Virgin Patiala Peg

by Gaganjeet Gujral

  They went taking Karamjit with them in their Jeep with one Havildar sitting on the back seat with Karamjit. While, Gurtej Singh and Amrit reached there in his Ambassador car. After reaching the location for riding in the jeep for 10 miles, they stepped out of the car with Karamjit coming steadily along with the Havildar. They took him out of the jeep with his shirt collar in their hand. “So, where is that house?” asked the Inspector. “That one” Karamjit pointed out with his finger. “So, is this the one according to you where you were searching for the lost phone? Are you sure about it?” asked the Inspector. “Yeah, the detector showed that it was this house” he replied hesitatingly. “Let’s go Damodar” he said to the Havildar.

  They went on to the house and knocked on the door three times after which a voice came from inside the house. “Coming.... Please wait. Oh, it might be the delivery boy with my pizza.” The man said. As soon as he opened the door and saw the police standing there, his face became pale and he asked, “Yes? May I help you please?” “What is your name?” the inspector asked. “B-B-Bhola” the man replied stutteringly. “We need to check your house” “But you can’t do that” the man said firmly. “What? What did you just said? Why can’t we, Huh?” the inspector asked agnostically. “I mean, do you have the right to do it? Show me your search warrant. How can I let you search my house without a written consent from the authorities?” “Here it is, See.”

  The inspector said as he pulled out a small letter unfolding it and handed it over to the man to read. “Seen? Now, get aside and let us do our work”. The Inspector along with Havildar Damodar got through the main door into the lobby of the house and then entered the front room.

  “Damodar, search in every corner of the room. Leave no piece of furniture unturned.” he ordered Damodar. “Sir!” replied the havildar in a rather high spirit voice. They inverted the furniture, book shelf, searched the whole kitchen, tucked the bed sheets upside down, searched behind the closet but found the phone nowhere. “Let me give a call and maybe it will ring somewhere around here.” Said Amrit suddenly.

  “Yes, dial your number.” Said the inspector. Amrit dialed his number from Karamjit’s phone and all of a sudden they heard the bell ringing. “There it is, There it is. It’s my phone’s ringtone” said Amrit excitedly. “But where is the phone? It’s ringing from that room” said the inspector as he pointed to the next room adjacent to the kitchen. They rushed into the room and Amrit dialed the number again and to their amazement, the phone was lying on the bottom of the shoe rack.

  The inspector picked up the phone and showed it to Amrit. “Is it your phone?” “Yes, yes!” he exclaimed. “Damodar... grab that bhola and take him to the police station.” he ordered. “Sir-Sir, please leave me please. I swear, I won’t repeat this mistake again in my life ever. Please, Sir. I am a poor man so I have to steal to eat my bread. Have some mercy over me, please.” Bhola pleaded. “You should have thought of the consequences before making this decision. Law is equal for every individual. Once you have committed a crime, however trivial or insignificant that maybe, you will get punished and face the repercussions for that. Damodar, take him with us. And all of you, please come with us so we can remove charges against this boy.” Said the inspector.

  They moved to the police station and finally Karamjit felt relieved as he saw the inspector removing charge of robbery against him. Amrit also learned a very important lesson with this incident which got ingrained in his mind that it’s better to be responsible than to reap misery followed with ignorant decision making. Gurtej Singh was happy as he kissed Karamjit on his forehead. “I knew, you were innocent. Doing these things is below you.” He said.

  All of them went home and Gurtej Singh after reaching home, said to Karamjit to simply take some rest as he was already tired. Karamjit rarely saw this avatar of Gurtej Singh as normally he would be rude and foul-mouthed towards him. And Gurtej Singh was full of pride because he finally saw his younger self in Karamjit who tried to help his friend with all his strength and might.

  3.

  Hidden Desires Perpetuates

  After some days, Karamjit went to school again. That day while he was rummaging through the corridor of the school building,, he saw Riya walking down the stairs. He went straight to her. “Hey Riya!” he said as he waved his hand up. She turned around looking at him after a second said, “Hey Karamjit. How you doing now?” “Umm... good. How are you?” “Terrific.” She said. Karamjit stood there expecting her to initiate the conversation further. As she spoke nothing, finally he said, “Thanks a lot Riya for helping me out.” “Thanks? For what?” “Don’t you remember you helped to release me from the prison against the false allegations put on me?”

