Best Buddies - How they met - Part 5

Part - 4
Part - 3
Part - 2
Part - 1

It was around 1:30 in the night.


Mom-dad had gone to sleep and Di had left for her friends place.


So the room was all mine, but wait, ofcourse I had Ranbir and Ishaan for torture.





Even before I could lay my back on the bed, came the first arrow out of Ranbir's bow,


"Dude, who was she?"


And me like an innocent guy, as if not knowing anything,


"She...Who?"


And then came in the chorus, like the final warning,


"Ishita."




Flashback: Around two years back, when I met Ishita for the first time.





I and few of my friends were sitting in the college canteen.


A girl had just given two tight slaps to one of my friends.


I jumped in, to his rescue, or else maybe he would have had a couple of them more.





"What do you think you are doing?", I asked the girl.





And some guy from the back shouted,


"That's her style of breaking up."

Wow, what a style to say the final good-bye.

Before I could even react, she just walked off.


I started wondering how did my friend spend the last few days with her, she must have been a torture, whoever she was.








A few days later, I saw her at a railway station, arguing at the ticket window. She did not have change and the person at the desk was not ready to give her change for 100Rs. So, she took the entire station on her head.

"You people don't even know how to treat women. I will take a rally out against you people. You people think you have the right to do anything. I will start a camapign against you all. You will loose your job."

She blabbered non-stop for like 10minutes. The person at the window had to finally repent his action and gave her change from his own pocket and pleaded her to leave.

Luckily, there was the glass in the middle or else even he would have had experienced her slap.

But the on-lookers had a good time.

That's the advantage girls have, shout at the top of your voice and the world bows down to you.

A few days later, I saw her arguing with a rickshaw driver. He didn't have a rupee to give back to her, and she started non stop.



"All you drivers are the same. Inspite of having change you people don't give it. Just want to earn money by cheating."

And the lecture continues for another 5minutes.
I was just thinking, when does the slap come in. Maybe the driver had a good day.
When the driver felt that he was beating his head against a wall, he somehow managed to get a rupee and gave it to her.

And what she does, in front of the driver, gives it to a small poor boy begging on the roads.



Once incidentally she was with her friends at an ice-cream parlour, where even I was with my friends.

Some other guys also, I guess from my college were present there. They started whistling and passing comments.



A minute later, we hear three slaps back to back. We turn back, and its this was the same girl in action. The guys quietly left the place.



Now, she was a horror in my eyes. Friendship with her was impossible. How could anyone be friends with her? She spoke less with her mouth and more with her hands.



But I was wrong.



One weekend, I was on my monthly social visit to a orphanage, where I teach children.

There even she was there. Playing, laughing and enjoying with children.



I was shocked to see her there. A girl of this nature, at a place like this was impossible to think about.

Well, that was the first time I met her face to face.

The father of the school introduced the both of us.



Ishita, that was her name.

We just smiled at each other, and moved on.



But that smile was surely everlasting, she looked so sweet with that smile on her face, rather than that horrifying look she normally carries.







We again met at the library a few days on. She was trying to reach for a book, and I offered to get it for her.


"You guys, just need a chance to hit on a girl. Just saw a girl alone, and you come up to try and hit on her."

I surely didn't have any such intentions. I was stunned. With a hand on my cheeks, just to avoid the slap.

"I am sorry, but I was just trying to help you out."

"Help, my foot. I very well know guys like you."

I went and sat at the table, and began reading a newspaper, to shocked to even stabilise soon.


How did people even tolerate her for a second?



Next day she was on the same train I was in.

All of a sudden she came to me.

I was scared and jumped back, thinking she came here to slap me, which she forgot yesterday.



"I am sorry for yesterday. I was actually in a bad mood, and thought all guys are the same."

And again that killer smile and she left.

I was so addicted to such suicidal smiles.

That weekend, we again met, and that to again co-incidentally. She had come with her friends to watch the movie, and I was with my friends.





We just excahnged quick smiles and Hi's and moved into our seats.


As if meeting at the theatre wasn't enough, she was seated right next to me.


It was a romantic movie, and I was wondering what was she doing there.

And hopefully she wasn't in a bad mood today, or that would have been the end of me.





Somewhere toward the middle of the movie, her cell started ringing, and while trying to reach for her cell, she slipped all the coke and pop-corn on me.


And as if I had just appointed some advocates, my friends started screaming on her.



She was so shocked, that she just left the hall, and I guess with tears in her eyes.


I also went behind her, having no clue what pulled me out. I tried to console her, but stopping a girl cry is surely not my cup of tea.



But somehow, she stopped crying. But it was too late, I guess. The movie was over and people were moving out.


I offered to drop her back home, and we left walking.




That's when I actually found out, who the real Ishita was.


