When the three friends visited Nutty on the very next Sunday, they found her beaming with excitement. It was her fourth day in the hospital. The first 24 hours had been crucial, since the doctors had kept her under observation for any signs of a head injury. In those four days, her bruises, and sprained ankle, had been taken care of. As she did not have any broken bones, the girl had been declared fit to leave in another day.
‘You are one helluva resilient girl,’ Lucky complimented her cheerful friend, who was allowed to limp, with some help, to the lawn in front of the ward. ‘I feared you would have suffered some broken bones.’
Seated in a bench under a huge ficus tree, the four friends shared the chocolates and chips they had brought for Nutty.
‘True!’ seconded Shiny, helping herself to some salted peanuts. ‘Your dazed eyes after you fell to the ground had me worried.’
‘The lucky gal got some well-deserved rest,’ said Billi, who had been declared the best first-time rider by the pleased ustad. He had had very low expectations from a lady cadet.
‘It was her wish to ride like Kangana that did the harm,’ Lucky deduced. ‘What she forgot was that she’s not a film star.’
‘Did you know she used a prop for those scenes?’ tittered Shiny. ‘She was riding a dummy horse and pretending to be riding an actual horse.’
‘Don’t tell me that!’ Nutty said irritably. ‘You are trying to console me.’
‘Trust me!’ Shiny fiddled with her phone. Seconds later, having found the clip, she handed it to her friend. ‘Here, you can see for yourself.’
‘It has gone viral after the release of the movie,’ informed Billi, as she watched Nutty’s expression change.
For once, the star-struck girl was at a loss for words. ‘This is cheating,’ she spat out, after watching the dummy mechanical horse.
‘It’s only the foolish who get taken by the daring feats performed by film stars. Darling! That’s why it’s known as show biz – all show and no know,’ Billi sneered. ‘You thought it was real and went on to risk your pretty neck.’
‘Don’t worry! We will be riders before we pass out,’ Lucky consoled their distraught friend. ‘Henceforth, learn to distinguish between bravery and bravado. The line between the two is very thin, but remember bravery pays, bravado doesn’t.’
‘Have you girls finished your sermons?’ retorted Nutty. ‘If you have, I will tell you something interesting.’
‘We are done with the sermons,’ Shiny raised her hands in surrender. ‘Now, tell us the interesting news.’
‘I don’t want to go back to the academy,’ declared the injured friend.
‘Given a chance, none of us would,’ said Lucky. ‘No getting up at the crack of the dawn, only to front roll till your spine feels unhinged, no PT or drill, no seniors baying for your blood, it must be quite cushy lying in a hospital bed.’
‘You forgot to mention the hollering ustads, cruel paltus, and the sadist CSM,’ reminded Billi.
‘I would willingly fall off a horse if I could avoid all the punishments,’ Shiny sighed. ‘I could ask Aaron to visit me at the hospital. We could sit on this bench and chat to our hearts’ content.’
‘It is not just the training and punishments, I have a stronger reason to stay here,’ confided Nutty, snatching the packet of chips from Lucky’s possessive hands. ‘There’s a handsome intern on night duty.’
‘What!’ Billi shouted. ‘You are making eyes at an intern?’
‘He has Shashi Kapoor’s dimples and a twinkle-eyed smile, Hrithik’s physique, Amitabh’s baritone and…’
‘Oh my God! You mean he’s a heady cocktail,’ laughed Billi. ‘You are such a dreamer, Nutty. I am not surprised. With film stars crowding your pea-size brain, you hardly have a choice.’
‘Laugh as much as you want, but the fact is that I have fallen for him. For all you know, he might be attracted to me. He wouldn’t be able to confess, of course. What with his duties and responsibilities, but I can wait. We have many more months at the academy before we are commissioned, and he’s not going anywhere in a hurry. However, we need to spend time together for the sparks to flare. Therefore, I am not going to leave the hospital.’ Nutty finished her spiel and gave them a defiant look.
‘You are nuts!’ Shiny exploded. ‘Do you realize the implication of your words?’
‘You are fit to be sent back on Monday.’ Lucky took one look at her friend’s determined face and pleaded, ‘Please don’t try any tricks. They are likely to backfire.’
‘I have already thought of a plan. When the intern comes for night duty, I will pretend to be in great pain.’
‘Look darling!’ Lucky implored. ‘You have been falling in love with every handsome hunk that crosses your path. This is no different. Hospital romances are quite common. There are umpteen cases of patients falling in love with doctors.’
‘This is not one of those cases. I am convinced it is genuine love.’
The four friends had often brooded over their love lives or the lack of it. Shiny was the only one with a steady boyfriend. Unfortunately, the two rarely found the opportunity to spend time together. Lucky, with her exotic and delicate features, found herself attracting a lot of attention from the male species, some welcome, most of it not. Her fragile looks brought out the protective instinct in them. Even the ustads handled her with kid gloves.
