Chapter 1
Hyderabad, February 12, 2013
Talking
to your best friend can be excellent therapy. But it can be a headache if you’re
in love with your best friend’s brother. Ishaani was realizing it the hard way.
"I
saw the screenshot you sent. I can’t believe that idiot replied with a ‘thank
you’ to your WhatsApp-essay! Why are you wasting your time on that slob? I’m
ashamed to call him my brother…"
Ishaani
moved her mobile phone away from her ears as Rashi’s voice began to grow
shriller and louder by the minute.
"Girl...
don't shout. I can hear you alright. I didn’t write an essay, okay? And he
might be busy." Ishaani rolled her eyes and cursed herself mentally. In
her eagerness to get over her frustration, how did she forget that Rashi loved
to troll her brother?
"It
qualifies as an essay. It might not get an A if you submitted to Mrs Ellen. But
it would definitely win a prize for the longest and cutest WhatsApp message
till date."
Ishaani
chuckled. After putting the phone on speaker, she placed it on her bed. Picking
up a scrunchy from her dresser-drawer, she rolled up her long hair into a top
bun. Their high school English teacher Mrs Ellen would have called it purple
prose. But a girl had to say what she had to say. Who texted perfect literary
pieces to crushes? Long winding flowery sentences with a lot of smilies and
ellipses were her style. Before writing to him, she had watched Rajeev’s
ZBC television interview twice. And she could
be eloquent when she wanted. No wonder Rashi had called it an essay.
"You
know your brother's word quota per day. I’m happy he replied this time. Usually,
I have to be content with the blue tick." Her silly heart raced when blue
ticks appeared on the WhatsApp-messages she sent him. How pathetic!
Ishaani
lived by only one rule. She welcomed anything that put her in the vicinity of
her long-time crush, Rajeev Ratnam. The elusive movie director who owned her
heart. It didn’t bother her that he either ignored her or treated her like a
mere acquaintance when they met in public. And when she happened to meet him at
his home, he treated her like he treated Rashi. Like a kid who needed guidance
at every point in her life. Yet she always rallied her spirits by focusing on
what was important. She loved him. Nothing else mattered.
"Keep
munching the crumbs he throws at you and he would never treat you to a proper
meal."
"No
worries. I will cook him a lavish dinner instead. One day soon," Ishaani
said, sounding more confident than she actually felt.
"Don't
waste your culinary expertise on him. Cook Mughlai biriyani this Sunday.
I’m coming."
"Done.
What will I get in exchange?"
"What
do you want?"
"Full
details about his shooting schedule." That way, she could accidentally
bump into him without appearing too clingy.
"Say
whaat? Not interested in the list of the handsome actors he roped in?
"Nope."
Why the heck would she need a list of handsome men when she had lost her heart
to ‘the most handsome one’ among the lot.
“Aren’t
you interested in the list of the actresses who might throw themselves at him?"
“Not
at all.”
"You
know what? You’re a tragedy waiting to happen."
Ishaani
snorted and bid her friend goodbye before disconnecting the call.
Ishaani
had fallen in love with Rajeev even before she could express it in words.
Perhaps she had started worshipping him right from the moment she first saw
him. They lived in the same apartment complex and their mothers were best
friends. Her first memory of him was of them playing bean-bag basketball using a
bucket. She remembered the way his silky
hair bounced when he threw the yellow sponge ball. She was five then. She
squealed and clapped every time he managed to toss the ball right into the
bucket. He didn’t give attention to his little fan though. He, in fact, enjoyed
pulling her pigtails. Though at first, it bothered her, she soon started to
love it when he did it. In his
eyes, she had only been the best friend of his pesky younger sister Rashi. Ishaani sometimes wished Rashi was not her
friend for that reason alone.
To
say the truth, she took advantage of his big brother attitude. She would approach
him for guidance on issues which were already crystal clear to her. Yet, during
their conversation, Rajeev would say something that would make her fall a bit
more in love. A new perspective, a clever idea or sometimes just his concerned
expression.
While
in her teens, he broke her heart by falling in love with Maya. A pretty,
neighbourhood girl who made her feel like an ugly duckling. In the end, Maya
left Rajeev, a struggling assistant director then and married a wealthy man.
Rajeev was heartbroken. She couldn’t see him that way. So, she and Rashi took
turns to cheer him up by involving him in their activities. He had become extra
close to them during that period.
Ishaani
loved singing too. Her parents were the renowned Kathak dancers, Krishna and
Priyadarshini Reddy. Everyone had expected her to follow their path. But the music that accompanied their performances
had instead captured her attention. Her parents had encouraged her and she had
started practising Carnatic music at the age of eight.
It
had been music that finally brought her closer to Rajeev. One passion fuelling
another. The year Maya left him, something changed between them because of her
many attempts to cheer him up. When Ishaani sang his favourite song, ‘Abhi
na jao chodkar, ke dil abhi bara nahi’ at a private function, his eyes had lit
up. He praised her afterwards, leaving her stammering like an idiot. But she
had stumbled upon the path that led to his heart.
Days
later, they had been thrown together again, making her believe that fate had
solid plans for them.
That
day, Ishaani had been invited for a sleepover at Rashi’s. Since the bathroom in
their guest bedroom was clogged, she had been advised to use Rajeev’s, the one
opposite to it. He had been away in Bangalore and nothing had prepared her for
his sudden appearance. Even the memory of standing in front of him clad in
nothing other than a bath towel made her blush. He had been as embarrassed and
stunned at first. Then as if in a trance, he had caressed her cheek. He had run
the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, making her tremble. And then he had
kissed her. The tenderness made her already vulnerable heart melt. The rainbow-coloured
dream had ended fast and as unexpectedly as it had begun. As though he had come
to his senses, he had pulled away, apologised and fled from the room. He left
town the next morning and started avoiding her from then on. Perhaps he felt
guilty about what had happened.
For
her, Southern Star Singer contest, a music reality show on ZBC, had become the
ticket to his world. Rashi had told her the winner would get a chance to work
in his new movie and that Rajeev would be a judge at the contest. But, his
music director Vishwajit had arrived as the judge at the competition instead.
Rajeev attended the finale along with many other dignitaries like superstar
Saketh Rao. She had sung her heart out, eventually winning the contest. Yet the
man she wanted to impress had given her a cold shoulder. She was devastated.
Still,
nothing had succeeded in persuading her to forget Rajeev. Not even the thousand
taunts from Rashi.
Ishaani
used to dislike men with beards but now bearded men reminded her of Rajeev. In
her teens, she considered anyone who flaunted tattoos as mad. How could they
torture themselves and mar their skin with something as outrageous as a tattoo?
She could never love anyone who did that. Yet, when one day Rashi came to her flourishing
a photo of Rajeev’s new half-sleeve tattoo, she had instantly fallen in love
with it. Rashi had gone ballistic when she praised it.
“You
know what! You won’t even mind if he murdered someone. You’ll admire the trail
of blood and say how beautifully he murdered. You’re a twit, girl!”
Ishaani
had ignored it. Rashi had never been in love. What did she know about being
utterly and desperately in love? Also,
Rashi lived to rant and rave. Five minutes after her words left the tip of her
tongue, she forgot about the topic entirely.
Love
made Ishaani feel alive. Love gave meaning to her days and coloured her nights.
Anyway, could anyone choose who they fell in love with? Love just happened.
Ishaani
knew only one thing. She would never ever get over Rajeev. Period.