SS | Love in R&G Enclave *Ch2* 30/5 - Page 4

Originally posted by: Eccentrica

I loved it Amzy...of course I'm goign to miss Khushi ki naughty kahaani...but this one's pretty interesting😃

There are many characters and its going to take a while for me to adjust tot hen...I must admit. But I'm glad you provided with the family tree.😊

And I don't know why but I feel the plot of shifting from Qatar to India along with the London bit is inspired from your life...bolo bolo!😉

Chapter 2 – Upchuck, Doraemon and Sanka Devi

Khushi

The minute I entered the house, Mum burst into tears. "My daughter is back with me!"

Akash had looked down at the floor, wondering probably, which strata the marble of the flooring belonged too. He was such a geek! Which was why I called him Grey Matter!

After hugs, kisses and chit-chats with Mum, Buaji, Karthik Bhaiyya and Anjali Bhabhi, I retired to my room. It was actually OUR room. Me and Akash shared it… No actually, it was TWO rooms that had connecting doors. So it was actually OUR room…. I already said that didn't I?

Anyways, my room was white. No colors at all. Just white. I had wanted white, because then I could decorate it the way I wanted it to, without worrying whether the color of the decoration would go together with the walls. Besides, the color white made the room bigger than it actually was.

I remember long back when Akash had gotten his room painted pale blue and he had started fighting that my room was larger than his and acted like a 'gentleman in distress'. And then, I had to measure my room with a measuring tape to convince him and he had still remained unconvinced and said that I had cheated. And then…. I asked him to go to hell.

I chuckled at the memory, and gazed around at my room. It was plain off-white in color. There was one window on the wall to my left, which looked into the common balcony, which in turn overlooked a grey wall, and what lay behind it was a mystery to me.

R&G was the last building in the street, and the end of the street we lived in was a dead-end. And basically, our flat was the one that in the extreme end and my room over looked the dead-end. There was another window straight in front of me, which overlooked (the common balcony first of course) the front of R&G. Actually, 'windows' would be the wrong word, as I used them as doors to get into the balcony. Of course, Mum had scolded me loads of times, but it was too much fun. So I just did it when she wasn't around.

I went onto the balcony and stood there for a few minutes, taking in the cool breeze the neem tree near the Mysterious Grey Wall provided. I made a mental note to ask my cousins what was behind it.

The MGW was a large grey-black wall that went up to second floor of R&G. From the Commons, we couldn't see it as the view to the MGW was blocked by a wall (which had a huuugeee family picture of the Raizadas and Guptas)

When we were kids, the MGW was a 'threat'. Mamma would tell me that beyond it was Mojo Jojo (you know, the evil monkey from Power Puff Girls?) But now? PUH-lease! Definitely not stupid enough to believe that! All I could see were three things- trees, bushes and trees. In the distance, I could see spots of white, probably buildings.

My eyes went to the blue building behind the garbage dump that was behind the GHMC Park. That was Vivaan's house… My boyfriend of two years. It was a casual relationship. Apparently he had a crush on me and he asked me out. It was pressure from peers. No, pressure from PEER (Lavie of course) as she said that he was a sweet guy and all and that she knows him because she was his classmate. So I agreed cuz well, what's the harm? I'd be in London and not here. I know you probably think I am mean, but if you are a victim of peer pressure and emotional blackmail, you'd know…

He had apparently seen me one fine vacation day when I had accompanied Lavanya to her school because I was jobless.

Summer in England was last week of July to first week of September, but in India it was last week of April to first week of June.

But now that I am here, I need to break up. If any of the R&G members got a whiff of this, there'd be uproar. The Nanis and Nanus will consider him for marriage (I am 17 for god's sake!) my aunts, uncles and parents would show disapproval while my cousins and friends would tease me to death. No one except Lavanya knew.

But I need a reason to break up… A valid one. I mean, though both of us weren't in a SERIOUS relationship, I want to quit it in a dignified manner. Who says that teens don't have a reputation to keep? What if Vivaan says things like I chickened out? Na-ah!

And if he is all melodramatic about break up with cheesy dialogues like 'I can't live without you' and blah, I will smack him in the face and ask him to stop watching too much of movies.

"Hey Uppie!" Akash called.

"Yeah?" I asked turning around. 'Uppie' was short for Upchuck.

Oh and I had forgotten about Akash. Though Akash was older to me by a few minutes, he was an annoyingly possessive elder brother… So IF he finds out about Vivaan, then the poor guy would be interrogated to death.

Akash smiled and walked up to me. "I missed you…"

I smiled and hugged him. "I missed you too Grey!"

"It's been three years since I've seen you…" His voice cracked.

"Oh Jesus, Grey don't cry!" I said. "All of us have been in touch on Face Book right?"

