The Quest | Final post - pg4 - Page 3

Posted: 13 years ago
Originally posted by nisha.munim


Sorry, can't update today. Monday for sure. Sorry about this. Unforseen circumstances :S
<3 Nisha
 
k cant wait!
Posted: 13 years ago
 

Part IV

 

It had been weeks since Gaurang and Vicky had last slept at the flat at night, since that was when most of their expeditions usually took place. That night, there was nothing.

 

It made no difference to Gaurang since he was an insomniac and sleeping pills helped him attain that feeble semblance of solace within seconds. Afternoon or night or morning, it was all the same. Just like every day of his life. Always the same, as a matter of discipline.

 

Vicky hated having to sleep at night. He liked having something to do to escape the silence and solitude. During the day, it was easier to be distracted from oneself. There was so much noise, cars hooting incessantly, kids laughing maniacally, the next-door Manjrekars fighting like cats and dogs (that didn't like each other). He painstakingly cursed at all the sources of noise, but somehow managed to fall asleep within a minute of resting his head on the pillow. At night, it was only the droning of the refrigerator punctuated at regular intervals by the creaking of the ceiling fan. And his thoughts, louder than ever, keeping him painfully awake.

 

He should have been exhausted, having spent the entire morning painting road signs and the rest of the day driving Khanbhai's taxi around the city. But his mind would not let him sleep. Darkness surrounded and engulfed him.

 

He wondered about the photographs of himself that he had left at the different production houses. Were they laughing at him? Had they just thrown away the photographs in the bin to save him the humiliation?

 

He thought about home, how everybody praised him and called him hero, how he had always felt like a hero. He thought about how he had left his somnambulist little town  to make it big in the city; how he had left behind the name his father had given him and become Vicky, a stray city rat among so many others, a nobody. He should not have left home, a part of him nagged. But that same part conceded, how could he now go back, defeated? He knew he missed them, but it had been his decision to leave home. He had to stick with it. That much, he owed to himself.

 

His thoughts flitted to Gaurang. He had been lucky, he knew, to have bumped into Gaurang, who had given him, not just a job, but also a room in his flat. And all this, without Vicky asking for anything. He knew how difficult it would have been to find accommodation. And Gaurang took no rent.

 

But still, he could not help but resent Gaurang's presence in his life. Gaurang never treated him as a friend, or as an equal. Like the city, he never ceased to trample upon Vicky's self-esteem and did nothing to alleviate his loneliness.

 

Gaurang was probably only five years older than Vicky since the latter looked about thirty. And yet, he was always so patronizing, as though Vicky was a burden imposed upon him. He never talked to him unless absolutely necessary and even then, there was no amicability whatsoever. All there was, was rules, rules for everything. No jokes or light moments. Every moment seemed like a punishment.

 

At first Vicky could not understand why Gaurang had recruited him in the first place, given his general dislike and cynicism for all human beings, and why Gaurang had given him a place in his flat when nobody in his right mind would trust a random stranger after a mere five minutes of conversation.

 

And then he realized. It was surely pity. Gaurang pitied him. Vicky hated the thought of being pitied. Vicky hated his life. Yet, what could he do? Nothing seemed to be within his control and nothing was as he had aspired. And he could not give up.

 

He sighed, this was why he found such nights unbearable. They had this way of making him feel helpless and hopeless. At other times of the day, he was able to strut around like a king, winning over the hearts of all the women he met, and believing in life's endless possibilities.

 

On the nights he could not keep himself busy, reality intruded. Rudely.

 
He tossed over again.
 
Posted: 13 years ago
Really interesting thanks for the update . continue soon! :)
Posted: 13 years ago
Thanks for the encouragement, Neha! :)
Posted: 13 years ago
 

Part V

 

They were at the hotel lobby, positioned near the two entrances. Vicky was disguised as an escort girl, Gaurang, as an old, cranky businessman.

 

It was the best they could do, Vicky thought, resisting the urge to rub those irritating fake eyelashes out of his eyes. Gaurang couldn't act to save his life and would make the most unconvincing girl ever. He was best as a grouchy old man. It meant he didn't have to act. Vicky chuckled silently at his own joke.

