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‘Then?’
‘Then what, one day his mom spoke to mine asking whether we would give him a car as a marriage gift. That made me lose my shit.’
‘Do you miss him?’
‘Yaar, memory is a bitch; doesn’t let go.’
‘What do you do when you miss him?’
‘What? I pee when I feel like peeing. I think of him when I miss him. As simple as that.’
‘Any calls or anything? Didn’t he try to approach you later?’
‘He tried. A lot. He even offered to buy the car himself. Just that his parents should not know that their son had bought it. This one thing ruined everything we had.’
‘Did he get married?’
‘Yes, he did.’
‘Then you mustn’t miss him now?’
‘Told you, memory is a bitch. From now on don’t talk to me about love and romance after a few drinks, okay.’
‘Why?’
‘There isn’t enough space in Mumbai to cry your heart out, no? Cheers! Do you smoke?’
‘I don’t. Will get some cigarettes.’
‘Okay, I’ll come with you. It’s so much fun loitering outside, after getting drunk. You don’t smoke; how will you ever become Devdas?’
C for Cigarette
Chandar never liked Sudha’s smoking. She didn’t smoke much, just a cigarette after dinner.
Chandar didn’t like a lot of things about Sudha and vice versa. Actually, no one can like everything about the other person. But one thing was true; he didn’t want Sudha to quit smoking because she spoke a lot of sense after she had smoked a cigarette.
She would smoke and vent every time with something like: ‘Smoking is injurious to health. These people write just about anything.’
‘What do you mean? It is true.’
‘You’re crazy. Cigarette doesn’t burn you up, the person burns up due to different reasons, on his own. Just blames the cigarette.’
‘Okay, why do you burn up?’
‘Because of you.’
‘What did I do now?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You blame me for everything. That isn’t fair.’
‘Shouldn’t I? Many people want to be blamed by me.’
‘Then do it, why favour me so much?’
‘Because you’re my cigarette. I have given you all of my breaths!’
