Hello Everyone.
Chapter 26
Friends in need are Friends indeed.
Karthik’s POV.
We’ve been sleeping for long when my sleep is broken by the heavy beating on the door.
“Kholo !!” The voice says from the other side.
Once. Twice. The voice keeps getting louder. I wake up Naira. She hears it too. The bangs on the door keep getting heavier and more determined. We get up. I am a little scared, but Naira is not.
She checks her face in the mirror coolly. I hold her hand as she walks to the door and shouts, “Kaun ?!!”
“POLICE !!” they shout from the other side.
We look at each other. Although we haven’t done anything, but with the Indian police, you never know. You might be innocent and still spend years rotting behind bars. Yeah, that’s how 90 per cent cases are closed. So, yes, we are scared.
“Yes ?!!” says Naira as she opens the door.
There are two rustic-looking men standing outside. Mustached, not too old, and with slight paunches. I am confident that slowly and steadily their paunches will grow to become hot-air balloons. And their teeth will be stained red and yellow. For now, they are marginally presentable. They must be new in the force.
“COME OUTSIDE. We need to see IDs.” one of them says in a stern voice.
“Fine.” Naira says rudely and goes to fetch the IDs.
The two policemen look at me. One of them looks at Naira lewdly. I want to poke his eyes out. He looks at me and raises an eyebrow.
“Ladki kaun hai ?!!” he asks me.
“I’m getting married to her. We’re engaged.” I wave the ring.
“Hmmm.” he says with his eyes stuck on her.
“Kya karte ho ?!!” he asks.
“I am in the media. The press.” I say.
I don’t work in the media, but it helps me get out of sticky situations. It’s a no-brainer. No one messes with the media. You never know when Aaj Tak people might come out with cameras shouting ‘Sabse Tez’ and label anyone a s*x offender or child killer— whatever catches their fancy. So, yes, that works.
Finally the policeman takes his eyes off Naira and looks at me. We don’t exchange a word. I smile. Policemen never mess with people from the press.
Soon, Naira comes with our IDs and hands them over to the policemen. He looks at the
IDs and looks at us, matches the faces and hands them over to us.
“We are sorry for the trouble, but you have to come downstairs and sign the entry register and submit photocopies to the receptionist. It’s standard procedure.” the policeman says politely.
“It’s harassment.” Naira says arrogantly.
“Madamji, it’s procedure.” He says politely.
“Fine.” Me and Naira both say at the same time.
Our tones indicate that we are not at all pleased by what he has asked us to do. We close the door behind us and walk down the dark, creaky and narrow stairs of the hotel. As we approach the reception, we see twenty more people there, all cribbing about how they had to wake up in the middle of the night and how the procedures are all screwed up.
We get in line. Then we overhear a heated argument in the room adjoining the reception. I ignore it and look how far the line has moved. There are still five more people ahead of us. The people are taking ages to write their names down.
The noise from the adjoining room just keeps getting louder. Everyone turns to see what’s happening inside. I look in the direction where everyone else is looking and I’m taken aback.
Naksh ?!!
“That’s Naksh, right ?!!” I point to the little window of that room.
Naira turns to look and is equally shocked.
“Yes !! What’s going on there ?!!” she asks.
“Let’s go.” I say, hold her hand and walk towards the room.
Friends in need are such pests. We instinctively go out of our way to help them. It’s often involuntary and lands us in trouble. But we just don’t learn.
I knock. No one listens. I knock again and enter. There are five people in police uniforms who stare right at us. Two of them are the ones who had come to our room. I look at Naksh and he looks at me and freezes, his hands hanging in mid-air as he stops in the middle of an animated discussion.
In a corner is Keerti, and she looks at us, equally shocked. There is silence for a little while after which the most senior policeman asks, “Kaun hai ye ?!!”. He almost barks with authority.
“Press se hai !!” one of the policemen says.
“Boliye ?!!” The senior guy nods and asks us. “Kya chahiye ?!!”
“We know them.” I say.
“They are with you ?!!” he asks, his voice not softening.
“Yes.” I say.
“What are their names ?!!” he asks and looks straight at me.
“Naksh and Keerti. They are with us.” I repeat.
“Do you know the girl is just eighteen ?!! Should she be out like this ?!! Do you know what these two were doing ?!! Chhee !! Is this what your parents teach you ?!!” he asks.
“We are doing a project. She is an intern and is working with us. And, sir, we know she is eighteen and hence can take her own decisions.” Naira says sternly.
“You kids these days think you can do anything…..” the policeman starts saying but Naira cuts him off.
“We are not breaking any law.” she says even more sternly. And when she does that, no one — absolutely no one — can stand up to her. She looked freakishly dangerous and mean.
“Fine.” he says as he gives up.
“Take their details and let them go.” He adds.
We move out of the room. And as we do that, Naksh whispers in my ear, “Press ?!! Since when ?!!”
“Fifteen minutes ago.” I answer.
“Shit !! Why didn’t it occur to me ?!!” He looks at me with respect.
We stand in line, write down our names and submit our IDs. All the while, the five men in uniform hang around us. The four of us keep faking conversations about international conferences with ministers and MLAs. We make sure they hear us.
Once we enter the room, Naksh says, “What the hell are you two doing here ?!!”
“Apparently, saving your ass from getting kicked.” Naira says smugly.
“Seriously, man. They were about to call her parents. Luckily, I didn’t say anything about what we were doing here.” Naksh says.
Keerti, who had not spoken anything till then, suddenly runs to Naira and hugs her. She starts to cry. Naira looks at her, puzzled, for a while. She smiles, pats her and assures her that nothing will happen.
“They scared her, man.” Naksh says softly.
“They were about to call her parents. They said she will have to go back to Delhi with them.” He adds.
“She didn’t say anything ?!!” I ask.
“No, luckily. Thanks, man. One minute more and she would have said sorry and cried and we would have been so screwed.” he says.
“But what was the argument all about ?!! What were those guys talking about ?!! Why did they get hold of you ?!!” I ask.
“They caught us making out.” he says with a smirk.
“What ?!! Where ?!!” I ask.
“We were doing it in the balcony. One of them saw us and thought there was some s*x racket thing going on in the hotel. So they wanted to call her parents and check.” he says.
Naira asks Naksh where they are headed. Naksh and Keerti had picked Ahmedabad as the next city but had lost their way.
They ask Naira if they could tag along. She smiles and tells them they are most welcome to do so. Naksh asks us why we picked Gandhinagar and we avoid the question.
It’s been a long night and we go to sleep. Naira with Keerti and Naksh with me. We are not taking any chances. The balcony make-out would have to wait another night.
I text Naira — Have we ever done it in the balcony ?!!
She replies — We will. Soon.
Precap : Naira – The Sherni !!
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Here is another update of the day. So Keesh are back with Kaira, isn’t that great ?!!
As far as the show is concerned, hope that all the misunderstandings and drama dry out this week. I really don’t want Naksh to agree for the marriage to save Naira’s marital life. He should be himself willing feel to marry Keerti. Lets see what the writers have in store for us.
Also did anyone see yesterday’s Gold Awards where kaira got awards for best debutant of the year and Rajan Sir got for the best show.
PS: Did anyone watch Wimbledon yesterday ?!! Federer won his 8th title at the age of 36. That guy is an inspiration. Also I did watch a bit of IIFA but frankly award shows are not much fun now.
Do comment. Keep smiling. Keep watching Yrkkh !!