 

For once, Vicky was not the only one being humorous. As they were driving to the hotel, Gaurang had tried his hand at making a joke too, commenting on how Vicky would give Katrina Kaif a complex.

 

Vicky had appreciated the attempt, even though the outcome was far from being funny. After many months, he could feel the thrill of working as a detective. It felt like they were a team; it felt like Gaurang did not hate him.

 

The thought prompted Vicky to throw a half smile at Gaurang who was irritably shuffling through a newspaper. Gaurang scowled back. Vicky wondered if the scowl was directed at him or if Gaurang was merely getting into the skin of his character.

 

Suddenly, Gaurang got up and began to walk towards the reception. It was the signal. Vicky looked around carelessly and saw the subject, Shah, a businessman who was funding terrorist operations. They had been watching him for the past month. Their plan was to get to his contacts and hopefully, one thing would snowball into another, and it would be their biggest catch ever.

 

Vicky pouted, catwalked past Shah, his hands swinging gracefully, and gave him a flirtatious wink and smile.

 

"How much?" the fat man asked, business-like. He was a regular.

 

"You decide," Vicky whispered, maintaining eye contact in the blazing manner that he knew made guys breathless.

 

"Later. I have business. Room 856 at eleven?"

 

Vicky smiled widely and walked away, feeling like punching the lecherous man for looking at him like that. What all girls have to put up with! He sat on the couch and looked at Gaurang who was still at the reception counter complaining about something only so that he could plant a tiny recorder on Shah.

 

There was something odd in the scene though. Vicky could feel it. A few seconds later, he found it. That girl, in the onion-coloured saree. She was just standing in the middle of the lobby and had not moved in the past two minutes. And she was looking directly and pointedly in Gaurang's direction. Vicky could not see her face, and neither would Gaurang since he had his back to her.

 

Vicky looked around in his character's laidback style. There was a washroom to the girl's right. He could go there just to see what she looked like. He had to know. He had an inexplicable intuition that she knew Gaurang and was watching him. That could not be good news. But before Vicky could reach the washroom, she had left the lobby from the opposite entrance.

 

"Damn," Vicky whispered. The last thing they needed was a spoke in their plan. This was a big one. Any slippage could mean death, or worse. He needed to tell Gaurang, he thought as he reached the washroom.

 

The two ladies in the washroom looked at him in such derision as he entered that for a second he panicked. Did they know he was a guy? But then he remembered that he was dressed as a hooker and gave them an appropriately conceited sneer before locking himself in a cubicle and fishing out his cell phone.

 
Posted: 13 years ago

omg i totally forgot about this ...sorry  nice update just read really interesting! 😃

Edited by koolkat97 - 13 years ago
Posted: 13 years ago
hey, sorry. had few problems so cudnt comment before. really nice update. waiting for more...
Posted: 13 years ago
Thank you, both :) Really appreciate it!
 
Neha, no probs at all for the delay. I understand.
 
I have decided not to continue the story though, even though I have it all written out already. Sorry. It's just one of those things I feel but cannot reason out and rationalise.
 
I guess the closest I can come to an explanation is that I don't feel my story is received the way I would have liked it to be. And it doesn't feel so nice. My excitement has kind of faded away and I don't want to be mechanically uploading a part every Friday when my heart isn't in it.
 
But thanks to all who have been so heartwarmingly supportive - Neha, sharky8, and Pooja. My intention is not to make you feel bad or anything. Seriously, if it wasn't for you guys, I would have abandoned this a long time back. It's just that I have this sinking feeling whenever I think of this story, and I can't shake it off. So to continue it would be hypocrisy. So I feel.
 
I guess this is my last post in this thread. I might start another story some day. This one is best left as is. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you.
 
<3 Nisha
 
Posted: 13 years ago
hey dont worry about it i would have liked u to continue but i kno the feeling . well it was good while it lasted :)
Posted: 13 years ago
hey its totally alright. no ones disappointed here.

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