Sorry, You're Not My Type (7 page)

Mia Bella

15th September 2013, Around 1 am

‘Why did you stop? I want to know what happened after that and I am sure everyone here wants to know too,’ I said curiously.

‘Aditya, don’t be so loud. Your voice will reach downstairs,’ Sakshi pinched me.

Some stories steal your heart, some give you goosebumps, while some fill the air with romance. But only some stories have all the elements. I was listening to one such story. There were different things going on in my mind. Who was the girl that Vikrant had seen a couple of times in the metro? What was going on in Anamika’s mind when she said yes to Anurag? What was going to happen to Sanaya? When everything seemed fine, what made Vikrant take up the job of singing in Mia Bella? While listening to Vikrant’s story, I realized I hadn’t moved an inch. I don’t think anyone else sitting there had even realized it was raining slightly till Vikrant had stopped.

‘Is there something wrong?’ Sakshi asked Vikrant.

‘Can I freshen up and come back? I need to use the washroom,’ he asked.

I nodded. What was strange was that no one had even touched their drinks while Vikrant was narrating the story. It just went on to show how exciting the story was. Loving someone can either take you to dizzying heights or spoil your life forever. I was confused whether Yuvi was going to reach those heights or would he become hazy? To me, his life seemed smooth with a perfect girlfriend like Kashish.

‘Would you like to eat something?’ Sakshi asked me. I was lost deeply in thoughts. I got up from my chair and went towards the corner of the bar to smoke. Till date, I had heard about complexities in a college band. I had also witnessed complexities in relationships. But Vikrant and his friend’s lives had a different level of complexity to them. Anamika was a bombshell whom you could flaunt around in the college campus to make a few boys jealous. Vikrant was in love with a girl whom he had never met but merely seen a couple of times. He didn’t know her whereabouts or whether she was committed. Yuvi and Kashish were stable in their relationship but what was even more important for Yuvi was that he wanted to make their band popular. They already were to some extent. I was still not in a position to comment on Sanaya. Anurag was the luckiest of all because he slept around with a different girl every month. But I felt he had become a changed man after meeting Anamika. Of course, my judgement was based on the basis of what Vikrant had narrated.

Vikrant had come back after his little loo break and took off from where he had left.

‘Who was that girl in the metro? Do you really love her? I mean loved her?’ I asked out of curiosity.

‘Loving someone or not is beyond your control. It didn’t take me even a second to realize that she was the one. She was the one who would understand my needs. She was the one who would help me be a better person. She was the one who could make me feel like I was perfect even though I was not. Her smile would enlighten my thoughts every morning. But the more I travelled by the metro, the more I seemed to be lost. I couldn’t trace her anywhere after those two times. Maybe she had seen me staring at her and changed her route. That’s when I understood that the feelings do not hold value and it was the actual execution of one’s feelings that mattered. I had to show my love to her. But she never gave me any signs. My determination was not enough. Not for me at least. You have to let the other person know you like and care for that person. But she just didn’t,’ said a visibly upset looking Vikrant.

‘So your paths never crossed after that?’ Sakshi asked.

He just smiled and sipped his drink even though he had told us that he wasn’t really fond of it. ‘Why have you started drinking?’ I questioned.

‘Takdeer, my destiny,’ he said recalling moments from his past. ‘But did Anamika share her intentions behind her relationship?’ she added.

‘Yes. She did. We understood later why she had a phobia of getting ragged. Why was she told stories about it from the very beginning? The stories were not of any unknown people—they were of her very own elder sister who was tortured so much during college days that she eventually ran away. She was still missing and the Delhi Police had declared her dead by showing her parents one dead body that was not in a recognizable condition. Her experiences in the past had fuelled her fear of ragging and to get temporary relief for her phobia, she had accepted Anurag’s proposal. Yuvi and I knew that the senior guys had planned something as horrible as stripping for her. After she told us what had happened to her sister, even we were convinced that Anamika was not wrong. She was not a slut. The situation had forced her to make that decision,’ Vikrant added.

