Recap: Episode-1, Episode-2, Episode-3, Episode – 4, Episode – 5, Episode – 6, Episode - 7, Episode - 8, Episode - 9 1835 to 1855 Hours: The first thing I had to do, as we got down was to buy two medium sized cones of peanuts from the guy we had ushered away earlier. This time however Geetika remained magnanimous, and gracefully accepted one.
“That’s the Laad Bazaar inside that road, where you'll get almost everything for a guy. Electronics... Thnx... And DvDs etc., even trimmers and shavers you know! ", Geetika said pointing towards a conjecture to our left, as I handed over a cone to her. And we started walking to our right entering the 'The Ladies Section' of the bazaar. Over flowingly filled up with exhibits and ornaments of all kinds and make, the whole bazar started to dazzle under the artificial lights “We should cross here!” as she swiftly walked to the other side of the road. I took a few seconds before I could access a valid crossing point amidst all the unruly omnipresence of auto rickshaws and activas. And I think I saw a Camel, covered in golden red drapes, striding through the utterly chaotic bazaar, right in the middle of it, with an utterly astute non-partisanship. Now it could easily be my hallucination, because, No one else seemed perturbed with a Camel's presence in their midst. Excess deprivation of sleep and shackled emotional turmoil could mentally make a person, well, mental. It was one of those rare occasions when the wiring in my brain functioned seamlessly, and English which resulted out of this made absolute sense. “Are we going anywhere specific or just roaming around!!” I said politely declining a pan parag chewing young man who was hell bent on selling me a pair of RayBan shades. Though he was not willing to take them out of their cases, he did offer me a good price (more than 70 percent discount, unbelievable right!) and a sneak peek at the shades. I would have bought them if not for my inherent scepticism towards anything which sold cheap or with a huge discount margin. “I’m searching for a small shop of artificial jewellery. Bought a necklace there a few years back, and it still hasn't lost it's sheen. It should be here somewhere, I'm sure!” she said halting in her step for a moment, and scanning the surroundings which were sprinkled with ample amounts of Kebab centres and Chai stalls. Though there were a few jewellery stalls here and there, apparently none of them were what she was looking for, as she walked again, this time with a bit more reassurance. “I remember this centre. It should at the next left” she said and again crossed the road. This time however I crossed it before her, stopping every vehicle that tried to bludgeon me to death, by signalling for mercy with my hand. “You don't seem to like Peanuts! Do you?” I continued observing the untouched cone in her hand “That apparent huh? It's not like I don't like them, but yeah I'm not a fan either.... Here, let me just...” she said and took out three peanuts, held them in her fist, and gave me the rest of the cone. “You don't have to actually like them! It's just for passing the time. Like the popcorn tub at the movies. They don't actually serve any purpose” I said “Hey! I love popcorn. That there... That's the shop, 'Jamal Hussein and Brothers', that's the one!” she swiftly walked into the store. A distant ringing and vibrations in my pocket, brought me back from the swooning over her mode which was temporarily turned on. I took out my mobile and saw an unknown number "Hello! Who's this?” I said, closing my left ear to cut out the traffic noise from the conversation. “Sir! This is Jagdeesh speaking from the Digital Store! You asked for a Vodafone prepaid card no? The sale person has arrived” the voice replied. “Oh yeah yeah! Can I send someone to collect the SIM card?” I said almost shouting into the speaker, as a towing van appeared from nowhere, and the traffic constables started making announcements in a Mike set. Apparently some bike was parked in a non-parking zone. Frankly though, I didn't see any sort of sign or board anywhere, in the whole stretch of the road "Ok sir! No problem sir! If you can send one photo identity proof, address proof, we can give the SIM” “Yeah, thank you. I'll send my cousin to collect the SIM in some time. Thank you again! " “No problem sir " he said and got off the call. I disconnected the call, and searched for Vikky's number, as I saw from the corner of my eye, Geetika checking out a ruby speckled necklace on her. I dialled Vikky and waited for her Taylor Swift caller tune which reminded me of a couple of screeching sounds from my childhood, which gave me the creeps, to end. “Hello! Hello! ", Vikky said in hushed up voice. Obviously she wasn't done with the movie yet “Yeah! Vikky can you hear me? Listen, can you ... Hello!” I said confirming that the call hadn't been disconnected. “What’s it? Be quick! ", she said swiftly. I could hear a weird dialogue in the background which had something to do with a Vampire taking a vow to kill 'her' because he loved her. “Listen! Just go to the Digital Store after the movie and call me from there” I said clearly “Yeah cool! I'll dial you up!” she said and got off the call. Once I was done with that, I walked into the jewellery store. Geetika was busily occupied in the bargaining procedures with the old seller. He was adamant but still had a pleasant way of putting across his price and figuratively putting his foot down. Geetika was waging a losing battle, but she wouldn't budge just as yet. She tried infusing various combinations, such as a silver locket & emerald necklace for the price of a ruby necklace, so on and so forth. I took to checking out other ornaments, for their design, and not for their dazzle. She called me and held out three necklaces in her hand. “Which one?” she said, with her gaze fixated on the emerald studded necklace. Obviously she didn't want my choice. Just my affirmation. “I think the emerald one is really nice. But then again depends on the rate and the occasion!" I said picking up the necklace from her hand, just to seem like that my choice was not fluke but had some scientific bearing to it. “Occasion? These are artificial gold. There won't be any occasion for wearing them. These are just casual wear!” she said feeling the design of the other two. “Madam! You can be rest assured of their quality. