Chapter 13

Both gulped their saliva down their throats and looked at everywhere except at each other. They knew what the other was thinking...about their almost kiss. They faces were fully flushed with embarrassment, especially, Sanyukta's face. She had turned red. Vardaan observed her, from the side of his eye. He smiled and smirked.

Vardaan: (Thinking) "Oh my god...is ko sharmaana bhi aata hai! Just look at her. She looks cute. Is she thinking about the almost kiss that we had? That is still on her mind? Hmm...interesting very interesting. Wait, let me tease her a bit."

Vardaan: Kya hua Ms Agarwal, aap yeh gaana nahi gaa rahi?

Sanyukta: "Hmm...Bbb..wo...woh mujhe yeh lyrics nahi aate, haha...isiliye."

Vardaan: (Smirking)"Really, but that's a lil hard to believe. I guess, yeh gaanatoh kaafi famous hua tha. Aur aap toh saare gaane aise gaati hai, maano neend se bhi uthakar gaana gaane ko kaho, toh gaa lengi."

Sanyukta: "No sir, mujhe is gaane ke lyrics sach mein nahi aate."

Sanyukta was feeling uneasy. She couldn't make out if it's the effect of the song or was it because she was in a small closed room since 3 to 4 hours. The song finished playing. Sanyukta heaved a sigh of relief. Vardaan saw her and smirked. Next to play in the audio system was a Jagjit Singh ghazal.

Tum ko dekha toh yeh khayal aaya

Zindagi dhoop, tum ghana saaya

aaj phir dil ne ek tamannaa kii
aaj phir dil ko hamane samajhaayaa
zindagii dhuup tum ghanaa saayaa...

tum chale jaaoge to sochenge
hamane kyaa khoyaa- hamane kyaa paayaa
zindagii dhuup tum ghanaa saayaa...

ham jise gunagunaa nahiin sakate
vaqt ne aisaa geet kyuun gaayaa
zindagii dhuup tum ghanaa saayaa...

Tum ko dekha toh yeh khayal aaya

Zindagi dhoop, tum ghana saaya

Vardaan started singing it. Sanyukta was surprised hearing him. He had a really melodious voice, just like professional singers. Sanyukta was enjoying listening to him. She felt as if he is singing for her. He knew the lyrics of the entire song. She slightly started waving her head left and right. The song finished. Vardaan looked at her smiling.

Vardaan: "So, how was it? How do I sing?"

Sanyukta: (Raising her thumb finger and then clapping) "A1 sir. Awesome. Aapne kabhi Indian Idol mein audition diya hai. Aap toh zaroor select ho jaaoge. And ha, main aapke liye bhar bhar ke vote karungi."

Vardaan: "Well, thank you. I am not into singing and stuff. It's just that today I felt like singing. Inspired by you of course. So the credit goes to you."

Sanyukta: "What, you never sing? Really? You should sing. Gaane se kabhi kabhi dil ka bhoj halka ho jaata hai."

Vardaan became serious all of a sudden. Sanyukta observed this. She quickly changed the topic.

Sanyukta: "Uhh...Sir, do you know how to whistle?"

Vardaan: "Nope and what kind of a question is that? Decent people don't whistle."

Sanyukta: "Oh teri! Nope!! So how do you cheer for India in some cricket match? See, it's really simple. First you open a your mouth a lil bit, and then make a small O' from your lips. Then you exhale air through it. See, like this."

She whistled a long tune. Vardaan was astonished. She again did the same thing. The whole time he was busy admiring her shapely red lips. Even Vardaan tried to imitate her. After 20 to 25 trial and errors, he was finally successful in whistling a small beep.

Sanyukta: "See, there you go. Agar yeh aap roz practice karenge toh aap bhi normal logo ke tarah seeti bajana seekh jaaenge. Yeh ek cheez hai joh aapko aapki student ne sikhaya hai."

Vardaan: "Yaa, I really don't believe, is stupidity mein maine aapka saath diya. Waise yeh aapne kaha se seekha?"

Sanyukta: (Giggling) "Ankit bhai se! Woh, Ankit is my twin brother. I am younger to him by 10 minutes. In our childhood, we use to constantly talk to each other through whistles. So now, both of us have become experts."

Vardaan was a bit jealous of Sanyukta. He never had any such family nor any siblings with whom he could share life's such silly lil joys and sorrows. Niharika was his only family. When she passed away, Vardaan had become a loner, again. Nobody was there to give him a shoulder to cry.

Sanyukta had become tired of waiting in the elevator. She had become restless. She rubbed her eyes with her fingers. Vardaan tried to divert her attention.

Vardaan: "Tell me honestly Sanyukta, why did you join FITE? Looking at your resume, joining FITE is not in your career path. Then, why? "

Sanyukta wanted to tell everything about her kathak, the bet she had with her brother, her father's pressure to join FITE, everything. But then, she was hesitant. She thought that he might use this against her, in her academics. So she cooked up a very filmy answer.

