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Disclaimer : "The events depicted in this snippet are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental."

“knock knock knock knock” she frantically hit on his door,

Rubbing his eyes, and cursing for breaking his peaceful slumber, he reluctantly got up from his unkempt bed and moved to the door to get it. It was his subconscious that took him to the door, and there stood a tall figure of a girl, and it took him a while to realize that it was Hiran . 

* Hiran.  The first thoughts that fleet into his mind about her were her welled up eyes and supple cheeks over which tears rolled down. She had come one morning all by herself to the busiest hospital, in the city,  seeking help from a shrink. This happened roughly 7 months backs when he was busy with his patients in the pediatrics ward. Dr Rameez, a yet to be certified shrink was asked to attend upon Hiran, to whom she poured all her melancholic stories and the reason on why she was there that morning when she should be listening to boring long seminars on Intel 8085 processor. Listening to her earnestly for three quarters of an hour, Rameez took a break from the counseling and rushed to meet Nishant, his best friend of eight years.  

 “Nishu, you have got to come with me, I’ve got an interesting case and I have a feeling you can help her”

“What are you talking about? How will I cure someone off mental issues, that’s your department, moreover I’m busy like crazy here” Turing rameez down

“No, this is important. She vaguely reminds me of Ria, you can’t back out”

Ria. Nishant stood motionless for a second. Images of a shepherd boy, a young girl with Moorish eyes, just flashed in his head. Giving orders to his assistant doctors to take up his duty, he amiably follow his pal to the psychiatry department, to find a young girl, barely twenty with eyes welled up .  He went to her and introduced himself and gave her a few napkins to wipe off her tears.

“I see you have a broken heart”

“don’t talk nonsense, my heart is not broken, I am just crest fallen. I liked a guy, but not anymore. I just need some help to get over him. I’m not one of those tender darling girls who would cry for every other thing. This guy was important, and that’s why this over reaction”

Yes, she is a lot like ria. speaks a lot, gives a lot of answers, even when not asked.

 This one needs to be tamed with care he thought moving all the sharp objects from the table, just in case, you never know. He looked into her eyes, and noticed that she had an epicanthal fold, symptoms of down syndrome, he thought. Now, was not a good time to point that out, as there was an extra chair beside her, which she could slam into his head. 

“we’ll sort everything out, I can treat your soul, cheer up” listening to her lingering story of lost love. 

That was how he met these jubilant, chirpy, wild, young lass. *

“nishu, Nishu, you have got no other choice, but to give me shelter right now, I lost my car keys and there is a thunderstorm outside” she squeaked.

“hold your horses Hiran” he said yawning and looking at the rain drenched Hiran. “why are you here at this odd hour of the day, what time is it? “

“its half past three nishu, I was loitering in your college park with a friend and as she left I realized that I lost my car keys, and it started raining” she said getting inside the room 

“here, dry yourself up, lest you might catch a cold” he said tossing her a towel.

“is it clean? As in do you wash it regularly? Its fine but, I was just concerned seeing your ransacked room “she interrogated

“Yes, it is clean, and I’m yet to use it, happy ?”

“Thank goodness, I was worried” she said letting off a sigh of relief, as though he was infected with an STD.

“ so I still don’t get it, why did you come to the college in the 1st place, and most of all how did you get into my room” ?

“O, nishu, you are such a kid, cant I come to the place I was born, its like homesickness when I leave this place ,this place is so inviting, and no one saw me in case you were worried” she said drying her hair .

“I am not scared, I just curious on how you ran into a building  full of testosterone charged beings, and yes, you can come any time, you blessed this hospital with your birth 20 years ago” 

“Cut the sarcasm nishu, I’m famished, you’ve got anything to munch? “She asked him partially dried up.

“Ummm, all I have here is some old rum and packet of arrowroot biscuits, nothing that’s going to revive you Hiran”

“Get them both; I’ll have anything that doesn’t bit me back”

“You are sure of the rum, it’s pretty strong, and you’ve told me how hopeless you are when you are drunk”

“Come on, get it, it’s an order” she demanded.

Knowing very well it’s not wise to reason out with her, he poured an ounce of rum into a cup and handed over the biscuits to her.

“So how have you been?  Do you still talk to him, you swore you won’t” he asked with a smile

“Yes, but not as much as before. I miss him at times, when it rains, when I look at that Smirnoff bottle.” She paused for another sip of OCR.

“You cried a lot that day; I didn’t know how to shut you down” 

“You gave me a lot of Kleenex then, and I thought you were asthmatic then” she said with a laugh

“Why? You were a damsel in distress and I was helping you out” he said perplexed.

