Raktim was visibly messed up! He never expected a girl can react that way. His friends didn’t know how to react, so they were laughing, at least trying to laugh! But Raktim was thinking what went wrong… They were sitting in front of Ghonu’s tea-stall, that’s these 7 unemployed young ‘stars’ employ their unemployed minds. He used feel himself to be the king of the place, always mastering tricks on his friends. That afternoon, like every afternoon, he was killing time with tea and cigarettes! They saw a girl in simple yellow shalwar coming. She had books on her hands and the hands were crossed in front of her chest – Raktim thought the scene to be casually amusing, so he laughed and said, ‘Lattu, you know why girls keep their breast guarded by books?’ Lattu also laughed, ‘No.. you tell us!’ Raktim puffed in and said, ‘So that the bouncing bubbles don’t visibly bounce…’ Everybody exhibited their mocking teeth with practiced laughter.

But keeping all of them gulping, the girl stopped her movement, looked straight into Raktim’s eyes. The eyes were not having any language. Initially, Raktim tried to find irritation in those eyes, then anger, indignation, at least hatred!!! No, there was none! Her eyes were completely empty… Sometimes, facing nothing is more traumatic than facing something! Raktim didn’t know what to say, how to look! There can be a reaction for a particular action, but if there’s no action, how to react? The roar of laughter had long been silenced. Yet, the girl was motionless, emotionless, expressionless, lifeless – just standing as a rock, hypnotised to stillness!

Suddenly her hands moved, she uncrossed her hands, brought down books on one hand and brought down the dopatta on another hand – unbearable a site! Her eyes moved a bit, then came forward – eyes straight on Raktim, came quite close to him… closer! He was feeling so uneasy that he wished he could run and would have never looked back. She was unacceptably close, unbearably close, unjustifiably close, inescapably closer  – with her chest heaving high with frequent and deep breathing, she uttered, ‘Don’t look at my eyes, look at my breast! You think, I was hiding those, see I bared it all… look at them now! Want me to strip?’ Raktim tried to say something, but only a hot wave of hot air came out of his nose, and burnt his ears! He closed his eyes! He closed his eyes tightly, and stood there!

He couldn’t remember how long he had his eyes shut, but when he finally opened those, the girl was gone by then. He sighed… a sigh of relief! He looked at his friends, none of them was aware about their own feelings! They were all still gulping, in silence… suddenly, someone from them thought, as the girl was gone, probably laughter could be a comforting exercise! Hearing him laughing, rest of the group also started laughing… and there was our hero, Raktim, visibly messed up!

*************************

That night, after dinner, Raktim went to his sister Raashi’s (19) bedroom. She was studying, Raktim sat by her side, smiled at her and after a long pause, asked, ‘Raashi, you feel bad when some street boys tease you, right?’ Raashi looked up with surprise and smiled, ‘Why? Which street boys teased you?’ Raktim didn’t feel like smiling. Seeing her ‘worthless’ brother to be so serious, Raashi was alarmed. She came closer, put her hand on his head and asked, ‘What happened?’ Raktim managed after a lot of efforts, ‘That girl was of your age…’ Raashi understood, she uttered with a confident smile, ‘It’s okay, from next time… please don’t.’ Raktim shook his head, ‘I WON’T!!’ 

FRIENDS, THE RAINLOVER IS FLYING TO KOLKATA! YOU ALL STAY FINE, KEEP SMILING AND KEEP ENJOYING!

