Chapter-4

Chapter-4

“Are we there yet?” I asked mom.

“How many times are you going to ask the same question? When we’ll reach, you’ll come to know.” mother replied. I couldn’t blame her this time. The traffic was moving slow. I won’t mention the specialty of Mumbai traffic again. For a change, we had planned to go watch a movie this Sunday. Not me and mom, it was our trio- I, Vani and Prateek. Dad was out on a company trip to Bangalore, there was some sort of a conference. And my family doesn’t go out much when dad isn’t there. I’m an exception.

We three had planned to watch the latest released movie ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’. I and Prateek wanted to go for some other movie but when we saw the review and the promo, it was quite intriguing so we agreed. Plus, Vani is totally having a crush on the lead actor Ranbir Kapoor and I’m a fan of Deepika Padukone since her debut in ‘Om Shanti Om’. It was a great movie. Prateek on the other hand is not into movies so much so anything could do for him. I’m glad there’s no movie based on the life of Einstein or Ramanujan.

I reached the theatre on time and found Prateek and Vani already waiting for me at the entry. “Bye mom, I’ll see you.” I said.

“Enjoy.” she smiled.

I ran towards them and winked at Prateek who smiled at me in disbelief. I sometimes do such things which result in this kind of smile. “There you are, finally! Mind it Yash, if I miss the starting, you are in trouble.” Vani warned me.

“Don’t worry. I hope you weren’t bored.” I said.

“Oh, not at all. Prateek’s a good company as always. Now shall we go inside?” Vani asked with impatience. Obviously, it was a Ranbir Kapoor movie after all. What do girls find in him? Alright he’s cute, smart, but honestly, I’m way better. I mean, all they need to do is apply makeup and there you go! We people here are natural beauties. At least now there was someone I could be jealous or you may say insecure from. You see, girls can go all crazy in crush-related matters. I kind of hate this actor because of this.

But Vani was dying to watch him on the big screen. Even in the elevator, she kept on twitching the tickets in excitement. She wore a green crop top, light blue shorts, really short shorts and wedges on foot. Her open hair looked so pretty. 

“Oh! Don’t punish the poor tickets Vani.” Prateek joked and took those tickets from her hand.

“Sorry, but I’m unable to wait.” she smiled. ‘Lovely’ was the correct word for her smile. We reached outside the hall no. 2 seven minutes prior to the beginning. I saw the poster of the movie. Then an idea struck my mind, “Prateek, can you click a picture of me and Vani with this poster?”

“What for?” he inquired.

“Just click yaar, please!” I handed him the phone and dragged Vani to the poster. We stood in front of it. I stood in front of Ranbir and she stood in front of Deepika, keeping aside the other caste. Deepika had her hand rested on Ranbir’s shoulder and he held her from the waist. We posed in the same way and seriously, I felt awesome!! I wonder if she gets any idea of my state of mind from such small things I do. I didn’t want to leave her but had no other excuse for holding her after the picture was clicked. It was so good that I uploaded it on Facebook as my profile picture just that instant.

“Yash, why did you do it?” Vani asked.

“Why?” I was taken by surprise.

“You’ve shown me your photos and you are so popular. You’ve got so many viewers on FB. You always get hundred plus likes on every picture. A profile picture with me…”

“Seriously??” Prateek chocked out. He too knew what was coming up.

“You know what Vani? I guarantee you that I’ll get more than the usual one on this. Just wait and we’ll see it after the movie. Now cheer up, RK’s waiting!” I said and held hers and Prateek’s hand, and we rushed in for the movie.

This movie is basically half narrated by Naina, a role played by Deepika, who tells about a trip she went to with her friends which changed her life. She falls in love with Bunny, the role played by Ranbir. But probably he doesn’t, neither does she confess about it. Later they meet in Aditi’s marriage and fall in love again. The ending was as usual, happy and good. I enjoyed it. And when the song ‘Subhanallah’ was being played, I glanced at Vani who kept smiling as the song went on. I doubted of she was smiling because Deepika and Ranbir looked cute together, or because Ranbir was looking really handsome during the song. I hated to admit it. And even if I liked Deepika, she was still less beautiful than Vani, because Vani is a single-existing piece which cannot be replaced or considered second best. Not at all!

¨         

After the movie I crashed into Vani’s place. It was 5o’clock. Vani’s home is exceptionally great and well-decorated. All the framed certificates, medals, trophies and pictures of his father were set in order as if disciplined soldiers were given such a command. Portraits, expensive show-pieces and royal kind of furnishings were all over the huge apartment. Situated in front of the Marine drive, it was a perfect spot to live in. These apartments are costlier as compared to the ones which are not sea-facing. Rich people!

“Hello Yashvant! How was the movie?” Vani’s mother, Mrs. Sangeetha Malhotra, came towards me and hugged me gently. I’ve been a very dear child to her. She says I’m a company she never gets bored with despite of the age gap. Well, neither do I. I don’t even realize the fact that she is of my mother’s age, she seems like a lively teen at times!

“It was really nice aunty. I suggest you should ask Vani if Ranbir Kapoor was more enjoyable or the movie.” I grinned. Vani hit me on my arm, as usual.

