The week passed on without any episode. As usual they attended college and the canteen.
It was Saturday morning; Priti had slept late the night before. She had been watching TV surfing channels without much interest when she had suddenly caught up with ‘Gals and Glamour’ program. She suddenly remembered that she had left her research on glamour halfway and had done a lot of research after the show on the internet. She was now adept of glamour and glamour gals.
She woke up to the ringing of her cell phone. Before she could reach out, the ringing stopped and the screen was blinking – she had 10 unread messages and about 27 missed calls.
“Oh! My God! Someone’s desperate to contact me…” she quickly got out of the bed and in 5 minutes was sipping her coffee – the first cup of the day. She looked at her mobile and saw 37 missed calls now. She looked through the call list and messages and she realised that her friends were calling her to reach college canteen as urgently as possible.
As she dialled Payal’s number and she excitedly came on line, “Hey! Miss! Good Morning where are you? What took you so long to answer our calls? How much time will you take to reach here?”
“That’s too many questions to answer” said Priti and laughed, “Ok… I’m still at home. I just woke up and am sipping my coffee and I’ll take about an hour to reach…”
“One hour?” exclaimed Payal and Priti could hear the echo going around, “Can you make it earlier? We have been here planning something for past one hour…”
“Hey! What’s all this rush about?”
“Nothing, reach the canteen, as fast as you can and we’ll tell you” said Payal and cut the phone
Priti managed to reach in 50 minutes flat “Hey guys! What’s all this fuss about?” she settled down along with a cup of coffee.
“How did you manage to get so late!” asked Amit
“Well, I didn’t realise till 3 am that it was late at night… I was just surfing the net and got caught up with one thing after another…”
“Oh!” said Natasha and Priti saw that same look when she had added Jungle Homes to her wish list…
“Tell me please – what is this urgency all about? It’s Saturday and we have no lectures today.” said Priti.
“This is all hush-hush… Chaits should know nothing of this” said Deb.
“What?” asked Priti not able to comprehend what was going on…
“Shhh! It’s Chaits’ call” said Chaps, “Hi Chaits! Well, you see I got to go with Payal at her aunt’s place. Some family get together, the whole day. I’ll call you back in evening” and he cut off the call quickly and they burst out in laughter.
“You see – we are planning not to meet Chaits” said Amit and even as he spoke, his phone rang, “Oh! Hi Chaits! What? Lunch? – ow, I’d like to but I’m obeying your orders and have managed to get a noon appointment at the slimming centre – I want to be slim in six months – why don’t you ask Chaps?” Chaps stifled a laugh as Amit cut the call off.
“But why are you avoiding Chaits?” Priti’s question was cut as Deb’s phone rang.
“Hey! Chaits! Well I’d love to but I need to finish my journals before the submission day…”
“What’s going on?” Priti was again cut off as Natasha’s phone rang.
“Oh! Hi Chaits! How are you? Well you’ve met my mom and you know how she is – she’s decided I’m not going anywhere today – sorry~”
Priti’s phone rang and Payal quickly grabbed it and cut the call without answering it. Priti had seen Chaits’ missed call as she had woken up in the morning ‘Well, he had called me first and I was sleeping now he’s called up again and I cannot answer’ she thought.
“Ok gang… What’s the game?”
“It’s Chaits’ birthday today” said Natasha excitedly.
“That’s bad – and you’re avoiding him? Why?” asked Priti.
Payal winked and said, “We are planning to celebrate his birthday at Go Bananas the local disc today evening – and we are doing it in his style…”
“What’s his style?”
“Yes” said Chaps, “It’s his style – on your birthday – he’ll remember it the first thing in the morning however he’ll not let you know that he remembers till he’s ready with his surprise bash for you…”
“So we are giving him his dose of medicine” said Deb.
“Now that you know – you can generate your excuse and tell him that we are all planning to meet in the evening” said Natasha.
“Now” said Chaps “we go the market, we need to find some gift for Chaits” They all got up only to sit down again, Priti’s phone rang “Chaits” she whispered to others “Hi Chaits” said Priti in a cheerful tone, “How’s you? I wanted to meet you in the evening … today noon? Umm – lemme see – I’ve an appointment at my parlour then I got to go and get my dress – my new dress that I designed – so I want to try that out first – well it’ll be almost 5 pm or so when I finish my parlour and after that I’ll be home by about 6 pm with the dress – then I need to freshen up” and looked at Chaps who was showing her seven fingers, “After all this I can meet you – in fact I want to meet you because I want you to appreciate the design of my dress – so let’s meet at seven? I’ll call others and arrange something for all – this is the first time I’ve designed my dress – ok then meet you at seven – I’ll call you before to tell you where, bye” she cut the phone, “Poor, poor Chaits – he wants to be with at least one of us – you can feel it from his voice” and they laughed again.
