Saturday, November 17, 2012

Finding Love | Chapter-2 | Ank's predicament


The year was 03 or maybe 04 . I can’t say for sure. Can i say anything for sure?  Maybe not. On that Sunday morning all i wanted was to wake up late and eat a sumptuous breakfast of butter dosa. Amir had pledged to finance the breakfast and later during the day we had planned to cook lunch and also invited Luv for it. Amir would do the cooking and I would provide the supplies. However the call from Luv's girlfriend had unnerved us and what looked like inevitability was the change in itinerary. In an outburst of uncontrolled action I had called a dozen or so common friends just to locate Luv. In an age of missed call flashes and high call rates I had done an unthinkable act. At a time when people mostly flashed in order to get their friends call them back I had called a dozen or so people. However I did not regret it then as I was immersed in thoughts of Luv's well being.
Instead of thinking about where Luv could be or what could have possibly befallen him, Amir was talking about cell phone mannerisms and his vast knowledge of dosa types. I had to bring him back on track. He immediately announced that we have to launch a manhunt. We have to find Luv. He was like this since the time i knew him- willing to help immediately-even though the outcome most of the times were disastrous-particularly not to him but certainly for the person whom he intended to help. For instance, while I was in college I was smitten by a fellow batch mate. I did a terrible mistake of telling Amir about what i felt about her precisely and openly. At that time internet was just picking up and Amir being a student of computers introduced me to the amazing world of internet chatting and emailing. Although the girl sat just next to me in class, we barely spoke. Amir helped me create a yahoo id and hooked me up to chatting with her.  He would sit with me and tell the chatting lingo. The only connection I had with her was the internet connection. We became chat friends and she would occasionally tell me her schedule and when she would send the smiley and flower emoticons in the chat window I would be so happy that I would pay for my roommates cigarettes. Amir helped me write my first ever email and that too addressed to the girl of my dreams. It was about a project about micro-controllers which I had perceived and wanted her to be part of. When I clicked the send button, it felt like the first kiss. However things did not move any further than that and Amir would always ask me to take the relationship to the next level.
After a few days she stopped talking to me and would avoid me in college. I felt disturbed and discussed the situation with Amir. His clunky and uptight response on this issue made me even more paranoid. Only when i made him swear on his bootlegged copy of Let Us C, he divulged that feeling empathy for me he took the liberty of writing to the girl, off course using my email address. He opened his heart or shall I say my heart in his words to her. And the result was showing.
Anyways now was not the time to crib about past failures. Now was the time to find Luv. First we wanted to go to his house which was a rented accommodation as quickly as possible. We had no wheels with us. The only wheels we had seen until that time was the Wheeler book stall in railway stations. We took two daily bus passes and boarded a bus to reach Luv's house. Mid way I started feeling hungry and hence we had to get down at the Majestic station and we ate Masala Dosa. Then we boarded another bus and after one and half hours of journey reached his home. We rang the door bell. No one answered. I started feeling uneasy and so was Amir. But his uneasiness was because of a nauseating cocktail of Masala Dosa and a long bus commute. He puked his guts out. We rang again and still there was no answer.

Wiping his mouth Amir said- Maybe Luv is asleep. Let’s go to the rear window and shout.
Ok. Yeah maybe he got drunk or something last night. What if he suffered some kinda attack. Shall we call an ambulance?
Man let’s see him first and then based on his appearance decide the next step.

We went to the rear window. It was opened. It was the kitchen and offered limited view to his bed room. We tried all kinds of positions to get a glimpse of his bedroom. But there was not a trace of Luv. Suddenly we heard a voice from the first floor and we both looked up like birds looking for a hint of rain in a distant cloud in summer.


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