Night Out

THE NIGHT OUT

2am!! God damnit, why can’t I get some sleep, I cursed myself (my friends call me NB)

I tossed myself again and tried to sleep with the pillow between my legs but alas sleep still kept evading me. I had no clue why he could not sleep that night, but being a diligent student I believe I was, I kept trying hard to get it. In a remote part of the country my parents had prayed to their deity before going to bed in blissful sleep to give some "akal" or common sense to their son so that I could complete the MBA course at I.F.T.I Delhi with flying colors like a diligent student.

Kicking the bed sheet from over me, I moved my hands over my slightly protruding belly, a result of the beer evenings and nights to let go of the stress of a B school, I felt it making some noise, in fact it was growling, it had been 5 hours since I had fed something to my poor stomach. It needed some nutrition so that it could stop making those noises. I got up and put on a t-shirt to cover up my not so muscular upper body, picked up my helmet and the bike keys to my Pulsar 220, a gift I had gotten from my parents on getting admission at I.F.T.I, a premier MBA school in "Dilli" or Delhi, the capital of the country.

Being a P.G. at a house in Kalu Sarai, a not so posh area in South Delhi, I tiptoed down the stairs to reach the ground floor. My bike was parked outside the gate of the house. I carefully pulled down the latch and slowly moved the gate back so that it would not make any noise, I didn’t want to disturb the landlord but alas, fate had other plans. The gate creaked, the old rusty hinges made their characteristic creaky sound. "#%$%$$" again, I cursed myself. I quickly went out and closed the gate again. Fate was a little kind to me; the landlord seemed to be in deep slumber tonight and did not wake up. I looked up and thanked my stars. I unlocked my bike and dragged it out to the road, to start it on the main road, so that no one in the P.G hears me go out at this late hour of the night in Dilli.

Once I hit the main road, I kick started the bike, wore my Ninja helmet, worth Rs 1000, raised its wiser and sped of to the 24X7 dhaba (eatery) near the call centre, 2 buildings away from my institute. "God, I am so hungry, i will have that paneer parantha with butter", I said to myself while licking my lips. Within, 5 minutes of vrooming at 100kmph, I reached the friendly neighborhood dhaba (eatery). The place was brimming with the call centre crowd, who had come down for the ciggy break. I parked my bike and shouted, "Oye chotu, 2 paneer paranthe with makhan (butter) and ek chai (one tea)". I sat down on a wooden stool and looked around to see if there were any familiar faces there.  I scanned once, twice, thrice, looked left, right and centre and found no one. Resigned at my fate, I looked down and waited for chotu to bring my yummy night snack.

“Chotu, Ek chai lana”, sang a nightingale, I was taken aback, I raised my head up to see the songstress, and there she was, pulling a chair next to where I was sitting. She was tall, about 5”5 in height, fair, a very pretty face with sharp but very feminine features, with her hair covering half of her face. She sat down and puffed a smoke, holding a Marlboro light in her dainty feminine hand.

I looked at her in disbelief, was this truly happening, I thought to himself. She was a goddess, a dream girl every college guy, for that matter even an MBA college guy would fantasize about. “Damn, she is so hot, she would look amazing on the cover of Sports illustrated in a two piece bikini or on the cover of Maxim or Playboy”, I mumbled to myself lost in my dream world. “Sahab, here are your paranthe and chai”, said chotu handing me my plate.

“Where is my tea”, said the pretty girl in a slightly agitated voice.

“it is getting made madam, it will take 10minutes, I gave the last ready cup to sahib here”, replied back chotu in a very apologetic manner to the goddess in front of him and sitting next to me.

“Here take mine”, I said to her, holding the cup of tea towards her, “I can wait for mine as I am still eating my paranthas”.

“Thanks”, she said and took the cup of tea, surprising me with the boldness of the act. I was hoping that she would decline and I would try offering it to her again but again fate decided against that plan.

She had this slight arrogance about her, but then if you are so beautiful then you should have it it. It is only fair, I thought to myself.

“So do you work here?”, she asked me while taking a drag of her cigarette.  Whenever she did that, I couldn’t stop staring.