"Seriously, you have become so Londonised that instead of Buaji's Nandkisore, Nani's Krishnaji and Mom's Devi Maiyya, you are hailing Lord Jesus?" he asked smiling.

I laughed. "Oh shut up! I'll get used to the gods here too!"

"You sure will. Let's go…" Akash said, taking my arm.

"To the Commons! All the Gen-X people are waiting for you!"

My face scrunched. I sucked at socializing…

Akash rolled his eyes. "Uppie, it'll be fine! You know them already!"

"But it's after three years…!"

"Well, your Bhai is there for you!" Akash said and tugged at my elbow.

"That's very comforting! Let me get ready!" I muttered.

*
I bit my lower lip, wondering if I looked okay. I was wearing a simple red T-Shirt from Splash. It had the picture of a girl in a yellow dress with Skype symbol instead of a head and the caption read 'The Talkative'. Below, I was wearing blue jeans. I frowned. Casual much? But-

"Uppie! You are not going to see a GROOM! It's just a freakin' informal meeting!" Akash said peeking through the door.

I hastily ran my fingers through my open hair and rolled it up in a messy knot on the top of my head, held in place by a white butterfly clip. My bangs though, the stubborn meanies that they are, refused to move away from my face.

"Ah, that's better!" Akash said and dragged me out of my room.

*

Honestly, I am amazed at the Nanus' thinking. I mean, Commons in an apartment? Clever indeed. I have never really heard of this concept before. Especially Commons in an apartment, and I don't think such thing exists anywhere in Hyderabad.

The Commons was a cream-walled large LARGE place. I mean, it is above the second floor and occupies a space of three apartments. So you can imagine…. The Common Room wasn't just ONE room of course. Different groups could have their privacy.

In its centre, was the spiral staircase of course, leading up and down (Du-uh) There was a large kitchen, where women could mass-cook during get-togethers (Which, by the way, was now full of bustling women). Adjacent to the kitchen, was the loonnggg dining table. The rest of the Commons was divided into three rooms, one of which was the living-area with sofas and bookshelves.

Akash lead me to one of them, and the room was large. It also clearly screamed 'adolescents' and would be paradise for every teenager. There were posters of music bands and singers and a shelf of books. The walls were pale in color but one wall was bright yellow, that had a large collage kind of thing of a bazillion pictures and I could barely see the yellow. The floor had white rug and was scattered with bean bags and funky stuff. Another wall held a large window and there was an LCD connected gaming stuff in front of the window. A single plank next to the LCD held lots of games.

On the downside, Karthik Bhaiyya had the key to the room, and no one could go there without his permission. What with him being neighbor to ADULTS, it was kind of tough getting the key from him. And when we did, it was like flies coming to a cube of sugar!

XBOX and PS3! Holy Shit! I hoped I wasn't gaping at it or worse, drooling cuz I was an absolute videogame freak!

I turned around and bumped into someone.

"OW!" I exclaimed and looked up, to see the most beautiful chocolate eyes I had ever seen.

Arnav

Me, Payal, NK, Nisha Di and Lavanya waited at the kids room for Khushi.

"Arnav, it looks okay right?" Payal asked, looking around anxiously.

"Payaliya, relax!" I smirked. Payal turned a little red. "GAH! Not you too! Madhu Aunty and Mom call me the same and it is irritating!" Payal said, frustrated.

"She is a human AND a teenager! She'll like it… Akash assured you already!"

For some strange reason she turned a little pink. "H-he did but…"

"Oh Payal, seriously! Shut up!" Lavanya said.

Lavanya was an year older than Payal. Due to some reason, both were put in school together in the same class. It was possible because… uh, I am not sure but it was something about being born on the margin of the cut-off date or something. So except NK, who was in twelfth grade and Nisha Di who had just graduated, all of us (Khushi, Me, Akash, Payal and Lavanya) were in the same class.

"WHY do you elder sisters always boss around for simple reasons and-" I started.

"Oh shut up Arnav!" Lavanya scoffed. "What can we do when you kids get on our nerves and we get screwed for your crimes!"

"Well, we are just clever to get you trapped!" I snapped.

"Oh God, not again!" Nisha Di muttered.

"SHUT UP! You two fight the way a pariah dog fights with a domestic pedigree!" NK blasted.

Me and Lavanya glared at him. "Which one of us did you call a pariah?" Lavanya asked.

"Did you just call us both DOGS!?" I scowled.

"Payal this is all your fault!" Nisha Di turned on Payal.

"Hey what did I do?" Payal demanded.

And we went silent when we heard footsteps.

The door was opened by Akash and the minute I saw her, I was mesmerized. She was pale (not in an unhealthy way) and had brown hair, highlighted by dark brown here and there. Her eyes had immediately begun to dart around the room, drinking in everything. She walked in, without noticing any of us as she looked around the room in awe. If only she had come ten minutes early… She would have run away straight to the airport and back to London.