I’m Asha. You know, the fun is, I’ve been known to others by this name for last 22 years, yet, I didn’t now what ‘Asha’ means. Today only a young client of mine told me, ‘Asha’ means ‘expectation’ – ‘hope’… I really laughed on his face. ‘Hope?’ Hope and me? Sounds so stupid. Anyway, that young client of mine was quite a mad. He kept on saying one thing again and again – ‘Speak Asha, speak Asha, at least to yourself!’ So, here I am, speaking – may be with myself. You know, whenever I think back, I remember that rainy afternoon. It was raining so much on that day, I was inside my hut, in Andhra. I guess, I was 16 then… so many things were changing with me. My body was changing, but the impact of that change was felt by mind. I used to think a lot, I don’t remember what I used to think, but yeah, all I know is – I used to think and think only. That afternoon, the sky was dark, and it was raining like anything. I was alone at home… parents had gone to the field and were probably stuck somewhere in the rain. Sitting by the window, I was observing a crow. The crow was standing under the rain and was shaking itself… stupid crow, it could easily fly to a shelter, but it was straight under the rain, willingly! Suddenly, I saw him coming. ‘Him’ – he was black, slim, rough – with bare minimum clothe around his waist, with water drenched rough body, he came and stood in front of the window. I looked at him, he looked at me – his eyes were so deep, angry, yet indifferent. Those eyes were different, as if commanding you to keep looking at him until he permits you to take the eyes away. I couldn’t say anything, I guess I was afraid. He broke the silence and asked, ‘Can I come in? I’m getting wet…’ I didn’t say anything… I couldn’t. If I would’ve said something, it might’ve sounded as if I’m giving him permission to come in. But who am I to permit him? He was already in, not in the house, but somewhere else…

He came inside and sat at the doorstep. I didn’t know what to say or what to do… finally, I managed to move, brought him a towel and uttered, ‘wet you are…’ He looked back, oh god, those eyes – killing me through in anguish… he took the towel, eyes fixed at me, started drying his hairs – his whole body was shaking, specially the muscles of his hands. I was standing there, spell-bound! There was an urge inside me, feeling desperate to touch his hands, just one touch, just once… he finished, gave the towel back to me, I took it back. While taking it back, one of his fingers touched my fingers, my entire body felt the shock. I went back to keep the towel on the rope, but lost in myself, I, with my left hand’s fingers, was touching the finger which was just touched to life by a stranger. I looked back, he was staring at me – his eyes, his angry eyes – killing me through!

My brain wasn’t working, I came to window, looked outside – but couldn’t see anything. It was his angry eyes staring at me from every corner of my vision. I closed my eyes, but couldn’t escape those eyes. I promised myself not to look back, but each moment, there was a massive force dragging me back to him. My neck felt so heavy, my head so heavy, my whole body so heavy! I was shivering… I caught the railings of the window tightly, I wanted to be held tight with the window, but my shivering fingers were so weak that I knew I might fall down any moment. All of a sudden, I realized someone was squeezing my hairs… I knew it was him, I could shout, I could bite, I could run, but I couldn’t. I caught the rods tightly, yet I was so weak. The sound raindrops was so heavy, I felt his rough palm on my neck… there was no mercy in that touch, yet, I was motionless. Suddenly he whirled me back and within seconds, I felt his mouth on my mouth. He was breathing heavily and it was impossible for me to keep my eyes open! My eyelids were so heavy that I closed them… it was pain and pain everywhere… I was torn apart, ruthlessly, but, I confess, willingly. I still remember, under his heavy heated burden, I was lying. I wasn’t dead, I was alive and the sounds from his mouth told me that he was having a great pleasure! It was me who was giving him the pleasure! It was me….

I can’t remember how long it went on, I can’t remember what I did, I can’t remember when he left me – on the bed! When I woke up, after a lot of struggle, I went under the rain, the raindrops were touching my body, so tender that touch was, but yes, I was missing, I was missing that ruthless, hungry, angry, rough touch… yet, no tears came out!

You must be wondering, ‘Then?’ huh! Then…. Yes, he came back twice… once my parents were at house, he went back… I wish my parents weren’t at home, but second time he came, I was happy, yes happy to be raped again! When we were lying, he left a deep air out – ‘Come with me, I will go to the town…’ With lot of unasked questions, I took a bag and went out – he was far away from me on the way, he took the train and came to the town.

You must be wondering, ‘Then?’ huh! Then… yes, 6 years have passed by. I’m in Delhi’s Pahargunj for last 6 years – doing business with my clients! ‘Client?’ yes, client! Client comes, undresses, unleashes, un-stresses, then there’s a big ‘Flush’ – they go away! They call me ‘Rendi!’

What else could I expect? I eloped with someone whom I hardly knew, he used me and sold me, without any sense of guilt. Yet, some 4 years back when a tattoo-walla came at our Kholi, I tolerated the pain of that instrument, yet, don’t know why, I made him write on my palm – ‘Asha & Sudhir!’ 

