Good for nothing-11
Attempt-1
Venue- Boys common room
Event- A game of 28 – not as tournament, just time pass.
Period - somewhere around the middle of 1st professional year.
Participants- Pawwa (welcome back to my pages- those who don’t know him may read GFN 1-5), Trishul (nick name given to Shashank for his ever standing few strands of hair from the middle of his scalp), Rekha, yours truly, and of course a deck of cards.
After few rounds Pawwa passed a card to me and asked mischievously, “what is this?”
“A king of hearts…why?”
“Nope…it is heart of a king…that’s me. Keep it with you.”, and he chuckled.
After a little while, he passed me another card. “Now, what is this?
“A queen of……sorry, heart of a queen”, I knew I had to speak in his language or otherwise he would keep on poking at me.
“Yessss!...and that’s yours. Let me keep it. Y’see what my vicinity has made you….smarter and prettier than ever before” . he winked at me while putting the Hearts Queen in his pocket with one hand and pulling up one of his collars with the other, “collars up…”
“Your vicinity?....my foot…!”
“AAp ke paanv dekhe…bade badsoorat hain…inhe jameeen par mat rakhiyega…jameen maili ho jayegi”, he imitated Raj Kumar and every body laughed. ( I saw your foot , they are too dirty, never keep your foot on ground, they will make the ground dirtier…actually it is a spoof of the famous dialogue of Raj Kumarand Meena Kumari from the movie Pakeejah. The original had just the opposite message.)…and I could guess it was going to be a miserable day for me – for nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of Pawwa’s canon of leg pulling, who used to ‘bulls eye’ one ‘victim’ a day. Buy no one ever complained for the ‘harmless’ kind of person he was and so were his jokes.
“Hey…Pepsi!... just a moment,” he held my hand while we were about to go after the card session. “I’ll be back soon. Just let me deposit the common room keys to someone” and he rushed.
“Oooo!...I am going…Trishul let’s go…we are in canteen…theek hai?”
“Why they left?…sushu aayi thi kya?”, he gestured with little finger up while we strolled back to canteen…and I smiled.
“Hey Pepsi!...I have those two card with me...yes thanks…now you keep my heart and I keep yours…are you willing for its safekeeping thru out our lives…?”
“Ya why not…for such a nice person you are. And it would make a wonderful souvenir of our carefree moments in Med. College…”
“Oh yes….You are right…I was thinking on the same line”, he sounded a bit perplexed. And that was the end of our conversation.
Attempt-2
Venue – A remote river side jungle.
Event- our first year picnic
Period - somewhere around the end of 1st professional year.
Participants- all of us.
“I feel like having a cup of coffee”
“What’s this Namrata….coffee? Even in this scorching heat?...you are impossible”
“Thanks for the compliment…but I am made that way since birth”
“A mutant hybrid”
“Pawwa…you better keep quiet. You know very well I need coffee ten times a day…and you being the in charge would have arranged for it”
“There is a degchi full of tea there….go and take a dip”
“no …I hate tea…I need coffee…I need coffee’
“okey baba…no tantrums…stop behaving like a child…can’t you manage with tea just for a day?”
“But why should I…Don’t blame me…you are the one who is more irresponsible…you should made prior arrangement, the same way you have arrangement for tea”, and I left the place thumping loudly…
Two hours later. Pawwa came with two cups of steaming coffee in his hand, struggling hard to balance himself on the loose gravels of the riverbed where I was sitting irately for the last two hours…and nobody had really bothered.
“now…take this…”he was actually huffing and puffing by the time he reached me. “Cool down and enjoy your coffee before it turns cold coffee.”
“so..you had arrangements for this na?…then why you behaved like that in front of everyone?”
“I am sorry, Baba!....I won’t do this again…I promise…but this much leg-pulling is allowed among friends, I thought”
“I make my own rules…nobody tells me” I glared at him.
“Okay..okay…I’ll be within my skin….ab coffee toh piyo…”…and I started sipping from the cup. The coffee was delicious.
“Y’know Namrata, what Pawwa had to face today just because of you?”, Rekha asked me on our way back from picnic. She was sitting beside me on the bus. I shook my head.
“After you made that scene for coffee and we left, he walked to the nearby village, paid 500 bucks to a person to arrange for a bike and accompany him to the nearest town which was 70 kms away. From there he managed to get coffee and that within two hrs precisely.
“But he never said he went so far just for that coffee”, my voice was completely soaked with ignominy and regret
“That is his bounteousness. Where did you expect the coffee fell from?...treetop?? To be honest, Namrata you are the most matured among the lot but sometimes you behave so recklessly…!”
I turned to look at Pawwa. He was dozing on the shoulder of BBS…and both were snoring….I smiled…why he took so much pain …I wondered.
Attempt-3
Venue – salt lake park, Calcutta, evening
Event- our Calcutta Trip, to buy Books from the Collage Street
Period- Puja Holidays, second professional year.
People present – just me and Pawwa. Few public scattered here and there as commonly seen in any park.
We were strolling and feasting on Jhaal- moodi, when he stopped suddenly and started searching his pockets vigorously. He brought out his wallet, counted the money, and put it back,. Then took out a thick wad of papers from his shirt pocket and shuffled thru them, got few currencies …patted the back pockets of his jeans, there was nothing…took out his shoes and pulled out few notes from there…then he turned his back to me and put his hands in his undy…
“There are pick-pocketers all around us…we have to keep money in safe custody…” he smiled sheepishly.
