Chapter 33: Sex, Lies & Commitment
A short while before the rest of the gang dragged Anuj into the elevator, Veena had limped into it followed by Anand. He was carrying the shoe she had left on the dancefloor when both of them had bailed from the party. It hadn’t struck either that it would just be easier for her to wear it again. The elevator took a few seconds to arrive during which time both Veena and Anand stood silently. Veena exploded as soon as Anand slammed shut both the elevator grills and pushed the G button. They looked at a portrait of themselves, as a couple, in the mirror on the sidewall of the elevator.
— “Why would you do this? You know I hate being put on a spot. Not like we haven’t had our lifeplans conversations already!” Veena leaned against the mirror at the back of the elevator.
— “Aren’t you just thinking aloud when we are having our lifeplans conversations?”
— “YES! But that is for your benefit, so you know what is going on in my head.” She pulled her other heel off and hit him with it.
— “What do we do now?” Anand picked the other heel up as well. “Not like you don’t ever want to marry me, right?”
— “I’m not sure.” The lift hit the ground floor with a thump.
— “What?” Anand opened the second grill after Veena rattled the first grill open.
— “I’m just thinking aloud. These are processing sentences, don’t take them at face value.”
— “I just went through an experience that clearly is now on the leaderboard titled most embarrassing moments of my life…”
— “At least, it displaced the bleach-drops-on-your-pants situation from college, right?” The two walked out the compound and towards their car.
— “I haven’t decided its ranking yet.” Anand’s hand was busy looking for his car keys.
— “Why would you propose in a room full of people?” She walked gingerly, not wanting to step on something sharp or hurtful. “I would have been happier even if it had been just the six of us when you asked me to marry you.”
— “That was my plan! I was squatting in the least populated room at the party before we were all dragged onto the dance floor. I had to improvise.”
— “Then you should have waited.”
— “All the fake snow and bubbles had already been distributed and my song had been cued. Are we seriously fighting over this?” The car produced a loud digital cluck as a light breeze blew away the party noise coming at them from every building around them.
— “Nooo… But…” Veena trailed off.
She pushed Anand against the car and hopped onto him like a frog. This ideally would not have been a problem for Anand except this time, even his muscle memory could not save him from losing his balance. He was saved from falling backwards by his back hitting the car window. Veena had forgotten that they were standing in the middle of a completely empty lane. Well, not really forgotten but her inhibitions had reprioritised themselves.
— “What? Now you want us to be arrested by cops?”
Veena planted a Harrison Ford kiss onto Anand’s mouth and her fingers pulled at the hair on the back of his head. Needless to say that for the first few seconds of the kiss, Anand was just wide-eyed as his mouth’s modesty was being outraged. Then he decided to kiss her back. Veena, on the other hand, realised that her skirt had hiked higher than she would’ve liked — especially for a random lane and that too outside the car. And just like that she slipped down his thighs and back to the ground and straightened her skirt.
— “What was that for?”
— “For the most beautiful proposal ever. I couldn’t have planned it better.” She knew she wasn’t lying. She was genuinely pleased but something kept ticking inside her head.
— “Now I am fucking confused.”
— “Stop being so confused.” She pressed her palm onto his solar plexus and scratched the centre of his chest with a single nail. “I still love you and all that. I am just not sure. This whole thing has been like opening a bottle of Pepsi after wearing it on a waist pouch through a tango class. As much as I like the sound of a million bubbles exploding with joy…” She trailed off once again.
— “Carbon dioxide, not joy.” Anand smiled as he remembered the day but couldn’t stop himself from correcting her. “And yes, that was messy.”
— “My palms and fingers got so sticky that for the next couple of days I kept feeling their stickiness despite having washed it all off with soap.” Veena frowned. “Multiple times.”
That was exactly when Seher called from the elevator that she was taking with Avantika, Kartik and a dead Anuj. She spoke to Seher, leaning on Anand and looking up at the fireworks. After the call, Veena’s palm from Anand’s chest turned to face upwards and her fingers wriggled back and forth between her and him.
— “Give me the car keys.”
— “You haven’t driven since you were in Chennai.” Anand’s fingers tightened around the keys and the straps of her heels as well.
— “I know.” She looked deeper than just right into his eyes. It was the stare of the moment of truth⁶⁴.
— “This is Bombay on New Year’s Eve and you are drunk and stoned.” Anand was the first to blink.
— “I won’t drive, dumbass. Seher will. I could never drive this giant thing.” She wacked him as her eyes defocussed from his to concentrate on his face.
— “That doesn’t help me.” He couldn’t look away. Anand needed answers. Without observations, he couldn’t draw conclusions.
— “She used to drive a bigger car than this before she moved to Bombay.”
— “In Delhi.” Without conclusions, he couldn’t infer anything. Without any inferences, how was he to determine the outcome of this transaction. “The cops there don’t stop you if you are a girl. This is Bombay!”
— “Just relax, will you?” Veena took a step back. “We will just drive around, park the car somewhere and find a place to talk.”
— “Talk what?”
— “I just need to process this. I am not sure what will happen if I think aloud with you around.”
— “That’s bullshit! If you don’t want to do this, just tell me. We can just talk about the options we have.”
— “Danan, I am sure I want to be with you. I am just not sure of this moment.”
— “So you don’t want to be with me in this moment but you are sure you want to spend the rest of your life with me?”
— “Danan, we just concurred that if we talk this through right now, it will just burn a big fucking hole into everything. Why don’t you just trust me?”
As the two kept talking at each other, their hands backed away from the conversation, just like the rest of their bodies. Their necks were stretched forward making their faces look like two magnets being held apart by tight ropes. You’d think their necks would snap at any moment and their faces would collide. The tensile and magnetic strength of the moment fizzled a bit when Anand and Veena spotted Seher and Avantika walking towards them.
— “Where are Anuj and Kartik?” Anand handed his keys to Seher. “It’s unlocked.”
— “Anuj is probably getting a drink thrown in his face. They’ll be here in a few.”
— “Nobody leaves till those two are back here.” Anand crossed his arms and rested his back against the car. The four of them then stood there, looking around awkwardly.
— “Danan, I need a cigarette.” Veena pointed to her heels dangling from under Anand’s crossed arms. “Also, give me my shoes.”
Seher stared at Veena expecting her to be colder towards Anand. Anand stared back at them and stretched his hand in front of Avantika who pulled out her box of imported slims. “Give me a couple.” He lit the both of them together and passed one to Veena.
— “Grape?” He coughed as the thick stream of flavoured smoke ran down his throat. “What do they do? Caramelise the sugar with the tobacco?”
Veena put her heels back on. She had started spiraling once again, mostly because she and everyone else was quiet. She revisited everything she remembered about Anand and her as a couple. It had been a few years but she still remembered everything. She had just been promoted from being an intern to being a full-time designer when the relationship had started.
⁶⁴ According to Actorography, the stare of the moment of truth is the kind of look that connects the exact centers of a person’s retinas to the exact centers of the other person’s retinas. If you master this stare, you can commit to the scene during any performance.
