The Guy Named Nikhil: Part 1

Nikhil was brought up in a decent middle class family where he was being taken care of everything right from his childhood. He grew up as a naughty, shy and cute kid, having cheeks so fluffy, that every passerby definitely used to ‘poke-in’ on his cheeks elongating them some centimeters for sure. ‘Cheeekabo’ is what he used to call it and he knew he always hated it…

Well, this continued even when he grew up into an adult; only the audience to his cheeks changed with time. Though, the cheeks had a lean ‘cheekabo’ phase between 16-19 when his face got some signals of puberty, but that went off soon and he got spic and span to attract the new found ‘care’ mostly from the opposite sex.

Nikhil had his first crush when he was in the fourth class. The girl was almost six years elder to him but he had fallen in love with her, so much so that he had invented a stylish name for referencing her only to himself. She was Shruti and he used to reference her as ‘Trutsssss’. Definitely, he could never manage the courage to talk to her for the only seven days he had met her during an outstation wedding ceremony. But the feeling remained with him for a long time.

Good in studies and with nice communication skills, Nikhil had been a star among the friends. The shyness in approaching girls had remained inherent only till the time he managed to approach the first one. This had happened when he was in the eleventh class. And then, as they say, it was all history.

Playing volleyball had been the hobby even when it came on the cost of bunking some classes especially those which used to be the free classes of Nancy, the class ninth girl of his school.

He used to play volleyball, all in style, to show off while she used to style-off with her friends somewhere near the volleyball court. Lots of exchanged glances and one fine day, purposefully Nikhil’s threw up the volleyball into the destined bunch of ‘Nancied girls’.

“Can you pass on the ball?”…he reached upto them and asked Nancy, looking straight into her eyes.

Nancy along with the bunch of girls burst out in laughter and they were out of the scene in no time. Poor Nikhil was left aghast and all the more embarrassed.

And so, he could never gather the courage to talk to Nancy again until he met Priya. This happened during the annual school fair when he was in his last year of school. She was managing the class-stall in the fair making people play “Ring-O-Mania”. The same old game where one has to throw rings on articles and once you ring something, that becomes yours. Nikhil spent his entire day on her stall spending all his money and gifting all the articles kept on the stall to the host Priya only.

This definitely impressed upon the tall and beautiful Priya who, as his friends used to call, had ‘interestingly accentuated features’. And hence began his first friendship. It was the first lovey-dovey affair of his life. Spending time in coffee shops, school canteen, book fairs and eateries was an altogether different kind of fun element for him away from the sports ground and the volleyball fields. He never realized before that all these places had so much more in them.

This also gave him the opportunity to understand what was there in a girl’s mind because earlier while reading the text books stating “mind is present only in Human beings”, he had misread it as “mind is only present in Man beings”.

Though he realized he was not the best at reading a girl’s mind but the experience of knowing these all together different beings was very different for him and he was loving it all. He never used to have similar conversations with his friends in school. And he realized he never ever had a girl as a friend in any of his group of friends, before.

The aftermaths of this 'affair', as his friends used to call it, came with the teasing of friends, the eyeing of teachers in the class and the special attention of girls in school. All this was new found to him but he was finding it way different… interesting… enticing and all the more exciting…

The friendship with Priya lasted for a few months till the time Nikhil left school. On the last day of his school, Priya was crying but at that moment, he could never realize that he will also be missing her. But, seeing tears in her eyes made him feel for the first time how important he could be for someone. The distances between them grew with time and both of them soon drifted away from each other…leaving it as a sweet memory in Nikhil’s mind…

He just thought of it as a 'connect' which the two of them shared till the time they were connected and he moved on...realizing nothing...

The First Date...The Last Date?

She dials in the second last number on her last dialed entries…and says, “Poor fellow wants to meet me tomorrow…again… (a loud laughter followed…) don’t you worry…I am sure I’m not turning up...”..."Or..even if I turn up..I am sure he'll be in for a tough time...something hes given many girls..what does he say..'its cool mahn'...yes Nikhil..its gonna be very cool"...

And she drops the call soon...still thinking of her plan of action for tomorrow...dozing off after a while...
__________________________________________

Next Day:

It was 6PM and Nikhil was already waiting on the coveted hot-seat of the food court. Nikhil saw beautiful curly hair appear on the floor yet again right at 6:30PM, he was sure this time, it cannot be her...‘right on time’. But he was surprised to see her there. All charged up…walking up to him with the cutest smile he had seen.


