Fourteen
The phone rang twice. I disconnected it. I thought about leaving the booth. I re-
inserted the coins and dialled again. 'Hello? Ishaan bhaiya?' Vidya said as she
picked up the phone.
The phone gobbled two dollars worth of coins. I cut the phone again. Fuck,
what the hell was I doing? I called again with fresh coins. She picked up
instantly. 'Bhaiya, can you hear me?'
I did the cheesiest thing possible. I just breathed. I must have come across as a
pervert, but I could not find anything better to say.
'Govind?' she said, her voice careful. Had she guessed my breath? What is with
this kid? 'Hi,' I said. I could not contain myself any longer. 'Govind, wow. I saw
the international number. So, tell me?' Of all the phrases ever said on the phone,
I hate 'tell me' the most. Do I have to tell something just because I have called?
'Well, I...'
'How is Australia? Having fun? Tell me?'
I could kill her if she said tell me again. But maybe I should just tell her
something, I thought.
'Yes, it is nice. You will like this place,' I said.
'Which place? Tell more no? Where are you now?'
'Bondi beach. It is beautiful. Such a perfect place,' I said. Of course, I gave
stupid descriptions. But you try to call a girl you are not supposed to call for the
first time.
To add to the nervousness, the phone consumed coins at a ferocious pace. I
kept adding more change as the damn phone ate a dollar every thirty seconds.
'Wow. I have never seen a real beach in my life. How is it? Does the water never
end? Can you keep looking until forever?'
'Yeah, and the sky is endless too.' Duh! Say something more than borrowing
from her phrases.
'Where are Ish and Omi?'
'They are in the water. I am in a booth,' I said.
She asked the one question I did not want her to ask.
'So, how come you called?'
'Oh nothing. How is the preparation going? Integration is quite important you
know.'
'You called about integration?'
'Well, and other...'
'Do you miss me?'
'Vidya.'
'What?'
'Don't ask silly questions.'
'I miss you. A lot actually,' she said. Her voice became heavy. 'Ok, that's well,
that's ... wow,' I said, champion of nonsensical, monosyllabic responses.
'Yeah, and not as a tutor. As a friend. As a very good friend.'
A 'very good friend' is a dangerous category with Indian girls. From here you
can either make fast progress. Or, if you play it wrong, you go down to the lowest
category invented by Indian women ever - rakhi brother. Rakhi brother really
means 'you can talk to me, but don't even freaking think about anything else you