26

While writing the love story of Arjun and Karishma, I had got swayed away writing about my own love story. However, I had to incorporate my small love story with Susan as it was a story being developed within a story and it had a huge bearing on solving this case. It’s time now to refocus on writing about Arjun and Karishma.

In one of our interviews with Arjun, he had mentioned that he and Karishma were not on talking terms when Karishma had died. We did know a bit about it which was good enough for the case but to write the book, I had to go into the details of what had happened. I was very curious to know about it and the moment I landed in Mumbai, I called Arjun to meet him to take the story further.

“Arjun, I have achieved good progress on writing the book. I have written the happier chapters and about the romance. I now need to focus on what went wrong in the relationship; and I need to know it in detail.”

Arjun obliged.

“It had been six months that Karishma and I were seeing each other. This was the most wonderful period of our lives. We were convinced that we were made for each other and wanted to spend our lives together. Our love story had become the benchmark for the college and people were falling in love getting inspired by our story. I think the happiest person would have been the guy owning the flower shop next to the college; his sales had skyrocketed and another shop extremely happy must have been the Satyam greeting card shop, where much to the surprise of the owners, sales of romantic greeting cards had increased.

There was always a risk about Karishma’s parents seeing us together or coming to know about us, there was a risk of Nikhil resurfacing and creating new problems for us, there was a risk of our love ko nazar lag jaayegi (bad omen on our love) since it had become so famous, but amidst all the love, our love was flourishing. We were also becoming bolder by the day, earlier we used to meet only in college or go out with friends, never alone, unless it was to a place next to college. Of late, we did try and venture out for a lunch or a coffee here and there but Karishma was never comfortable always in a fear of getting caught.

A Shahrukh Khan movie, Darr (Scare) had just been released and Shahrukh had played a bad guy in the movie. But it also had the to-die-for romance between Sunny Deol and Juhi ChawIa. The movie had good songs and had got very good reviews. I was very keen to see the movie and see it with Karishma.

“Hey K, lets watch Darr,” Arjun asked Karishma.

“I was thinking exactly the same thing babe, in fact I have even asked Reshma about it.”

“K, I meant only you and me alone going for it.”

“J, if you and I both go, how it can be alone?” laughed Karishma.

“Very funny, K. Ok let’s go together for the movie, just you and me.”

“Wow. You are learning fast, I am impressed.”

“Of course! I have such a sexy teacher, whose lips I would love to kiss right now.”

“Shut up na J. You can only think about such things. Grow up.”

“Wow, you really want me to grow up and think about more than a kiss. You just said what I have been thinking for a while,” teased Arjun.

“Ya right, keep dreaming. I have told you earlier, I am a Bharatiya nari (Indian woman), and nothing beyond a kiss till after marriage.”

“Ok ok, don’t get serious now Ms Bharatiya nari, tell me about Darr.”

“I am not scared Arjun, it’s just not right, there is no darr.”

“Idiot, I am talking about the movie Darr, not your darr to make love to me,” laughed Arjun.

“Very funny. Arjun you know we cannot be seen together, it’s too risky.” Whenever Karishma was in a romantic mood, she used to call me J and whenever she was serious she used to turn to calling me Arjun. It came so naturally to her, for me she was just K, no matter how my mood was.

“K, it’s ok, we have to take a risk sometimes. People have to eventually know. In any case, the entire college knows about it.”

“Arjun, the fear is about my parents knowing about it. You don’t understand, if they come to know about it, there will be a big problem. It will be impossible for us to meet then.”

“All the reason you should watch Darr, you are such a darpok (coward)!” teased Arjun.

“Don’t call me a darpok, remember that day when I kissed you in the car, so bindass I was,” proudly claimed Karishma.

“Wow, you are not a darpok, then let’s go for the movie.”

“Movie is different na J, try and understand, we should not be seen together outside.”

“OK, I have a plan, let’s go separately and meet straight in the theatre, I will come in when the movie starts in the dark and leave just before it is going to end. So no one will see us in the light.”

“Hmmm, that seems like a plan. My J is so intelligent. I am so proud of you,” beamed Karishma.