WE ARE NEVER SHORT OF SUGGESTIONS? DOES ASHA DESERVE FEW? 

Hunger is funny! The Rainlover had dinner that night early because he was hungry early… Then he went to give measurements for his suit and there, looking at the delicious food at his favorite restaurant, he felt hungry again!! Anyhow, hunger has always been irresistible with him, so once the measurement was done, he was sitting on the crowded second floor on the only empty table available ordering a Mashala Dosa! People around him were lost in themselves… so he started checking out the menu. The Rainlover was lost in the Ice-Creams section when he heard a heavy 'Excuse me…' He looked up and saw two 'men in uniform' were standing in front of him – cops!

One of the cops repeated himself, 'Excuse me..' (Cops and 'Excuse me'?? Strange!) '… Will you mind if we sit in this table as you can see all other tables are occupied.' (Cops and 'Will you mind'?? Strange!) The Rainlover smiled, 'Certainly, all yours!' Another cop smiled it wide, 'Thank you!' (Cops and 'Thank you'?? Strange!!) The cops occupied the chairs and started checking out the menu… The Rainlover didn't know where to look at, he could sense that most of the people on that floor were feeling the same as suddenly an uncanny silence made the air thick enough. He looked at the cops, their chaste plates read as one was Mohammad Rafique and another one was Raghubir Jaiswal. Mr. Rafique was neatly shaved, his uniform was neatly ironed and his nails were neatly cut! On the other hand, Mr. Jaiswal had a fat mustache and his hairs were cut short – shorter than the Rainlover himself! Meanwhile, the waiter came…

Mr. Jaiswal said, 'I'll have one gobi-matar, one peeli-daal and 5 taawa-rootis. What about you Rafique Bhai?' Mr. Rafique started opening his small bag and said, '5 taawa-rooties for me as well, and Raghu Bhai, don't take gobi-matar, your Bhabhi-jaan has packed some extra palak paneer for you. She ordered me to share it you! Order from home ministry, can't avoid! She'll kill me…' Both of them started laughing. Their discussion was taking tour towards families, and it was getting interesting as well, but the Rainlover thought not listening to cops' family affairs would be a wise choice.. after all, you never know what offends a cop! He waited for his Mashala-Dosa, but peeli-daal and 10 taawa-rootis came before that (after all, it's cops’ priority.) The helpless Rainlover looked at the waiter, he smiled – a smile to assure 'Mera Number Bhi Ayega' ('My turn will also come')…Somehow, Mr. Rafique sensed the democratic injustice done to the Rainlover and said, 'You didn't order?' The Rainlover forced a smiled, 'I did. It'll be here in a while perhaps…' Mr. Jaiswal ordered the waiter to hurry up. And then the disaster struck!!! Mr. Rafique asked, 'You like palak-paneer, my wife has made it… you can try it!' (That was the most impossible sentence the Rainlover could hear that evening – a cop willingly sharing food made by his wife, that too with a stranger??!!!) The Rainlover didn't have answer to that. He even forgot that he actually hates palak-paneer! He just managed a smile… but Mr. Jaiswal said, 'Brother, don't miss this opportunity… his wife cooks amazing!' Meanwhile, Mashala-Dosa arrived. Mr. Jaiswal said, 'What? Young man, you are having Dosa as dinner!?' The Rainlover uttered, 'No, I mean, I stay with my friends and I've already had my dinner! Still thought of catching up some…' Mr. Rafique smiled, 'Great! That's good! Eat as much as you can.. you need it.' They started laughing, the Rainlover knew the joke was pointed towards his lanky look, but he also started smiling. Before the Rainlover could cut-half the dosa, there were 2 rootis and some amount of palak-paneer on his plate! Thankfully, he started off – Mr. Jaiswal was right – Mr. Rafique’s wife’s hands were indeed magical, else such a palak-paneer-hating person couldn’t finish the whole of it within minutes!