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to wear them at any suitable occasion. We've crafted them to serve the purpose!” the old man spoke in such proper English, that would put any self-obsessed Game of Thrones fan to shame. Geetika looked stunned for the first time in the day, and smiled meekly at him. That effectively won him the war, and Geetika bought two necklaces, including the emerald one and the silver locket as well. “You did like that right? The emerald one I mean!” I asked Geetika, as we walked out “That obvious huh? It actually is my birth gem! And also my birth colour” “So you actually believe in those stuff? I hardly ever follow my own Birthday, let alone anything else!” I said hopping over a manhole. The Kebabs being tenderly burnt over coals at the corner were starting to kick-start my 'hunger engine'. Geetika saw me visually drooling over the Kebabs, and reassured me that we would indulge in those tastes on our return journey. “Emerald? What's the zodiac that's associated with that?" I asked her, less out of curiosity, but more out of escaping the inescapable scents of Deccani cuisine. “I’m a Gemini! If you mean to ask!” she said winking at me. “The twins! Ah, two personalities in one person, that actually explains a lot many things” I said preparing myself with a solid defence for the statement that I had shot out. “It does. Hmmm, I was actually about to….” she said as we walked further into the bazar, which had started to become a bit more complex, with converging alleyways and forking roads. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, and took it out to read the text. It was Pinni. Apparently she had lost her key and now wanted me to pick he rup at Care Hospital on my way back. I turned to Geetika and told her what my probable next destination would be. “So I guess we should take the cab there. You can drop me off at the hospital and carry on to the apartment” I said turning back to leave. “Actually I can't come to the hospital. I'm sorry! It's not that I don't want to, but it’s, I am... Well, it's a personal thing!” she said as we started walking back, crossing the kebab stalls and the jewellery stores. A faint outline of Charminar appeared beyond the buildings, and therefore I needed to call Yusuf Bhai and make sure he was ready to leave. “Yeah no, of course. You don't have to. Just drop me off there” I said scrolling down my call logs slightly. “Well that's the thing actually. I'll take an auto and head back home. I can't come anywhere near that hospital” she said “My Ex works there!” and she looked away. 1905 to 1945 Hours: It had taken a pretty good effort to convince her to come along. Finally she did come.We struck a deal, that I'd drop her off at the nearest bus stop before we arrived at the hospital. She would take an auto from there. A stupid logic, yes, but got her to say yes. So all in all, it worked out pretty well. Something seemed different in me. I let my right hand, which until that point was just leaning on the back of my seat, as I conversed with her, drop down and rest on the seat beside her, right next to her left hand. She looked at my hand and closed her eyes momentarily. It wasn't as if I was making a move or something. But still it was odd and weird, even to my own standards. I couldn't explain why I did that, but I started touching her hand with mine. “There is so much more to this city than the cliched Charminar..!” she said rubbing her forefinger over my nails. “See! Yes, But then you have to start there right, Admiring the history and stuff!” I said now somehow getting a bit comfortable with the whole scenario. And also with the way we two had started playing with each other’s fingers. “Admiration or otherwise? ” she said as our fingers intertwined after all the foreplay “Admiration and Importance. I’m sure I wouldn't visit Charminar for a real long time. Maybe Only after we meet again..” I continued, as I took a bolder step forward by raising my right hand along with her's. The movement, of utter idiocy, made our hands part, but fortunately enough, our need to touch each other had only just begun. “That has to be Jane Austen!’ she said sliding a bit forward, and placing her hand on my shoulder “Jane who?” I said leaning a bit backwards, towards her. “Pride and Prejudice! I mean come on, who doesn't know Jane Austen?’ “The majority of people travelling in this car, I'd assume” I said pushing back a few strands of her hair involuntarily veiling her neck, in order to feel her tattoo. “Will you stop with that English, it's hard to reply to that after a point..... Nice no?” she said holding my fingers and guiding them over the tattoo. “It looks incredible. But I don't really know what that is. That's the second thing I don't know. Are you sapping my knowledge, my lady?” I said realizing that I was turning less witty and more stupid. Having said that I did manage to change the topic from Jane Austen to her Tattoo. “I would know if I was. It's called Angel in African dialect, the long streak of ink at the end, can you see?” she said moving an inch closer, her brown eyes fixated upon me, trying to answer a hundred or more questions at once , and giving rise to a thousand more at the same time “Yes I can, but why the double dashes... ", a loud honk by Yusuf Bhai, brought us back to our senses, before we could proceed any further. She turned to look outside the window, which immediately changed her expression. She didn't have to utter a word to tell me that we were nearing the hospital. And it was time to mentally prepare myself to part with her. She'd take an auto back home, and I'd spend the next few hours at the hospital. But the fact that she'd be gone when I returned, started to suddenly become an inescapable fact, one which I could not hide behind my unexpressed hope and unending wit. One which, I knew, I had to live with, for as long as I stayed in this city. I turned forward, my eyes fixated on a fat guy riding an pretty meek looking Scooty, and tried to come up with some sort of amusing thought about it, but just couldn't manage to do that, all because I just couldn't afford to look at her anymore. I wanted her to stay. And for that very reason I wanted her to leave. I could offer her nothing. Nothing that would compensate for her loss if she stayed back. At that moment I vowed that I’d one day become something much more than what I was at that moment. Someday I would be deserving enough for her to come back to me. The cab passed a crossroads preceding, as I was informed, the left turn which would take us to the hospital. Anytime now she would speak up, ask us to stop the cab and get down. And I saw in front of the fat guy, a truck which carried a red draped Camel. It seemed like the same Camel that I had seen earlier, but somehow it's costume had changed a bit from darker shade of green to lighter Red with golden streaks. God was in some sort of Quentin Tarantino kinda joking mood. Or maybe watching his movies over and over again, had screwed up my mind, and I was imagining totally desolate things to involuntarily amuse myself. “What’s the charge up to this point?” Geetika said trying to get a peek at the dashboard in front of Yusuf Bhai. “Why what's the matter?” I asked her coming back from all the movie reference drift. “Just ask him the fare until now. We'll split that, and I'll give you my share here only” she said taking out her mobile phone, and looked at it as if she was expecting it convert into some kinda Transformer "The thing is, I booked this cab, under a ten hour package, and considering the fact that we won't be needing it anymore after the hospital, I think the fare comes to 650 per person” I replied, as she got herself busy with texting something. “Cool! Here take this! My share” she said handing me a five hundred and two hundred notes. I promptly took them. Yup it was rude of me, and you don't have to think about lecturing me about it, because that was totally made aware, in the following conversation “You aren't that Chivalrous, are you?” she said with a smirk that I was finding attractive now that I had gotten used to it. “That, there, is an extremely well-guarded secret. How did you come about that, I wonder!” I said trying to hold on to the last strand of humour, tired and boring as it may “Oh I'm so sorry! I never meant to make you feel like a dick about it. One should realize that by himself! ", she winked and laughed. The cab turned to the left road and Yusuf for some reason looked out through the rear view mirrors. And after a few moments, shifted his gaze back to the default position. “Haha! It wasn't that big a secret. You never opened the door for me today, so yeah that bit was apparent” she brought in a pretty worthy point. To me the whole process of being chivalrous seemed devious. And then there was the issue of gender equality, right? I mean whatever happened to that! “Oh you did observe that? I'll remember that next time I meet an interesting girl..... " “I’ll need to get down here, I'm sorry” she said deliberately looking away from me. Immediately I asked Yusuf Bhai to stop the cab on a side. Once the cab came to a halt, we both got down and walked towards an almost deserted bus stop. It was a good hundred meters from where the cab had stopped, which gave us an opportunity to bid adieu in a proper manner. Cars and motorcycles whizzed past us, through the gentle night, warm wind blowing around and the young cracking jokes, running to catch up with their buses and go back home. Going back home was as simple as that. What was funny was that both Geetika and I had been talking all day long, and now when we needed to just say a goodbye, we fell silent. She would go away, to some other part of the world and I, for all I knew would lead my life in this part of it. An auto slowly moved towards us, and Geetika waved her hand at it. She asked him if he'd come to Srinagar colony, and he agreed. She asked me for the keys for the flat, placed them in the wallet, looked at me and said "bye". And that was it, she got into the auto and left. It was a pretty anticlimactic ending to the whole story that was graciously unravelling. Some would say, it was lame. But then such is life. With these thoughts I walked back to the cab and got into it. "Yusuf Bhai! Hospital kitna door hai yaha se? ", (Yusuf! How far is the hospital from here? ) I asked my companion. “Dus minute lagte, Sir!” he said as he started the cab and drove. After the hospital visit, I'd call Vikky and go have dinner at her place. And then most probably, reach the flat, by that time Geetika would have long left. And there in hung the tale!!Chai Bisket’s Story Series – Double Ka Meetha (Part – 10)
