Page 28 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]
P. 28

point of time, but the very fact that it would take a huge amount of time and
                effort to become an established doctor had made me restless for nights after
                writing  the  board  exams.  I  loved  English  as  a  subject,  and  the  primary

                reason was the beautiful storytelling it involved. I did a couple of comic
                mime performances on stage back in school, also wrote a few poems as a
                young  kid,  and  got  some  articles  published  in  the  magazine  at  the
                university. The moment I left school, I wasn’t being myself suddenly. I was
                chasing a career in engineering.

                   ‘I am trying to be a version of me that my dad wants me to be,’ I say.
                   ‘You’re always being yourself. I would say it again, even if you’re doing
                what others want you to do, you’re taking the final call.’

                   I remember how my dad, a math fanatic, had once asked me as a child,
                ‘What is the best thing you can do with numbers?’
                   ‘I  can  write  jokes  on  them!’  I  had  replied  innocuously.  Two  slaps

                followed. No more. No less.
                   Akshaye is definitely correct. But what’s more? Why isn’t he coming to
                the  point.  I  keep  wandering  my  gaze  to  every  nook  and  corner  of  the

                cafeteria.
                   ‘What’s in your bag?’ Akshaye quizzes.

                   ‘Umm…laptop, diary, charger, yeah,’ I take a pause.
                   ‘Beach shorts?’ Akshaye grins.

                   ‘No, uh…umm…’ I wonder what to tell him.
                   ‘You must be off to Goa, it’s Friday tonight.’

                   ‘Why?’
                   ‘Why are you keeping secrets?’

                   ‘What kind of secrets?’
                   ‘When people answer questions with a question, they’re definitely hiding
                something.’

                   ‘That must be your definition.’

                   ‘Getting defensive too.’
                   ‘I’m not.’

                   ‘You are.’
                   ‘Actually, I perform at…’

                   ‘Ricky’s Beach Shack,’ he completes my sentence.
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