Life doesn’t begin at a beginning and has no ending…Life begins with the first memory and ends with the last memory in the fond memories of a loved one, after the soul itself has departed. So how can the story of life have a definite beginning? But as every story starts .. Once Upon a Time, similarly this story unfolds, into the life of Raj. The new Superstar of the millennium whose latest film has been a box office jingling blockbuster. It didn't do much to showcase his talent but Raj’s presence was overpowering, his persona bursting out of the silver screen encapsulating the reason for his success. And this is the way it had been for the last 15 years since Raj had stepped into the industry.
But it had not been like that always, his first film sank without a trace even though, it was made by a hotshot director and starred three iconic women, inspite of the film’s southward spiral, Raj’s journey to the top had begun. And sharing this journey of ups and downs with him was Priya.
To describe Priya as Raj’s better half would not even begin to justify, the yang of Raj’s ying. She was his lifeline, his support system, his motivator, his buddy, his critic, his soul mate, and his sister, his mother all rolled into one. She was also the reason why he was at this pinnacle. If it hadn’t been for her, Raj wouldn’t have done most of the things he did.
There's was a textbook love story , with a minor twist or two. Raj saw Priya for the first time, getting out of her Toyota Sera, and look up towards the balcony of the huge mansion in Greater Kailash, where he assumed she lived and shout out to someone standing there. The way the sun danced on her tresses that wintry Monday morning mesmerized Raj. It was then he knew, he had to know her better.
Rohan on the other hand, was simple guy who till the age of 17 lived in the world of numbers. Equations and theorems were his life till he discovered girls or rather they discovered them. Raging hormones and gray cells made Rohan a lethal combination. But the woman who belled the cat was Sasha, a Punjabi with a sweet disposition. Rohan and Sasha met in a train, while on their way to Pune. Both were studying but in different colleges. Both were with friends. Rohan could still clearly remember the chill of the night in the 3 tier sleeper compartment, actually he could still remember the boogie and the seat number, both his and Sasha. It was that night his life had been turned upside down and wrung him inside out.
She was lying down on her RAC berth looking at the ceiling of the moving train and trying to formulate her strategy to face the next semester as successfully as she had the previous one, she was a loner trapped in a an extrovert's body, so though everyone thought they knew her they really didn’t. Her thoughts were not forming a coherent pattern, so she closed her emerald green eyes and tried to sleep. The train with its constant rolling motion was lulling her, willing her to sleep. But it wasn’t as easy as she had thought; because of a group of boys who were constantly gibbering. She peeked a look from under her long lashes and saw that on the berth diagonally opposite were two boys, one of them looked like a Young Tarkan, the famous Turkish singer and the other one was built like a Greek god. Fascinated she saw them playing with matches. One of them lit it in a weird fashion. He put the matchstick between his thumb and the box and flicked the middle of the stick with this other hand, the match lit and flew. Her eyes followed its trajectory into another boy’s hair. The match had extinguished by then so no harm done. Soon another followed. And then she heard whisperings “Bas kar Manu, utega na, toh bahut mar padegi”
“Abbey agar utega tab na , saand ki tarah sota hai”
"Agar time mein bujhi nahin na , toh yaad rakh , sand ki tarah body bhi hai”
Sasha fought her giggles down. But the boys too had by then gotten tired of their antics and moved on to rousing the rest of their gang and playing antakshri.
Boys and antakshri don’t generally mix unless of course you are either very musically inclined or have different sexual preferences. Since the boys were neither of the two, their game was a source of amusement and frustration for Sasha.
"Mera joota hai japani yeh patloon englisstani sar par laal topi roosi phir bhi dil hai Hindustani"
"Nainon mein sapna sapnon mein sajna sajna pe dil aa gaya , sajna pe dil aa gaya ta thaiya ta thaiya hooo.. "
"Hoshwalon ko khabar kya bekhudi kya cheez hai , ishq kiji phir samajhiye … "
And so it went on for about an hour or so, for the latter part of the hour, the guy they called Manu kept getting stuck on “N” , and could not think of tracks which started with the letter. Sasha on the other hand, kept biting her tongue, to avoid helping this handsome hunk , the track she knew was from the popular Shahrukh Khan movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaienge.. ”Na Jaane Mere Dil Ko Kya Ho Gaya” , as these were the very emotions which were driving the blood from all parts of her body to her head and driving her insane.
After what seemed like an an eon, Sasha mustered all the courage , braved the humiliation and asked 'Manu', if he's heard of that song.
Manu felt every guy’s eye on him, as he replied with nonchalance “Hey thanks , why didn’t I think of that one” and then went on “If you aren’t doing anything else would you like to join us ?” Weird couldn’t even begin to describe how Sasha was feeling as she hesitantly agreed to play with them. But she needn’t have worried as the guy’s tried their best to make her feel at ease and despite their hormonal rush. Each of them formulating a different strategy to 'Patao' her. Manu was the most devilish of them wondering that since she had helped him out meant that she had been paying him considerable amount of attention for about two hours, he wondered how long it would be before he could ask her out for a date and exactly how long after that he could lay her, which explained the constant grin on his face. Rohan on the other hand was wondering whether the scintillating green was actually her eye color or had cosmetic fakeness invaded this pretty girl too. The other boys had thoughts similar to Manu's. As most got off the train at Jhansi to get something to eat, each tried to catch Sasha’s eye. At the station, a bedraggled boy in besan soiled shirt was frying hot bhajias. One guy picked some of them while another picked up the aloo and puri combo. While yet another got flavored milk and while all the things were in various stages of preparation , all the guys lit up their Classic Milds and the raunchy conversation began which involved Sasha. What they didn’t realize was that Sasha herself had gotten out of their boogie and went to see her friends in the next one and heard their conversation, loud and clear . Manish was the worst of the lot who was asking all of them to bet with him as to how soon he would ‘have’ Sasha. Rohan wasn’t party to the conversatiosation, but had been a silent listener. Although the object of their conversation didn’t surprise him, he was getting offended by it as he was quite taken in by the amber haired girl .