She had a bouquet of flowers in her hand and she was walking up closer to him. She hugs him gently, hands over the bouquet to him and sits right in front of him. Nikhil was just about to gain his senses out of the mist of her splendid perfume and she said, “The bouquet is for the long wait which you did for me yesterday. I know I have been rude to you in the past but yesterday you made me realize that you are not the SOB which I was expecting you to be…" And she started approaching him closer to his left cheek……

And suddenly his phone started ringing which brought him out of his daydreaming. Aghast…he saw the screen flashing “Bhargavi calling…” Oh well, not again…she must not be ditching me yet again…

“Bhargavi…What the hell!! Its 7 already…how much more u want to me to wait??…I wished you wud have come…at least for some time…”... ‘Gosh!!! The desperate me…’ he grumbled…

She rattled back, “Look Nikhil, I don’t like malls; I am waiting right outside the mall. Quickly rush out or I will be leaving in another 5 minutes.” And before Nikhil could say anything, the call was dropped.

He rushed down the elevators almost stumbling down three times.

Right at the front gate of the mall, there was a Black Toyota Camry waiting. Nikhil saw her sitting at the back seat, the driver on the wheel. She was busy combing her shining black hair…her face was turned sideways. Nikhil could just gaze at her eyelashes through the strands of her curly hair...waiting to see her again...These 2 days had seemed like 2 decades...

As he reached close to the car, she asked the driver to open the front door. And she commented, “I think I should keep a safe distance from the Nikhils of the world….” With the sheepish smile on his face, he had no other option than to sit with Mr. Natthuram.

First her father and now the driver, why every male around her furnishes such a deadly huge moustache…Nikhil thought…

“Natthuram ji, ghar chaliye.”

“WHAT??? Are we going to your home Bhargavi. Don’t you think it would be too early for me to meet your parents…?”

She laughed aloud…“Nikhil…come on…I am not fool enough to take you home…That was just to scare the hell outta you...By the way…U look cute when u r scared…Chalo, lets walk…”,

‘SCARED n CUTE’, Nikhil didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or plain insult.

Both of them got out of the car. Nikhil noticed, she was dressed in a white dress with a broad leather belt draping her skirt across her waist properly. Her transparent white sandals as she stepped out of the car made Nikhil think as if an angel was coming out. Her earrings were small, still very fashionable adding to her charisma. Nikhil thought again, "It’s a dream or a reality…I am finally meeting her…"

They started walking and Natthuram Ji followed in the car.

"CAN WE TALK?"…he stated his pick up line again..cursing himself for the lack of originality.

"Hmmmmmmmm? How many times and to how many girls you have said this before…?” She broke the silence created by the breeze which was crossing both of them.

“Not many Bhargavi. Seriously, you are different, way different than anyone else. I can’t express this in words, but believe me you are the one. All my lifetime I have liked only the girls who have been challenging, if any girl had come up to me on her own, my interests for her had gone down. In that sense you seem to be way different, really challenging. And definitely the most desired one too…”

“All you guys are the same, you definitely find every girl different in the beginning but soon you get familiar and again start looking for some THING different. Isn’t it true…Nikhil?”

“I won’t lie on this Bhargavi. It’s true that one looks for change in life but that change seeking proposition goes on till the moment you don’t find someone who is much more than all the changes you have ever seen in the life. Over and above that, it’s the connect, that makes life a worthwhile experience and when that connect goes missing, it’s better to look for change…isn’t it?”

“So, you mean to say that you would look for your own so called ‘connect’ and then you would part ways than even when you know that the girl whom you are with still shares the same connect.”

“I think a connect happens with the two - together, that’s my philosophy. And both should definitely realize, when is the moment when the connect breaks. I think there is no point to continue for the benefit of both after the connect is broken. Both can try a couple of times but that’s it…you have to make a move after a while…”

“So, that’s the reason you broke up with Swati and that’s the reason you never got along with Aruna.”, She asked him...

It came to him as a jolt. The floor from the bottom of his feet started quaking.

"So how many connections have you broken till date? Or let me put it the other way..how many connects did you feel did not connect to you Nikhil?"

Had it been someone else..Nikhil would have lied on her face..but to her..he didn't get the urge, "I won't lie to you..I have had relations in the past..I haven't been a nice guy Bhargavi..I have broken a lot of promises..and trusts..and have moved on...I am bad and I know I'm"...."I don't know why I am saying this to you..but I don't wanna lie to you..."

