CHAPTER 1: THE VAZ VILLA
"Dolly di / Dolly"!!!!!, the six of us screamed in unison. A shocked Dolly di who was busy in doing some project of hers' turned around and shrieked in delight, causing us to close our ears to protect our poor tympanums from the sudden shrieky attack.
"Nishu!!! Tum yahan?!" asked a happy dolly di hugging me or should I say squeezing me in her arms?.
"Kabir, did we get invisible all of a sudden?!" asked Saurav faking a surprise which earned him a smack on his head from Dolly di.
"Obvio sauro, when Nisha is here we all become invisible to Dolly!" said my K hubby with a bored look.
"Offo, shut ups you two! Woh sab chodo, aur yeh batao how comes you all are here? Where is Jwalu and bunty?"asked a curious dolly di.
"shut ups nahi dolly di shut up", corrected we as usual.
"Meri english ko baad me sudharo, pehle meri questions ke answers do!" said an irritated dolly di.
"Arey Dolly, darsal, Saurav ka client ke saath meeting thi yahan. Toh hum bhi aa gaye uske saath. Socha tum se milkar yahan thoda ghoom lete hai. Jwalu aur Bunty ke exams chal rahe na iss liye woh dono nahi aa paye." explained Umesh bhaiya. "Oh okays", said a smiling dolly di, making us roll our eyes at her English.
Dolly di is studying M.Arch in BMS college of architecture, Bangalore. She and her roommate Amrita, share a P.G room near Museum road. As, Umesh bhaiya explained before, Umesh bhaiya, Saurav, Sukku, Kirti, Kabir and myself have come down to Bangalore to meet Dolly di, with Saurav's meeting as a reason. Too bad that Jwalu and Bunty aren't here with us and we six will make sure to make them jealous by over-exaggerating the fun we are going to have while they slog for their exams! Haha evil us!
"So guys, it's still 6:30p.m, any plans tonight?", asked Sukku.
"Nothing much dude, lets roam around a bit, have dinner and retire for the day. I have an early meeting tomorrow." said an exhausted Saurav.
"How blah Sauro! We have not come here to eat and sleep. And by the way your meeting tomorrow is scheduled at 10:00a.m which, by no means is early" said Kirti making an angry face.
"Oye miss.blah! 10:00a.m is early for me if not for you! You guys do whatever you please but I'm not compromising on my precious sleep ok?!" came the melodramatic reply from Saurav, making us all sigh in frustration.
So, after much discussion we are now heading to the hard rock cafe' on St.Marks road as per Dolly di's wish (or order?). "It's a 10 minutes walk to the caf from Museum road", we were told by Dolly di.
The cafe is a perfect hangout place for the youth. It has a continental menu, a whole array of mocktails and cocktails to choose from and a live band performing some party and rock numbers, of which, some I knew and some were unheard of by me.
We had a gala time enjoying the food and drinks with the band adding to the fun!. The night was still young when we came out of the cafe. Only 9pm! So we decided to take a small walk down the St.Marks road. Saurav being his dramatic self insisted on going back to the room to catch a goodnight's sleep. But, we are in no mood to sleep yet. So, we asked him to go back alone! To which we all received a glare from him and he left after another 2 or so minutes of his glaring session. Such a sleepyhead he is!. And we resumed our stroll down the road. The street is well-lit and jam packed with various eatouts, malls and huge showrooms of top clothing, boots and jewellery brands on both the sides. Even at this hour, the street is bustling with traffic. Dolly di and Kirti are discussing about the malls in the vicinity and Umesh bhaiya and Sukku are still discussing about those songs the band played in the cafe! While these four are busy in their discussion, Kabir and me are walking hand in hand enjoying the cool night breeze and the pleasant Bangalore weather, with a beautiful silence spread between us. We are halfway down the road, when something caught my attention! I stopped in my tracks abruptly, confusing Kabir and the rest.
"Kya hua Nishu? Ruk kyun gayi achanak?" asked a confused Dolly di.
"Dolly di, what's this building? And why is it in such a bad state?" I asked all curious. It seemed pretty weird for a street which has a number of fine diners and malls, to house an old rickety building, which has not been converted into a high end mall or dinery yet.
"Oh this?! This building is called Vaz Villa'.The people here, say it's haunted ever since one of the inmates of the house was brutally murdered. Some people also say they hear a piano music after midnight here." said dolly di.
"Oh!" is all I could manage as all my attention is on the supposedly haunted house in front of me! The structure of the house is not clearly visible due to lack of illumination around the house.
"How cliched!. Sounds like the script of a RGV movie" exclaimed Sukku to which we all laughed a little.
"Urmm.. Dolly? Is the house really haunted?" asked my visibly scared hubby. Oh how cute he looks even when scared!
"Don't know Kabir! Why don't you go in and see for yourself?" smirked Dolly di.
"Ugh no thanks. I think we should get back now, it's getting late" said Kabir trying to hide his fear.
"Ya lets go" and we all head back to Dolly-di's room and find a fast asleep Saurav. Amrita texted Dolly di saying she's staying with one of her friend tonight at the college hostel. So, we all decided to call it a night and laid on our mattress. "Why don't you go in and see for yourself?" Dolly di's words are still ringing in my ears. Finally my exhausted body gave into the comfort of sleep and I close my eyes with the thoughts of Vaz Villa still in my head.
Anupamaa
Kumkum Bhagya
Mahadev And Sons