‘But did the relationship last?’ I asked.

‘She never wanted it to last. She herself knew that it was not going to last forever. But she held on to it till she could. She enjoyed roaming in Anurag’s big car. Moreover, her low attendance didn’t matter too. After all her boyfriend was the Student’s Union president. Sometimes she would feel bad for keeping Anurag in the dark, but she would keep telling herself it was only a matter of a few days. We just hoped it did not turn ugly in the future because I had heard that Anurag didn’t like if anyone hurt his ego.’

‘I feel bad for Sanaya who got trapped without her fault. She could have handled things better,’ I added.

‘She did. She surely did. Till then, I was not aware of anything. I had never seen her nor talked to her. All I knew was she was Anurag’s ex-girlfriend and was upset with Anurag and Anamika’s relationship even though she had told everyone that she had decided to move on,’ Vikrant explained looking at the menu card.

‘You won’t order anything now. First tell us more about the story,’ Anuj, the manager of restaurant, added.

‘At least you can bring me something to munch on,’ Vikrant requested.

Anuj accepted his request and told the chef to whip something up for us. We were chit-chatting normally till Vikrant heard a fuss downstairs. I got up to see what the chaos was all about.

‘Don’t worry. That’s regular routine. Look at the time. It’s 1 am. Some group does all the drama after getting drunk and the police takes them away. So chill. Just let me switch off the lights and close the door otherwise they will create a problem for us too,’ Anuj said.

‘But you want to sit in darkness?’ I asked.

‘Sssh. I have a few candles here with me. I am not switching off the fan though,’ he whispered.

‘Dude, how do you expect the candles to light when the fan is on at full speed?’ I laughed.

‘Leave it to me.’

I checked the watch and I was dumbstruck to see the time. We were so engrossed that we had forgotten about the world outside. The permit time was over and the police had come to dispel the mob comprising mostly of youngsters downstairs. They were also doing a routine check to see if all the lounges and restaurants had closed. We went inside so that no one could guess we were sitting on the rooftop. I understood then the reason why Anuj had asked for the lights to be switched off. We remained quiet for some time until the noise died down. Anuj once again went towards the corner to make sure the police had left. He came back and gave us two thumbs up to signal everything was fine.

Love can neither be defined nor expressed. The night was such that nobody cared about whether the lights and fans were on or off or whether there was a moon in the sky. You just wanted the night to continue. I was eager to hear the rest of the story. Everyone settled down and Vikrant continued with the story.

‘VAYU. Everyone had high hopes from our band. We were becoming popular not only through our shows but also because of our live videos that we had uploaded on our YouTube channel which had gone viral within a couple of weeks. Anamika’s popularity on the social media increased with a rapid pace and at the same time music lovers had gone crazy about Yuvi’s voice with more than half a million hits on YouTube. We had a show scheduled the coming week and we were preparing day and night for it. Though Yuvi was still a big drug user, we were confident that we would outperform the other groups and give our best performance.’

Just then Vikrant’s phone rang. I could make out a girl’s voice on the other side. He talked to her for a few seconds and quickly hung up the phone.

‘Sorry, she was…leave it. It’s not important. So where was I? Our performance and rehearsals…’

The Girl in the Metro

Auditorium, Rajhans College

16th August, 2012

‘V
ikrant, the beats are off. Let’s do it again,’ Yuvi suggested.

‘Yuvi, let’s change the tempo of the song. It will get our brain juices bubbling. What say?’ Vikrant counter suggested to which Anamika agreed instantly.

The trio was rehearsing for their upcoming intercollege performance. They wanted to sound unique—different from all the other bands out there. The show was hardly a few days away and they wanted to give their performance all that they had.

‘So the song goes like,
Naseeba… Naseeba… ye meri life hai… naseeba naseeba …
.’ sang Anamika.