"Ahh..and you think you gonna impress me by stating some true facts…" she interrupted...

"I don't know what makes you dislike me so much..but I am finding my connect here...a connect for which I have waited all my lifetime...a connect which might last a lifetime...N this is coming straight from my heart...right for the first time...", Nikhil was being desperate..

"Lets cut this senti business Nikhil…I'am not in for it please..You have broken many hearts and I am here to teach you a lesson…something that you rightfully deserve...I gotta go now..I have other important things to do..."

"Will we meet next?"

"Why do you wanna meet me?"

"I don't know..."

"May be when you can give me some reason to meet you...as of now, I don't see any..."

With that she gestured to the driver...
________________________________________

A few MOMENTS later:

There was already a great distance between them by this moment…they were going in different directions...far away from each other, soon...




PS: With contributions from none other than Richa (aka Santa)

The Day After That Night...

Nikhil, the guy who used to live in every moment, one who used to create a great atmosphere wherever he used to go, who was the star among his friends...; was in a completely engrossed mood today, way different than his normal self.

To Arun and Vyomkesh’s surprise, Nikhil got up very early today and was the first to catch the office bus, the same bus which he either used to miss or used to come running to catch it at the very last moment. Usually the atmosphere at home also was full of music…loud music and lots of crazy hullabaloo, courtesy Nikhil; but today, there was pin drop silence coz the one who used to be the trouble and laughter creator was in a different world altogether…

Riya, the girl who sits next to him in office waved in the normal chirpy style, “HI NNikheeeel…wasssssssup dude?”, but Nikhil was staring his computer screen deeply engrossed in his own thoughts with three lines of tension clearly visible on his forehead. Having felt unnoticed, something which a beautiful girl can never stand. Riya puffed Nikhil hard on his shoulder…”Kya bi…where are you?” Khair leave all that. Tell me, “Kaisi lag ri hoon?” “Look! I have got this new shade on my hair…don’t u think it’s awesome…””Also, what about the new sexy pair of sandals…don’t u think they rockkk?”

Perturbed enough and moving his eyes wherever Riya was forcing them to, he just could say, “Wonderful Riya!” in the end and he got back to his screen again. By this time, chirpy Riya was already mad, she threw her dazzling bag and went straight to the canteen to fetch her daily dose of Sugar Free Black Coffee, and yes, she obviously didn’t ask Nikhil to tag along.

Nikhil realized he had committed a big mistake; this is not the way he should behave with his good friend, Riya. Though he didn’t want to engross his mind anywhere else but at the same time he even didn’t want to hurt Riya. He went to the cafeteria where Riya was sitting already facing the window sipping her hot cuppa coffee. Nikhil took a glass of water and sat in front of her, with the same long face.

“SORRRY RI…I’m sorry!” just those words and Riya burst out with laughter, “Baj gai naa! Aage se never behave like that with mighty RIYA!!! Chal bachhha Nik, now quickly tell me Mai kaisi lag rahi hoon? And then tell me your Love story.”

Nikhil was surprised and a thought again crossed his brainy neurons, “Why and how is it that true friends understand the entire situation so quickly without even your saying a single word. And when the friend is of the opposite sex, the understanding is always Bang On…!”

Before he could say, “How do you know?” Riya said, “I know mahn, don’t I know you?..Well, that’s the only reason I have spared you for your misbehavior today. And by the way, even I haven’t heard annnneeeeething interesting from a long time now”...She winked with a cheeky smile.

It took only a few moments for Nikhil to narrate the entire night’s happening to Riya and he ended the scene-by-scene account by just saying, “Riya!!! Dammit….I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I really..truly..madly..deeply have fallen in love with her.”

Listening to the entire account like a sweet small kid, Riya gave her typical big-time consultant look and popped out her suggestion, “Look my dear Nik, why are you so tensed???...DUDE!!! You have her number…right? Call her and ask her, how does she know you?”

Nikhil thought, “Goddamn! Riya is great as a friend but I hate her when she becomes a consultant friend…OH!” Grasping his emotions and controlling the same for that moment, Nikhil could only show a smile.

Whatever Riya would have suggested, Nikhil liked the idea of at least calling Bhargavi to meet her somewhere because at this time, He couldn’t concentrate on work; in fact he was not able to concentrate on anything. Wherever he was seeing, whatever he was doing, wherever he was going, he could see only those beautiful eyelashes and those curled hair...

