“Angad, I have been waiting at this deserted road for more than an hour now. If you don’t reach in the next 10 minutes, I am leaving.” Anjali barked into the phone. Decked in her favourite little black dress, with black pencil heels, flaunting a pixie cut, petite Anjali had been waiting for Angad to pick her up from the roundabout next to her house. It was a Saturday evening, and they had plans to get together at her friend’s place. Angad, as usual, was very late, and Anjali, as usual, was miffed about it.
“I am right there, babe. Look right.”
“I am looking right, and I don’t see you.”
“I mean, my right is your left. Right? So, look to your left and not your right.” He giggled.
“Angad!!” Anjali shouted.
A shiny black Maruti Ciaz stopped right in front of her as soon as she finished shouting. “See, I told you, it was your left.” Angad popped his head out the window with a beaming, infectious smile on his face. A smile Anjali could never resist. “The smile brings out the best of your features. You can get away with even murder. All you must do is smile.” She would always say to Angad, and he would smile back harder.
“Shut up. You are late. Very late.” she frivolously rebuked him. His smile was already working for him.
“Yeah, I went to get you these flowers.” He pulled out a bouquet of red roses, white carnations, and yellow dahlias wrapped in red cellophane tied together with a red ribbon.
“How could I meet you without flowers on our 5th month anniversary?”
This time Anjali smiled ear to ear. Her cheeks were red and her heart warm. She held Angad’s face in her hands and planted a kiss on his lips.
“You, mister, have just been saved from getting single.” She planted a gentle tap on his right cheek while still holding his face with the other hand. And then she made her way to the co-driver’s seat.
You could hear the music from two buildings away. The moment they took a right for the 24th street on Versova, they knew they were at the right place. They did not need google maps anymore. Most of the building occupants were students of a management college nearby, and all of them were from outside Mumbai. It was the break between trimesters, and all of them had gone back to their respective places. This meant that the hosts had the entire building to themselves, and they could play the music as loud as they could without having to hear any complaints from any neighbour. The doors to the lift opened on the seventh floor of the building, and Angad and Anjali stepped out right in front of the open door from which Honey Singh was yelling “Yo! Yo! Honey Singh” at the top of his voice.
“I told you, her parties are insane.” Anjali shouted. Her voice was barely audible over the loud music.
“I know now.” Angad responded. His head was already moving to the rhythm of the music.
The house was full of people with hardly any seats and corners left to occupy. Most people were standing with almost everyone with drinks in their hands. There was food on every possible table. Open doors and windows supplemented the air conditioning with a cool breeze. The entry door led to the drawing-room, with a balcony on one side and the living room on the other. The living room was connected to three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. On the left of the living room was a six-seater dining table carrying the weight of empty packets of chips, half-filled cola, soda, water bottles, and a lot of alcohol bottles. To the right was a four-seater sofa facing a TV unit directly. IT was this TV that had “Badshah” on which had “Honey Singh” playing earlier. Anjali looked for a known face within the crowd. “AAAAAAAA. There you are. I missed you so much.” Anjali ran towards the host of the party. The host reciprocated with a run and a hug.
“Cheryl, finally we meet after three long months. I missed you so much.” Said Anjali, still hugging her childhood friend.
“Yeah. That is why this party is for your homecoming. EVERYBODY!” Cheryl lowered the TV volume and raised her voice enough for everyone to hear.
“This is Anjali, my childhood friend. She and I are sisters first and friends later. We are all partying together because she has finally come back to Mumbai after completing her internship, and I wanted to make my best friend feel welcome and tell her that I love her and miss her. So cheers to Anjali.” Cheryl raised the glass of wine in her hands over her head.
‘TO ANJALI’ Everybody at the party joined in and took a sip from their respective drinks. With this, Cheryl increased the volume of the TV. This time “Ladki beautiful, kar gayi chul” beamed from the TV speakers, and everybody started dancing again.
Cheryl took this opportunity to pull Anjali away from the crowd to the balcony, where a couple was kissing each other in one corner of the balcony.
“Bro, I missed you so much.” Cheryl spoke first with almost tears in her eyes.
“I missed you too.” replied Anjali. Her eyes were wet too.
“I am sorry I could not talk to you much during these three months. The work had been crazy. You know how consulting is, right?” she explained. Cheryl nodded in acceptance.