Then I heard some footsteps and they were like an announcement that the boss of the house is on the way. “I’m going for a walk.” Vani’s dad said as he came to the main door where we three were standing. He wore a grey track suit of Adidas and even though he was going for a stroll he looked smart and energetic as ever! That’s what an Army Officer’s personality is like- ever ready.

“Oh! Hello Yashvant. How was the movie?” he asked, as well.

“It was great sir. And, good evening.” I stammered. His very presence had made the atmosphere strict.

“Good evening. And I hope you’d free Vani soon. She has to study. She has to get that topper’s position again, unlike any regular student.” he said and walked away. “Yes Sir.” I mumbled.

“You both go and sit in the room. I’ll fetch you some snacks.” aunty said and went to the kitchen.

It isn’t like Vani’s dad hates me. He likes my qualities of a sportsperson, discipline mostly. I’ve been appreciated. But he is very conservative and Vani once told me that he doesn’t like it when she’s with boys. Also, he wants her to be around ‘intelligent’ people, ones like Prateek. Well, hello?! She’ll die of boredom, I guarantee. I’m Vani’s best friend and Prateek’s fun only when he’s with me. It’s like those pakoras which are more fun when you have them with tea. So who ends up as Mr. Perfect? Basically, nobody can make Vani as happy as I do, so zip up!

We entered Vani’s room- peach colored walls, a desktop, teddies, a bookshelf full of diverse books, a study-table, of course a bed and another shelf full of small photo-frames. She calls it her “memories’ shelf”. I also own some photographs which add to her memories. Oh! I missed one more element- Disha, Vani’s elder sister. She is almost as old as Dhruv bhaiya and damn, she is beautiful. From her hair to her eyes, her body language, and the way she speaks- all perfect! If Vani grows up into her- man! I’ll be so lucky. She’s one hell of a personality even now.

“O-M-G! Look who is here- Noddy!” Disha di jumped up and directly pulled my cheeks- no ‘hi’ or ‘hello’. I caressed my poor cheeks.

“Did you both enjoy together?” she asked.

“That we do always. The movie was great, you know? But Prateek still said it was an average film.” I shrugged.

“Prateek? That specky guy whom dad likes a lot because of his intellect and all? God! Why can’t he leave you both alone?

“Didi, Prateek too is Yash’s best buddy, prior to me. And he isn’t bad or boring.” Vani explained.

“So is that intellectual dweeb interesting to you, huh?”

“Not again…please Disha didi, leave us alone.” Vani got agitated this time.

“Fine. Bye Noddy!” she said. I waved back at her.

“Elder siblings….” Vani mumbled as she closed the door.

“Yeah, I know what it feels like. Dhruv bhaiya teases me too. I hate him.” I shook my head. Then I glanced at a book which rested on the desk. It was her personal diary. I picked it up, “May I?”

“Yeah, go ahead. You know about all my secrets and stuff so I needn’t hide this from you at least.” she smiled and took out the keys from a messy drawer, “Security.”

“Your diary…what does it contain?”

“Yash, it’s a journal. Respect!”

“Ek he baat hai…what’s the difference anyway?”

“Do you want to read it or what?”

“Sorry! Here I go.” I started flipping through the pages and stopped at 11^th March, my birthday. I read it a bit.

11^th March

HBD Yash!!! My besty, uh r awesome. Stay blessed. I went to Yash’s place for his birthday bash. The 14 yr old was wearing a black n blue T-shirt and black corduroy  jeans. He looked so dashing, seriously!!!! But that one word is too less to define someone like him. He’s MY besty after all! (I’ll take the creditsJ) He said that I looked great. Sheesh! I didn’t expect it you know? Do I actually look good? Or was he saying it just to make me feel happy about it? I never look at myself that way. I’m like- wear something proper, a ponytail and there you go! Sometimes I let my hair open when Disha di compliments them as fab. Really? Is it so? Look at Yash- he’s perfect! Seriously…

I stopped reading. I was overwhelmed to see that she thinks of me as perfect and all, it meant a lot to me. But I was surprised to see that she thinks of herself as an average looking person. I wish I could show her from my eyes what she is. But how could I?

‘Wait a second…my DP!’

I logged in and quickly hit the notification related to my profile picture. And there was the epic snap of ours, carrying 193 likes and 151 comments. More were to come. I showed it to Vani and she was really thrilled, “Oh God!! I can’t believe it. It is so good.”

“There are more likes coming up. Now do you see you are so pretty? Believe me.” I said coolly and checked the comments. To my ecstasy, they were awesome- ‘U both look superb JJ’, ‘U look so cute together… J’, ‘Epic snap Yash!’, ‘Oho…pose ;) :D’, ‘Made 4 each other’ (my personal favorite) and many more. There was Prateek’s comment too which said, ‘they are just besties…don’t over-react you all. By the way nice, clicked by me after all J’

A nice save by Prateek but I found it a bit awkward how he defended us. Then I got busy in thanking them all. “I still can’t believe it. Is it actually that good?” Vani asked.

I smiled, “Thanks to you, it is perfect!”