Since, his thoughts were going nowhere, he picked up his phone and dialed in the number…

Hi Friends,

First of all I would like to thank my friends Richa (aka santasizing) and Priyanka (aka ChirpyParo) for contributing to my blog and continuing or I should say sensationalizing the story titled "The Stunning Beauty...That Sunday Night".

This is turning out to be very interesting for all of us. We are living the lives of Nikhil and Bhargavi and are adding small snippets, again our imaginary creations to build up a beautiful story...

You all can contribute, add, comment and definitely read and be a part of this small creation and effort from our end...we are really loving it!!! And we wish the same is happening for all of you...:)

Also, I am continuing this story in the next blog from where we have left it, all those of you who have missed the action till now, go through the complete blog "The Sunday Night...That stunning Beauty" on the following link... http://akashspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/09/stunning-beautythat-sunday-night.html Read everything, even the comments section coz that's the place where all the action is happening...

Keep following this story through comments, labels and posts and keep driving urself straight from the heart...!!! :)

The Stunning Beauty...That Sunday Night...

You all must have been to malls of today...hustling n bustling with a lot of people everywhere...shouting children, huge families, young eye-locked couples, spruced-up girls dressed-to-kill and wandering guys with opportunistic eyes...

Nikhil, 23, along with 2 of his close friends, Arun and Vyomkesh went to one of these malls on a really lifeless Sunday just to change the boring mood he was engulfed with due to the recent break-up he had with his girlfriend. The weather was pleasant, so they planned to take up a rickshaw rather than a regular 3-wheeler auto. The hell-bent Rs. 5 bargaining with one rickshaw-wallah made them walk almost half of the distance up to the mall to find another one, but instead of giving them a winner like feeling which can be seen on any Indian Housewife's face after getting a successful bargain deal, this episode had worsened their Sunday mood...

Being really pissed-off coz of the mundane dinner they used to have at home, their main motive was to have good food in this mall along with some raking to the eyes which definitely is the worthy by-product for anyone in a mall on any given Sunday.

So, they went to a restaurant full of so many people that even after somehow managing to get the self-served food, they had to wait for a long time to find a place where they could sit and eat. Vyomkesh really got heated up and the moment he decided to walk out of the place without having the dinner, an old couple from a far away corner got up from their seat, looking content after their dinner. This was the moment; the three of them had to run a lot of distance to get the recently emptied seat.

With filled plates in both of his hands, suddenly Nikhil started running at the top of his speed looking forward may be to break Bolt’s new olympic record, cutting from the middle of the crowd, crossing over the wild kids on the way, the slippery floor and the wary watchful eyes... While he was about to reach the much wanted table; the old couple came back on the seat crushing his hopes of the cherished award in the form of the table, right there, yet again.

But the couple had come only to collect the purse which the lady had left by mistake on the table. Nikhil and his friends gasped a pang of fresh air and grabbed the seat, to finally enjoy their dinner. Plenty of Indian delicacies like Chole Bhature, Raj Kachori, Paneer Tikka, mouth watering Bhelpuri and Sweet Lassi had filled the empty hollows of their craving stomachs.

But that was not enough for all but Arun, the guy with an unending appetite. He said, "I am not done, I want to eat some Chinese too." Hence, they had to go up to the food court, usually found on the terraces of these malls, providing plenty of food options to fill the foodie desires of the ever hungry Arun.

While Arun was exploring his Chinese eating desires..., Nikhil’s eyes suddenly met those beautiful eyes, those exquisite pair of red sandals, those long well-curled hair, that white bracelet, those Jolied lips, and that stunningly amazing face. He had not seen similar features from a long-long time. She was perfect..., a Diva, a beauty, a Goddess standing somewhere right in front of him. Their eyes met...once...twice and even thrice...but nothing happened. Nikhil thought, "It might just be a casual look...which keeps happening in the mall."

