30

Venus Brings Forth the Jewel in Your Crown

I stumbled into Last Call in a manner very reminiscent of my first meeting with Abhimanyu. I was extremely late and I had an important handoff to make. Every second I sat in the Uber, my blood pressure rose, taking minutes off my life. I had to run the last few metres, and of course I’d broken my slipper yet again. So there I was, dripping wet, holding a slipper in my hand as I stumbled into the pub.

This time, the only person I saw when I walked in was Abhimanyu. He was at The Sherlock Homies’s usual table, studiously avoiding my eye and staring into his phone as though it was hazardous to life if he looked up. I handed off the pen drive I was clutching in my palm to George and walked to our table.

‘You’re insane,’ said Kavya, peeling off a wet curl away from my forehead.

Upasana dug through her bag and silently handed me a clutch.

‘Do you think he’ll go for it?’ Shirin asked. She began pouring out drinks for everyone at the table.

‘Let’s see,’ I said.

‘Welcome to tonight’s edition of Thirsty Thursday, ladies and gentlemen,’ George boomed. ‘After the spectacular success of the knockout rounds a few weeks ago, we’re going to do that again tonight.’

We cheered, even though ‘spectacular success’ wasn’t quite how the knockout rounds could be described, after the brawl we’d caused. George shot us a look to get us to quiet down.

‘The first round in today’s knockout will be between Whiskeypedia and The Sherlock Homies. This is an audio round,’ he announced, gesturing to the set-up in front of him.

There were two chairs facing each other, and the ever popular buzzer. He had learnt from the last time and skipped the weird floor lamps.

I held my breath. There was a bit of an argument at The Sherlock Homies table. I watched Abhimanyu shake his head vehemently, as his teammates pushed him out of his chair. He reluctantly made his way to the stage.

This was my cue. I went up to the stage and sat on the chair opposite Abhimanyu. I nervously smiled at him, but he continued to avoid my eyes. He was busy glaring at his friends who had now moved to the front of the pub. They were joined by my friends.

‘Let’s begin,’ George said.

He played the familiar strains of the Airtel signature tune. ‘What was the first song the composer of this jingle composed for his movie debut? Bonus points if you can name it in the original language, and not the dubbed version.’

BUZZ!

‘“Chinna chinna aasai”, from the movie Roja,’ Abhimanyu replied. He looked mildly suspicious.

Satish whooped, ‘Go macha’, as the rest of the team softly began humming the song.

‘Next question. This popular singer couldn’t even make it to the top five on a popular music reality show in 2005. Today, nobody remembers the winners. Name the singer and for bonus points, name this song,’ he said, as the opening bars of the song began to play.

BUZZ!

‘Arijit Singh and Raabta,’ said Abhimanyu.

‘Sing it,’ yelled Zaina, as a blush crept up his cheeks.

‘Yes, sing it,’ George said.

Abhimanyu started to demur but then, the entire pub erupted in cheers and shouts of ‘SING IT.’

He was still studiously avoiding my gaze, but began to sing. When he got to the line ‘tera nazaara mila’, our teams joined him to yell out in unison ‘roshan SITARA mila . . . ’

His face was now a ‘flaming fire engine’ red as he finally looked at me. I felt goosebumps on every inch of my skin. But I was suddenly too nervous and shy to look up.

He stopped singing abruptly and looked at George. ‘Shouldn’t we get on with trivia?’ he asked pointedly.

The crowd booed, clearly wanting to hear more of his singing.

‘OK, let’s move on,’ George agreed. ‘M. Balamuralikrishna sang the Tamil sections of this song that was telecast for the first time after the prime minister’s Independence Day speech in 1988. It featured Indians from all walks of life and was meant to be a message of national integration. Name the song.’

BUZZ!

This time, I picked up the mic and began singing, ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.’ The crowd went wild, as they all joined in.