“Plus, work wasn’t the only thing keeping me busy. I had been dying to tell you about it.” Anjali signalled in the direction of Angad with a mischievous smile on her face.
Cheryl looked at Angad. He was manoeuvring his way through the crowd towards the kitchen. He was not the most handsome of the lot, but his confidence, his dressing sense, and that charming smile on his way made him irresistible.
“Hey, you might get to share him with me but in a different life.” Anjali broke Cheryl’s gaze with a snap of her fingers. Cheryl realized she was checking Angad out a second or two longer. She laughed as if she was not guilty and said, “You know I would never want that, Anjali. But he is a yummy choice. I must say.”
“My choice after all.” Anjali gloated. Both winked together, laughed at the wink together. And then high fived at the laugh. They were not just friends; they were sisters, soul sisters. They hugged and decided that they should go inside and that Cheryl should attend to other guests. But first, Anjali had to introduce her to Angad.
“Angad”, Anjali tapped Angad on his back. He did not notice the first two times but instead was busy explaining to a woman how being a feminist is not the same as favouring women.
“It is not the same. Feminism means equality for both genders. It does not mean the superiority of one gender over the other. It means…”
“Angad” Anjali had to pull Angad around.
“I have been calling you for so long. Can’t you hear” She objected, visibly angry.
“Babe, I am so sorry. I was telling Ms., What’s your name?” Angad asked the woman he was talking to.
“Neha” She replied.
“Yeah, Neha. Thanks.” and then he turned around and spoke to Anjali.
“Babe, I was telling Neha that feminism is not equal to woman superiority. Sorry I got lost in the conversation.” He moved forward to hug Anjali and noticed Cheryl.
“My! My! You must be Cheryl. Anjali was not wrong about you. Now I know why she kept saying that words could not do justice to your beauty.” Angad raised his hand for a handshake, and then when Cheryl extended the gesture, he took her hand to her lips and kissed it.
“Angad!! Stop flirting with my friend.” Anjali screamed so hard that Neha ran away from that place.
“Babe I am not flirting. You only said that I need to make a good first impression on her. And flattery always works. Doesn’t it?”
“There is a difference between flattery and flirting. Angad, I will kill you if you don’t stop this. I mean it.”
He held her hands and looked into her eyes. “I am not flirting with her. I just wanted to be on her good books. I wanted her to like me because she is your best friend.”
“I like him already. He has got sass.” Cheryl brought some much-needed relief to an otherwise tense situation. “He obviously was trying too hard. You know how men are” she continued. “I think you should look at his intent. Plus, since you have introduced me to someone special, I guess I need to do the same.”
“What do you mean.” At this point, Anjali had forgotten everything about what Angad had done and had all her attention on Cheryl.
“I mean, I met someone too during these three months. I was unsure about him, so I did not mention him earlier. But I guess three months is a good enough time to introduce someone to you, even if I am unsure.” Words seem to be reluctantly escaping Cheryl’s mouth.
“What. Who is he? Where did you meet him? Is he here?” Words were jumping out of Anjali’s mouth as if to save their life.
“His name is Kabir. I met him on Tinder. Please don’t judge me. And yes, he is here.” Said Cheryl pointing towards Kabir.
Kabir was a living representation of tall, dark, and handsome. A crisp and clean white shirt, brown chinos, and brown loafers covered his 5’11” frame. His neatly trimmed moustache and beard hid his sharp jawline. His hair was dense and beautiful as a lion’s mane. Outline of a broad chest, strong shoulders, and massive arms were clearly visible from under the tightly fit shirt. Kabir was pouring the last drops of alcohol from the bottle of Glen Morangie into a glass half-filled with ice. He noticed that Cheryl was pointing at him. He also saw that a woman in a black dress, holding the collar of a man with scruffy hair, was looking at him. He moved towards them when Cheryl signalled him to come.
“You must be Anjali.” Kabir said in a deep husky voice extending her hands for a handshake. Anjali reciprocated and said, “Hi”. This time the words melted out of her mouth. “Cheryl has told me all about you. In fact, she talks about you so much that it does not feel that I am meeting you for the first time. So glad that you have come back from your internship.”
