Rahul, Romance & Rain

 

What is the relation between rain & romance? Well, anyone like me who grew up watching Bollywood films would sense a direct relation. It is an ever common sight to have a romantic song and dance sequence shot in a rainy set. But that is not the agenda of this story. Here we will see how rain affected the romance life of my buddy Rahul.

Rahul was so excited to have a job in Chennai, since his girlfriend Preeti was doing her final year of engineering in Bangalore. It was only 6 hours journey by train, very easily covered by an overnight train journey. The only challenge was the fact her mother accompanied her in Bangalore, to ensure she is staying disciplined and focused on studies. Not to forget, these were the early days of the millennium, having an affair before completing the graduation was still considered a taboo in most of the Indian society those days. So every time Rahul made a trip to Bangalore over the weekend, she used to bunk college on that Saturday and spend the day with him, and finally return home at evening as if coming back from college. Rahul used to spend the Saturday night with his college buddies and catch a bus/train next day to return to Chennai.

This time, it was Preeti’s turn to visit Chennai. There was a college picnic planned at Mysore, for which the college bus would start at 7 am and return back at 9 pm. Since the college was far away from Preeti’s rental apartment, she told her mom she will be doing a sleepover at her friend Kaveri’s place (which was very near to college) on the night before the picnic and the night of return. Her actual plan was to catch the overnight train and reach Chennai in the morning. She had planned to spend the day with Rahul instead of the picnic, and catch the overnight train back to Bangalore. Being a Thursday (and not a Saturday) there would hardly be any suspicions aroused in her mom’s mind. Destiny, though, had something else planned.

Rahul was eagerly awaiting the Thursday morning. He had the whole day planned out. He didn’t share the details with me. All I knew he was supposed to meet Preeti at the railway station, bring her to our apartment to freshen up. We were supposed to keep the apartment (as well as ourselves) as clean and presentable as possible. And of course get out of the apartment as early as possible and reach office by 9 am. The planning was fine, but the execution wasn’t. Cleaning the apartment consumed more time and energy than we had assumed. We all were very tired, and aided by a rainy night we had a deep slumber.

Rahul woke me up “you lazy idiot, Preeti will be reaching here in 20 minutes and you didn’t wake me up!” growled Rahul.

I yawned and wondered what went wrong. “how are you going to reach Chennai Central station in 20 minutes?”

Rahul was even more furious “Not the station you fool! She is coming here in 20 minutes. You didn’t wake me up and she was waiting for me at the station. Now she is coming here in a Call Taxi”.

The urgency of the situation hit us. We had 20 minutes to get properly dressed before she arrives, and if possible I have to get ready and go to office by 30 minutes.

 

Soon the doorbell rang. Preeti came inside, all drenched. We noticed the overnight drizzle has  matured into a steady downpour by now. I saw most of the by-lanes already waterlogged. While Preeti went to the bathroom to change and freshen up, Rahul urged me to get some snacks from nearby shops to improve her mood. I lazily explained that I am not feeling the urge to go out in the waterlogged lanes to get breakfast, rather it was his duty as a boyfriend to brave the storm and provide refreshments for his beloved. He too seemed to lack the urge to go outside in the rain, leaving behind Preeti in the apartment. Finally we settled for Maggie noodles, the ever dependable 'almost ready to cook' meal for all bachelor folks and all those who were too lazy to cook. And then the calls started coming in. Both myself and Rahul got calls from our respective managers. The rain was caused by a north eastern monsoon, and was predicted to result in flooding. All employees were advised to stay home, as dry and safe as possible till further instructions from management. Those already in office were advised not to venture back home.

The impact of this news slowly sank in.

“Do you realize what this means?” asked Rahul.

“Yes” I replied, “this means I cant go to office, so it means you both need to put up with my presence till you go out”.

Rahul immediately got a solution for the problem. “Lets go watch a movie for the morning show instead of the noon show which we planned earlier” he suggested.

Preeti shrugged, watching a movie inside a multiplex was probably a better option than watching me in this small 1 bed room apartment. Rahul went out to look for a cab or auto, and returned after 20 minutes, drenched, exhausted and depressed.

“There are no autos or buses or anything” he explained.

Preeti wasn’t amused “why don’t you call a cab?”

Rahul hesitantly explained “no Cabs either. Seems this is like a flood, so all transportations have been taken off the road…” .

Preeti was furious “does this mean we have nothing to do but sit here and watch your friend till I go to the railway station in evening?”

I got an idea “well, there is something better to do… instead of watching me, try to think of means of reaching the station in a flooded city with all transportation taken off the roads” I suggested.

Preeti finally seemed to realize the implication. She seemed shattered and started sobbing. Rahul gave me a stern look and started comforting her “don’t worry sweetie, we will figure out a way… we have time”.

I came out of the bed room and stepped in our small dining/living room. I could hear Preeti asking “why do u stay in such a small apartment? At least a 3 bed room is needed for you both and an occasional guest… why cant you move to a bigger apartment with a little privacy?”

The answer was obvious “We both together don’t make even one third of the money your father earns” I thought Rahul will explain, but he said “Small is beautiful sweetie, see such a cozy apartment. You and I sitting in this small cozy, room, looking at the rain through the window… isn't it romantic?”

I had to interrupt their romance. “ the window of the living room is broken, the couch is drenched and the  living room floor is now flooded too” I declared, “so I hope you will not mind me joining this cozy atmosphere in this cozy bedroom”. With that I jumped on my bed, went under my blanket and tried to fall asleep again.

