Chapter 2:
Manik was never known for his patience with people or with things. His patience varied according to who he was dealing with, but for most people, a single mistake could cost a lot of ill-bred anger from Manik. At most, the maximum amount of lenience he ever showed was towards his girlfriend, Aliya Mukherjee. It had been two years since they had started dating and Manik could already see Aliya falling in balance with his life. She was used to him now, his imperfections, his easily triggered anger, his mischievous manner, everything. And Manik was glad that he dint have to keep reminding her how little she knew him any more.
"And then kitna drama karke that girl disposed off that silly lizard you know" Manik hated it when Ailya whined like a six year old, he had told her so a million times, but somehow she never got it.
"Chill babe, it was just a lizard." Manik was as always least interested in the daily musings of her headgirl life.
"Manik she was feeding it chole!" Aliya was trying desperately to get Manik's attention. Yes, it worked. Manik almost spat the water that he was drinking and when he was done choking, he turned back to her.
"She was WHAT?"
"She was feeding the lizard Chole! Mukti and I saw it, we tried to dissuade her but jhaansi ki rani will not listen, will she!"
"Then? Then what happened?" Manik asked, his interest growing at a ridiculous rate.
"Then I had to blackmail her you know, I told her I'd complain about it. And you should have seen her cheek, she tells me, I'll complain that you're harassing me. My foot, she's like the Gabbar of our class. None of the girls like her. She harasses everyone."
"She harasses people?"
"Ya. She does. And poor baby, Mukti, has to sit with her on a daily basis. My baby, today I made her come and sit in front with me."
"Why? She could have just sat there to next to Gabbar right?"
"Manik, that girl had made that lizard sit on Mukti's seat." That was all that it took to crack Manik up. He slid onto the pavement beside him, next to the swings, and started rolling on it, uncaring about the amount of dust that was collecting on his shirt.
Aliya stared at her boyfriend in disgust, she could bare with all that Manik did, his inattentiveness, weird eating habits, stupid jokes, everything but this, his messiness she just couldn't handle.
"Manik, get up. Kya kar rahe ho! Your shirt is getting so dirty."
"Chill Aliya. I wont come too close till I get my shirt washed. Okay?" Manik gave her an over smart look, which sometimes made Aliya want to kick him in the shins.
"Ya. Okay. Listen Manik, Mukti is waiting for me near the bus, so I'll catch up with you later, okay?"
"Your loss, rani sahiba."
Aliya rolled her eyes, blew Manik a kiss and left to meet with Mukti, leaving Manik alone to walk upto his bus.
Manik devoured these little moments of peace, when he dint need to keep an active conversation going, which was the least of Aliya's expectations. Aliya was the kind of person who simply could not handle quiet people, she needed something to chatter and gossip about every minute of her existence, and this was one of the biggest turn-offs about her.
When Manik was in a bad mood, he would expect to be left alone, in his bad times he needed peace and quiet. But that's somehow always too much to ask for from her. She would come to him, chatter about every imbecile's existence and life tragedies and expected that after this session, he would feel better. She never got it, he was not like her, he did not need to sit and gossip and bitch about every person around him, to make himself feel better.
And today, like any other day, Manik ran to his bus which was parked below the playground, excited about the long awaited peace. She would be too busy with Mukti in the other bus to even bother texting him now. Just the thought of the long nap he could take on his way home made him feel giddy and excited.
But his giddy mood did not extend to every person who travelled in the bus. Manik watched from the bus window as a grumpy looking Nandini Murthy walked towards the bus. Mischievous as he was, he ran to the driver's seat and pulled the lever which locked the back door of the bus towards which she was walking. Noticing the locked door, she changed her path and started walking towards the front door of the bus to where Manik stood blocking the entrance, a smug look on his face.
Nandini saw him standing, faked a confused look, and said "Excuse me? I need to get inside."
"And I want a garam samosa." Manik said, looking thoughtful.
"So? That's not my problem. Move."
"Arre. Shaant bachhe. Shaant. Here, five bucks, go buy me a samosa from the stall over there."
"Tere papa ki naukar nahi hoon main? Shut it and move!"
"Buy me a samosa and I'll let you in." Manik watched as she debated internally whether the hit to her ego would be worth getting inside the bus. She decided on the latter.
"Absolutely not. You want a samosa, you go buy it. Bloody amir baap ke bigade hue bache."
"Well, then. I suppose you're going to have to stand outside here for a long time."
"Kisi teacher ko aane de. Main batati hu tujhe."
"Tu? Mujhe bataegi?" Again the pathetic, shameless laugh.
"Oye! Size dekha hai apna? Lukka kahinka. Do thappad maarungi na muh pe, faint ho jaega yahin pe."
"Oye, gabbar ki aulaad. Apna papa ka punching bag samjha hai? Haath lagake dikha, main batata hu tereko!"
Nandini debated whether slapping him would be worth an entire year of becoming the garbage can of Manik and his back seat gang, no, absolutely not. Her peace was too important to her. She stared at Manik with as much digust as humanly possible.
"Arre Nandu, bhagwaan ne waise hi utna kuch khaas chehra nahi diya hai, isko aur kharab mat karo baby. Nahi toh lifetime bhar Lily se kaam chalana padega." Manik reminded her of the lizard she had named just to watch her reaction.
"Listen you-" But nandini was cut short as the marching procession of the primary level kids reached the bus to get in. The line was so huge, Nandini knew that if she dint get inside the bus before them, she would have to spend her entire bus journey standing against the backdoor of the bus. She looked at Manik pleadingly, he looked back at her amused. A minute later, he moved aside from the front door of the bus letting all the little kids inside to grab all the seats left.
Perfect, just perfect. Can my day get any worse? Nandini mutered under her breath as she got into the now crowded bus.
**
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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