  “Listen, we are friends. So it’s normal in friendship to do these small acts and never even talk about it. Don’t you know that?” she whispered. “Friends?” he asked taken aback by surprise. “Yeah. Okay, I have to go to attend my class now. We’ll meet sometime again. And remember there are no ‘apologies’ or ‘thanks giving’ in friendship” she said as she hurried down the stairs and left out of his sight quietly.

  Karamjit stood there looking her leave and completely surprised. He thought to himself: Did she really say friends? Woah.. a beautiful girl like her calling me her friend without me even talking to her for a significant period of time. This was something that he had never experienced before so He told about this to Amrit while they were leaving the classes with absolute amusement in his eyes like a little kid. “Why are you so excited man?” asked Amrit. “She called me her friend!” he exclaimed. “Oh, come one. She calls every other person her friend after she meets that person. She don’t even give it a second thought while saying it.” “Really?” he asked. “Yeah, don’t ponder over it too much.” Said Amrit. And in a moment, Karamjit lost all his excitement and slouched his shoulders. “By the way, are we going to Gurudwara this evening? Let’s go there huh? It’s been a while since we have been there.” asked Amrit.

  “Hmmm... let’s go” Karamjit replied in a rather disappointed tone. “Also I forgot to convey to you that Riya was asking if you were fine after that incident. So, you might have told her today I suppose.” “Yeah, I talked to her but she had to attend her class so she left soon.”

  In the evening, they went to the Gurudwara as usual but as Karamjit was serving the Langar to the worshippers, he saw Riya sitting in one of the lanes. As he went to her to deliver the bread, she looked at him and smiled at once. Karamjit felt mesmerized by her smile and he couldn’t help himself but smile too. After langar, he met with Riya as she was washing her feet in the Sarovar. “Hey” said Karamjit as he waved his hand to Riya. “Hello” she replied as both glared in each other’s eyes without saying a word. She felt embarrassed all of a sudden with that momentarily collision of their vision with each other and turned her face the other way.

  “ So are you coming to school tomorrow?” he asked casually. “Why wouldn’t I? I never miss my classes unlike you” she said wittingly. Karamjit felt her humor as they both giggled a bit. They were feeling the cool breeze of the night sky in each other’s presence when all of a sudden Amrit shouted from a distance. “Hey Karamjit, come on let’s go home now. Otherwise, your aunt will not spare you again if you reach late. Come fast, I am waiting for you at the parking lot” he said. Karamjit looked at Riya and then glanced over his Hungerford watch realizing it was time for him to leave for home. “Okay then, we’ll meet tomorrow.” “Sure” she replied. “Good night and take care” he said as he left for home.

  Karamjit went home and got lost in his thoughts as usual but this time it was Riya who tinkered his imagination. He met her the next day in school and spent some time with her in the spare time after the classes were over. It was everyday routine for them now to meet in the school and then in the Gurudwara in the evening time for their chit-chat. They would continue to talk for long hours, Riya being the more talkative one, was obsessed about telling her life to Karamjit. While Karamjit would quietly l
isten to her getting lost in her glaring eyes all this while. Amrit would see all of that. It was quite obvious for Amrit now that they both had a liking for each other. So he would also give them their space to spend time with each other and get to know about each other as well as they can.

  Karamjit would usually ask Riya to miss some of their classes and instead go on a walk in a park nearby where they would sit all by themselves. She resisted at first but then she agreed with him and went with him to spend some time with him. She seemed to be a quiet and introverted girl at first but later on, as Karamjit spend more and more time with her, he found out that she is way more talkative than he could ever have thought. Riya would continue to tell her stories and Karamjit would just listen to her soothing voice with serenity of mind.

