old jerrycan instead of stylish guns!

‘I’m tired,’ said Souvik finally, when Ankur had remained silent for too long. Sometimes even silence can be tiring. The tedious walk got to Souvik and he sat down on the mud beneath a tree, the first they had encountered after a long walk.

Sonali, Jaishree and Pavan meanwhile had been luckier in getting things moving while staying put right where they were. The slender frames of Sonali and Jaishree leaning against the stationary car managed to stop another car. The driver had managed to restart the car as also the tired brains of the trio. Souvik was sure that he was seeing a mirage when he saw the blue Ambassador drive up with Vyas and Rohit already sitting inside. Ankur and Souvik gratefully climbed in.

Ankur was willing to go on a fast unto death just so that they would get back to the hostel without going to the stupid exhibition, but he soon found himself chomping on pakoras with chutney at one of the exhibition stalls. Sonali and Jaishree, as planned, did a lot of shopping. Exhibitions were the best place to get the best bargains. Rohit and Souvik served as coolies. Unpaid labour that grudgingly walked from one stall to another.

Vyas, Ankur and Pavan meanwhile sat at the eatery, the reason why they had come.

Ankur had just bitten into a samosa when Pavan suggested that they go on the giant wheel. Sure, thought Ankur. Except that when they reached the highest point Ankur would push his obstinate friend with an obsolete car right down to the merry crowds below. It would help if a certain Rohit Randhwah could be given this free fall as well, free of cost in an amusement park.

But Pavan kept insisting, and Vyas and Ankur reluctantly agreed, even as Ankur had visions of leaving his half finished samosa mid air. He knew that he could trust Pavan to come up with the most pleasant ways of committing suicide and climbed into the shaky casket of the giant wheel.

Even as Souvik meekly followed the girls from one stall to another, he suddenly realised something. Jaishree wasn’t really angry with him. In fact if he could trust his mind, she actually seemed slightly pleased. This, of course, made Souvik very pleased and he fell in love all over again.

Jaishree liked him. In
that
way. Under normal circumstances, a girl would shower all the varieties of footwear available on the guy, especially a girl as conservative as Jaishree Subramaniam. But here she was, smiling and laughing as she tried out bright earrings looking for approval from the corner of her eye at Souvik. In fact, while being jostled by the surging crowd at the entrance, Souvik had protectively put his arms out to provide a safe passage to Jaishree. Souvik had felt her inch physically a degree closer to him than she had ever done before.

For Souvik’s male brain, that was proof enough. Perhaps it was the crowd. Or perhaps it was the crowd of emotions in Souvik’s own heart. But whatever it was, it helped Souvik’s mind to view the trip to the amusement park with the amusing car ride as something with a deeper purpose in his life.

Fifteen

‘I should have invited Caroline. She was angry that I went to the exhibition without her,’ Vyas was saying a week after the trip in Pavan’s rickety vehicle. ‘You should have, there was so much space in the car,’ said Ankur, playfully visualising Caroline sitting on the roof of the Ambassador.