Manik

Despite being surrounded by what I would've once upon a time called the 'best company', I found myself remembering her. The ease at which Nandini comforted that Navya girl that morning, how her eyes glimmered with a magical trance, and how within moments the worry lines on the girl's forehead subsided and were replaced by curves at the corners of her smile, were mesmerising to watch. That moment of friendship etched into my subconscious.  

Dhruv was smiling at a comment Alia made. Cabir chuckled and continued, "Wait wait, that wasn't all. Alia almost tripped on him just to submit her book on top of Manik's!" Cabir reminisced his tensions when Alia encountered Raghav. If he had known better, he would have realised what that smirk on Raghav's face meant back then. Then again, we were all naive back then. Hell, it took me an entire year and a half to realise Cabir and Raghav were a thing.

Dhruv noticed the drift in my body language, and added, "And Manik's fangirl, who was she? The one who brought 72 roses on his birthday, she was seething because she had done the same two seconds before!"

Ah, that girl, she pissed me off in school. Philosophy was my favourite core subject, and noticing my active participation in it, she always had something to add to my sentences, in mere attempts to seek attention.

"Arre... she reminded me so much of that Madhubala! God, I can't believe she was crazy about my brother!" Alia said, palming her face.

"Yeah, she was a crazy girl!" Cabir scoffed; he was hounded by her to know Harshad's whereabouts a countless number of times.

Dhruv sighed, "I wonder where she is now..."

"Mumbai only, she got a job at Times of India... suits her actually, her dramatic stories are still much loved," said Cabir, that gained a giggle from her. "We should visit her workplace, see if it's decorated with Ranbir Kapoor's shirtless pictures." As disinterested as I was to see Ranbir Kapoor, she might have something to say about Nandini, which was more interesting than this bullshit. 

"Let's..." Dhruv said, and from that distance, I beeped the rental car open. 

⭒⭒⭒

2 September 2010

That evening was a busy evening for me.

"Let's discuss the features of the Deccan plateau. Three important rivers flow from the west to the east in this region, as you can see from the map..." I pointed to a point in the central-south region of the glossy India map that hung at the back of Rishabh's door. "...along with a contribution to a distinct type of volcanic soil that exists in this region..."

I confidently exhibited the information I had prepared to the only member in the audience, Rishabh, who was eagerly paying attention to the sounds and phonetics of every word I spoke. I had a tendency to talk fast when I was nervous. Seeing Rishabh in the audience subconsciously slowed down my talking speed so that he could decipher everything I said. He glanced between the timer and me, still smiling to encourage me to go on.

The door suddenly opened and I jumped away. Abhimanyu popped his head in, "Hi," and then made his way in with a mischievous smile. The whole incident rooted me and I lost my train of thought. He made himself comfortable beside Rishabh and frowned, "Why did you stop? You shouldn't distract yourself. Stay in your train of thought regardless of what happens in your surroundings."

"Easy for you to say, I need their attention also! I can't just keep rambling on if nobody's interested."

Abhimanyu sulked and scratched his head, "To be honest, I doubt anyone would truly be interested in this shit anyways," I rolled my script sheet and whacked him with it. "Ow! Okay okay, go on, I'll give you a more sincere opinion than this guy right here," He said, ruffling Rishabh's hair.

I hurried to the door and opened it, "No need, you get out!" When he didn't budge, I raised my voice loud enough for Chikkamma downstairs to hear us. "Go Abhi,"

"Beta, don't trouble her..." came a command from below. Abhi hated being told off for annoying me, and I being the only girl between two boys in the house, was given preferential treatment sometimes.

"Wow, ratting me out now? Alright sorry, SORRY!" He said emphatically with a lot of sentiment so Chikkamma heard too, to which we were called down for dinner. The boys left before I did.

After I was done with another practice run, I quickly washed my hands and feet and stood in front of Aiyappa's photo. Joining my hands, I murmured, please Aiyappa, help me finish tomorrow without stammering and getting nervous. I'm trusting you Aiyappa, please don't let me down, okay? And... please be with Manik too, he needs you.

⭒⭒⭒

Alia

"Umm... Wow?"

We were at the base of the building, gaping at the tall glass block that was buzzing at seven in the morning. Of the four of us, I was the most poshly dressed, courtesy me–haha! And so I was the chosen one to make an appearance at the reception.