As far as Billi was concerned, she was a tough nut. The strong-minded girl was determined to bag the appointment of CSM, and to carry the Sword of Honour home. Propelled by these two objectives, she pushed herself beyond the limits of her physical capacity. In the few weeks at the academy, the girl realized that there are no limits. One could push oneself to any extent, provided one had the willpower to do so. She threw all ideas of love and romance out of the window and concentrated on her goal. Thankfully, after the initial days at the academy, Banwari had stopped bothering her with phone calls. She had bought a new sim card and warned her family against sharing the number with the jilted guy. For once, they agreed to stand by her. The tantalizing image of the Sword of Honour displayed in a prominent spot in the house made her father toe the line.
Intimidated by her foul language, the GCs kept out of her way. Also, they found her too aggressive and blunt to fit the image of a pliable girlfriend.
Nutty was the total antithesis. An incurable romantic, she was the kind of girl who shed buckets of tears while watching movies, swooned over good-looking GCs, and dreamed of romance even when she was front rolling. One of her objectives for enrolling in the academy was to find a smart life partner. In the last few weeks, she had been attracted to at least half a dozen GCs or instructors. The friends were privy to her secret crushes, which invariably ended in heartbreak. But the girl never gave up. All the advice doled out by her friends had done nothing to change her attitude.
‘Don’t be a fool,’ warned Billi. ‘All he has to do is complain against you. Can you imagine the outcome if CoCo or any of the two paltus learns of your crush?’
‘Get yourself discharged and return to the academy. If the intern is interested in you, he will find some way to contact you,’ Lucky advised.
Nutty was not ready to heed any warnings or advice. Half an hour later, the three girls returned to the academy having been unable to convince their friend.
It was Monday afternoon. Lucky returned to her room after lunch to find an ebullient Nutty idling on her bed. She was flipping through the latest issue of a gossipy movie magazine.
‘Hey there!’
‘So, your tricks didn’t work?’ Lucky asked as she flopped onto the bed. ‘You have been discharged from the hospital.’
‘You will never guess what happened.’ Nutty sat up and smiled secretively.
‘I think I should call Billi and Shiny. They might be better at the guessing game.’
‘Yes, three heads are better than one,’ agreed Nutty. ‘Besides, I won’t have to repeat the story.’
Five minutes later, after the girls had huddled on the bed, she declared triumphantly, ‘I now have his phone number.’
‘You mean he gave you his number?’ Lucky sounded incredulous.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Billi thumped her forehead. ‘You went and asked for his phone number? Where’s your sense of self respect?’
‘Perhaps it’s not his number,’ Shiny giggled. ‘He may have given it to fool you.’
‘Shut up!’ Nutty scolded. ‘He didn’t give it to me. I have managed to get it out of him.’
‘You tricked him into giving you his number?’ Billi was outraged.
‘By the way, his name is Kartik Iyer. How does it matter how I got the number?’ Nutty asked peevishly.
‘He’s South Indian?’ Lucky asked. Her mind filled with images of a fat and domesticated Nutty grinding batter for idlis, a pair of bawling kids with runny noses by her side.
‘It doesn’t matter which state he is from. I love him and that’s what matters.’
‘So, how did you get his phone number?’ Shiny wanted to know.
‘Last night, when he was on duty, I asked him if I could use his phone to make a call.’ Nutty’s eyes took on a dreamy haze.
‘You did what?’ Billi sounded doubly outraged.
‘I told him I was feeling homesick and wanted to call my mother, but my phone was locked up in the CSM’s room.’
‘And he gave you his phone?’ Lucky asked.
‘No gentleman can refuse a request like that, especially when it comes from a young and pretty girl.’
‘Oh, sure!’
‘Well, he handed over his phone with a warning to keep the call short. All I did was ring my phone from his. So, I now have his number on my phone.’ The girl thumbed her nose at them.
‘Of all the bloody…’ Billi let out a few expletives.
‘You seriously think he will entertain any calls from you?’ Shiny asked.
‘Why wouldn’t he?’ retorted Nutty.
‘Look, just forget about Kartik Iyer,’ suggested Lucky. ‘Concentrate on getting your foot better, so you can finish the training.’
‘That’s sane advice,’ seconded Shiny. ‘You better catch up, if you don’t want to be relegated.’
‘I think you guys are jealous,’ declared Nutty.
‘Why would we be jealous? Keep your medico with you. I have no interest in your Kartik Iyer or anyone else, for that matter,’ barked Billi.
‘She’s right,’ said Lucky. ‘I have no interest in him, either.’
‘You are so mean.’ Nutty burst into tears.
Contrite, the three girls tried to console their friend. It was futile to din sense into the stupid girl’s brain, they knew. They had no choice but to see her making a fool of herself once more.