Abhimanyu was now glaring at his friends, who looked like they were the very pictures of innocence. Mine, on the other hand, were trying hard and failing to hold back their smiles. I stopped singing and looked at him. There was a glimmer of a smile tugging the corners of his mouth, and he was struggling to control it.

‘Next question,’ George smoothly interjected. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. ‘This one’s a movie clip so look carefully at the projector.’

The clip began to play, as my heart sped up.

A man in a blue shirt leaned into a mic and said, ‘I’m afraid you did it again, Bill.’

The camera panned to an upset looking Billy Mack who said, ‘It’s just, I know the older version so well.’

The man in the blue shirt replied, ‘We all do. That’s why we’re making the new version.’

The clip faded.

‘Remember the question is, name the movie,’ George said. ‘Also a good reminder that sometimes the new version is better than the old.’ Some folks booed.

I looked up, and I was staring directly into Abhimanyu’s eyes. My heart was pounding in my ears.

BUZZ!

‘Love Actually,’ he said. He could no longer avoid my eyes. He looked at me as I slowly mouthed ‘I’m sorry!’. I hoped it would remind him of his apology from a few days ago.

The ghost of his smile was slowly becoming broader.

‘Patience reaps rich rewards,’ George said. ‘I know some of you are having a little too much fun with this round, but we’re almost at the end. Next question: This 1994 movie only did moderately well when it was released, but became a cult classic in recent times, with Raja Sen calling it ‘one of the greatest comedies in recent times’. There’s a song picturized on one of the lead couples, where they’re on a horse cart. Name the song, the movies and for bonus points name your favourite dialogue from this cult classic.’

There were loud whoops.

BUZZ!

I picked up the mic, and in a shaky voice I said, ‘“Ello ello” from Andaaz Apna Apna.’

Before I could name a dialogue, my team began singing the song and gesturing at me to join in. I threw all caution to the winds to join the racket and sing, ‘Ello ji sanam, hum aa gaye, aaj phir dil leke . . . ’

Krish had jumped on the stage and begun doing a dance on my behalf, replete with gestures to say ‘ab itna bhi gussa karo nahin jaani’.

When I ended the rendition by quoting the dialogue ‘galti se mistake ho gaya’, for the bonus points, Abhimanyu couldn’t hold it back any more.

He smiled. It was like the sun had come out from behind the dark clouds. I slowly smiled back. George was looking back and forth between us, seeming extremely pleased with himself. Every single person in the pub was singing and clapping.

Abhimanyu opened his mouth to say something, but I gestured him to wait.

‘The last question is a toughie,’ George said. ‘The two books the singer is reading in this song are Love at First Sight by B.J. Daniels and Skylar’s Outlaw by Linda Warren. Name the song.’

BUZZ!

‘This one looks like it’s a tie, folks,’ George said. ‘Both teams pressed the buzzer at the same time, so maybe they can answer together?’

Abhimanyu blushed as the opening strains of the song began playing. We stared at each other as we began singing the chorus of ‘Call Me Maybe’. The pub went wild as our friends all jumped on to the stage to mime the hook step of the song.

‘You’ve got to forgive a girl who can accept your love for Carly Rae Jepsen,’ Zaina yelled.

‘And one who’s taught you the Tamil version of Rahman songs,’ Satish added.

I took a deep breath. By this point, every single person in the pub knew this was not a regular trivia night. And it didn’t seem like anyone cared that they weren’t going to participate in a trivia competition today. George grinned as though he had spent all his time as a quizmaster training for this very moment.

My entire body felt like it was on fire. Every eye in the pub was trained on me. In the past, this had happened because I’d given stupid answers, started a pub brawl or otherwise embarrassed myself. I didn’t know what I was going to be doing today.

Abhimanyu looked into my eyes. I cleared my throat. My face was completely red, and resembled an apologetic tomato.

‘I messed up! I was a complete idiot . . . ’ I started.

‘You made me look like a fool,’ he replied, matter of factly. He still looked a little miffed, but he was finally talking to me. A little fizz of hope burst into butterflies in my stomach.

