Page 85 - The World's Best Boyfriend

Who didn’t know about him? He was a little celebrity in his time, a child
prodigy, the nation’s hope pinned on him, the hero, like Kalpana Chawla, like
Vinod Dham, great minds, more successful in a country that wasn’t theirs.

‘I am a fan and I have fantasized about you. My room is on the first floor and
you can come over. Though we can’t switch on the lights because then you
would know I’m ugly and you could have erectile issues. Shall we go?’

She could have said that but she chose, ‘I love your work, Sir. I thought you
don’t come to college.’
‘Why would you think that?’

‘You were on the visiting faculty list so I thought you would be busy carving
your name in the annals of history, being glorious and unforgettable,’ said
Aranya.

‘The glory you’re talking about is overrated,’ said Raghuvir, pointing
carelessly at the crowd, cigarette dangling from his fingers.’
‘I see a bunch of drunken idiots.’

For twenty-nine, he was rather young. That day, he was in a plain black T-
shirt which he didn’t quite fill up, and beige coloured trousers with a pair of
black worn-out loafers. He still looked like a PhD student who lives in the next

building, a bit nerdy yet unobtrusively good-looking. His slightly longish hair
flopped around his head and he sported a three-day-old stubble. He had these big
black pools for eyes which no contact lenses could dull. To Aranya they were

huge, like portals to another world of love, puppies and rainbows and
supercomputers.
They both continued sitting there, separated by silence, with translucent

plastic glasses in their hands, the darkness punctured by the revolving lights of
the disco ball hanging from the DJ’s console in the distance, and in that poignant
moment she was slyly Googling Raghuvir to make intelligent conversation.

‘Why did you give everything up for teaching? I’m sure there are laboratories
out there which would kill to have you on their payrolls.’
Raghuvir didn’t answer. From where she sat she saw his face bobbing,

infinitesimally, to the beats in the distance, his eyes were closed and she envied
the calm on his face, but more than that she admired the man’s sharp jawline, the
deep scar hidden beneath the stubble.

‘Got lost for a while,’ said Raghuvir.
Aranya frowned.