“Yes yes, you were my angel then, you just reminded me of that guy from “my sassy girl” who always carried a handkerchief .Nishu, this is the 21st century, man has been on moon, you still carry a pack of Kleenex”  she said giggling

“the rum is working on you, reduce on the giggles, you might attract a lot of unwanted attention” he pointed out

“You are such a sissy my doctor boy, be a sport” she said dipping the biscuit in cold rum.

*Wild girl this one is he thought, smiling. Ria loved Vodka, and refused to drink anything other than triple distilled vodka. He used sneak vodka in a Sprite bottle and they would drink talking about Pablo Neruda’s erotic poetry and Shakespeare. She could recite entire verses from it when on a high. *

“Hiran you are too impulsive, naive and demanding, you know what, you are suffering from peter pan syndrome” he said in a pious voice

“So Mr. Doctor has come up with some new medical jargon. You mean, I refuse to grow up? Is that what it is about, and I am just 20 and not 80 how else am I supposed to behave”

“Exactly, it mostly seen in boys, and very rarely in girls.” He said slyly

“Nishu you intend to say that I’m like a guy, huh?  You want check me, my boy, do you want to see” she said standing up, with eyebrows raised.

“O, I wouldn’t mind “he said winking

“You freaking pervert, move your ass, the sun is out, lets go for a stroll and find my keys” she said aiming a pillow at him.

Dressed in shorts and tees, he ushered he out of the PG men’s hostel. The sky was sepia and the sun had just started to descent. Drops of rain were still falling from the trees as they went key hunting. 

“Nishu, hold on to me, the ethyl alcohol seems to be kicking, my knees are shaking, give me a shoulder, fast”  

He gave an I-told-you-so look and held her hand. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he will have to walk around his college with a dead drunk girl. c'est la vie, he thought.

“Nishu, my legs are failing! Lest take a break, come lets sit on that stone bench”

Pulling him to their resting spot she asked him” how long have you been here”

“Around 8 years, My MBBS and now my MD, this place has given me all what I had wanted.  My 1st crush, my 1st heart break, my 1st degree, my 1st salary, all sugar and spice of my life, circles around this place”.

“Hey, so must be around 30right, but wait, you had a girl friend? Seriously? You don’t seem like a guy who can get cheesy and gooey for a girl”

“Come on, I’m not that old, 5 less than your estimation to be precise. Indeed, I had a girl friend, she was a lot like you, but not this wild I’d say. She was a friend’s sister, and used to borrow a lot of my books, and particularly liked “The alchemist”, and to me she very much resembled that girl with Moorish eyes”

“So there is a romantic side in my soul doctor, and now where is she? “

“Romantic, my God, she hated when I used to get a little cheesy, and we used to fight over trivial things like tennis, cricket, Sourav Ganguly.. and patch up fast ” He paused.  “Well, I was preparing for my PG when she was subjected to matrimonial pressure, and I wasn’t in a position to support her and finally we gave in. she fell into a post traumatic stress, but recovered with time.”

“You doctors are such timid beings, why don’t you fight ; you accept life as it gives you. This is what I hate about you people”

“Its not that I didn’t fight for her, I confessed everything to her brother, but nothing worked out, as they had already fixed her wedding with an Ivy League big shot. There wasn’t much I could do. I was helpless. And eloping wasn’t an option. But, in our case    universe never conspired in helping us …” he fell silent.  

“Aww my boy, I’m so sorry” she held his hands and told

“Its okay, so tell me more about you, yes, I know abut the horrible last guy who made you cry”

“Hey hey, I’ll vilify him, I’ll call him names, because I deserve to, I adored him. You dare not utter a word against him” she said, the rum really doing the talking. 

“Relax, I was just joking, go ahead”

“I had this unhealthy obsession over him, it wasn’t like I wanted to live with him, but you know, I wanted his presence, a hand to hold on to before taking every step. Sort of a life support. And I knew it wasn’t going good, and had to stop. Ah, let’s not talk about it, can we” 

“Sure sure, why not” he said feeling a little guilty for taking his patient to her old times

“Lets get going, I’ve got reach home before it gets dark, I think I left my keys at the park, lets go over there”

The keys to her car were lying abandoned in the wet grass. She picked it up and blew off the water on them, and gleamed. 

“I love this place, Nishu, the peace, serenity everything. It’s like home...”

“Why don’t you come over when you are free, you can have all the solitude you want and if you need any company, I’m just a phone call away?”

“O, Nishu, don’t be too nice to me, and beware of falling in love with me, I’m sure to give you terrible times”  she said and he could see her pupils dilating. a lot.

She exactly brought out the fear that crept into his mind, and he knew he was already falling….