Angad jumped suddenly as “Let’s Nacho” started playing on the TV. “Woohooo, that is my favourite song. Anjali, come, let’s dance. Cheryl, Kabir, come, let’s dance on this one. You guys can do the introductions later.” Though each one of them wanted to talk, they could not say no to Angad’s charming smile and followed him.
The rest of the night was a blur for all four of them. Sip by sip as the alcohol entered their bodies, their feet started moving to the rhythm of the music. What began as an awkward movement of four bodies standing in front of each other turned into a dance with passion. The initial awkwardness made room for the music, taking over their minds and bodies. At first, all four of them were dancing individually. Then as the music changed genres, Kabir coupled with Cheryl and Angad with Anjali. With another shift in the music genre and more than enough alcohol inside her, Cheryl decided to shower her love on Anjali by dancing with her while the boys took a break. By the time the alcohol stock had gotten over, Angad was grooving with Cheryl while Anjali would not leave Kabir’s side.
On the one hand, while the empty bottles of alcohol piled up on the dining table, the number of guests slowly started reducing. Each one of them conveyed their goodbyes to Cheryl while she continued dancing. When the last of her guest decided to call it a day, he had to stop the music and tell Cheryl that everyone has left and that Cheryl and her three dance partners were the only ones left in the house. This brought her and the others back to their senses.
“Woah, everyone has left?” Cheryl looked around, drunk and confused.
“I guess so” Anjali replied. Her hands holding her head.
“We have been dancing for how long?” Angad asked
“Two hours, I guess.” Kabir replied, looking at her watch.
“Woah. Are we out of alcohol, Kabir?” Cheryl shouted from the kitchen, having searched all the cabinets.
“I guess we are.” Kabir said, counting the number of bottles on the dining table. He knew as he was the one who had arranged for all the alcohol.
“Oh, God.” Cheryl replied, feeling a little disappointed. “I still want to dance and drink, maybe not in that order.” Cheryl’s speech slurred.
“I am not sure if we will get alcohol anywhere at this time, BUT I have something which can fill in for it.” Angad took out a roll of hash from his pocket with a sly smile on his face. “This. If you all agree, we can have this, but I have a condition. I can’t dance anymore. So we smoke, pass and talk. Agreed?”
“I am in” Kabir said, pulling a chair and sitting next to Angad.
“I am sooo in.” Anjali pulled a chair as well. She almost tripped while doing so. It was Kabir who saved her from falling. He held her waist and her hands to support her, helped her pull the chair for her and made her sit next to him. As she settled, Kabir looked at Cheryl. She was lost in her thoughts as if trying to make up her mind.
“Are you going to join?” Kabir asked.
“Yes, yes I am” she said. Her eyes were more determined. As if she had made up her mind.
She pulled another chair and sat in between Angad and Kabir. All of them sitting in a circle, Angad lit the joint, smoked a couple of puffs, and released a think plume of air from his nostrils, and passed the joint to Cheryl on his left.
“Are you originally from Mumbai, Kabir?” Angad asked as Cheryl passed the joint to Kabir. This time smoke emanated from her nostrils.
“No, I belong to Kolkata but have lived in Mumbai for about five years now.” Kabir responded and then smoked a joint drag and passed the bud to Anjali.
Anjali took the joint from Kabir and passed it to Angad. “I can’t smoke or drink anymore. I am too high.” She put her head on Kabir’s shoulders and put her arms around his. “I am too high, Angad.” The ‘Angad’ drowned under the sound of empty bottles falling from the dining table.
“What the hell was that?” Angad shrieked. His face pale with fear.
“The bottles on the dining table. I think one of the rats pushed the bottles over.” Cheryl answered, started, and disoriented.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of glass all over. Let me get something to clean the mess.” Kabir offered.
“Let me help you.” Angad joined in.
“The broom is in the kitchen. Let’s grab it and clean.” Kabir signalled to Angad as they stood up and went to the kitchen.
As soon as they disappeared out of sight, Anjali started breathing heavily. Cheryl immediately went and sat next to her. She took Anjali’s hands in hers and rubbed her back to soothe her. “Cheryl, I want to go to the terrace. Please, I need some fresh air. I think I am too high.”
“Sure.” Cheryl helped her get up and helped her walk to the lift, which took her to the rooftop.
“Anjali is so high, man. You guys are going to stay over. Right?” Kabir initiated the conversation.