“Thanks my K, so you also wanted to see a movie with me.”

“Of course J, I want to spend my life with you, alone (winked as she said that), and I want to spend every moment with you alone, so you think I don’t want to see a movie with you alone,” laughed Karishma.

“Yes maam, got the point about alone, tell me when will you sleep with me alone?”

“You are a one track mind J, why you keep coming back to the sleeping thing again and again.”

“Because I am tired of kissing the same parts in your body again and again, I want to love and kiss every part of your body. See how much I love you,” teased Arjun.

“Your love seems to be more physical than emotional it seems, Mr J,” teased Karishma.

Arjun went very close to Karishma and since they were alone in the Green Room, took his lips closer to hers and asked her as she felt his breath on her, “and do you mind the physical part Ms K?”

Karishma could never resist the kiss and she said, “No Mr J, I cannot,” and they lip locked once again and getting immersed and lost in the kiss as Reshma entered the room at the same time.

“The two of you just need an opportunity to start kissing, don’t you, jagah dekhi na haalat, daal di bas laat par laat (you don’t see the place or situation, just put leg on the leg),” teased Reshma.

Now we were immune to people seeing us kiss, so we didn’t get particularly disturbed by it. “Arey Reshma, laat par laat to dalna chahta hun, par teri dost maanti kahan he,” said Arjun to get a big slap on the wrist by Karishma.

“Hai hai, so if she is not allowing, I am there na, ever ready.”

“Really, I didn’t know with Karishma I get Reshma free and you are looking sexy in any case today,” which she was, again with her curves showing at most places as Arjun scanned her body which Reshma didn’t miss. This was the first time Arjun and Reshma had flirted, but Karishma wasn’t particularly disturbed.

“Now the two of you stop flirting. Reshma we were talking about Darr.”

“Darr and you guys, you are one of the boldest couples I have seen, ekdum besharam (shameless), start kissing anywhere and everywhere.”

“Darr the movie yaar, Arjun wants to go alone with me,” Karishma clarified with special emphasis on the word alone with a nudge to me.

“Then go you stupid, if he would have asked me, I would have gone,” Reshma hinted.

“What say K, I have an alternative offer now, if you won’t come I will go with Reshma.” One way to convince a girl was to flirt with her friend, Anil Kapoor had taught this formula in his film Tezaab and which works every time.

“Shut up J, I already said I am coming as per the plan you suggested,” immediately pounced Karishma, to a laugh from me and Reshma.

“And what’s this J business, why are you calling Arjun J,” this took us by a jolt as no one but us knew Karishma used to call me J. I intervened,

“Arey I have a J in my name na, A R J U N, J from there,” I said mimicking the dialogue from the comedy blockbuster Chupke Chupke said by Jaya Bhaduri. We all laughed again.

“This J is a secret between us Reshma, so don’t tell anyone about it.”

“No problem Arjun, it seems I am going to keep a lot of your secrets,” winked Reshma.

“So K our plan is final and I am going to get the tickets for the movie K,” and K nodded.

“Ok my dear, choose good seats.”

“Don’t worry, he will choose the corner seats in the last row and the two of you can kiss till eternity there,” said Reshma predicting very accurately my plan.

It was the day of the movie and all was going as per the plan. I had given Karishma’s ticket to Reshma who had handed it over to her. Karishma reached first and occupied her seat, the corner seat in the last row. I waited for the movie to start and when it was dark I entered the cinema and occupied my seat next to Karishma. Thankfully, no one was sitting in the seats next to us, neither in front of us. After a while two people entered the row in front of us and were taking their time in sitting in the seats right ahead of us. So I asked them to settle down fast. The gentleman apparently turned behind to give me an angry look, but due to the darkness we couldn’t see each other. I said rudely then, ‘Arey beth na yaar (just sit)’. They muttered something to each other, I realized it’s a man and a woman and I just said, ‘Shhhhh’, I was enjoying irritating them. Karishma hit me on the hand asking me to stop.