As I walked down the long hallway, galloping on my stilettoes, I was greeted with a warm smile from an Assamese girl, if I wasn't wrong. Women from there are modern, have unique palettes to style, and come to major cities in their late teens in search of better jobs and higher pay. My fashion house had two stylists from there.

"Hey, is Navya Naveli in here? We're her friends from school, and we were wondering if we could meet her real quick."

"Just a moment..." I nodded, turning to the front revolving door outside which the three men stood. I gave them a thumbs up which Dhruv acknowledged, while Cabir scrutinised Manik. "I'm sorry Ma'am, there is no Navya Naveli working here." Seriously?  

I swiftly made my way out, cursing Cabir for his stupid sources. Who the hell told him she works here? He flinched as I flung my wrist at him, and yelped for no reason. "Ah, why? Why this aggression?"

"Duffer! She's not here, you hyped us all so much; now I want to meet her!"

"Wait, I swear she does! Her LinkedIn clearly says so, I'm sure that tenth pass out does not know her shit." He said, twisting his wrists and pacing towards the building. The rest of us followed him. He tapped her desk almost rudely, "Excuse me, hi. Navya, my friend, she is an investigative journalist... been here since 2014..." He read off her LinkedIn profile, and the lady seemed to catch on.

"Right right, that's Navya Dhawan," Oh? Cabir's jaw grazed the floor first, followed by Manik's. Dhruv hardly had any reactions, in general. He was like the Joey in our group, things caught on to him quite slowly.

"Cabir, when did you guys get secretly married?" I nudged him with a small pressed smirk, which distressed him further.

"Chup pagal! Not like I'm the only Dhawan in the world!" I shook my head in a teasing manner. To my surprise, Manik was amused too.

"Where's her cabin?" He asked, butting in between Cabir and I.

Moments later, we were prancing towards the lifts with an appointment to meet her, bursting into fits at Cabir's nervousness. "No wonder she kept pestering you haan, about Harshad. She secretly was obsessed with you!" I pushed him in a mocking manner as he slammed the lift button, impatient to confront her about the newfound information.  

Just as we exited the elevator, we obstructed a woman wearing glasses and a trendy salwar kameez. She backed off, pushing her glasses up her nose-bridge, and squinted especially at Cabir. As if it occurred to us at the same time, she and I were all smiles seeing each other. Navya quickly embraced me and held my hands firmly as we separated, mutely conveying to me how much of a relief it was to see a familiar face again.

"Fab 5!??? I mean–Fab 4," she pointed at us in a haphazard manner, noticing one person was missing. "I was coming downstairs to receive you only, I thought it was just Cabir... but this is a nice surprise!" She gleamed with genuine joy, as I noticed the nuptial chain on her neck, tucked behind her dupatta. After waving excitedly at Dhruv, when her gaze unintentionally shifted to Manik, she stiffened for a moment to acknowledge him. After everything that happened, that was the best I could expect from her. Then she went back to her usual self.

"Woh sab choddo, shaadi kab hui tumhari, aur kisse? Don't tell me you made me sign some papers in my sleep," 

Navya chuckled, eyeing Cabir up and down. "You know, it's actually a funny story, let's go get something to eat. What about chole bhature? I know a good place around here..." 

⭒⭒⭒

Dhruv

We sat down on the straw chairs at the dhaba–Cabir and I, Alia and Navya, and Manik by himself at the head of the table. Navya placed an order for all of us and was telling us about her destined love story that began at her internship in Lucknow.

Just before graduation, she had chosen that place to be closer to her mother, who was getting sicker by the day. Incidentally, she met a man Ranbir who joined a couple of months before her and was happy to coach her. She knew he looked familiar, that she knew him from somewhere but couldn't put a finger on it. Four years in college was a long time to forget faces. When she did, she realised he wasn't the person she thought he was.

But the man looked exactly like Cabir, only his name was Ranbir.

Since that news unravelled, Cabir was complacent. He probably didn't think in a million years that he would have a doppelganger in the same country as himself.  

Except Ranbir grew up in Lucknow, and was raised by a wealthy family. Despite always wanting a sibling, he never had the blessings to share his parents with another being as his parents lost a baby shortly after its birth. That was when the family began renting their home to visitors as a homestay, to contain joy and happiness in the house. The couple bonded over their mutual lonely childhood and got closer by the day, until Ranbir surprised her at her house one day, cooked her ill mother a warm hearty meal, and asked for her daughter's hand in marriage. Navya's mother now lives with them, and he looks after her like a son does.

