Story 1

I had been planning it for months. It was the ultimate revenge. I made sure that no one would know about my plans. Not even my fiancée. I had told her that I was going out for a walk when in reality I had sneaked into Rajesh’s house to execute my plan.

Rajesh and I were best friends, but until a few months ago, we had never had a serious difference of opinion. We were “Brothers from another mother” as Rajesh had put it. Yet, three months ago, I had been setup for an ambush. Rajesh had called me to his house, and as always I went their unaware of what lay in wait for me.

Down but not out, I decided to seek revenge.

After all, I always believed in “Poetic Justice” and this seemed exactly like the kind of thing that would put Rajesh in his place.

I heard a car pull up outside Rajesh’s house. I peeked out of the curtain – it was Rajesh. I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

Click, I heard him turn the knob. “six, five, four…”

Rajesh swung the door open and we all went “SURPRISE!”

Rajesh couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing before him were all of our friends, his girlfriend, her parents, Rajesh’s parents, and me! “That’s right Rajesh!” I thought to myself, “Now it’s your turn”.

As they sang Happy Birthday, Rajesh quickly gave me a glance that said, “Dude you are dead”. I couldn’t have been happier. The sweet-sweet taste of revenge. After all, it was on my birthday a few months ago, that Rajesh had done a similar thing to me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I did love my girlfriend but I wasn’t ready to have everyone from her family and mine come under the same roof. Nor was I really ready to “take things forward”, even though I wanted to.

But, I had to go with the flow. Although, I must say, I loved what Rajesh did, because frankly – I did not have the guts to do it. He had been my sounding board for months while I contemplated how to get the families on to the “negotiating” table, so that Shalini and I could “officially” get engaged!

And so, I had to return the favor. Rajesh had been going back and forth with the families, but he simply couldn’t muster up the courage to take it to the next level.

I walked up to Rajesh, patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry buddy! You can do this!” with the most evil smile I could muster.

While Rajesh stayed surrounded by his loved ones, I came out of the house, called up Shalini, and told her what I had done. As she called me names for not involving her in my plan, I got into my car and drove back to our little shack. Then, I returned with my wife-to-be, to enjoy the cake and the expressions on Rajesh’s face.

Fact: A guy is never really ready for any kind of commitment. If he can’t muster the courage, just be a good buddy and give him a little nudge. Exactly what you did to your friend who was scared of the water but still wanted to swim. It’s what good friends do!

After the party, we came back home. Rajesh did not talk to me for a few days. But, I got five calls a day from his girlfriend (oh I mean fiancée) Neha. So it was the same thing.

When Rajesh finally did call, he said, “Abey Dusht! My engagement is on the 14^th next month”. I laughed like Ravan, “Good Good Bhai! Welcome to the ATM club” I said.

“ATM?”

 “Haan haan… About To Marry club!”

Then we decided to meet up with the boys and go out for a drink.

Our gang was unique. All of us had been classmates and then as luck would have it, we ended up in the same company as well.

There’s Sukkhi paaji! Boy can he drink and dance. His hand is bigger than my head and I am 5’10”! Once he scared bouncers at a bar while we hid our faces thinking we were going to get thrown out. But, the bouncers simply ran away. He is all heart, that guy is.

There’s Anmol! He is the joker. Always fumbling, always running out of “luck”. If you gave him 10 coins to flip heads, I bet you he’d get 10 tails. Once he bet a thousand bucks that he could eat 50 chillies at this bar. No one dared him to do it, he did that to himself! He ate 1 chilly before asking for water and getting tears in his eyes. We had tears in our eyes too but due to laughter.

And then there’s Anna! God sent him to us from Chennai. Anna was a non-drinking vegetarian during the first year of college, but we being good friends, changed his habits for the better. Now he’s the life of the party.