“No, I study in I.F.T.I, two buildings away from your office”, I said , I had seen the office ID card sling around her neck with the ID turned towards her to safeguard her name against unwanted attention and hence I had known that she works there.

“Oh cool”, so you are an MBA student, you must be really smart”, she commented.

I smiled a little and said “yes I am, than most people”.  She smiled back and I beamed up like a Christmas star the top of a church on Christmas eve.

“Madam, your tea”, came the apologetic sound of chotu.

“Give it to sahab”, she said and took another puff of her ciggy. I took the cup from Chotu and sipped the tea. This made my throat feel better as it was very slippery due to all the butter I had consumed with the heavy paneer paranthas.

“So is that your bike”, she asked pointing toward the Pulsar.

“Yes that is mine”, I said beaming with pride.

“Can I ride it”? she stumped me.

How could some girl be so bold and upfront? How could a girl ask to ride the bike of a stranger at 3am in the morning in Dilli? My mind was confused, it was running around in circles and I was left spellbound.

She took another puff and asked me again “so can I ride it”?

“Umm sure, if you know how to ride it”, I said with a wicked tone.

“Yes I do, my ex-boyfriend taught me, he had a Karizma”, she said with a wicked tone now and winked at me.

“So hand me the keys, lets go for a ride”, she said to me.

It was freaking 3am in the morning, this was not short of a miracle in a dream. Here I was dressed in an unkept tshirt and boxer shorts out to have a snack at a dhaba, and I was now being asked by a hot beautiful girl no less than Aphrodite herself to ride my bike? I looked up and asked “God , am I in heaven”.

“OK”, I said to her nervously and handed her the keys.

She kept the tea cup down , and threw away the ciggy. She then sat on the bike, while I kept standing 3 feet away like a statue still trying to run my mind like a supercomputer to figure out what just happened.

“Are you coming or not or should I go alone?”, she asked me. I didn’t need another look and I quickly hopped on as the pillion.

She kick started the bike, “chotu, here take the money” and threw the money at him which he barely caught and then, we sped off.

We drove for about an hour, taking numerous turns of India gate, Connaught place, and all around Lutyen’s Delhi. All this while, she had a radiant smile on her face, a smile that you get when you feel free of all constraints, her hair kept coming on my face and I could smell the floral fragrance, intoxicating!! And all this while, I had kept on holding to the handle above the tail light so that I don’t fall down while she is happily smiling to glory!!

Finally, we came to a stop, inside a residential colony called Defense Colony in posh South Delhi. She stopped the bike near a big bungalow. It looked no less than a palace to someone like me from a small town. The bungalow seemed big enough to occupy the same amount of space as two tennis courts combined would occupy. I wondered to myself, why does a girl so rich have to work at a call centre?

“so you live here”, I asked

“yes, I do” she said

“so why work at the call centre?”, I asked her.

“just like that, I like being independent” she said

Yet again she me amazed me. Wow, this girl is so cool, I thought to myself, once again.

“ok I have to go now, it’s 5am and my cab drops me home by this time”, she said

“oh ok, so when do I get to see you again?” I asked 

“umm, I don’t know, I just quit my job today and I am getting married tomorrow, so I guess never”, she said smiling back

I was sitting there on my bike with my jaw open as if someone had given me a 440W live wire. I was shocked to the core. My mind was again running like a supercomputer to get some pattern out to interpret this situation.

Out of nowhere she leaned forward and kissed me on the lips and said, “thanks for the ride”.

Before I could react to what had happened, she started walking back towards her home.

“What is your name”, I asked her with a desire to know her like never before.

She stopped, opened the gate to her house, I thought she hadn’t heard me. Suddenly she turned back and said “Aphrodite”, winked at me and then disappeared inside her Godly abode.

Sitting on my bike, I was reliving the moment she kissed me, it was just a perfect ending to such an amazingly weird night and I was in seventh, eighth or probably ninth heaven if it existed. 

I looked up at the sky and said “thank you God, you are so amazing in your own ways” and kick started my bike to head back to my P.G.