“Priti – that was a real long yarn, I can understand the parlour thing but what about your designer dress?” asked Payal…
“Let’s go the market” said Priti.
As soon as they hit the market the first half an hour was spent to select a formal shirt for Chaits. Finally the choice of Priti was unanimously accepted. They all agreed that Priti had a better taste and style.
Then they made their way through busy and narrow lanes and reached what was popular Ladies Market. The girls were excited and wandered off leaving the boys stranded around at a corner. The boys were cursing themselves for this predicament. They were avoiding all those hostile stares that every passing female had for them. Obviously they were in the wrong lane.
After almost an hour long embarrassment Deb got an idea “Guyz! We are fools to stand here and look stupid – why don’t we go to Youth Cafe next lane and at least enjoy the India-Australia one day match that’s being shown live?”
“Deb!” said Amit almost choking with appreciation “for the first time in your life – you do have a great idea, c’mon Chaps – let’s go…”
Chaps paused for a moment then called Payal on her cell. They were looking at the fake ornaments that had a variety on display and Chaps knew in his heart that the girls are going to take longer than mere half an hour they had promised. “Ok” said Chaps knowingly, “After you finish, please call me or come straight to Pooja’s the Youth Cafe’, we are there watching the cricket match” and they hurried to catch up with most of the live action they could during the time.
The girls were lost in the ladies market and they realised that it was late indeed – at least for boys who would have been waiting would be bored…
“You all carry-on” said Priti, “I’ll take time.”
Payal and Natasha looked at her in disbelief.
“You see, I was not spinning a yarn when I told Chaits about my parlour. I actually am going to the parlour – It has been a long time since I’ve been there – time to get some spruce up…”
“So which parlour are you going?” asked Payal
“BHCC”
“BHCC? Wow!” Natasha was wide eyed “my mom would kill me even if I mention the name… I certainly can’t afford it…”
“It’s so very expensive – I’ve been there when I got engaged to Chaps – agreed they have one of the best quality hair and beauty treatments – but then it’s okay to spend there on special occasions…” Payal was lost for a moment in the sweet memories of her engagement with Chaps.
“Another one in my wish list” murmured Natasha to herself and Priti and Payal looked at each other for a moment and laughed…
“Come out of it you dreamy girl” said Priti, “well here’s a deal – the treat for your birthday is on me and the treat will be – exclusive hair and beauty treatment for you at BHCC – all expenses covered by me.”
Natasha’s face brightened and then again she looked glum.
“Now what?” asked Payal
“Well my birthday is too far away – it’s seven more months” Natasha sighed.
“Ok girls – time to move I’ve to keep my BHCC appointment – I’ll call you around 5 pm and you let me know the plans – oki”
“Okay – bye – enjoy your time” said the girls and walked toward the cafe where boys were waiting for them.
Priti entered ‘BHCC’ premise and the girl at the reception flashed a welcome smile “Welcome, Miss Priti… have a seat, Kavya should be here any moment”
Even as she spoke a well maintained girl entered the reception and said, “Hi Priti, as always – on time”
“Hi Kavya” Priti smiled at her.
“So – Priti what would you like to do today?”
Priti opened her bag she held in her hand, searched and fished out few sheets she had printed at home, “Kavya, can you manage that look on me?”
Kavya took those sheets in her hand and studied them for some time and then looked at Priti and studied her closely. Then she looked at those sheets and her eyes widened, “Priti – what a similarity – almost like a twin? – It’ll cost you about 3 to 4 hours and about 7000 bucks – if you’re ready- I can do it – I can make it work…”
Priti was satisfied by that answer and more on Kavya’s confidence “I’ll do it and yes, if it works – I owe you a 1000 bucks personally”
Kavya looked at her and gave a small whistle, “Let’s get on to it Priti and I’ll wait for your 1000 bucks…”
They walked into the parlour… and Priti took a seat patiently as Kavya worked on her looks… It was more than 5 hours now and Kavya was giving finishing touches to her handiwork. Finally she stepped back and said, “There you are Priti – just take look at your changed self…”
Priti got up and walked over to the full size mirror and smiled triumphantly, “I promise you – you’ll make it big one day, Kavya… however you’ve to wait till tomorrow to know if you get your 1000 bucks… Got to see the reaction first…”
“Anytime you wish Priti” said Kavya and they both laughed happy at the outcome.