Sanyukta: "May be destiny wanted us to meet. See, we had first met when you hit my scooty and we cursed each other to not meet ever in life. But then again, see, here we are. Together, stuck in an elevator. Who knew?"

Vardaan became quiet. He started pondering upon her answer.

Vardaan: (In thoughts) "Destiny...what does it have in store for me? Whatever it is, I really don't want this girl to suffer because of my doomed bad luck."

Lost thinking this, he absentmindedly took out a cigarette out of his pocket. Sanyukta glared at him in shock and fury. Vardaan saw her and instantly threw the cigarette. Sanyukta was now feeling sleepy or dizzy, she couldn't understand. She rested her back and head on the wall of the elevator and closed her eyes. Vardaan was now tensed looking at her. He stood up and started banging the door again screaming for some help. But, it was of no use. He turned behind. Sanyukta was about to lose her balance. Her head was going to fall on one side. He quickly ran to her and kept his hand on one side of her face to avoid the fall. He sat beside her. Sanyukta rested her face on his shoulder. He affectionately patted her head and made her to sleep. After about 2 hours, even Vardaan's energy was dying. He was feeling giddy. He wanted to stay awake. But, he felt as if he's losing consciousness.

Suddenly, his eyes went up to the ceiling. He saw a big green button. His instinct was saying him to use that button. May be, that could save them. But, it was at a great height. He couldn't reach it. But, if somebody is made to reach there, things can work out. He thought of an idea. He started to wake Sanyukta up.

Vardaan: (Patting her face) "Sanyukta, sanyukta get up. Please get up."

Sanyukta: (Breathing heavily and eyes still closed) "I can't. I am sorry. My head is spinning. I am losing my senses."

Vardaan: "Please Sanyukta, don't say that. Look, I have an idea."

He explained everything about his idea. But, he was also sure that Sanyukta was in such a bad state, that she could not hear or decipher any of it.

Vardaan: "OK. Tell me one thing, Do you trust me? Tell me, do you trust me?"

Sanyukta: (Opening her eyes with great difficulty and lovingly looking at him) "Hmm...more than myself."

Vardaan : "Then please get up."

Vardaan helped her stand up. She was losing balance. Vardaan held her waist to help her. He himself was losing consciousness. He drank some water and made her drink some as well.

Vardaan: "See, that green button. Above, on the ceiling."

He raised her face above to help her see it. She nodded in affirmative.

Vardaan: "I will lift you up to help you reach there. All you have to do is to press that button."

She again nodded. Vardaan bent down, held her legs and lifted her up. He was losing balance. Sanyukta's eyes were already closed. Vardaan shouted at Sanyukta to press that button. Sanyukta couldn't reach her hand there. She told Vardaan to lift her up. Vardaan obliged. Fortunately, she pressed that green button. The elevator shook and trembled. Vardaan lost balance and dropped Sanyukta. But he held her again in nick of the time. She was about to fall, when Vardaan held her by her waist. Her back was bent to one side. His one hand was on her slender waist, and the other on her palm. Her other hand was on his shoulder taking support. They were standing in a typical ball dance couple posture. Only thing is that, Sanyukta passed out. The doors of the elevator opened up. People were standing and staring at them in amazement. One of the girl from the crowd exclaimed, "Wow, such a romantic couple!" She even clicked a picture of them. The manager of the mall hurriedly came there and requested the crowd to leave from there.

Sanyukta lost consciousness. She needed a doctor. Vardaan fired the manager and warned him that he'll complain against him. The manager requested Vardaan to bring Sanyukta to his cabin and he'll call a doctor soon. . Fortunately, there was a doctor among the crowd. Vardaan obliged as he had no other choice. The hospital was far away from this mall. He lifted her up and went to the Manager's cabin. He placed Sanyukta on the couch. The doctor came and examined Sanyukta. She gave her an injection. Vardaan twitched his eyebrows at this sight. He detested syringes. After some good 30 mins, Sanyukta gained consciousness. She spotted Vardaan. She raised her hand to reach to him. Vardaan took her hand in his.

Sanyukta: (In a low voice) "Apart from whistling, there is one more secret. Once I and my brother, we sneakily drank whiskey that Dad had bought for his office colleague. That was my first and last time. It tasted yuck!"

Vardaan smiled and laughed listening this.

Vardaan: "You need not share anymore secrets with me. We are out of the elevator. Look."