“But what made you go for this frantic self search all of a sudden?” I looked at the notes which he had just brought out from his …and made a silent vow to myself. “did you spotted a goon here in this park?”
“No…nothing like that…?”
“You hafta tell me…don’t think I am afraid of anyone…they dare not touch me…I am a black belt..”
“I know…that’s why I feel so secured when I am with you”. He looked so innocent.
“Then tell me the truth.” I sounded stubborn and left no options for him.
“okey Baba!...look at that placard there” he pointed toward his left side.
THIS IS A FAMILY PARK. PLEASE MAINTAIN DIGNITY. ANYONE COUGHT KISSING INSIDE WILL BE FINED Rs 500/-
“What made you so desperate?”, I was still laughing.
“Actually I am counting how much money I have with me right now. Total Rs 460/-. Another 40 bucks and I would have kissed you right here…right in front of this board…and right in front of these guards…” he completed his sentence looked keenly at my face for any reaction. Then made a posture as if he is guarding himself from a sudden groin kick from me…
And I burst into laughter after analyzing the whole scene. First he looked confused the he joined me too. We laughed for a long time and then suddenly I stopped.
“You know Pawwa, none other than you could have said these words to me…”
“ I know…very well…But I know very much that our frequency match at a level where we can differentiate and evaluate jokes…”
“Yes…maybe you are right”
“Pawwa…tell me one thing”, we were talking on our way back from Calcutta. “If you had deficit of 40 bucks that day in Salt Lake Park, why didn’t you borrow it from me?”
“What?…”.Now it was his turn to get a shock.
“40 bucks is nothing…I could have give it to you easily”
“Oh…shit…shit”, he started pulling at his hairs and I burst into laughter once again.
Attempt-4
Venue – Ladies hostel, very early in the morning
Event- First of April 2000
Period - Third professional year.
People present- none at the gate except for Pawwa and me.
“What are you doing here at this time Pawwa?...anything serious??”
“Oh nothing…I have made a nice card for you….so I thought I should give it to you first thing in the morning, to retain his freshness. I know you value hand made card as they carry the original feeling- unlike the ones which are bought and carry the feelings of the copy-writer.”
“Cho chueeet…thanks” and I started opening it there.
“No…not now…”he held my hands suddenly. And I looked into his eyes- he looked baffled and unsure. “read it later. And I’ll come again in the evening after classes. We can go for a chaat together.
“oh… why not…with you on a date…really exciting yaar!’. And he left.
In my room I opened my card. It was a seven fold LARGE card…very beautiful and fragrant. My room mates gathered around me as I read it-
Page 1-
you are…
the most beautiful, intelligent, kind hearted……girl for me. ( there were exactly 100 adjectives)
Page 2
I am…
The most genuine, soft spoken, honest…….boy for you. (again there were 100 adjectives)
Page 3
When we are together…
We are so happy, carefree, laughing all the times…… (100 adjectives yet again)
Page 4 to 6
Don’t you think we are MADE FOR EACH OTHER…
And finally on page 7
Be mine…remain mine for 7 births to come
All of us gasped in awe…PAWWA PROPOSED PEPSI???!!!!!......I couldn’t believe my eyes myself. But he never appeared to be in love with me….how can he harbor this kind of thought in his heart….I should have never allowed him to be in my friends circle…I almost broke into tears when suddenly it struck my mind…..and the whole thing got cleared up…it was a APRIL FOOLS DAY…. And I started laughing like a maniac. Everyone looked at me. “Have you gone mad or what?....what made you laugh so much…”
“you all dumbo…today is first April…Pawwa is playing prank on me….let him come in the evening …I’ll teach him a lesson”. Everybody else dispersed with broken heart. Obviously they were hungry for some masala which they failed to get. I pulled the ears of Pawwa throughout that day and the evening we spent together feasting on chaat and gol-guppa.
When I was retiring for the night in my bed, Rekha came to me. “somehow I feel the whole thing was not just a prank. He was serious this time.”
“Oh Rekha …you are too much…you’ll spoil my brain…you know nothing about us….he is such a cute friend….”
“may be …but have you seen the kind of effort he has put to make this card?….He could have played the same prank with same result just by giving a card bought from market….he has put his heart and soul behind this card…That’s what I feel…”
“now get out of my bed and let me sleep’, I kicked at her bums and literally threw her out of the mosquito net. Was she true…later I thought…no she can’t be – my brain argued….and slowly I slipped into a sweet slumber….
The grand Analysis
Pawwa and myself remained very good friends till our graduation. After that we took the path our destiny crafted for us and not in touch now. A poem he gave me after our graduation when we parted, still decorates my drawing room wall. It inspires me a lot:
Nature provides us all we want
And shelters the mountain high ambitions too,
Mature and obliged are not we are, and
Run behind artificial things few…
Are these all that we are born for-
To fight, to quarrel, to kill and to hate,
Are we not born to love everyone and
It is an inspiring poem and knew it was his very first attempt. That’s why I value it so much and try my best to preserve it. A couple off years ago, I was sleeping on by bed and staring blankly at the wall when something struck my mind and made me jump…the initial letters of the poem ….they carried some message…they were in a different font and colour….but it was so clear…
It was clearly there, written on the wall, just in front of my eyes for these years yet I could never guess…really I am GOOD FOR NOTHING, for I took so much time to read someone’s heart….but he was so clear from day one….
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