The Rainlover smiled and the cops engaged him in their discussion. The discussion spanned from normal life to law-and-order, from bribery to politics, from securing others to sacrificing their personal lives for the great task. That was when Mr. Rafique said, “Look around, except you, everybody else is looking at us as if we are aliens. Those who aren’t looking at us, they are confirm that we indeed are aliens… They think we’re all corrupt, we are all bad… we are all poisoned.” Mr. Jaiswal added with a dry smile, “Ask this restaurant manager, we not only pay for the food, regularly, we pay tips to these waiters! May be that’s why they attend us promptly, not because we’re cops!” Meanwhile, the cops also took few bites of the Mashala-Dosa ordered by the Rainlover! Their gesture was as if they were sitting with a friend.

The Rainlover realized that someone had played the track Alvida, sung by KK from the movie Life in a Metro… Mr. Jaiswal suddenly got detached from the group and started stoking the aluminum container with a spoon… when he saw the Rainlover looking at him, he was shy – “This is one of my favorites… Whatever people say, I love Pritam’s music…”

The Rainlover kept on looking at two wonderful individuals under the uniforms… they risk themselves, they risk their personal lives, they risk their happiness, they risk everything that we ‘normal people’ would never feel like compromising – but for what? For the blame of dishonesty to be stamped on their foreheads (that too for someone else’s faults)! While it was time to say goodbye, the Rainlover had a strange mix of two contradictory feelings – a Sad Happiness! Happy, because his eyes were disillusioned and sad, because many others’ eyes weren’t and still aren’t!!!

FRIENDS, I’VE JUST ONE QUESTION – WHO CONCLUDED YOUR CONCLUSIONS? YOU? OR SOMEONE ELSE? IF IT’S YOU, ALL THE BEST; IF IT’S SOMEONE ELSE, THEN GOD BLESS YOU!!! 

India Gate and the Friendship Day - quite nice a combination. So after devouring tasty mutton-biriyani, the Rainlover and his dear friend Sne thought of spending some good time at India Gate. Around 11pm, they reached the almost empty India Gate. The otherwise-crowded India Gate was quite empty as it was quite late by that time. Two dear friends sat beside the lake by the India gate, rolled up their jeans up to the knees, put legs inside cold and lolled their bodies back on the green grass with eyes fixed at the sky above! The mikes were singing – ‘A chalke tujhe main leke chalu ek aise gagaan ke talee...’ (Come with me, I’ll take you under such a sky where there’s no sadness, no tears, just love and love everywhere...) – seemed like 80000 Indian soldiers (who died during World War I and in whose memory India Gate was built in 1921) were echoing with legendary Kishore Kumar through this famous song – spreading the dream of a dreamland that they sacrificed their lives for!

It was a nice cool breeze blowing by the ears. In the mean time, a very young smile reached the ears of the Rainlover. He looked back and saw a very little girl was jumping around on the grass! The lights of the India Gate touched the moment into eternity. The little girl would be barely of 6 years, was wearing a nice white frock, her pony-tail tied back with rubber band, and she had specs on her nose! The Rainlover uttered, ‘Have a look!’ Sne also looked back and smiled. The girl was into herself, jumping and jumping, while a lady’s voice came – ‘Shabana, come here...’ Two friends looked at the source of the voice and saw 3 other creatures spreading a chadar over the grass, an arrangement to sit on it and spend some good time in a picnic mood. There were two young girls, one (may be of 17/18) wearing a white shalwar with a blue dupatta, another one (may be of 14/15) wearing an all-yellow shalwar, accompanying them was a woman (in her late 40s) wrapped up in black burqa, her head covered, but face visible. The chadar was spread, the elderly woman sat on it, kept a big side back on it, the all-yellow shalwar girl sat on her knees but the white-shalwar-blue-dupatta girl was trying out some dancing steps, lost in herself!