“Yeah. I don’t think even I am in a condition to drive. I think I will spend the night here. You seem to be OK. Are you even high?”.
“A bit. It takes some time and copious amounts of alcohol for me to get drunk. What does affect me is weed, and we haven’t had enough of it.”
“Thank God we haven’t. At least one of us is in his senses.” Angad shouted, trying to find the dustpan from under the sink.
“Did you find the dustpan? I have the broom.” Kabir came in from the balcony and displayed the broom he had found.
“Yup.” Angad grunted, getting out from under the sink and standing up with an effort. His drunk body refused to put in any amount of physical labour.
“Are you OK?” As they stepped on the roof, Cheryl asked Anjali, still supporting her. The rooftop was on the f15th floor. It was a wide-open area with water tanks clubbed together on the right of the door. The AC units were kept on the left side of the building. The parapet was about four feet high and was still under construction.
“Yeah, I am feeling so much better now. I was feeling very suffocated inside the room.” Anjali said, signalling Cheryl that she wanted to walk on her own. “You have a cigarette?” she asked and walked towards the opposite end of the door and stood next to the parapet.
“I might have.” Cheryl searched the pockets of the jeans she was wearing. She found a packet of cigarettes and a lighter inside. She took a cigarette from the pack, lit it with the lighter, and passed it to Anjali. Her lipstick stained the filter.
“Are you serious about Cheryl?” Angad asked, gathering all the empty intact bottles of alcohol from the dining table.
“Umm, I am not cheating her. We both know it is not serious. So, we are not looking for anything long-term.” Kabir replied, picking up the broken glasses from the ground and putting them on the dustpan.
“So, are you not looking to settle?”
“I am. But I guess Cheryl isn’t my kind of girl.”
“What is your kind of girl.”
Anjali put the cigarette to her mouth and inhaled with her eyes closed. The cigarette burnt brighter. The tobacco inside crackled and spoke to her and soothed her insides. The smoke that came out of her nostrils looked more smokey against the backdrop of a well-lit city.
“What do you think about Angad?” Anjali asked.
“Seems to be a great guy, is goofy and funny in his own way and has a great smile. You two look good together.” Cheryl replied, asking for the cigarette from Anjali.
“What do you think about Angad?” It was Cheryl’s chance to ask the question.
“She must be confident. Someone who knows how to present herself and seeks perfection in every aspect of her life. She should be extrovert and willing to try new things in life. I want my woman to be an achiever. I want men to want her despite knowing that she is with me and that they can’t have her.” Kabir looked at Angad and stopped picking up the broken pieces while still squatting on the ground.
“You know who is like that? Angad looked at Kabir with an expression that Kabir could not decipher.
“Anjali” Angad continued. “She is exactly like that. She is the exact human form of what you just described.”
“Yeah, I noticed. And to be honest, I am a bit jealous of you. I would love to have a woman like Anjali in my life.
“As you said it, Cheryl, Angad is great guy. He has a weird charm of his own but he is goofy and content. I need someone who wants to achieve something in life and is perfect in every sense of the world. I should feel proud when I walk with him. I want to feel wanted, not because I am pretty but because I am with him, such should be his swag. Angad is none of it.”
“You know who is like that?” Cheryl looked at Anjali with an expression that Anjali could not decipher.
“Kabir” Cheryl continued. “He is exactly like that. She is the exact human form of what you just described.”
“Yeah, I noticed. And to be honest, I am a bit jealous of you. I would love to have a man like Kabir in my life”
On the 7th floor of a building in 24th Street, Versova, two bodies lay on the ground soaked in blood. Two bodies lay on the ground soaked in blood on the opposite road. In a fit of jealousy and rage, Angad had hit Kabir with a bottle of whiskey. He died immediately. The shock of seeing Kabir dead on the floor brought Angad back to his senses. Desperate, he tried to hide the body, dragging it to the bathroom. He lost his balance and landed on the broken piece of glass. One of the pieces severed the jugular vein and killed him instantaneously. Desperate, he tried to hide the body, dragging it to the bathroom.
Cheryl had pushed Anjali out of sheer hatred and jealousy. Trying to save herself from falling, Anjali tried to hold Cheryl. Cheryl lost his balance and fell with Anjali from the fourteenth floor.
