JoJo in “It happened one night”
It had never been like this. Never Ever!! Jojo could hardly believe his eyes!! In all the time that he had spent in Pune, it was the first time that he was seeing this. His mouth open in disbelief, the only words that came out of his mouth were "ababababab......."
Taking ginger steps and walking with his hands by his body and palms flattened and facing the ground Jojo Surveyd the scene.
"Tap shalla!! Musht be shome kind of a record". Muttering under his breath Jojo saw in disbelief that his favorite food joint, the joint serving the best food near his place - Faaso's - was closed!!!!! And it was so soon. It was a Thursday and it was not even 9 in the night.
Jojo stayed in the busy suburb of Aundh, in the city of Pune. Aundh - which was pronounced 'Aaooundh' by the locals was home to hundreds, no thousands of software professionals who did not belong to Pune. This area was preferred due to its proximity to the IT park. It was a heavily populated suburb, which seemed to have been caught unawares by this population explosion. So here and there one could see new buildings being constructed; a number of browsing centers and not to forget a LARGE number of Food joints!
“If thish would have been my plashe then I am sure shab khana mil jaata. Ye bhi koi baat hua shallla”. Pursing his lips together and still not happy with what he was seeing, Jojo turned his Yamaha around in disgust. In fact as he later realized, he turned too quickly and without looking.
“HEY!! Watch where you are going!! Gaadi hai tumhaare paas to tum kaise bhi chalaoge!!!”
And it was Love! “Love at first Bite…no…#@#$ Sight” thought Jojo as he took in the sight of this wonderful maiden who had suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. She had dark brown eyes and hair and was dressed casually in a white T shirt and Jeans. At that moment he never noticed it but thinking about it later, he was sure that there was not a soul in sight when he first turned up at Faaso’s. But that was the farthest thing from Jojo’s mind as he was just mesmerized.
“Not my fault. Tumko to bhi dekh ke chalna chaiye!!!”
‘I was watching you were not’
“Dekho….dont bug me. Ek to waishe hi Faaso’s is closhed”
‘Why are you speaking like that?’
“Like what?”
‘Why am I hearing extra h’s???’
“ufffffffffff…..looksh like you know my friendsh!!” (Saale !@##$%^)
‘What friends?’
“Ummm….never mind. Look, Shorry. Main kuch aur shoch raha tha. Hi, I am Joy. I am from Calcutta.”
‘Hi. I am Neeti Malvankar. I am from Mumbai. I am sorry as well, I should not have yelled. Lekin ye Faaso’s band kyu hai! Mujhe Chai pini thi!’
“Kyaa pata” said jojo pursing his lips. He had this habit of bringing his lips together and squeezing them, so he looked like hanuman from Ramayana at times – as his friends fondly pulled his leg at times. But what very few people knew was that this action meant Jojo’s mind was in an overdrive! It was difficult to explain to people what he was doing- so he never bothered. He was creating a highly complex mental map in his mind which had all the permutations and combinations of the present situation and possible paths from here laid out. In short, he was thinking.
‘Now I don’t know what I will do for food. And all the other places are so far off and I don’t have any way of getting there.’
“I can drop you, agar tum chaho to……” Immediately wishing he had not said that, he gave her a sweet smile showing his pearly’s. But maybe it was his lucky day, because she gave him a sweet smile and readily agreed to his “proposal”.
“Sho where do you stay? Somewhere closheby?” asked Jojo as they made their way to the next nearest food joint. He was taking care to drive his bike slowly, as he was a safe driver. In fact, he had the most harrowing time when he used to sit with his friends – Jigar, Ankit and Shariq – when he was in Pune about 2-3 years back. On the front seat, with Jigar driving fast – “Abe kyaa kar raha hai? Shalle shaadi nahin hua hai abhi! Tera to hona nahin hai….schope nahin hai. Gujju! Mujhe karni hai. Dheere chala. Tujhe to US jaana hai…Patel hai main kahan jaaunga!! Bhak.” (…….but that was another story)
‘Me…umm..yeah. Just across Faaso’s. I had come down in the evening to give my clothes for laundry and was thinking of getting some food packed back then. Should have got it done that time only. I work over at CTS, in the IT park.’