‘No, I was the fool! I never should’ve done what I did . . . ’

‘Sorry isn’t enough,’ he said. ‘How do I know you really want to be with me?’

‘How did I know you really wanted to be with me?’ I shot back. ‘I trusted you when you said you loved me. Now it’s time for you to trust me!’

‘I don’t know . . . ’ he said, still staying a safe distance away from me.

‘Abhimanyu, I love everything about you,’ I said, echoing his outburst from outside my balcony. ‘I know you rake your fingers through your hair when you’re stressed. I know you love apple slices and pesto pasta, and hate pineapple on your pizza. I know that you listen to Carly Rae Jepsen to destress and that you’ve translated the Backstreet Boys in Hindi. I know you’d do anything to help a friend . . . ’

He grinned and finally stood up. He came towards me and I stood up too.

‘I did something incredibly stupid because I was angry and competitive. Those aren’t my favourite things about myself, but I’m asking you to forgive me. To trust me.’ I took a deep breath, ready to plead my case further.

I was one step away from breaking into dialogues from every romcom I’d ever watched in a hope to convince him.

‘You should’ve told me about following my horoscope as soon as we confessed our feelings,’ he said, as he looked into my eyes. ‘It was the fact that you kept it a secret that killed me, not what you did.’

‘I swear I didn’t look at it after I realized I had feelings for you. The promotion didn’t matter to me, only you did.’

‘Forgive her,’ someone shouted from the audience.

‘Yes, forgive her,’ the crowd echoed.

‘She dedicated an entire trivia round to you. She deserves a chance,’ someone else shouted. Slowly, sounds of cheers and claps began emanating from various corners of the pub. There were a lot of glasses clinking, and I wondered if someone had spun up a drinking game out of this very public confession.

He took a deep breath. Suddenly, I spotted something on his face. He was desperately trying to stifle a smile.

‘I suppose . . . ’ he began, as he ran his fingers through his hair.

‘Go on, say it,’ The Sherlock Homies heckled in unison.

‘You’re not angry,’ I said, with a wide grin.

‘I was,’ he shrugged. ‘But then, you burned every bridge with Harsh by standing up for me. I didn’t expect you to give up on winning just for me,’ he took a step forward. People in the pub were now whistling.

‘If I could go back and change how I approached everything, I would. I would never download that app. I would do anything to take it all back. I can’t begin to imagine my life without you!’

I told myself to stop speaking. He was now standing really close to me. As he faced me, I looked deep into his eyes. They were so big, bright and honest that I could barely breathe. I had spent hours looking at him over the past few months but in that moment it was like I was seeing him for the first time.

This was Abhimanyu, a horoscope obsessed, 1990s Bollywood aficionado, listener of Carly Rae Jepsen, translator of music and a part-time cycling enthusiast. He was so many things, and there was still so much more for me to discover.

He leaned towards me, and I tingled with anticipation. He reached out to hold my hands. And then it happened.

I forgot that we were in a crowded room with a hundred people staring as he bent down and kissed me. The kind of kiss that makes your leg spring up, where fireworks go off in the background, where the world stops spinning, where the censor board inserts two flowers in front of your face and where a group of back-up dancers magically appear behind you to synchronize their steps to yours. I did not want the moment to end. As we broke apart, the entire pub cheered.

‘And that, ladies and gentlemen, is probably the most entertaining trivia night I’ve ever hosted,’ George boomed. ‘If anyone else fancies a trivia proposal, you know where to find me!’

We smiled at each other. We both wanted to go straight home and continue where we’d left off, without an audience.

A month and a half ago, at this very pub, I had met him for the very first time. A month and a half ago, I didn’t even know someone called Abhimanyu existed and now I couldn’t imagine a version of my life that didn’t have him in it.

‘I’m all in,’ I said.

‘I’m all in too,’ he replied. ‘This feels so right, as right as breathing. Besides, my horoscope said that today is the perfect day for a romantic fairy tale ending.’