Meanwhile, Shabana, the youngest of the lot, made a move towards her group, but on her way back, she stopped in front of a vendor selling balloons! She jumped, tried to touch a balloon or two, but failed. The rest 3 from her group started laughing seeing her attempt. Seeing this, the Rainlover thought of getting a balloon, so he called, ‘Bhaiya...’ The ballon-walla started walking towards the duo near the water, and the group got conscious about the presence of strangers around them, that too men! Understandably, the white-shalwar-blue-dupatta girl stopped her dancing steps. Shabana was called to join the group again, but she followed the ballon-walla who was giving a blue-coloured big balloon to the Rainlover! The Rainlover took the balloon, paid the money and asked, ‘Shabana, would you play with us?’ The little girl looked at two young men in front of her, paused for a while, looked back at her group, saw them smiling, and happily said, ‘Yes, yes, I will play.’ Then the Rainlover and Sne got up, kept Shabana in the middle and started throwing the balloon in each-others’ directions, asking – ‘Catch Shabana, catch!’ After two minutes of running to-and-fro, Shabana finally caught the balloon, due to poor delivery of the Rainlover. Then the Rainlover was made to do the running while Shabana and Sne were enjoying the throwing.... after some more turns, finally it was Shabana’s turn again to do the running. Sne threw the balloon, Shabana jumped, caught it somewhat and fell on the grass, and due to pressure of her body plus the water on the grass, there came a big bang sound and the big balloon was gone!!! There was a roar of laughter from Shabana’s group, 2-3 claps as well, but Shabana’s face was worth watching! With one hand on her specs, she was standing as if she was just caught red-handed while stealing her granny’s pickles and now waiting for a solid thrashing... the Rainlover neared, hugged her and was shaking the grass from her frock! Meanwhile Sne managed to find out the remaining part of the balloon, through his mouth made a small ball of it and started rubbing it on his palm, ‘Kich Kuch’ sounds came! He came close to Shabana and rubbed the tiny ball on her arm – ‘Kich Kuch’! Shabana cuddled and there was her heavenly smile, enlightening the place through a golden ecstasy!!!

The elderly woman invited these young men to join them while they brought out food! Shabana, like a generous host, lead them to the group, girls moved aside to give them the space... the Rainlover and Sne sat. While the 2nd term dinner (after heavy mutton-biriyani) was about to kick off, the Rainlover’s cell-phone rang – Winds of Change. After attending the call, the Rainlover kept the phone down. The white-shalwar-blue-dupatta girl asked in straight-polished English, ‘Excuse me, that’s an excellent ring tone. I’ve been looking for since long. Can you please send it to me through Bluetooth!’ The Rainlover happily agreed, looked at the elderly woman (with an urge to see how a conventional Muslim mother would react if her daughter asks for ring tone sharing, that too from a stranger), but she was happily smiling. Reading the question of the Rainlover’s eyes, she said, ‘Today’s girls are always after things like this...’ Everyone smiled and the dinner began!

Throughout the dinner, the Rainlover (a Hindu Brahmin) felt such a warm affection with a just-met Muslim family that he was indeed overjoyed. The family was indeed special, an educated Muslim family, who feel free to send their women to India Gate of their own at night, who don’t hesitate to talk or to invite two young strangers to have dinner with them, who take straight care of the girls’ education, who don’t force the girls to wear burqas even when the mother does, who don’t indulge into mandatory-generation-wise-compulsions, who prove that the best way to earn respect is by respecting oneself!

On their way back, the Rainlover and Sne went on humming -  ‘A chalke tujhe main leke chalu ek aise gagaan ke talee...’ (Come with me, I’ll take you under such a sky where there’s no sadness, no tears, just love and love everywhere...)

THE RAINLOVER CAN’T THINK OF ANY BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE THE FRIENDSHIP DAY! GOD, THERE’S A WISH – SHABANA WANTS TO BE ‘SUNITA WILLIAMS’!!! PLEASE LET HER BE! THIS POOR WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS IT! WE ALL NEED IT! WE ALL DO!!  

The Rainlover was in college at that time. That day was quite different, it was marked with typical Kolkata monsoon. It had been raining like anything. The Rainlover went crazy to see the weather... He knew it for sure that there would be no classes in college as hardly any student or faculty member could make it to the college under the pouring thunderstorm. Yet he started walking under the rain. On his way from hostel to college, he got completely drenched... but it was fun...