Aha! Jojo thought. That explains it. Jojo had a couple of friends who were also working in the IT park. Those good for nothing fellows were always coming home late…. But now he understood. If all girls in the IT park were this gorgeous then his friends were doing fine! As of now, jojo was staying with one of those guys. But then again – that fellow who he was staying with was still good for nothing. kabhi isss ladki ke saath ghum raha tha kabhi usss ladki ke saath.– thought Jojo. Thik hai…but bahut nautanki karta hai shaala!!!
“Ok can you tell me one thing??” Said jojo……
‘Sure. Ask’
“Why are you lying to me?????” saying this Jojo brought his bike to a halt.
The side of the road where he had stopped was practically deserted and not a soul was to be seen. Strange again thought Jojo, because Aundh was known to be a congested place. But before he could, turn around (jojo had this peculiar way of moving his body – as if it was taking a lot of effort!), the girl was already on her feet and by his side.
“Yeow! Abe Shalla….darr gaya main!! You know I am verry schared of horror moviesh!!! Please!!!”
There was a strange wind blowing that night and it sounded all the more eerie since there was almost no one around. In the distance though there was this one solitary guy who was walking towards Jojo.
The girl came close to Jojo. And just when Jojo was beginning to get uncomfortable she laughed. Laughed out loud. But it was a strange laughter. Instead of going “Hahahaha”…she went “Teeeeehhheeeheeeeheeeeeeeee” and jojo was flummoxed!!!! This was the first person who was laughing like he laughed. It was exact, there was no mistaking it.
‘How did you know I was lying?’ She asked. And Jojo was sure there was this glint in her eye which was definitely un-natural.
Said Jojo - “Ohhhh abababa…. that. Bahut ashaan tha. See, one you said you were from Mumbai, and then shaid ki u wanted to have “Chai”. If you would have been a genuine marathi then you would have said “Chahhha”!!! And Shecondly – The laundry shop near faaso’s is always closed on Thursdays!! Itsh no Rocket Science you know.”
‘Brilliant!! You have passed this test. Maybe you are ready, maybe you are not. You will have to judge that’
“What tesht???” Maybe some other time Jojo would have felt scared but this time somehow he was feeling calm.
“HEY JOJO. ABE JOYJYOTI DEB FROM AGARTALA! WAIT UP FOR ME!!!”
Haring his voice, Jojo knew, this was his roomie. The lukkha that he was thinking about earlier. Still puzzled, Jojo turned around (slowly) and gave a weak smile to his roomie and as he turned around to see the girl…she had DISAPPEARED!!! Now it was getting really strange.
“Aaa gaya tu shaaale??? Aaj Kishke shaaath ghum ke aaya hai Kanhaiiyaaa!!”
‘Dude, I saw you just now. Were you driving? I thought earlier you were not there, but then I think maybe I did not see you from a distance. Strange!! It was almost like you appeared out of thin air!!! Anyhow (Kitnaaa bolta hai shaala!!)….you should have had the curry at Faaso’s today…..AWESOME!!!.....really…..’
“WHAT??? Faaso’s was open????”
‘Dude…its Thursday! The laundrywala is closed..not faaso’s! You been drinking or what?? hahahahha’
“Haan haan pata hai tu bahut smart hai. Kabhi accha socha hai mere bare mein! Tap shallla!!!”
And laughing, backslapping they made their way back to their flat. But as Jojo Lay awake that night, with his roomie speaking in his sleep (“Abe shalla neend mein bhi chup nahin hota….ufffffff”) he had this strange sensation. Something weird was happening. How the hell was Faaso’s open?? He was sure no one would belive him when he told people! And disappearing girls?? Something strange was afoot!! And he was not sure what it was. But to his surprise there was no fear, there was this excitement, this feeling – similar to what he had experienced when he met the 2-3 true loves of his life – when in engineering!
Was it Neeti??? Was it her laugh?? Was it what she said? What was it??
But little did he know, life was surely going to get interesting for Mr Joyjyoti deb from Agartala. Jojo just did not know it yet.
………………………………………………..To be continued…………………………………………
- Utk
posted by utk @ 9:50 AM
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