⭒⭒⭒

Manik

While everyone filled their stomachs with stories and curry wrapped in bhature, Cabir–the foodie in the group–was merely massaging the flakes of the bhature, lost in thought. He hadn't said a word since Navya began her story.

It was definitely possible that Cabir was that long-lost little one. How he vanished from there and landed up in here was a different story altogether. At the back of my mind, the voice that mocked him for being an orphan and not knowing parental love pricked like a thousand needles. As I put one piece into my mouth, I reached for the iced water jug and poured some into his glass. Cabir's fingers tightened around the glass firmly before he took slow but violent gulps. Nobody else seemed to notice his discomfort or disengagement.

I bit the inside of my cheek and knocked my glass off the table, shattering it into a million pieces, after which I shut my eyes tightly, pinching the space between my eyebrows. "Manik, are you alright? What's wrong?" Alia put her hand on my forearm.

"I'm seeing two of everything, God! I apologise, I'll pay for that glass." I said, pulling out my wallet.

"Must be the lack of rest buddy," Dhruv said with worry all over, "We've been outside since midnight," He conveyed to Navya, who seemed jittery and clutched her chest to soothe palpitations. "We'll drop you back,"

I needed a bit of time with him alone, to get him talking. He was definitely not going to open up without some poking and stinging on my end, and creating another scene in front of those two was not something either of us was keen on. "No, it's alright don't trouble yourself, Cabir can take me back. We're in the same hotel," Eyeing him, he nodded and mumbled 'of course'.

"Hotel? No no, you can all relax at my place. I'll take you there, Ranbir has holidays on Tuesdays so he'll be there to keep you company, plus he would be so surprised to meet Cabir!"

I clicked my tongue, "It's a weekday, Navya, no way. We shall definitely visit you some other time," Disappointed, she gave us a weak smile.

Alia gave me a 'why Manik?' look and to ease the uncomfortable situation, Alia pacified, "We have a lot of catching up to do, after all, we'll definitely meet again, Navya!" Reluctantly, she had to agree as she couldn't force her will on me.

Hastily paying for the whole bill with a few bills, I told the waiter to round off the bill and keep the change despite major protests on who would pay for it. After a quick goodbye and more sore eye drama, I left with Cabir on the wheel. 

Everything was alright until two minutes after we hit the road, Cabir crossed 60 on the city road and without a seatbelt. Speed was never a concern for me, but his silence was slicing through a vacant part of my chest in a sawing manner. The man hadn't said a word in the last twenty minutes and deep down, it would be better if he spat on me instead of releasing that pent-up aggression on the gearbox and harming himself.   

I huffed and swung the wheel in my direction. The vehicle swiveled towards the curb at a dangerous speed, Cabir slammed the brakes and halted the vehicle without an indication, causing four drivers behind us to honk loudly and cuss nastily at him. "What the hell is wrong with you, Manik? You could've almost died if I took a second longer!"

"Good, at least your reflexes were functioning," I said coolly, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

"It's not funny,"

"I don't understand, what's the big deal? Ranbir looks just like you, so you want to kill yourself by overspeeding? Trust me, losing you would make no difference to the overpopulation situation of our country,"

"You don't understand because you fucking have everything: money that can buy you anything, a surname that can get you anywhere, a woman that would give up her world to be with you!" As the echoes in the car confines reverberated, the weight on my chest reappeared with an intensity that made me want to scream too. "You don't know what it's like to cry about your unknown parents at night when sleeping gets a bit difficult, or to wonder what life would be like if you weren't gay, or to battle with destiny to achieve your dream," His eyes brimmed with tears. He bounced his head back and forth on the headrest, with his eyes closed to distract from the terrifying pain that was consuming him whole.

And mirroring his angst was a dull tornado, building within me as if some of his energy dissipated into me and bubbled with a furious rage of contempt and disappointment, irritation and helplessness. I reached out for an anchor, to stay afloat and control the unleashing mess within. With a hand on his thigh, I patted him quickly to console him while clutching my phone as hard as I could when a lone tear escaped my left eye.   

"Be relieved you didn't have your parents, sometimes the unknown is for the best."