Kaavya: Episode I

I WILL POST THIS STORY IN EPISODIC FORM OVER NEXT FEW WEEKS. ALL CHARACTERS AND EVENTS ARE IMAGINARY, ALL RESEMBLANCES TO REALITY ARE HALLUCINATIONS AND ALL IS SAID AND WRITTEN IN GOOD FAITH AND GOOD HUMOR. ENJOY:)

I

Kaavya entered home, conscious of the knowledge that Videshi’s eyes would have followed her to the door. A smile flushed on her lips, as her thoughts glanced over the evening that had gone by. The dinner was exquisite, for Videshi turned out to be an excellent conversationalist, and he knew the menu like the back of his hand. His accent dripped like honey on his words, and Kaavya was plastered all over with the laughter she splashed in gaiety of his comments. It was only a couple of days ago that she had met him, and he noticed her immediately, declared he deserved to treat her to a dinner to know her better, and without thinking, she agreed.

Kaavya was tall and voluptuous female, whose defining charm lay in the way the corners of her eyes smiled, and the way her lips curled up when she requested a favor. Her body was usually lost to eyes that she managed to get onto her face. She was still only twenty-two, and had been in the United States only for three months. A bachelor degree in architecture was followed by prompt acceptance into city planning program in four schools in US, and before she grasped why she wanted to come to the States, she was already here. It was in US that I met her, and by becoming the boyfriend of her roommate, became privy to all that passed between her and her suitors. What seemed to be genuine gossip to me, that Ruchi needed to get off her chest, I found contained the display of every twist and tragedy of love stories. Of late, Kaavya had decided that since Ruchi was going to transmit information anyways, it was reasonable for her to talk openly in front of both of us. So as she entered in this revelry, our smiles greeted her into a confession.

“He is so charming, so funny. Do you know he had hiked across Himalayas a few years back? Guess what he will be going hiking across the Appalachian trail in summer, and” Kaavya was stating this will flush on her face, both hands held together near her heart, and Ruchi broke into her sentence, “Don’t tell me you are going with him. You hardly know him.” Kaavya stared unbelievingly into Ruchi’s face, and said, “Budhoo! Summer is four months away, and I will know him by then. Oh! He is so adventurous, so charming, so funny. Vivek, why are you giggling like that, shaking from head to toe? Whats so funny?”

“My dearest, do you even know what Appalachian trail is? We’ll come to your Videshi later, but do you how much hiking that will involve?” My words always struck Kaavya like the sound of utensils that she dropped dreamily on the floor, and hearing their noise, wondered who threw them down like that. She took a few moments to comprehend my question, and then simpered, ”Ok na! Don’t tease me now. A few miles, ten miles maybe!” Her naïveté was the only thing that endeared her to me, I chastised her for everything else, and I kept getting angry at her flirtations that I thought increased the level of heartbreak in the world. I teased Ruchi that Kaavya was like my Saali, so I needed to treat her likewise, and would often say, “Saali doesn’t think.”

“Oh Kaavya, what is longest hike you have ever undertaken?” “Vivek, that’s an irrelevant question. But if you want to know, I went all the way to Vaishnu Devi.” Kavya said this and followed at with moving her pursed lips sideways, in almost a Bollywood-like feigning of disapproval of my question. We all had heard about her heroic climb to Vaishnu Devi, that she claimed had taken her life force out of her, but once she reached the top, the Vaishnu Devi rescued her, and asked her to communicate without the need to walk all the way there. So it was quite amusing when she mentioned it, and then realizing what she had told us about that trip, said, “Stop going into pieces with your unwelcome laughter Vivek. Please no! Tell me. Is it really long, that trail?”

“Take Ruchi along with you, she needs to loose some fat.” I giggled, “The two thousand miles of hiking will surely do her good, and of course, I will have all the time of the world to finish my PhD work when you both are gone for the summer.” Kaavya’s expressions went from shock to amusement to tantrum and back to plain hearted joy in next few seconds, while Ruchi took my comment to heart and started clobbering me with her pillow. I was rescued by a knock at their door.