Page 26 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]

Tara’s wedding was a huge shock and brought out the comic in me. I had
always wanted to tell jokes on stage but had repressed my passion for the
fear of people not approving of it. After she left, I felt I had hardly anything

to lose. I always had a flair for making people laugh, but this time I
honestly asked myself, ‘Can we celebrate pain?’
Building on the art of comedy is kind of iterative. I can always practice
harder and become a better version of me. But relationships bloom and wilt
like flowers. Seasons arrive and pass by, and a new flower blooms once the

older one is consumed by death. With humans, it’s different; they have feet
and often walk away much before death. In our case, death did not do us
apart, like we often worried when we were still together. As time
progressed, life did.

I am not in the mood to date a new girl. I believe I have lost the patience
to deal with new tantrums. Every relationship is an investment of time, also
money, all until you’ve wooed the girl. Neither do I have time nor money to
invest in a relationship.

All I want is to figure out the best career for me and work for success. I
have a huge education loan to pay off. My parents are definitely not the
kind who can bear the expense of the ever-increasing college tuition fees in
India. In fact, my mother is so cautious about every paisa that we spend that
when I’d go to school she’d ask me not to share the dry fruits with others as
they were expensive.

As I move into the conference room to make phone calls, Akshaye passes
by in the corridor.

His smile tells me he has figured out that I sneak out to Goa every
weekend. When you’re hiding something from someone, every encounter
feels like the doomsday. You know deep within your heart that someday
you will be caught for sure.

So well, a recent development is that I am a part-time standup comedian
at Ricky’s Beach Shack in Goa. I am not a popular one, just an amateur,
trying things out. Tomorrow is my second performance. Just in case
Akshaye knows the truth, chances are that he has worked his butt twice as
hard to dig out the truth. We have not had a real adult conversation about
this.

Akshaye has deep green eyes, fair complexion, and a height that
complements his Aryan personality traits. He is encouraging, kind, and