Page 91 - Half Girlfriend
P. 91

12



           Six months later



                After my break-up, or half-break-up, with Riya, my personality
           changed. People in college started to call me SSS, or the Silent Saint of

           Stephen’s. I attended every class and sat in the front row. I took notes
           like a court stenographer. I never asked the professor any questions. I

           would sit with my friends in the residences but not contribute to the

           conversation. Initially, they tried to cheer me up. They gave me copies
           of Playboy and arranged booze parties to help me get over Riya.
           However, just like their earlier advice, their break-up cures were

           useless too. The only thing that helped somewhat was basketball.

           Every time I thought of her, I hit the court. Three hours of dribbling
           and shooting temporarily cured my heartache, if only because it left me

           physically exhausted. Frankly, I went to the courts in the hope she
           would come to practice. She never did. Perhaps her father had built

           her a court in the backyard of 100, Aurangzeb Road.
                Sometimes I lurked in the college corridors, waiting for her class to

           end. I stood far away and avoided eye contact. I would watch her
           come out of class, only to disappear into a crowd of friends. Once she

           did see me. She didn’t smile or turn away. She didn’t even look angry.
           She didn’t react at all. It killed me. If she had come forward and

           slapped me or yelled, I would have been okay. However, she looked
           right through me, as if I didn’t exist.

                Nights hit me the hardest. I couldn’t sleep. I lay on the same bed
           where I had messed it up with her.The same place where I had spoken

           like a Bhojpuri movie villain. I wished I had a time machine to undo

           my actions. I didn’t want a time machine to predict the stock market or
           buy property cheap. I only wanted it to un-say that sentence. I had said

           it in a combined state of horniness, bravado and stupidity. Well, it is
           also the state in which men are most of the time.

                I tossed and turned. I couldn’t sleep. I bounced my basketball on
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