And so he stepped in to the middle of the conversation and shushed every one and explained how he felt and rest of the boys just clamped up. Most respected Rohan’s prowess in Maths, a subject which went over most of their heads, and needed help with. Besides they he was really a nice dude that people liked having around. The boys apologised to Rohan and begun teasing him about it.
Sasha on the other hand was red with fury at guys and their audacity. Not being acclimatized to the way boys were and how they spoke, foul language heavily interspersing their everyday conversation. Fuming she headed back to her seat and sat down opened her handbag looking for something but her mind was replaying the guys and their conversation again and again. The thing that struck her was Rohan and his high handedness , though what she did not understand was why the other guys listened to him . The guys chose this moment to return with their “offerings of love” , their aloo puris and other condiments. A furious Sasha kept her cool and conversed with the boys , as the train reached its final destination , the exchange of numbers and addresses began. Sasha was in two minds , how to extract her pound of flesh, Should she them a wrong number or give them the right number.
Calling the wrong number will obviously frustrate them and calling the right one and waiting for hours on end to get connected toher hostel would also make for good punishment but in the end the scale was tilted in the favor of the wrong number.
Sasha put the painful train saga out of her mind as soon as she reached back to her hostel and began preparing for her next semester at college. Soon the term came to an end and it was time to party before heading back home for hectic preparations for the exams. The party was at the newly opened disco in town, Sasha and her friends decided to go for the new Salman Khan starrer, dinner and then for head for the party.
Till about 1.35 am everything went according to plan and then she bumped in to Rohan.
What track was playing neither of them remembered as they bumped into each other at the bar.Their eyes met , a spark of electricity passed between them, but for different reason. Sasha felt the hatred rising like bile in her throat and a lump of rising emotion was stuck in Rohan’s, his mouth going dry. For 5 minutes they stared at each other. Rohan thinking of the countless number of times he had tried the number that she had given, and the disappointment that came with every time an old Parsi lady picked the phone. At first he had thought she was her possessive land lady but as time wore on he realized she had fooled him. Sasha mind went back to the moment he had professed his feelings for her to his friends.
Suddenly Rohan touched her hand, to check if she was not a mirage of his drunken stupor. Sasha reacted n iron had been dropped on her skin. She jerked her hand awayed to quickly walk away. Rohan grabbed her sleeve again, gently pulling her to a corner of the disco. “Was the giving of the wrong number intentional ?”
“Completely !” replied Sasha “Why would I give a jerk like you my real number” getting hot under her collar, her famous short fuse was burning up fast. And the longer this asshole held her hand the angrier she got. She tried to make eye contact with one of her friends she jerked her hand free and started to move away . Rohan followed her and with pleading puppy dog eyes, “Just listen to me for a second, please”. Sasha didn’t respond, and Rohan kept repeating the line like a stammering parrot, finally just to get rid of him she reluctantly agreed .
They went up to the coffee shop and sat down in the corner. “So what is it that you want now", said Sasha .”I just want to know what was it that we did that was so wrong that first you give us the wrong number and then act like this on a chance meeting.”
Sasha was expecting this but now when it was time she didn’t know what to say. Carefully wording herself she told him the story, seeing the look of disgust on his face instead of shame, puzzled her. Rohan then spoke, explaining the attitude of guys at the ripe old age of 18. Telling her how his words were not meant to be offensive, they were meant to stop the guys from verbally & mentally disrobing her. But it wasn’t that he didn’t like her , he did , and that part was true. After 2 hours of just talking and talking , they didn’t realize where time had flown .. and it was almost 3.30. Sasha suddenly looked at her watch and freaked “oh shit ! my train is at 4 I need to leave”. “What ! you are going back to Delhi by Goa, what co incidence so am I ? Shall we leave then . ” Both of them left on Rohan’s bike , which he parked in the railway station’s unreliable parking and as they entered platform 1, the train was just coming in .Heaving a sigh of relief both started to laugh at the close call as The Nizammudin - Goa Express waited on Pune station only for about 5 - 10 minutes. Just before boarding the train , Rohan disappeared for a while. When he came back, he was out breath and found Sasha cozied up in her blanket.
“Where did you disappear to ” She said
“Ahh , well actually you know the thing is”
“yes go on ”
“ actually who main , main main”
“yeh bakri ki tarah main main kya laga rakhi hai” said Sahsha laughingly.
“Achcha tum vada karo you won’t laugh or get mad at me if I tell you tab hi bataongi”
“hmmmmh”
“well , I had gone to get a ticket , I didn’t have one aur agar T.T aa jaata mere paas uske dene ke liye zyada paise bhi nahin the aur debit card se paise who accept karta nahin”
Sasha was dumb struck. All she could do was stammer “but then , but how but but but”
Rohan just laughed “ if you gimme some place to sit then maybe I will tell you”
Explaining what he did , why he did it , proved to be more difficult than rohan had thought , but he eventually got the courage to tell sasha , how he actually felt about her. He didn’t know if he let her go this time, and didn't want to take the risk of losing her for the second time. Sasha didn’t know what to make of the shy boy sitting opposite her. "Well", she thought, " he is cute you had to give him that atleast". The train journey became a journey of discovery for them.
Soon after they became close friends, completing each other’s sentences and laughing on cue and of course fiercely protective but as a pre condition laid down by sasha they didn’t think of dating each other exclusively. Life seemed like on big party till, one night.
