Thursday, December 23, 2010

Hello Goodbye.

“When the shit hits the fan” she announced to the world in general. “It doesn’t evenly spread.”
He glared at her ,as did many others. Embarrassed , she looked away. She didn’t usually swear , atleast not that loudly.
“I’m trying to be serious here” he said , and tried to sound scathing. “I’m leaving for Delhi tomorrow , as you know , and I probably won’t come back , not for another five years”
“Yes I know. Oh damn , I left your pendrive at home. Can I keep it..?”
“Wha…? Enough jokes here!” he said. Did she even care? Solemnity certainly wasn’t her middle name.
She looked at his brown nails and peered at his nicotine stained teeth. She tried tip-toeing to see if she’d ever see him face to face. “Five years later , just you watch..." she said , struggling to balance herself and her voice unnaturally wobbly. “I’d be much taller and yes , much better at football yeah!” She still couldn’t meet him in the eye.
He laughed , a typical , generous , throaty , self-conscious laugh. “Promise me you’ll keep in touch.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And you will wall me on Facebook”
“I deactivated my account.” She looked at him in the eye for the first time. Her voice rose in mock anger “And you didn’t notice! Go back to Delhi, to your precious ---- , see if I care!”
“What…why did you…she isn’t my girlfriend…atleast not now and you know that! Okay fine. Text me.”
She tossed her head. “STD. Too expensive.”
“Well , then atleast pick up my calls. And email me.”
She looked up only to meet the twinkling eyes which knew her only too well. After six years , there really couldn’t be any more pretense.
“Fine. I’ll miss you and all that shit. You can tell your girlfriend in Delhi that.” She mumbled.
His cellphone buzzed before he could reply. A scoop of molten lead settled down in her stomach and she made up her mind to have a light dinner.
‘Hey you.’ His voice sounded half-joking , half-serious. Dusk had fallen , she could see his face no more. Not that he was drop dead handsome in the first place. ‘Give me a hug. I’m leaving.’
She snorted. ‘You know I don’t hug.’ She cleared her throat and gave him her Important look. ‘So yeah. I will see you when I see you.’
He shook his head , still grinning widely like an idiot and started to move back. Fatso that he was , it would be a good five minutes before she could no longer see him in the distance.
‘Don’t smoke too much. Take care of your health. Don’t skip meals!’ she shouted out to the world in particular.
‘I wo-o-o-n’t’
‘And…And…And… Abhishek Bachchan loves me!”
He laughed again , and his laughter seemed to ring tonelessly in the air. “Khuda Hafiz , Vai!"
She shook her head as warm , salty tears tried to dissolve a goofy , insincere smile painted on her face. Tomorrow's sun would never rise in her world.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I like this one. Very much. Perhaps... only because he does remind me of me.

Anonymous said...

One thing. Teeth simply cannot be cigarette stained. Nicotine stained, or possibly tobacco stained, if they have to be stained at all. And oh, nice opening sentence :)

Vaishali said...

Right. I stand corrected. And thanks. :)

Polydectus said...

this one plucked a string in my heart - it was well very real - brings back faces memories - enough said ....