Chapter 22: Death Be Not Proud
The Paramanand Patil Institute of Technology’s reunion had suddenly turned into a lame fight. People had aligned themselves and nobody was willing to throw the first punch. Avantika asked Kartik what happened but Kartik was yet to process everything. Seher was slightly kicked by all of this because it had been ages since she had seen such a testosterone overdrive. More so because if this fight was to happen, she wanted to sting some bastard’s eyes by throwing a drink into them.
— “Anand, we don’t want to fight you. We’re the football team. This is between that creep Kartik and me.”
— “Unfortunately, if you want to fight, I’m the first person you’ll have to fight.”
— “What is wrong with you?” Anuj pulled Anand aside. “Nobody needs to fight tonight.”
Avantika immediately recognised her cue. She tapped Seher’s shoulder and pulled her back to switch places with her. Anand did not get it so he looked at Veena who pushed a blunt thumbnail into his bicep. (He had made sure she kept that one blunt for times like these.) Anand stepped back and let Anuj stand between him and the ex. The ex, his gang and most of the party was just stumped except for one girl who looked at Avantika and wondered if she had seen her somewhere.
The DJ cut the music out. A couple of bartenders broke into the crowd till they found Vishal. They asked him if they should pull this apart. Vishal just shook his head. “Make sure the fight doesn’t go indoors and pour shots for everyone.”
— “Look dude, nobody needs to fight. Let’s just forget about this.” Anuj put a palm on the ex’s shoulder and smiled into his eyes. “The girl’s left the party. We’ll get out of here too. You guys can continue partying.” A small part of Anuj was kicked⁵⁰.
— “But he has been harassing our group’s girl for years now…” One of the ex’s friends found his voice. The ex shook Anuj’s hand off himself.
— “Move on, dude! He hasn’t even seen Anjali in six years.”
— “Then why did he try to drug her drink?”
There was a wave of murmurs in the crowd. People asking each other if Kartik really did that. The tension was broken by two of the cokeheads (who had been busy snorting their skulls off in one of the bathrooms), “What happened to the music?!” That quickly turned to. “WHHHOOAAAAA! FIIIIGGGHHTT!! I COULD PUNCH A TANK!”
Everybody stared at the two charged distractions who darted from the DJ booth to the balcony. Anuj was the first one to break into a laugh. He turned around to look at our gang. The gang grinned as well.
— “Cokeheads. Always funny.”
— “By the way, who even are you?” The ex planted his palm firmly on Anuj’s shoulder and turned him around so that Anuj was facing him again.
— “See now, that’s the kind of ignorant shit that pisses me right off. You need to read.” Anuj feigned being offended. “Also, this is taking too long. I can’t keep waiting.” He threw a fist right into the ex’s face and a loud thwack was followed by a collective gasp. (Everyone gasped except the gang.)
The ex did not think for a second before he drove his fist into Anuj’s stomach. Anuj lunged forward to hang from the ex’s fist. He grabbed onto the ex’s forearm, unrolling his sleeve as he slid down. His eyes were wide open when his ass hit the floor, followed by his head, his back and his arms.
Avantika dropped to her knees. “ANNNUUUJJJ!” The NU of Anuj could’ve pierced the sound barrier only if she had put a little more heart into it.
What her shriek did manage to pierce was Seher’s competitive side. That this was a bit suddenly didn’t matter to her. If Anuj had actually died so suddenly, Seher knew that she would definitely have screamed. Unlike every other bit before this one, where she had only pretended to pretend, she decided to put more heart into this pretense. “ANUUJJ!”
Both the women were kneeling next to Anuj’s corpse. The second scream was unanticipated by Kartik. He woke up right in the middle of the bit. Kartik shuffled his way from the back, pushing Anand and Veena aside. (They just stood there motionless.) Veena was afraid she would’ve smirked so she buried her face in Anand’s chest and held onto him.
— “Why did you have to get in the middle of this? This is all my fault!” Kartik slapped his forehead and fell to his knees with Avantika and Seher.
— “He’s not breathing! At all! Kartik, check his pulse!” Avantika locked her palms together and pumped them on Anuj’s chest. She put her ear to his mouth.
Kartik lifted Anuj’s hand by his wrist and held it between his forefinger and thumb. He did not say anything. A tear rolled down his cheek. He shook his head and another tear flew off his other cheek. (The tears were real except they weren’t a part of the bit. Kartik couldn’t act-act to save his life.)
— “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” Vishal, the host grabbed a shot off the tray that one of the bartenders was holding and downed it. “Who do we call? Doctor? Police? Ambulance?”
— “It wasn’t me. He was on drugs. Everybody knew it. It was not me. He was on drugs. Everybody knew it.” The ex kept repeating to whoever was willing to placate him with a nod.
Most of the guests started wondering who this random, wiry-haired, frail person on the floor was. The office friends thought he was a college friend. The college friends thought he was an office friend. The few common to Frank Capital and PPIT figured that he was just a tag-along.
“Vishal, fuck it. We’ve got a car. We’ll take him to Lilavati as soon as possible…” Anand pushed Veena towards the door. “Call the elevator.”
The cokeheads scrubbed their nosetips as they blocked Veena on her way out. “What happened? He died or what?”
Anand and Kartik dragged Anuj by his legs as nobody else was willing to touch a dead body. (Anand and Kartik were grateful for that.) Everybody at the party just stood there in silence and stared at the two boys dragging the body out. Avantika walked on her knees till about half way out, to make sure Anuj didn’t bump his head anywhere (which did happen when she was not looking). Seher tried as hard as she could to not break into a smile. She stopped by the bar for a second and grabbed a bottle of Glenlivet, which one of the bartenders noticed. She winked⁵¹ at him (while still not smiling).
⁵⁰ While his Bombay and Delhi days had been peaceful, the last punch he had thrown had been in Calcutta. The fact that he had almost smashed a foldable metal chair onto someone’s head in that fight had changed him. It had been seven years since that moment when he just dropped the chair and walked away.
⁵¹ Anuj, Niyati and Seher believed one thing. That you could get away with anything as long as you did it in style. According to Actorography, that is what separates an actor from who is actually feeling the emotion the actor is portraying — style. As long as you commit to act-acting in style, people will believe you. Else you are just another person with feelings.