It was about five thirty when Priti reached home. Even as she entered her room her phone rang “Hi Natasha! What’s the deal?”
“We will be at Go Bananas at sharp 7 pm – please be there on time – Chaps, Payal, Amit have already gone to get the cake and book the corner table – Deb should be here any moment to pick me up.”
“Ok” said Priti and cut the phone
She deftly started working on her plan and she knew it’s going to be difficult to make it by 7 pm.
It was 7:05 pm and Priti was still at home. She looked in the mirror – she was extremely happy to get the new look and blew a kiss at her image in the mirror. She was admiring her changed looks when her phone rang and she looked at the clock ‘Oh! My gosh! I’m late these people would kill me now’ and picked up the phone, “Soooo sorry – Payal, I’m leaving my home in exact 2 minutes and promise I’ll be there by 7.45 latest – Oh! Sure – please carry on and I’ll join you for the cake. Sorry! Which table did you book? – Ok… I’ll be there…”
She cut the phone and hurried toward the car and quickly zoomed off negotiating the traffic on the route.
“Guess Priti’s stuck at home and should be reaching in about 30-40 minutes” Payal informed, “Gang! Let’s go in start our party”.
Chaits seemed to be in off mood – obviously everyone seemed to have forgotten all about his birthday. Even after the long wait, when he met everyone at Go Bananas – nobody wished him – they seemed to have forgotten his birthday.
They entered and were delighted to hear Desi Bhangra number greeting them. They walked along the perimeter of the crowded dance floor making their way to the booked table…
“Hi Chaits!” they suddenly heard a voice and looked around to find Lucky beaming at them, “so you and the gang are here as well? Good… Enjoy yourselves” and he made his way to where he was hosting a party.
“Why the hell these spoil sports need to be here today, when we wanted to enjoy our evening?” asked Payal disgusted. They looked over their shoulders to see Lucky joining Vicky and his group… half of them seemed drunk already.
“C’mon guys! Let’s not spoil our mood because they are here – Let’s cheer up because we are here” said Chaps and steered them toward their booked table “I love this DJ here, he plays a variety – right from Dadaji’s time…”
As they settled round the table to catch up with the evening mood, “What’ll you guys have? Me and Deb are settling for draught beer – how about you Chaits / Chaps and the girls?” Amit asked looking around.
Chaps looked at Payal from the corner off his eyes “I will join you both…”
“Chaps you promised…” Payal indignantly looked at Chaps
“Just one – honey – and that’s all – I promise” said Chaps
“Just One… Ok?” said Payal threatening
“Solemn Promise”
“We’ll have some fruit punch” said Natasha girl’s behalf, what about you Chaits?”
“I’ll just have a coke or something” others looked at him and then at each other.
“Ok” and they went off to get the stuff… when they returned they saw that Chaits was gelling a bit restless and they knew he desperately wanted them to remember that today was his day…. his birthday. They stifled a smile and wished that Priti would reach there fast. They were waiting for her so that they could disclose to Chaits that they all remembered and then they can cut the cake they had ordered…
Chaps looked at his watch and realised that they needed to kill at least 15-20 more minutes before Priti reached… The DJ suddenly switched the song to the current number ‘Mera dil bole hello how are you’ and he grabbed Payal “C’mon Payal – this is my number” and they both danced on the floor and came back – huffing and puffing – enjoyment clearly written on their faces…
“Chaits?” asked Amit between the sips of his beer, “why don’t you go on the floor?”
“You know Amit, I don’t dance very well,” Chaits said repentant that he couldn’t dance, “It’s different when I – dance in front of the mirror at home – but then it’s different when you are in a disc – I’m not as graceful, be it Deb or you” and he looked away to see others on the dance floor enjoying themselves…
“Pappu Can’t Dance Sala” said Chaps and they laughed
“C’mon guys! Maybe that’s only thing I can’t do well” said Chaits defensively, and he turned his head again toward the dance floor to watch how others managed to do their part of enjoyment through dance…
The others in the group were looking at Chaits. They could sense he was desperate to remind them of his birthday. At the same time they could see him studying simple dance moves which they were sure he’d go home and practice for few days and then decide he’s not a graceful dancer…
They looked at Chaits; he seemed intently concentrating on dance moves of the couple who were nearest in the view of main floor. Payal looked at her cell phone as it beeped. It was Priti who had sent an SMS saying she was on her way through traffic.
She passed on her phone to others who despondently looked at each other – their eyes asking the question, “Now what?”
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