I saw her eyes glaze over when she saw the gaming equipment. I decided to intrude from her session of day-dreaming and went near her and she chose that very moment to turn and bumped straight into my shoulder, hitting her forehead it.

"OW!" she yelled and looked up.

And once again, I was breathless. She had beautiful eyes, emerald green with speckles of gold and grey.

"I am so sorry!" she said and jumped back.

She had a cute British accent.

"That's alright! I am-"

Her eyes widened. "I know you! You are Chhote!"

"N-No I-" I started, but neither did she stop nor did the snickers I could hear.

" I mean, now you are Bade but do they still call you Chhote? If they do that'd be so weird cuz you are not Chhote… I mean of course, you ARE Chhote but not the LITERAL Chhote! I mean, just look at you! You are so tall so are you still Chhote, Chhoteji? Or do they call you Bade Chhote? I can't call you that so shall I just call you Scar like I used to? But that was only when I was angry with you! That means I will have to call you Bade Chhote which would be just weird! So what-"

She babbled on nervously, and I looked at Akash who had just face-palmed himself and came and tapped Khushi's shoulder from behind.

"GAH!" she yelled and turned to look at Akash. "GREY! You scared me!"

"And you, Uppie dear, are scaring everyone else with your babble…" Akash said.

Khushi looked around with wide eyes and saw that everyone was stifling laughter. She smiled sheepishly at them. "I'm sorry, I got nervous…"

"Akash told us Kitty…" I chuckled "… that you don't talk much around new people. But looks like he was wrong wasn't he?"

Her nostrils flared and she turned red. "Akash told you now, did he Chhote but-"

"Arnav. My name is Arnav…" I said getting annoyed.

"Well, Chhote, my name is KHUSHI -"

"-and Upchuck!" Akash butt in.

"AND Doraemon!" Lavanya said happily

"And Sanka Devi…" Nisha Di grinned.

"Yeah, well THAT and NOT Kitty… And how dare you call me Kitty Chhote? I thought everyone knew I don't like that name!" Khushi said, narrowing her eyes at me and throwing an irritated look at the others who interrupted her.

I could see myself in her eyes, and I looked shocked. She had more temper than before!

Akash pushed himself between the two of us. "WELL! Seeing you guys are already great friends, lets uhm….."

Suddenly Khushi burst out laughing. "Oh Jesus, you should've seen your face!"

I blinked, a little startled. What the heck? Wasn't she being a humanoid dragon a few moments ago, billowing smoke at me.

Everyone laughed with her and soon her eyes began to tear up with laughter, and for the first time, I laughed along with her at MYSELF.

Of course, little did I know that it was time for many of my firsts…

*

"Lavanya, why Doraemon?" I asked suddenly, a little while later.

Khushi was sitting on a football bean bag, next to mine. Lavanya was sprawled on the floor and Payal was leaning against her. Nisha Di had left for a job-interview and NK was texting somebody.

Khushi smirked. "Ha! That's because I got her outta trouble many times. I call her Nobitha, the forever-in-trouble!"

I shook my head. This level of obsession with cartoons was unheard of.

"Got her out of trouble?" I asked suspiciously.

Lavanya blushed.

"Oh, you don't wanna know!" Khushi smirked.

"Hey, I want to!"

Khushi blinked once and shook her head. "Sorry… That's a bestie secret! Would you tell me my brother's secret?" she asked.

"But that's not fair! Akash is your brother! And he doesn't hide things from you!" I said indignantly. That was a lie of course.

Khushi smiled wickedly. "Oh please Chhote! I mean Arnav! Do I look like a blonde to you?"

"Huh, what do you mean…?" I asked.

"I know Akash… I know…" Khushi said mysteriously, shaking her head.

"What do you know?" Akash asked suspiciously.

I saw Khushi look at Payal, who was engrossed in her MP3 Player and Lavanya was watching curiously. Then she looked at Akash, and then back again at Payal.

"How did you know!" Akash asked, tensely.

Huh, know what?! She had said nothing!

Khushi blinked her eyes innocently at him and asked "What are you talking about Grey? La, shall we walk out for some time?"

I watched suspiciously, as Lavanya looked confused at first and then a sort of understanding seemed to pass through her.

What was WITH this girl? Did she have the ability of telepathy or something?

As she walked past me, I heard her mutter "Boys! They think the world is blind!"

I watched the two of them walk out and turned to Akash, who had just muttered "Little she-demon!"

"What is it?"

"DUDE! She knows I like Payal!" Akash said.

My eyes widened. "How did you know?"

Akash frowned. "Of course I would know that I like Payal!"

"Oh God, I meant how did you know she knows?"

"Look, man I just know she knows…." Akash shuddered.

"But how did-"

"I don't know how!"

