‘Shut up and pay him off,’ she whispered.
I took out my wallet and took out twenty bucks.
‘Illa Illa...’ the cop continued to shout and grabbed my arms.
I took out a fifty. He looked at me and Ananya. ‘Warning,’ the cop said as he
took the note.
Ananya laughed after the cop left us.
‘It’s not funny,’ I said as I wore my shoes again and straightened my pants.
‘Can we meet at my chummery, please?’
‘In a while. I travel out of Chennai everyday and come back late,’ she said.
‘Weekend?’
‘I’ll try,’ she said. ‘You will feed me chicken? I’m dying to have non-veg. and
get beer, too.’
‘OK,’ I promised. My building had vegetarian-only rules, but surely they
wouldn’t notice if I brought something readymade from outside.
We sat in our respective autos. She spoke to me from her side window. ‘And
I’ll speak to my parents about the tuitions. Twice a week at five?’
‘Five in the morning?’ Why is everyone so eager to wake up in this town!
‘That’s when everyone goes for tuitions,’ she said and sped off.
I had to wait for two miserable weeks in Chennai until Ananya finally decided to
visit my chummery for lunch one Saturday. One weekend Ananya’s mother fell ill
and Ananya had to cook for the family, courtesy a guilt trip from her mother. The
food did not come out right, as Ananya’s culinary experience is limited to making
Maggi in my room and making papads with a clothes iron (yes, it works). This led
to another guilt trip from Shobha aunty to Ananya’s mother who blamed her for
not bringing up her daughter right. The guilt trip percolated down to Ananya, who
had to take Shobha aunty jewellery and sari shopping the next weekend.
Meanwhile, I had visited Brilliant Tutorials and bought IIT exam guides. I
couldn’t believe how tough the course materials were. The only reason I managed