 

Soon there was a loud knock on the door. I opened the door to see Dev and Kunal with a huge backpack. Rahul look puzzled, Preeti looked frustrated. We learnt that Dev and Kunal woke up to find their bathroom, including toilet seat was flooded. Unable to answer nature’s call, they hoped to reach office and fulfill that duty. But soon they also were asked by their management to stay home. Finally after few phone calls with their other buddies, they realized our apartment was the only one higher than ground level, so probably with an un-flooded bathroom.

As Dev beat Kunal in the race to the bathroom (and Kunal started to beat the bathroom door loudly), Preeti whispered to Rahul “What is this? Is this a public rest room or an apartment? People come here to relieve themselves?”

Rahul calmly responded “Sweetie, they are friends….. wont you feel proud of me that I am helping friends when they need me most?”

Preeti seemed to calm down with that. I asked Kunal what was in their backpack. He explained it had 2 packets of biscuits, a dozen eggs, another packet of maggie noodles, 5.5 liters drinking water and spare clothing. Everything they thought was necessary to survive the flood.

Preeti again whispered angrily “So this apartment is going to be a relief camp now?”

Rahul started to explain “Sweetie, this is why you love me so much, you always appreciate how caring I am….”

But Preeti cut him short. “I am really proud that you are helping all your friends and all the needy people. But even your girl friend needs some help. Please arrange some way for me to return to the railway station as soon as possible, there is nothing else possible here”.

And that's when Kunal mentioned “No use. All trains n flights cancelled”.

Kunal was supposed to go to his hometown on the next day. He had a ticket booked for Friday evening. Since office was cancelled, he had called his travel agent to find if his ticket can be rescheduled to an earlier day. That’s how he came to know from his agent, all flights and trains from Chennai were cancelled till the next day due to the rain and flood. Apparently all railway tracks and airport runways were submerged. Preeti got devastated by this news. Was it due to the fear of getting caught by her Mom about her secret Chennai adventure? Or was it due to the thought of spending 2 days in this small apartment with all 4 of us? I wasn’t sure.

But I tried to cheer her up “think positive, instead of a half day date, you are getting an extended weekend date with Rahul” I explained.

She didn’t seem to see the bright side of it. Rather she looked in a disgusted way to Rahul as Kunal started relieving himself in the bathroom with sound effects comparable to Dolby digital systems.

“What kind of uncivilized friends do you have!” observed Preeti.

Rahul went defensive “Actually, he is not my friend. He is Govind’s friend.”

It was my chance to speak up. I explained it might have been un civilized if Kunal made that sound effect sitting in this room, but think of it, he is doing that in the toilet. Anybody, even Rahul can do like that in toilet, especially after a long wait.

Preeti looked at Rahul with utter shock & disbelief “You! You also….” She went speechless.

Rahul again gave me a stern look and signaled me to stay quiet. “No baby, how can you think of me like that? Have I ever made any loud sound ever, even from my voice? You always say I am so gentle, I can never shout at anyone”.

The rest, as they say, was history. It was one of the worst north eastern monsoon which hit Chennai that decade.  The rain continued till the afternoon, but the effect stayed for days. Trains and flights resumed after 2 days. some parts of the city stayed flooded even for a week. Many relief camps were set up by the government, yet hundreds died from diseases as well as stampede at the relief centers. For us, we were trapped indoor for 2 days. We five human beings some how managed to survive in that 12 by 12 bedroom (considering the living room was flooded via broken window) with only 2 beds. I spent most of these days playing cards with Kunal & Dev. Occasionally Dev entertained us with his singing. Outside streets were also flooded so we couldn’t get additional food. We survived on our limited ration of water, Maggie noodles, boiled eggs and biscuits for these 2 days. Much to disgust of Preeti, Kunal kept slurping while eating and burping after eating (in addition to his other infamous sound effects) for most of these 2 days. Her other shock was the fact Rahul himself snored (along with Kunal off course) very loudly. Apparently she never slept these 2 days due to the combined snoring from these 2 guys. It was uneasy for her to spend 2 days in a room full of 4 guys, 3 of them unknown to her. More discomforting was the number of lies she had to tell her mother. Thursday evening she called her to inform she has reached home from picnic. Friday morning she called again to say she woke up late so she will directly go to college and return home after that. Friday evening she again informed that she has to stay back on pretext of group study for a class-test on Saturday. Finally the flooding receded in our area by Friday evening, and Rahul was able to arrange a bus ticket for Saturday morning. But unfortunately, her cover was blown as her protective mother had to ensure she is well nourished before the class-test. She had rushed over to her friend Kaveri's home on Saturday morning with ample snacks and food only to find her daughter not present there! After checking at the college (where Preeti was absent since Thursday) she panicked and tried calling Preeti. She was on her way back to Bangalore and thus her phone was outside network coverage, so they couldn’t talk. Completely shattered and terrified, she reported to the Police about her missing daughter suspecting a potential kidnapping. You all can very well imagine the welcome Preeti received upon her return!

 

That reaction, coupled with her disillusionment about Rahul’s “cheap” lifestyle, his “disgusting” friends, "huge" appetite for food and snoring habits caused the romantic relation to come to a premature end. Contrary to what we were accustomed to seeing in Bollywood movies, in real life, rain didn’t enhance romance. Not the least for Rahul. As the city mourned the lives and property lost in the flood, Rahul too mourned the romance of his life which got washed away in it.