"You think she will tell Payal?" I asked doubtfully.

"No. She won't breathe a word about it to anybody"

"Then why the heck are you so worried….? And why didn't you tell her before itself then?" I was confused.

These Mallik siblings were really crazy!

"Two reasons- One, she will tease me to death. Secretly of course."

"And what's reason two?"

"She loves to play Cupid…." Akash said fearfully.

"I see…" I said and peeped through the window just in time to see Lavanya and Khushi (she was wearing a scarf around her head and it covered her face, but I figured it was her cuz of her T-Shirt)

"Where the hell are these two headed?" I muttered, as I saw them enter the GHMC park and walk across it.

Akash joined me and peeped over my shoulder. We watched with unrestrained curiosity as the two girls walked over to the other side of the park and climbed over the wall and disappeared beyond the garbage dump.

"Curioser and curioser!" Akash muttered.

"Huh? That makes no sense Akash!" I said.

"I know, but Alice said it…" Akash shrugged.

"Alice? Who Alice?" I frowned.

"Dude, the Alice from Alice in Wonderland!"

"Oh damn, stop throwing book quotes on my face!" I groaned.

Akash was a book freak (so was his sister) and kept doing stuff like that at times.

"Let's follow them!" Akash exclaimed.

"Dude, too late! They must be much ahead of us!"

"Let's try! Looks like my sister has secrets up her sleeve!" Akash grinned.

Khushi

I wrapped the scarf around my head and hurried downstairs to join Lavanya. I told Mom that I wanted to do some shopping with Lavie, but actually I decided to give Vivaan a surprise visit (which would end with P.S We are breaking up)

"What's with the scarf?" Lavanya asked suspiciously.

I rolled my eyes. "Mom said being back from London just today, I am apparently quite sensitive and vulnerable to the polluted Indian air. She told me to wear a scarf till my body adapts to the change."

"Uh, right." Lavanya said.

The two of us took the shortest route to his house; through the park.

"So, how did your Board Exams go?" I asked.

"Good enough! Results will be out in May" Lavanya said,

"Cool!"

"Actually, none of us wrote the BOARD exams. I mean, the papers were from the Delhi board, but we opted for an internal exams. Like, the school teachers will correct our papers. They won't go to Delhi."

'Us' referred to Akash, Chho- er, Arnav, Payal and Lavanya.

"Why ever not?" I asked.

"Well, all of us were planning to continue with eleventh in Benson's itself. Except Payal of course."

"Oh? Payal's not gonna be in Benson's?" I asked surprised.

"No she is joining Sri Chaitanya…" Lavanya muttered.

"What! That robot factory?!"

Sri Chaitanya was categorized under the 'IIT Foundation Institutions'. (It was not the ONLY one of its kind. There was Narayana, FIITJEE, etc.) MOST (not ALL) people in India were brainwashed (according to me!) into thinking that being an Engineer or a Doctor is the best profession in the whole wide world. And of course, the stepping stone for an Engineer would be IIT, which was like the Harvard or Oxford of India. Get into that place, and you are set for life.

IIT was the top engineering college and AIIMS was for medicine.

And Sri Chaitanya (generally apartments-turned-to-school kind of building) was for kids who wanted to get into IIT and AIIM. They would be drilled and drilled and drilled ( and drilled to the power infinity ) to be able to get into IIT and AIIMS.

Their definition of 'drill' was getting students to come to the college (JUNIOR college meant eleventh and twelfth if you are NOT in a school) at 7 in the morning and leave anytime between 7 and 10 in the evening.

NOT my type of thing.

"God, what has she signed up for!" I exclaimed.

"I KNOW right. Papa wants me to do the same thing…"

"And what do you want to do?"

"Doesn't matter."

Whoa! Seriously?! I let it pass. For NOW of course. I was by nature, a self-righteous person (IF I am right) and felt others should stand up for themselves too.

So we walked on silently for a while and then climbed over the wall. (Me, after a lot of struggle of course! I mean, come on! Lavanya was more experienced!)

And headed towards Vivaan's house.

Arnav

Me and Akash followed them quietly. We could see them in the distance, and they walked into a blue building.

"Dude, who lives there?" Akash asked.

"Many people." Akash murmured, looking curiously at the two.

God, what kind of crazy friends do I have!

"I KNOW that. Anyone we know?"

"I only know Vivaan Verma."

"Could they be visiting him?"

"Really, what for?" Akash asked skeptically. "I barely know him!"

"YOU might barely know him, but they might know him well!"

Few minutes later, the girls came out and began walking towards us.

"DUDE! We need to get out!"

Just as we turned back, we heard the sound of a bike from the distance. We turned again to see a guy on a Pulsar, blocking the girls' way. Just as I stepped forward to see if they needed any help, Akash stopped me. "Sh, Lavanya is smiling!"