She looked with eyes wide open. She realized what kind of a dumbo she was. She got up. Vardaan offered her water. The manager came to them and apologized for their inconvenience. He also managed to get some discount coupons for them. Sanyukta happily grabbed them. She promised the manager, that they won't complain. Vardaan was against this, but Sanyukta had already kept the coupons in her bag. He agreed. They left the mall. While leaving, Vardaan advised her to have a healthy diet apart from pizzas and burgers, as she is really weak. She agreed. Vardaan offered her lift on his bike. But, Sanyukta refused it thinking, if anybody in the campus comes to know that they were together, it would be a huge issue. She opted for an auto rickshaw instead.

She reached her room. Kaustuki was really worried for her. She told that her mother had called her up.

Kaustuki: "Sanyu, where were you? I have been trying to contact you so many times. First of all, please call your mother. She's worried. She had called me instead. I lied to her that you were in library, and the phones don't get network there."

Sanyukta: "Thank you Kaustuki. You're such a darling. I'll explain to you everything. Let me call my mother first."

She called her mother and patiently explained everything to Kaustuki. Kaustuki was her best friend, her confidante. Kaustuki couldn't control herself. She started laughing.

Kaustuki: (Teasingly) "Waise Sanyu, what else did you guys do in the elevator? Something, X-rated?"

Sanyukta was stunned hearing this, especially from Kaustuki. She threw a pillow at Kaustuki. Both the friends had a pillow fight. The warden was passing through the corridor. She heard noises from the girls' room. She screamed to them to go to sleep.

Sanyukta was on her bed. Her mind was thinking that something has changed.

Next morning, Sanyukta woke up late. She was tired. She bunked the first lecture; as it is it was the most boring professor's lecture, Prof PK. She went to college and headed towards library to issue some books. On the way, she could sense that everybody was staring at her. Initially, she smiled at everybody wishing them hi's and good morning's. But, later she realized that something was fishy. She went inside the library. Everybody in the library was staring at her. She went to the book rack. She touched a book to pick it. At the same moment, Vidhushi also touched it.

Sanyukta: (Smiling) "Hey, Hi Vidhushi. Wassup?"

Vidhushi: "Yaa whatever. Listen, I came here first, so I want this book."

Sanyukta got irritated with her attitude.

Sanyukta: "Oh really, I touched this book first. So I would issue it first."

Both of them got into an argument. Some guys gathered around them hearing the commotion.

Boy 1: "Hey, Vishushi, are you mad? Kisse pange le rahi hai yar. Fail hona kya? Chod use hi lene de."

Boy 2: "Haa yar. Leave it."

Sanyukta was confused hearing them. Vidhushi left the book. She turned to leave. But, again turned back to face her.

Vidhushi: "Waise kya maal pakda hai yar? Tumhara toh pura career set. Na jaane kitne ladkiyo ka dil toot gaya hai aaj. "

Sanyukta: "Tum pagal ho gayi ho kya? Apne dimag ka ilaaj karwao."

Sanyukta left the spot. She issued the book and sat in the newspapers section to read some. She picked up some supplement newspaper which contains all Bollywood news and time pass news. She read the first page which had some news and a big picture of her favourite hero, Hrithik Roshan. She drooled over him for some time. Then, she turned the page to Page 2. She was dumbfounded. She rubbed her eyes, hoping that when she would open them, some different picture would be present. But, she was wrong. She could clearly see her and Vardaan Sir's picture. They were standing in the elevator, in a typical ball dance posture. Vardaan Sir was holding on to her waist. Their bodies were stuck to each other. She could see that her eyes were closed. "Romance can blossom even in an elevator", were the words written in bold next to the picture. Tears came rushing in her eyes. They fell on the picture. Kaustuki came running to her.

Kaustuki: "Sanyu? Where were you? I was searching for you in the entire campus."

With a fallen, emotional, crying face, she showed Kaustuki the picture. Kaustuki nodded indicating that she has seen it. She now knew the reason why the students were staring at her. Vidhushi's words were ringing in her head. She became very angry and in a rage, tore the newspaper.

Vardaan came to the college and he experienced the same stares, from students as well as from the other professors. He went to his cabin. The peon was cleaning it. He requested the peon to get some coffee and the morning newspaper. The peon obeyed. He sat on his huge chair in his signature style, i.e legs on the desk. He read each and every article from each and every section of the main newspaper carefully, like politics, business, technology, education, science etc. It was time for his lecture. He stood up to leave. By mistake, his hand pushed some papers on his desk. They fell down. Cold wind was blowing through the window. It added to Vardaan's woes, as the papers spread in the entire cabin. He proceeded to collect them one by one. Finally, his eyes fell on the supplement newspaper, that was now opened to page 2 due to the wind. He bent forward to pick it up. He folded it and in a neatly fashion kept it on his desk. He took 3 to 4 steps to leave from there. Suddenly, he thought that he saw a somewhat similar picture. He came back to his desk and turned the front page of the supplement newspaper. He was stunned. He was yet to decipher many things, when the peon entered his cabin and said,

"Sir, aapko Dean Sir ne bulaya hai."

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

Comments and suggestions guys.