Wait I almost forgot Pandeyji. Finally there’s Pandeyji. Now, we could never really change Pandey ji and we didn’t want to either. The guy was the epitome of “wannabe cool”. Even though we are all 25 now, Pandeyji still dresses up like a YO! YO! Rapper! Outside of work of course. At work he had been caught twice, wearing funky shades indoors! The HR had to place a sign that said, “Please do not wear sunglasses inside the office”. No amount of scolding by the boss will ever change the Pandeyji.

And Rajesh? Rajesh is the ultimate Mr. Cool. If you had to define a "Dude”, he would fit that description perfectly.

So that’s basically the gang.  There’s of course me. Oh! Let me introduce myself.

I am Rahul. I consider myself normal. As in I was always the first guy to run away from commitment, until I met Shalini. But you know how I finally got engaged by coercion, so that’s that. I love my friends and hate “work”. I love cricket and Bollywood actresses – “All of them! Even the ones who don’t know how to act!” I have many different accounts online, so that I can take all of my frustrations out on strangers on the internet.

Anyways, we all had a ton of fun.

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Oh, by the way. That is something that I see every day. Me throwing the party for Rajesh, and me about to get married. But that is not the reality now!

That one day happened about 5 months ago. After the party, I drove home. And out of nowhere a car ran into me from the right. Before I knew it, I was unconscious.

They say I am in a comma now, but I can still hear them when I am not dreaming. I live that same dream over and over again. I can hear Shalini talking to the doctor, talking to me, sobbing, telling me stories. I sometimes hear my parents as well.

It is really strange that in a flash, my life came to a halt like this. I wish I could do something about it. I wish I could get healed quickly. But, I heard what the doctor said, that I wasn’t likely to walk ever again. Oh God, please let this be a dream, a nightmare, from which I may wake up. God? Are you really there?

I know I never believed in you. But, I am literally ready to believe in a miracle. Just please let me wake up. Let me go back to my life. Please!

WHOOOSH!

 Hey! I am in another dream. It’s all white and bright here. There’s someone sitting on a bench. It looks like… it can’t be. Can I speak in this dream, let me try…

“Dad? Is that you?”

“Its me Beta! What are you doing here?”

“Well this is my dream. You tell me what are you doing in my dream?”

“This is no dream son!” he got up from the bench and floated towards me, “This is real! Feel this…”  And then Dad pinched me – that really hurt.

So, wait a minute… if this is real, then how is my dad here? He had died years ago.

“But, you are dead. Aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. But I was told to come here and meet with someone. I guess that someone is you.”

“Exactly who told you to come here?”

“Forget about that. Are you in trouble? I can see that your time has still not come. Do you have a question or a wish?”

“Haha! You are going to grant me a wish?”

Dad stared at me, as he used to do when he was serious.

“Well Dad! I am in a comma back on… umm.. wow this is hard to say… I am in a comma back on earth and I really-really need to get healed so that things get back to normal.”

“You meet me after four years and all you want to do is talk about earth. No hey dad, how have you been dad, nothing.”

“Umm…”

“Be quite son! Hold my hand.”

WHOOSH!

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My eyes opened in the hospital bed. Shalini was holding my hand, the same one that my dad was holding. She couldn’t believe it. I tried to speak and suddenly I realized that I was in a lot of pain and didn’t have much energy. Yet, I wanted to speak to her so I gathered up all of my energy and said

“Shh.. Shalini!” and then I gave her a smile.

Shalini screamed, “Nurse! Uncle! Aunty! Papa! Mumma! Rahul ko hosh aagya!”

I said once more, “Arrey! Main tumhe smile de rha hun aur tum bhaav bhi nahi de rahi.”

Shalini came back and hugged me. That was the most painful and yet the most happy hug I had ever received.

Everyone rushed in. The nurse did a checkup and said the doctor would be coming for a round in half an hour.

Four days later, I walked out of the hospital on my own two feet. The doctors kept scratching their heads about why it happened, but I knew why! Thanks Dad! Wink!

~~The End~~