“Thank you” he chuckled assuming a completely different reason(Our Tinder date was pleasure, this is work related since Alpana had just started some kind of a teaching gig and so Punky was there to support her)
She stared at him dumbfounded
He was so irritating she thought
This guy………..
“No we cant let you go alone” Alpana insisted
Sulu had ditched her, she had something like a contraction and she was so afraid she rushed to her Doc. Hinduja her daughter was left at a neighbor’s
She didn’t tell Punky, since she was at a party and she would worry
“I am perfectly fine, I get home at midnight sometimes from Sulu’s house”
“Not from here”
“Its such a posh area”
“I know that’s why… its super quiet, and I would be deathly afraid if I send you in an auto
There were a few stragglers left, Indraneel was in the balcony with some men, she had not talked much, except she had dropped a curry ladle while serving herself, he had bend down to retrieve it for her put it in the sink and cleaned up the mess,
“I have two left hands I guess”
“Good one” he growled
He walked over to his friends group, and pretended to drop his spoonful of curry when she made eye contact with him
Her lips twitched, and she turned away when she found him teasing
Alpana later introduced him to her
“Did u meet my new friend?”
“Oh yes I did”
“Good, if you have any Math questions you can ask her”
“Aisa kya?” Indraneel muttered silkily
It was quite bothersome to her, he was extremely annoying
She was about to tell Alpana she knew him already, but she refrained
“If you ever have to retake your college calc or something?” “That’s right” Punky winked carelessly
A woman she had just met tapped her on her shoulder to ask about a teensy boutique in a gully by the school she worked at
Indraneel and her exchanged looks a couple of times, but neither made any attempt to talk
Jay, Alpana’s husband returned from the balcony
“Neel can drop your new friend”
“NO” Punky shrugged coolly
Alpana looked at her quizzically
“Are kya hua? Ja na tu, main guarantee Neel ki”
No I am going to be fine”
“No please let us help out” Jay held on to the front door knob
She wondered if the best friends cooked up ways to stop women at the door
Indraneel sauntered in
“Hey man, can you drop her home?”
“Sure” he nodded unfazed
“I am quite OK”
“I am sure you are” Alpana giggled
In the next 20 minutes she was almost bodily shoved into Indraneel’s car
“If you display so much happiness and excitement everytime they will definitely suspect we have something cooking” he said without a single expression on his face
She realized he was going to give her high blood pressure
“Aisa koi doubt nahi hoga Neel” she leaned
“Mujhe to laga aap, definitely hint de rahe ho” he looked at her with a glint in his eyes
“Awww…. Main bata degi Alpana ko”
He played the Top 10 Marathi hits, the car was really nice, she wanted a Honda Accord now, she couldn’t even pay for a Nano at this point
“Did u go to any soccer game recently?”
“Nahi, too much teaching” she made a face
“Aure kitne bache hai?”
“MERE?” she was startled
“Hai bache?” he askedtauntingly
“40 hai mere,” “I have 40 kids” she played along
“Great” he nodded
She wanted to get under his skin
HOW? Tho?
“Aap mere ko Sutarwadi bus stop mein chhod do” she mumbled as the traffic signal approached
“Nahi”
“Address daal do please” he said firmly
“Umm..”
“You can clear the memory when you get down?”
She input her address
He wound his way through the tiny gullies
Some women were out on cots, trying to cool themselves down
“Lived here long?”
“All my life”
“Nice”
“You wasted so much petrol”
“I will let my Bhabhi know, she can deduct from what she pays the school”
“NO…. NO… you cant do that”
“Achha” he chuckled under his breath
He pulled over and shut off his headlights she noticed and stepped out
“Thanks haan?” she went up to him
He carefully avoided looking at the tiny independent house, colored a bright blue Ajji’s fave color
“Chalo” he nodded
He leaned and waited for her to unlock and open one of the steel gates and twin doors
“Jao” she ordered
He just smiled and stood there
Udne Ki Aasha
Hollywood
