ICT ONE-SHOTS (FRIENDSHIP)

The limits of liberty (Mahi-Jaddu)

November 2013

India defeats the West Indies 2-0

"Can we go out tonight, Mahi bhai?"

"Where?" asked Mahi suspiciously.

Virat, being the idiot he was, did not improvise a quick lie and said, "To the bar down the street."

Mahi sighed.

24-year-olds.

They thought the world would become a big, happy, shiny present if you just got to get drunk.

"Please Mahi bhai, please, please," begged his juniors, which included Virat, Jaddu, Rohit and Shikhar.

Ash, Bhuvi and Jinks weren't begging, but hanging around in the background, but rather obviously hoping they'd be granted permission. Plus, with Sachin's retirement and all, these kids who had grown up watching him play were already high strung enough, and Mahi didn't have the heart to deny them anything.

"Fine," he said. "You can go, but stay together, and don't drink too much."

Virat had already grabbed Rohit's forearm and turned to bolt out of the door with a yelled, "Thank you Mahi bhai! We won't drink too much, promise!"

"And don't let Bhuvi drink," Mahi sighed to the room in general.

"No worries, Mahi bhai," said Jaddu confidently. "I'll handle everything."

"Yeah, sure," Ash said. "Because you used to lead the Drunk Club in Jamnagar right?"

"You remember," Mahi heard Jaddu say in delight as the rest of them trooped out.

Mahi was sure everyone remembered Jaddu's Drunk Club story-phase three months back. He used to go on day and night about them. If they were all to be believed, Jamnagar was the most progressive town in the universe, where no one batted a single eyelash at teenagers drinking and romping around doing whatever they wanted.

********

I should've known that I wouldn't get a wink of sleep till the kids come back, thought a wakeful Mahi four hours later, when they had showed no signs of turning up, and were also not answering their phones.

Not that he had called them many times, because they wouldn't want to be interrupted under the circumstances.

He hoped they'd be sensible enough to keep Bhuvi away from hard drinks; he gave vibes of being a 12-year-old kiddo, and alcohol would certainly not agree with him. Jinks, too, because he had never tasted a drop before. Shikhar said it was against his principles. Ash, he trusted, would not drink much, if at all. Rohit and Virat, he thought with satisfaction, would not dare. Mahi smiled at the memory of the thorough dressing down he had given a teenaged Virat and a Rohit barely 20 for trying to get drunk after a series. Which left Jaddu, who apparently had plenty of experience in the field, so Mahi hoped he didn't have to worry about him, too.

*********

Later that night, he realized that the person he had worried about least was the one he should've worried about most.

As Mahi was going from room to room, checking if all of them had returned and were sleeping instead of causing still more mischief, much to his horror, he came across a human form lying crumpled in the centre corridor, completely still.

He rushed towards it and knelt down, and discovered that it was Jaddu, sleeping. Judging by his heavy breathing, he was probably passed out.

"Jaddu?" whispered Mahi, reaching over to shake his shoulder.