But, that beauty turned up to the same Chinese eatery zone right next to the place where Nikhil was standing. She grabbed her already prepared order and went up to the seating zone. Nikhil’s eyes followed, wishing that she does not at-least sit next to some guy coz that will crush his heart suggesting she already has a boyfriend. In fact, Nikhil wished that she would have come with some friends of hers so that the situation becomes easier to handle and somewhat approachable for him. But what he sees takes his breath away. To his dismay, the girl sat right next to a huge fat man, with bald head and white moustache, a definite colonel look...No points for guessing, he was surely her Father with a damn angry look on his face like the one which was typically last seen in Amrish Puri’s eyes in DDLJ, the Bollywood flick which inspires every young Indian heart.
While Nikhil was in his own world, suddenly Arun appeared, with his well garnished Chinese noodles along with Vyomkesh. He pinched Nikhil shouting, “Kaha hai dude…what the hell has happened to you, why are you sweating badly in this chilling air-conditioned space?” And Nikhil couldn't stop narrating his newfound love story right from his heart telling them that he has fallen in love, yet again, but this time it really seems for real.

When Arun and Vyomkesh saw the girl, her mystic beauty swept the floor away from their feet too. They soon decided to sit down at the most 'strategically' placed location, out of the few options available, on Nikhil’s suggestion. Generally, friends laugh things off in these situations which happen quite often in malls. But gauging Nikhil’s seriousness they coaxed Nikhil to do something, charged him up, saying things like you are the only one who can do something…it’s now or never types. Reassuring him that if something happens to him, they would be the first to run away at the top their speeds...

But Nikhil had lost all hopes by this time, seeing that when the girl has come with her Father, Mother and her sister, it’s naturally an impossible proposition to talk to her or for that matter, even approach her. The guy looking for love, decided that he would do nothing insane and sit quietly and cry on his bad luck, after all the girl is with that huge Godzilla sized Father. He couldn't do anything; already life had given him enough bruises, not any more…Nikhil just sat quietly in anticipation of an opportunity…

Suddenly, the beauty got up...turned...their eyes met again, she went up to one of the counters and bought a bottle of mineral water, fancied an amazing look at him again and got back to her seat. This eye-locking had a catastrophic effect on Nikhil’s heartbeat which was soaring a peak of a lifetime. Nikhil was about to get back to his normal self and guess what, she got up again, this time to fetch tissue papers and the stunning eyes met with the opportunistic ones, yet again, leaving Nikhil mesmerized...

But, since the situation was out of Nikhil’s control and since Arun had already gulped down his noodles and had ran away from the situation to save himself from the anticipated beating due to Nikhil’s intentions, Nikhil too decided to leave with Vyomkesh, crushing his lively emotions to a logical death.

The moment they got up from their seat...nothing happened; the moment they started walking...nothing happened; but the moment they crossed the pleasant smell of that amazing perfume of her's, another ray of hope came Nikhil’s way. She rose again from her seat and reached the same Chinese vendor again which was located a little far from the place where the moustached Devilish villain of Nikhil’s new found love-life was sitting. Gauging the moment and finally living his dream, Nikhil left Vyomkesh on the way; he headed the Chinese vendor...leaving Vyomkesh shocked.

He went up there, very close to the counter, right next to where the stunning beauty was standing. For a moment he couldn't breathe, words couldn’t come out of his mouth, he was not even able to blink his eyes. They were staring at each other, standing right next to each other, face to face. A set of three words, “Can we talk?”, Nikhil popped out the question. She blinked her eyes for a moment, a whiff of fear rolled down her throat and she whispered another set of three words, “Not right now!” and she quickly went back leaving Nikhil with an insanely questioned look...

Lot of thoughts went through Nikhil’s mind, “Not right now!”, it might mean..., “Yes!, but not right now!” or it might mean..., “No!!!, not right now and never ever after!”. Nikhil was confused, what he should do, his friends had already left downstairs without telling him whether they are waiting or not, and the girl for whom he was ready to go till the last mile was sitting back right next to her family. He was asking himself, “I should wait” or “I should approach her again” or “I should talk to the angry Colonel directly” or “I should at least pass down my contact number” or “I should wait and follow her”...so many questions...he was devastatingly confused...

What should Nikhil do? What should be his next step? Can you complete Nikhil’s story, if you would have been in his place what would you have done? What if the girl goes to a movie after the dinner with her family in the same mall? What if she moves back in her father's car back home? Did the girl had similar feelings for Nikhil? Can you help Nikhil decide his next move? Well, Nikhil is waiting…

Now, its your time to comment, post your suggestions, post your thoughts, post anything you wish to...the blog is waiting...So, start pouring in ur comments…



PS: The above story is based on imaginary thoughts. All characters in the story are fictitious, any resemblance to actual events in any mall or with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.