  One fine day, they were sitting in a park and Riya asked Karamjit, “So, what have you thought of doing after passing out from the 12th standard?” “Uhh.... I don’t know. I haven’t thought of anything yet.” “Are you kidding me? Haven’t you thought what your goals or ambitions are?” she wondered. “Not really. What have you thought about? What are your plans?” he asked Riya knowing he would get a long reply of the tongue from her as he waited excitedly to listen.

  “Well.... My aspiration is to become a pilot in the Indian Air Force. I always wanted to fly and measure the vast expanses of the sky. When I was younger, my father used to take me to visit the seashores and in the cool breeze, I used to wander looking at the seagulls and birds flying over the sea. I always used to wonder: what would it be to be like one of these birds to expand their wings and dive in the sky, being free from every stress or problems of the world. Just living with the flow of the air. So, I thought that one day, I would become an Air force pilot and take flights just like those birds. That is the true freedom for me. Freedom to fly, freedom to not worry about anything that could ever happen with my life, freedom to live on my own terms, freedom to do what I love to do, freedom to go where I want to go, freedom to be who I want to be, and freedom to choose my own destiny.”

  “Well, that’s really great!” Karamjit replied as she stopped for a moment to inhale some air. “But you know what? There are some people in the world who believe that since I am a girl, a female, it’s not civilized for me to hustle for my dreams. My dad always supports me but I have met some people who do not appreciate that girls should grind for what they aspire to do. But anyhow, I don’t listen to any of those people. Because my father always taught me that I can always achieve whatever I can conceive and believe. Whenever I failed at any moment in my life, he never discouraged me to never try again. In fact, he told me to always learn lessons from my failures and then move ahead in life stronger than ever. Although I am still naïve, I do believe that that’s the essence of life: to always keep learning.”

  “Wow... You know what? Whenever I listen to you, it reminds me of my mother. I was very young when I lost her but I still have some fond memories of her taking care of me and the lullabies that she used to recite to me. In a way, your thoughts are so insightful and you add much more meaning to the words you say. Your thoughts are so much coherent with the way the life works. Well, you can always try your hand on philosophy if you want.” Karamjit said jokingly.

  “Whaaaaaat?” she said as they both burst out laughing. “Did you just say philosophy? Well, that was a good one though” “No, but seriously. Your thoughts are deep just like a philosopher. If I ever would have a mentor, I would like that person to be a philosopher. The time that I have spent with you so far, I have come to know that you are a critical thinker. You don’t just accept things as true even though it’s pressed upon by some authority. You take the information that you heed, then you dissect it down and see its various fragments and then check whether it aligns with what the other person has said or not. I mean, that’s a very good quality that you have which makes you smarter than almost everybody else I have met in my life” he said.

  She started smiling when he made this statement. “Okay, so now you have started flirting huh? But you are not very good at that I see” she said. “No- no-no, I really mean that. You are a skeptic and I really appreciate that quality which is very rare in the people that I have met so far in my life at least. Maybe that sounds cheesy to you but I really do mean what I have complemented you on.” He said.

  “Okay, okay, okay. Don’t be so serious. I was just kidding to see your reaction to it. I must say you don’t get tempted easily either. So, that’s a nice quality to have too.” She said as Karamjit started blushing. “Now you are being too generous” “And you too cute” she replied. “And I would suggest you to think about the things that really interest you or you feel passionate about.” She said. “Okay, I will do it.” “By the way, I know that you like me. Right?” Karamjit was just shocked and couldn’t believe what he heard from her. He wasn’t able to speak and started gasping for breath to calm himself down. “What happened huh?” she said with a giggle. “Well, don’t worry. I like you too. I mean, we are good friends . Don’t we? And after all we have spent quite a lot of time together, so we understand each other better now. So, we’ll meet tomorrow then. See you, bye” she left immediately as soon as she finished speaking.