I held Karishma’s hand and kissed it. The first half was very romantic and we enjoyed our moments of romance as well, there was lot of cuddling and touching going on and frequent kisses, we were serial kissers and we both kissed really well. In between, some noises were being made of laughter and some ooh and aah and I am sure the front benchers were hearing some of them. Actually, I was enjoying it and was hoping that they were getting irritated. Every time there was a romantic scene in the movie, our romance would start, that was the cue to us artists to start performing.

My plan was to exit the cinema before the end of the movie so that no could see me and Karishma together. One thing we had forgotten in our excitement was that there is always an interval in a Hindi movie. This doesn’t happen in an English movie, but due to the length of the Hindi movie, there are always two halves to it.

So, when the interval message came on the screen, we both were shocked a little as we had not planned for it. Karishma nudged me to get out and come back after the movie starts, and as I was about to move, the lights came on and inadvertently “Oh shit!” came out from Karishma’s mouth. In a normal circumstance, it would have been OK, but her voice made everyone turn towards us. Among the people who turned included the two people who were occupying the front row ahead of us and when they turned and looked at us, a much slower and lower volume “Oh shit!” came out of Karishma’s mouth. There was a very distinct difference between the two “Oh shit” expressions, the first was a sudden reaction and the second one was a very considered reaction.

I was looking at Karishma and her face had frozen after the second “Oh shit,” and I could understand her reaction only when I turned my eyes towards where the direction of her eyes had frozen. When I saw what my eyes saw, two words came out of my mouth “Oh Shit,” and this was the loudest of all the “Oh Shits.” None of the four knew how to react and what to say, till I broke the silence stammering while talking, “J J Jitu, I mean J J Jitu bhai, sorry, uncle, what are you doing here?” a very stupid question under the circumstances. This was the question he should have been asking.

“Well, I have come here to attend a funeral, my dear,” replied Jitu bhai.

“Funeral dad, here?” asked a surprised and shocked Karishma.

“Yes beta, funeral.”

“What are you saying dad, who has died?” asked a visibly embarrassed Karishma as lot of eyes turned towards us.

“Funeral of the trust I had in my daughter and the funeral of the trust I had in this young man.”

“Dad what are you saying?”

“Shut up and come home, right now,” ordered Jitu bhai raising his voice.

“Tame thodi shanti rakho, badha ni same dhime bolo (have some patience, talk softly in front of everyone),” requested Gita ben, Karishma’s mom. One thing I never understood about Gujaratis is the bhai and ben concept, which is used after the name even for husband and wife. Anyway, this was not the time to think about this.

“Tu amna shanti rakh (you keep quiet), let me handle this,” ordered Jitu bhai loudly to Gita ben.

“Uncle, let me explain everything to you,” I tried to calm his rising decibels.

“You Arjun, just shut up, not one word out of your dirty filthy mouth,” at the highest decibel announced Jitu bhai, and as he said that he dragged Karishma with her hand and pulled her out of the auditorium with her to the amazement and fun of the Mumbai crowd, who loved to wait and watch such scenes. Karishma once looked back at me while exiting the theatre, with fat tears flowing from her eyes, and this time I couldn’t wipe them off.

My life was so inspired by Bollywood that every scene was right out of a Bollywood movie. Imagine the coincidence that K’s parents came to see the movie the same day, in the same theatre, occupying the seats right in front of us, the first time we ventured out alone in Mumbai. Murphy’s law was at work overtime here. They were privy to all the kissing and the ‘ouch’ and ‘aah’ noises coming form the back row. I am sure Jitu bhai wanted to do the same to Gita ben as long as someone else was motivating him to do that, but the moment he realized that it was his own daughter in the back seat, he was completely out of control. Most Indian parents cannot imagine their daughter getting cosy with someone else, it’s just not allowed. But the same parents when they were in college would have wanted to do the same or must have done the same, the height of irony and double standards.

Now I had two choices, whether to go out from the theatre and sulk somewhere as there was no chance of being able to talk to Karishma, or take motivation from Sunny paaji (Sunny Deol) and learn how he finally destroys evils to win over Juhi, his love. I chose the second was a better option, so as the movie started after the real action in the interval, I sat down on my seat, oblivious to all the public attention on me, and got ready to get the motivation to win my love from my favourite tutor – a Bollywood movie.