‘Let me try singing it once,’ Vikrant said.

‘Naseeeeebaaa, ye meri life hai
… Na, this tune is not right. Let’s go back to the first version,’ Yuvi added.

They had loaded up on snacks, beers, soda, marijuana, and cigarettes. Though they were kept hidden in a bag, Miss Malini got a whiff of it but she didn’t scold them because she wanted the show to go on perfectly well. After trying out various versions of the song, Yuvi suggested to stick to the basics and not to try to be too innovative with their title song ‘Naseeba’.

‘Let’s sing Dhaani once again. Yuvi, you start first. I will join in the chorus. Let’s practice as if a live show is going on,’ Vikrant said.

‘Dhaani.… re Dhaaniiiii..chunariya … Dhaani… re dhaani… chunariya… Udte baadal ke saaye me lehraayegi, mujhe tadpaayegi, chali jaayegi, jaise bijuriaa… mastaanii…’

Once satisfied with their demo performance, all of them hugged each other and sat on the stage wiping off the sweat from their brows.

‘The song was worth recording, dude. If we keep putting in the same amount of effort into each performance, we will surely make waves with our music. It’s so much fun,’ said Yuvi relaxing on the floor. He shut his eyes dreaming of their live performance where a big crowd had gathered and people were shouting his name over and over again, screaming their heart out.

Vikrant opened beer bottles for them while Yuvi rolled a paper. This time they wanted to rehearse like real rock stars. Vikrant drank a Bacardi breezer. Yuvi teased him saying only sissy girls drank breezers. Vikrant didn’t take Yuvi’s words to heart because he knew Yuvi was merely joking.

‘Give me a drag. Let me show you how it’s actually done. I am not a first timer. I have tried everything once but I don’t get addicted to stuff like you,’ Vikrant bluffed.

‘Oh, is it so? Then show it to me, baby. This is not a candy, darling,’ Yuvi laughed and Anamika joined in.

‘I find a girl who smokes really sexy. Such girls are not afraid of midnight parties. They are not afraid of hitting the dance floor and rapping with you. These chicks don’t always sit in class and talk shit,’ Yuvi said provoking Anamika.

Vikrant snatched the roll from Yuvi’s hand and took a drag. Then another, another…till he could barely get up from his seat. He could not even speak. He probably could not understand what was happening around him. Yuvi had told him ‘Beta, slowly… one at a time.’ But Vikrant wanted to prove he was man enough to do it. They were enjoying this new phase of life. All three of them had become really good friends with each other and their bonding was inseparable. Still Yuvi held some grudges against Anamika but she always won his faith back. They kept rehearsing day in and day out with on the same energy and enthusiasm. Yuvi was now more confident about the show because all the band members were performing at their optimal best. They all laughed, did masti, and practiced! Soon, they were all set for the D-day.

18th August, 2012

‘Ladies and gentleman, it gives me immense pleasure to host this show today. To my utter delight, I got to meet a particular band backstage. Any guesses whom I am talking about?’ said the host building up the excitement.

VAYU… VAYU… VAYU!!!

‘There you are. Absolutely right. I am talking about VAYU. The band that has reached the peak of popularity in only a couple of months’ time. I can see many of you wearing T-shirts with VAYU written on it. So let me present to you the students who make up your very favourite band— VAYUUUUUUU. First up is the lead guitarist and vocalist Yuvi. The Y of VAYU.’

Yuvi was busy kissing Kashish and did not hear his name being announced. Ultimately Kashish pushed him on stage. Yuvi waved at the audience as the lights fell on him to mark his entry. As he took to the centre of the stage, the host continued, ‘Now it’s time to call out the V of VAYU. Let me hear you scream for the lead drummer and lyricist Vikrant.’

Vikrant touched the stage with his right hand and then touched his forehead. By doing this, he was asking for the blessings of the almighty before performing on a platform he had dreamt of all his life. He took his position and played the drums a little to get the audience in the groove.