  While Karamjit stood there still trying to recover his senses back to normal trying to believe that what he heard was true. He was surprised, excited and shocked simultaneously as it was his first time in life that he ever heard a girl say that she likes him. He couldn’t believe it. He called Amrit immediately and told him about it. And Amrit listened to him until he finished and then said, “So what? Why are you so surprised? You didn’t knew about it? I mean, it was visible to me from the very beginning that she was interested in you.” “What? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” “Well, I thought you would be knowing it as you were spending so much time with her. You were spending almost two-third of your time with her. Matter of fact, I should be asking you this question of how could you be so ignorant about this thing? It’s a surprise to me that you didn’t knew about it.” “Yeah, I also like her. So ,what should I make out of it? Is it love?”

  “See Karamjit, it’s difficult to say on that part. I don’t think that you should really consider it love. It might be infatuation as well. You never know when it happens. It might be simply attraction as a friend. It might just be an authentic curiosity to know more about the other person. So, I can’t really make anything out of it other than that you both like each other. That’s the crux of the matter for me.” “Do you think I should talk about it with her openly? I mean, to just discuss what’s going on or will it be better to just let the things flow as they are for some time until the right time comes?” “I think you should discuss and share your mind with her. Spend some more time with her to sort the uncluttered things in a lucid way so that you don’t face any repercussions of any sort in the future. So, don’t take this thing too seriously also. I have seen many people who have ruined their lives just because they took their infatuation and called it love. And the ramifications that they had to deal with later on were intense and often brutal in some cases. So please make sure that you don’t complicate things and keep them as simple and straight as possible. I would advice you to talk to her and don’t create unrealistic expectations in your mind from any person whatsoever, otherwise you will face plenty trouble.” “Alright, so I will talk to her about this issue the next time I meet her. Goodbye and thanks.”

  Karamjit hung the call confused of what he should consider doing now. It was the very first time in Karamjit’s life that somebody was getting so close to him and that he could relate to. It was not just emotional or psychological alignment which led him to like Riya. But it was also his natural, physical & sexual desires that were driving him crazy about her that he couldn’t help himself but to think about her all day long. He was so much obsessed with her thoughts that he couldn’t even focus on his studies. It was difficult for him to maintain his focus on one thing that could set apart her existence.

  The onl
y time which he felt pleasant was when he was with her, listening to her talk he would feel an absolute harmony in his spirit that he would be a different person altogether in her presence but back to the old Karamjit who was scared and skeptical in her absence. In a way, he became addicted to her being close to him that it would become unbearable for him to even imagine going through a day without meeting her. One day, he couldn’t resist the temptation to talk about his situation and what he’s going through after meeting with her.

  So he gathered all of his courage and spoke in a firm voice. “Riya, I wanted to share something with you.” She was rolling her hair in her fingers and casually said, “ Yeah, tell me. What is it?” “Umm... Actually.... Uhh... actually I have felt a lack of focus in whatever I try do in these last couple of days. I am not able to perform even my regular tasks with the same efficiency. And it also prevents me from focusing on my studies.” “What happened? Are you sick? Let me check your temperature.” She asked worriedly as she placed the back of her hand on his forehead. “No... I am perfectly good. It’s not sickness nor pain of body” “Then what is it? Feel free to tell me.”

  “Uhh... it’s actually you. The things is, whenever I am sitting idle, I cannot stop myself from thinking about you. I cannot focus on other things because your thoughts keep striking my mind every time I try to do something. I don’t know what is it. But that’s what it is.” “Oh-ho-ho. Now, don’t tell me that I also have a visitation in your dreams” she laughed it out. “How do you know that? You do visit even in my dreams. It has become so intense for me. I just wanted to share it with you and keep no secret any longer.” “It’s good that you have shared it with me. But you know what, I also go through the exact same experiences that you mentioned. I think we know each other too well now and we have become more than just best friends. Don’t you think so?” “I do believe so. It’s a strange feeling for me as I have never been so close to a girl in my life as I have been to you.” “Never mind. But I like you no matter what you think about it.” “Well, I like you too. And finally I want you to know that.” “Ha-ha, I knew it already from the very day you met me in the school. But for the time being, let’s not go farther than just being best friends. I think that would be the best possible scenario for both of us to incorporate in our life” “I promise that” he replied feeling relieved that he opened up his feelings with her.