She surely was not that egoistic, angry young girl, I had seen her all this while as.


She was cool, frank, zero attitude, chatterbox, just like the girl next door.


She would easy mingle around, but was really short tempered.


Two extremes of her, from where its extremely difficult to get her back was, her anger and her emotions.


We soon became really good friends. Hanged around together, fought with each other, played pranks on each other and every sort of nonsense possible.




Once I went to her place.

If the daughter was like this, how would the rest of the family be, I just kept wondering till I finally met them.

"So, how many guys has she slapped so far.", asked her mom.

"First ask him, how many as he received so far.", interrupted her dad.

"I haven't slapped him yet.", came in Ishita's reply.

"That's why he had the guts to be here.", this one was from Ishita's sister.

"Nikhil, they are all gone crazy.", came in Ishita's quick response defending herself.

Getting in the mood, I also blabbered something.

"After all they are related to you."

She got so angry, that she ran behind me in the entire house.

Maybe that was her style to show me her house.

A few days later she dropped in at my place.

She had been there for like an hour, and Mom and she were chatting for like past entire time.

"Nikhil, why didn't you get her home before.", asked my mom, just when I entered the house.

I just didn't reply. What would have I even said.

Mom was busy talking that she forgot she had to even cook dinner, so she just decided to get it ordered from outside.

"Congratz, you won the bet, now out.", speaking ti Ishita, when Mom wasn't around.

I was just trying to get her out. God only knows what all she might have told mom, in my absence.

But mom just would not let her go. And I sat right across, just trying to bring that fake smile, every time my name came up.

Luckily time flied by that day and she went home.

My mom was so very impressed with her.

But my sister and dad were so dreaded by her presence that they gave me a warning never to get her back home. Mom had just forgotten everything including that we were also at home.

But, I had never seen Mom so happy in the past year or so.

Ishita surely had some magic in her.

We spent most of the time with each other and almost everyone in the school felt we were dating.
Once a guy came and asked Ishita,
"How is that loser boyfriend Nikhil...of yours doing?"
And came in Ishita's favourite reply.

A tight slap across his face, and she made sure he never showed his face to her again.

So no-one dare opened there mouth, or else they would have been royally screwed by our very own Ishita. The school was as if haunted by her and feared her as if she was the Ghost Principal or something.






But, I knew her in and out. She was like a coconut, hard from outside but tender and soft from inside. It was heaven to have a friend like her. She was the creator of most problems, and she had solutions to all problems.





Once she was angry with the entire class of ours. So she somehow convinced the History proffesor to keep a test the very next day.


And for the next 24hrs everyone kept abusing her like crazy.


No-one in the class was prepared for the test, and neither was she. So she came to the rescue of the class. She only convinced the proffesor again to delay the test by one week.




She was way to good at it. She had that strength to even melt stone with water. I always wondered how she did all this, that also so easily.


No-one ever said NO when she asked for help and she would always stand by you when you needed her.





She once started a revolt against a proffesor who had slapped one of our classmate's. Within a week's time she forced the principal to give a warning to that proffesor.
Once she starts, you just cant stop her.




No matter how dreadful she could be, people always praised her for she would stand by the truth always. She hated lies.

Her friends usually called her, 'Angel in Disguise.'




She never let her friends down, and never let them feel bored.


Back to present.

"So, basically that's how I met her, my first impression, and how our friendship grew."

Ranbir and Ishaan were just staring at me.

"What's wrong guys?"

Silence.

And then in a chorus.

"Do you like her?"

"You people want to be slapped or you want me to be slapped. She's just a friend."

"The typical Page 3 dialogue. We are just good friends.", popped in Ranbir.

The entire night I and Ishita were talked about like Breaking News on news channels that continues for atleast 24hrs.

Apart from that, loads of PS, movies, cards and nonsense talk was what we did the entire night.

It was one of the best ways to spent the first night after exams. Well the vacations have just begun.

A few days later, when the three of us were hanging out at the creek, we received messages of the inter-school events we were going to take part in.

Ishaan got confirmation for Youth Cult Fest and he was going to be in Delhi for the event in mid-July, thats 2weeks from now.

Ranbir was going to lead the footbal team in Football Mania at the grounds in Bangalore, towards the third week of July.

And then, surprisingly I was selected for the school team going to Kolkatta towards the second half of July for the CBSE annual Cricket Meet.

So, these were surely going to be some of the most awaited things in the near future.

After getting such awesome news in the day, we decided to party hard in the night.

And as usual Ranbir was drunk, and we carried him back home, reminding me of my first night out in Dubai.

But while entering the building, from no where Ranbir's mom saw us. We some how managed to rush into Ishaan's place, but a round of interrogation can be expected tomorrow.

...to be continued...