He reached his deserted college and entered into the large English honors classroom. There, to his utter surprise, was Arpita, sitting at the corner of the room by the big window facing the rain pouring outside. Arpita was an old friend of the Rainlover, his 1st friend in Kolkata. She was that typical fat girl with thick specs, fat fingers, overgrown belly and under-grown height... and as you know most of the fat girls’ hearts are golden, they are the truest friends with everyone, but just ‘friend’ – nothing more or less than that! Nevertheless, seeing the old friend there, The Rainlover jumped, ‘Hey Arpita, booooo......’ Arpita was scared indeed, but within seconds she gave the smile that was typical of her – a smile that says – hey, I’m interested! The Rainlover neared, sat beside her and said, ‘Look, I’m wet like a dog!’ Arpita smiled, ‘...LIKE a dog?’ The Rainlover was quite oblivious of the joke, he started shaking his head to shake off the water... but the ‘one and only’ (read motherly) Arpita opened her big bag, from god-knows-where brought out a big handkerchief and started drying the Rainlover’s hairs with that... the Rainlover, while getting dried under the handkerchief, frowned, ‘Hey, you’ve food??.. I’m damn hungry yaar...’ Arpita smiled, spread out the wet handkerchief on the bench, took up her big bag again and brought out two veg-sandwiches from that (in college days, she used to bring food for the Rainlover each day, just each day!) Within minutes the sandwiches got vanished and even before the Rainlover could ask for it, he saw smiling Arpita - with a water bottle in her hand! The Rainlover drank and with a long-satisfactory-burp asked, ‘Why did you come to college in this rain?’ Arpita was still smiling – ‘Well, Vivek said, he would be coming..’ The Rainlover freaked out ‘Vivek?’

Yes Vivek, he was the guy Arpita was mad about. Vivek was a good friend of him also, but the Rainlover never understood the idea of a nice and intelligent girl like Arpita falling for a moron like Vivek? The main problem that the Rainlover couldn’t tolerate about Vivek was his typical good-son-turned-naughty-dude’s-mask complex. In college, he used to pose to be smart, cool, naughty, intelligent, posh and what not, but with one visit at his home, the Rainlover realised that he’s just a ‘my-mumma’s-boy’ – down with the sense of insecurity that the next oxygen he inhales, his mother might scold him for that! Always coming up with the sentences like – ‘Maa, can I eat an apple now?’ ‘Maa, should I open the window?’ ‘Maa, should I take the raincoat?’ – and with each question aired, he was being called to see her mother in private (Due to the presence of the squared-eyed-Rainlover), then some ‘hush hush’ sound would come, and finally Vivek would reappear with a long face saying, ‘Mom is angry, you know!’ Whatever he was, to the Rainlover, he was never a good choice for Arpita! So the Rainlover almost shouted, ‘What Vivek yaar! He doesn’t even know if he loves you or not...’ Arpita frowned, ‘How do you know?’ The Rainlover smiled, ‘I’m damn sure he hasn’t asked his mom about this. Unless his mom confirms, he doesn’t even know whether he’s awake or sleeping...’ Arpita didn’t smile! The Rainlover took her right arm and gently said, ‘I know there’s someone else in his life... you also know that.’ Arpita struggled to utter, ‘Oin? Have you seen her? Is she slim? I mean...’

The Rainlover pressed Arpita’s palm and smiled with cornered eyes and arched eye-brows, ‘ Will you cry? You know, you look so horrible when you cry... look at you, chi, you are sooo ugly!!!’ Arpita laughed out with tears, hugged the Rainlover and said, ‘You know, you are my best buddy... you understand me so well...’ The Rainlover smiled again, ‘Now please don’t say you love me...’ Arpita took herself off and said, ‘Shit, you are so thin... looking at you people will say, you’re the outcome of epidemic...’ the Rainlover caught it quick, ‘And you’re the reason for the epidemic!’ Both of them started laughing. When the waves of heavy laughter saturated, Arpita said, ‘Thank you!’ The Rainlover asked, ‘For what?’ Arpita was looking at the rain outside – ‘Because, my dear friend, tomorrow is 1st Sunday of August – Friendship Day!’

DEAR FRIENDS, HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY TO ALL – MAY THERE BE HAPPINESS IN YOUR LIVES ALWAYS. AND JUST IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING, THE LAST TIME 'YOURS TRULY' SPOKE TO 'JOURNALIST' ARPITA, HE WAS INFORMED THAT, AFTER A DO-OR-DIE GYM SESSION, ARPITA’S JEANS SIZE NOW IS 32 IN WAIST! THAT NOTWITHSTANDING, SHE IS STILL AN ANGEL INCARNATE!