One Day At A Time

Chapter 4 - Winds of Change

November 1991
Pune

The sun had set behind the Sahyadri mountains, highlighting a thick grey layer of smog over the city. Within a few minutes, the city was sparkling with millions of lights as if someone had thrown buckets full of glitter all over it in a few blinks of an eye. Pune, the beautiful city of history, arts and literature, buzzed and shimmered in the lap of mountains. The constant flow of vehicles on the roads, especially during the peak hours, ensured a continuous supply of layers of dust and smoke to the cloud of smog above them.

The abundance of vehicles on the road also meant that getting a slot free for off-street parking on the high street at this time of the evening was next to impossible.

Khushi cursed the owner of the vehicle as she struggled to wriggle Jhumri out from between two two-wheelers parked side by side, almost trapping her and making it difficult to pull it out of the parking slot. A couple of futile attempts later, she lost her patience and decided to push the bike next to hers out of her way, and make some space for herself.

The moment she touched the bike next to her, she heard its owner rush towards her. She was about to explode on the owner for the irresponsible way in which he had parked his bike next to hers when a surprise registered on her face.

"Aman! What are you doing here?"

"Shit! I am so sorry! There was no place to park, and I was in a hurry. It was supposed to be a two-minute job to buy a pack of guitar strings. I thought I would be back in a jiffy. Sorry, Khushi!" Aman smiled awkwardly as he moved his bike away to make some space for Khushi to pull out her's.

The moment he pulled his bike out, he threw her a cursory glance and smiled "Alright then. I'll see you later, Khushi."

Khushi stood staring at him. "Stop! Why are you running away from me like this, Aman? What is going on?"

Aman stood staring at her tentatively like he was in some kind of dilemma. But his stance changed and it was apparent to her that he had decided to choose the easier way out.

"Look, I really got to go." Aman pleaded, glancing around while he mounted his bike and kicked started it to life.

"Have I done something? Now I think -- why else --I am sorry. I won't ask again. I promise." A film of tears blurred her vision as she turned around to hop on her bike.

"Khushi! No!" Aman sighed as he switched off the engine and got off his bike. He walked towards her and smiled at her. "You haven't done anything."

"It's okay, Aman. It's your call. It's just that I would have liked to know the reason, and I thought you were one of those who would care enough to provide one." She pressed the ignition button and was about to ride off when Aman held her hand and asked her to stop.

"No. It's not you, Khushi. It never was, never can be. Look, I don't know what to say." He looked away to stare at his bike.

Khushi huffed out a laugh. "Oh come on Aman, how bad can it be? Just spill it out!"

"Arnav warned me to stay away from you Khushi."

Khushi's eyes widened the moment Arnav's name was mentioned. For a moment she thought she had heard it wrong. A part of her brain refused to believe it. Then she presumed Aman had misunderstood Arnav, which was quite understandable given how strongly Arnav had come on to him that day. But Arnav did not mean to ask Aman to stay away from her! Perhaps, he had misunderstood the conversation because of the way Arnav had spoken to him.