Finally I gave into the pressure and decided to visit Dev and Goda. Indianapolis was the destination that weekend. I called my travel agent to book tickets (this being the pre-e-prefixed-to-every-damned-word-in-the-dictionary age I had no other choice). Some one called Nancy picked up the call and asked me how she can help me. I asked for a return ticket to Indianapolis.
"To where?" she asked.
"Indianapolis" I said.
"I don't think I understand." came the response.
I could not believe that the travel agent did not know where Indianapolis was and so attempted a phonetic split "In-di-ana-police".
"Is it in India?" came the response.
"No, it is not in India; it is in the US" retorted my voice with a tinge of frustration.
The other side remained cool though. "Can you spell it?"
"I N D I A N A P O L I S"
Recognition finally struck in. "Oh you mean Indianaaaeeeeplis" exclaimed Nancy.
"Yes, Indianaaaeeeeplis" repeated I with a mixed feeling of frustration and relief.
I got out of office on Friday evening and headed directly to the airport. Dev would be there at the airport to pick me up. Goda as ever had to work late that night. The taxi driver, like most taxi drivers across the world, was of talkative nature and I ended up conversing on some very interesting topics.
1. Weather: "Its really hot these days", "Yes"
2. Traffic: "The traffic sucks at around this time", "Yes"
3. Sports: "Did you watch the match last night", "No"
4. Nationality: "Are you from Pakistan?", "No, India"
5. Food: "I love Indian food". "Oh is it?"
6. Bollywood: "I have watched a Bollywood movie once", "Did you like it?", "It was interesting; colorful".
...
1156 Politics: "So what do you think about our President?", "Well, mmmm, ahhhhh there is the airport."
I got out of the taxi and ran for my life. I heard the taxi driver scream out "Sir" from behind. After a moments hesitation I turned around to see him point at something in the back seat. "Your bag" he said. I picked up the bag with a "Thank you very much". Fate was forcing me to forget the feelings I had for the guy. My head put in a "Good guy" in its scratchpad and erased it almost immediately.
The flight to Indianaaaeeeeplis was uneventful except for a bad pocket of turbulence during which the aircraft dropped a few kilometres and my kidney, liver and stomach got a little closer to each other - now they are in the same neighbourhood. Oh yes, there was also that Pretzel that nearly broke a tooth. And yes, I forget that OhJ (apparently an acronym for Orange Juice) that tasted like acid. Other than that the trip was uneventful. Of course, there was that passenger who stared at me and muttered a curse under his breath when my bag hit his head, quite accidentally, as I was taking it out of the overhead compartment. Nothing untoward beyond that. I don't think I should mention about that fall I had as I was getting out of the aircraft.
It was not an emotional reunion with Dev but I think there were a few emotions in that reunion. It got expressed in a hand clasp and a few "Enna da, eppidrairrukke?" type of queries. Of course, he noticed the limp and asked what happened. Of course, he was not happy with a nothing much type of response and persisted. Of course I was forced to explain the fall. And a final of course here - Of course, he laughed all the way to his car.
It was now my turn to be the proponent of that taxi driver type of conversation.
"How far is your place?"
"Oh my place is about 10 miles from here. Goda's place is closer to the airport and I am taking you there."
"You guys don't stay together"
"Hmmmm, no. I moved out couple of months back"
"Why?"
"Well, nothing particular."
"Any problem between you guys?"
"No no, nothing da. Don't be silly."
"Then?"
"Well, I moved in with my girl friend."
"GIRL FRIEND?"
"Yea."
I had never realized prior to that moment that Dev could actually blush and that the blush could be so noticeable. Now there was no stopping my curiosity.
"You have a girl friend. Kalakkere"
"Oh hmmmm aaaaa"
"Indianaaaa?"
"No"
"Americana?"
"Illa da."
"Appuram."
"Chinese."
"Chinese aaaa? Does she know English?"
"Of course she does. What the hell da."
"Ok ok. How long do you know her?"
"A few months now."
"You did not tell me!"
"Well, I thought hmmmm you know"
"Nor did Goda."
"Yeah hmmmmm well"
"When can I meet her?"
"Why do you want to meet her?"
"What! You are not going to introduce me to her?"
"No, I will. Let us see."
"What is her name?"
"Stephanie"
"What is her original Chinese name?"
"Stu Pe Nee"
"Stepneyaaa?"
"Dai."
"Ok ok."
I asked a lot of other questions but the response from Dev was near monosyllabic. Many of them started and ended with a menacing "Dai". That night, I quizzed Goda a bit on Stephanie but did not get much information. The next day was spent in seeing many uninteresting places. I have very little remembrance of these places. The three of us had a great time eating, drinking and talking about old times. Through the day, Dev's phone kept ringing; he attended a few of the calls but ignored most of them in the afternoon. When evening came, he informed us that he had to leave and cannot stay back for dinner. I was offended and expressed it with a variety of abuses. Dev displayed incredible patience and explained that he has to get back home for dinner with Stephanie. I wanted to meet Stephanie and wanted accompany him. Dev was quiet but Goda asked me to shut up. I ignored Goda's rudeness and insisted on going with Dev. Goda slapped his hand against his head and Dev descended into a ghostly look. Finally Dev acceded and accepted to take us to his place. Our drive to his home was mostly done in silence. Dev tried to reach Stephanie on mobile but was not able to get through.
On reaching our destination, Dev said "Stephanie is not feeling very well today and is not in the best of her moods. So guys please watch out."
Goda responded "Its ok da. We will not come up. You go."
"Come on Goda. This is not polite" was my pig headed response.
Goda shrugged his shoulders and moved on. Goda and Dev climbed up the stairs stealthily. Dev took out his keys and carefully inserted a key into the lock. He waited a moment, uttered a prayer, opened the door and called out "I am here, honey". The response came in the form a "You #@$*&r". Dev shouted a "watch out" and ducked. I heard Goda running towards the stairs. A pink object flew out of the door. When it was a metre from my face I saw Britney smiling at me from the object. Dev's "watch out" echoed in my head but I continued staring at Britney. I then felt a pain tearing up from my nose to the insides of my head. The world first turned pink, then red and finally black.
