Vignettes- 18. Hai re Nandkishore! Thread 1

 

18. Hai re Nandkishore!


January

"Thanks, Akash Bhai!" NK said as he stepped out of Akash's car at the New Delhi airport one wintry evening.

"No issues, and have a safe flight, NK Bhai. Pahoonchte hi phone karna ghar par. Varna sab pareshaan ho jaayenge", Akash called back, leaning forward to look out of the window.

"Don't worry, Akash Bhai! I'll be fine! Mera dost already Mumbai mein hain, he'll come to pick me. Once my Visa thing is done, we're off to Goa...whoosh!" NK demonstrated just how he would be going on his trip. Smilingly shaking his head at his wacko cousin, Akash said one final goodbye and drove off, with NK standing there, waving bye-bye.

Plugging his earphones in, NK walked inside, breezing through the checking and into the boarding lounge. Settling down with a soft drink, he called up his friend in Mumbai, who had been his classmate in Australia and had now come down for a month long vacation to India.

"Hey, man, wassup?...Ahan, all done, about to board in a few...You'll be there, right?...Nope, no check-in luggage, I'll be out quick...See ya, Ciao!"

*************************

The flight passing uneventfully except for his unsuccesful attempt to flirt with a pretty co-passenger, NK landed in Mumbai and quickly walked out, eager to meet Roy. The humidity and Roy, both hit him the minute he walked out of the exit. "Yo man! It's been ages!"

"Brmglm..." NK mumbled, struggling against the bear-hug that was cutting off his oxygen supply. Slapping him twice on his back, Roy released his friend before holding him at arms length and scanning up and down. "Bro, you look positively 'Desi'! Not coming back, huh? Yahan hi ghar basane jaa rahe ho?"

Grinning back, NK quipped, "Pata nahin! Agar koi lakdi mil gayi toh maybe..."

"Lakdi nahin, ladki! Oh God, living with your Indian relatives for months hasn't had any effect! Why are you hell bent on butchering the poor language?", Roy replied as he grabbed his friend by the neck and pushed him towards the waiting car.

Settling in, Roy explained how he had driven down from Pune in the morning so that he could meet NK at the airport and how he had gotten them both a room to stay the night in one of the new boutique hotels that had come up in a colonial building in Colaba. "I made sure it was one that had a discotheque!" Roy winked. They were staying overnight since NK had to get his Visa renewed the next day and after that they were off to Goa for a four-day holiday.

"Nice, man! Girls, dance and us! Woohoo!" NK cheered, blissfully unaware of what was in store for him.

*************************

They reached their hotel and after being delivered a forceful lecture on the history of the building by the manager, including how the chandelier hanging in the lobby was over two hundred years old and how they had been specially given a room that had once housed some long-dead British Lord, settled into their comfortable room.

Quickly freshening up, NK pulled out his phone and called home, having told Roy to go down and that he would join him shortly. It was Payal who answered and NK happily began chatting with his Bhabi, "Payal Bhabi, good evening! How are you?"

"Hum theek hain, Nanheji. Aapka zafar kaisa raha? Hotel mein pahoonch gaye aap? Aur aapka dost hain wahan?" Payal asked, nodding her head in affirmative as her mother-in-law called out from the living room whether it was NK. Manorama jumped up and came to her, waiting impatiently to be handed the phone.

"The flight was fine, Payal Bhabi. And yes, I'm with Roy, at our hotel. We'll be going out for dinner soon. Is everyone there?", NK asked, feeling a little homesick, much to his surprise. In response, Payal handed the phone to Manorama who made it very clear that he neednot come home if he had left out even one item from the shopping list she had given him. From her, the phone did a round through the whole family and by the time NK said his goodnights to everyone, half-an-hour had passed.

Closing the door behind him, NK walked out, ready to head down to the dance floor. Going down the stairs, he heard loud voices, which rapidly took on violent tones and by the time he had run down the remaining steps, an all-out fight had erupted in the lounge in front of the discotheque. Seeing Roy caught in its midst, NK waded in, brushing past the stunned staff, who had now gathered around the Entertainment Coordinator, who was pleading with the men to break it off. NK valiantly tried to restrain the fighting men, but was soon overpowered.

The police arrived within a short while, having been called in by the Night Manager. Finally successful in extricating his friend from the melee, NK was walking off in relief when they were stopped by a constable, "Kahaan jaa rahe ho? Itna hungama kiya aur socha ki asaani se jaoge?"

Indignantly, NK replied, "Sir, hum koi jhagada nahin kiya. We just got caught in the middle of it."

Smirking, the PC said, "Sab log aise hi bolte hain. Acha theek hain, inse poochte hain. Agar inhone kaha ki aap log beguna hain toh aap jaa sakte hain", pointing to the Entertainment Coordinator now surveying the damage with narrowed eyes. On being asked, she took one look at NK and remembering him shoving past her, commented, "Yeh toh beech mein tha, maine dekha", and staring at Roy, continued, "Par isko nahin."

Sputtering, NK was about to protest when he was rudely shoved along by the PC, who was now gathering up all the troublemakers. After standing stunned for a minute, Roy ran after him, promising that he would come with help as soon as possible. As for poor NK, he ended up spending the night in the police station, that too for no fault of his.

*************************

Roy tried convincing the woman that NK had not even been there, but to no avail. Now, NK had given his friend strict instructions to not let anyone from his family know. As he told Roy, "Roy, police ko toh main handle kar sakta hoon. Agar Nannav ko pata chala ki mein..." he trailed off, shudddering as he imagined what Arnav's expression would be if he came to know that his cousin was in custody. "Pehle woh police department ko destroy karega, then he'll decide exactly how painfully mujhe marna hain!"

By the time Roy located a waiter who had seen NK walk down well after the fight had broken out and convinced the man to accompany him to the police station, it was morning, and by the time NK was released, it was long past his 7am appointment at the High Commission. Securing another appointment wasn't easy and he had to walk up and down for a couple of days before he could get another slot for his Visa renewal. Needless to say, his entire vacation got spolit and the Goa trip got cancelled.

Extremely contrite, Roy apologised repeatedly, to which NK replied, "Tumhara fault nahi hain, bro. It's all because that nasty lady gave wrong information to the police. Good that we haven't seen her since, bad attitude, bro, bad attitude! If I ever meet her again, sunaa doonga use! "

Having decided to update the family only after reaching back, NK glumly took the flight back to Delhi, his Goan dreams having gone down the drain, but little did he know that the wheels of destiny had already started turning.


Author's Note:
Hello my darlings! I'm back with a multi-shot!
Now, if you remember, I had said during Dhruv's story that NK's absence was going to be explained in a later story...and here it begins...
There's very little Hindi in this part, so, no translation.

Great start.👏  I am in love already with your version.  Man! I still can't get over the coincidence that we are logged in about the same time posting about NK 😃

This will be great.  Write more.  It's nice to see NK being nettled by a girl.   Look forward to the updates.  Since I am in your buddy list, would you PM me please when you upload updates?😃

hai re nandkishore!!!! amazing

will love to read this multi shot

continue soon

and thanx for the pm

 

Ok, I managed with Hindi version only... Good one Aparna, I remember from one of your previous vignettes that NK Bhai left for Mumbai and then came back rejected that his party got spoiled... Very smartly you have given us a glimpse of what happened that day- I love this link up...

 

So is NK bhai going to meet the entertainment co-ordinator at Delhi? I have a feeling that the EC is someone who is fond of calling Kushi as Chamkili...

 

Dont kick me if my prediction is right... 😉

you and i have this strange connection. whenever i think of an update from u, it comes :)