Haar ki jeet?

Jeet stood at the ticket counter. He pushed against the wall, as far under the sunshade as possible. The rain had formed a puddle on the uneven cement floor in front of him. He hated getting wet. The entrance to the cinema was around the corner, and he had to step out into the rain to get there. He looked at the time - 10 more minutes. Oh well...he might as well wait. They'd reel out all those ads and trailers anyway.

He first saw the girl. She rushed to the counter, and was disappointed to see nobody behind it. She turned to look at her boyfriend, who came running behind her. “What happened?” “Looks like it’s all sold out,” The girl moaned.

The guy ran a hand through his wet hair and looked around. “Shit, what do we do now?” He rubbed his palms together, beginning to shiver now.

Jeet clenched the single ticket in his palm and opened his mouth to speak. He had seen the movie before, and was here to kill time. This could be a good opportunity to get rid of the ticket. But...they were two, and he had just one ticket.

As if reading his mind, the girl looked at him. There were water droplets on her glasses, but she didn’t seem to mind it much. Probably used to it.

She squinted her eyes against the rain and murmured something to the boyfriend. Then she turned to Jeet.

“Excuse me, has the movie started yet?” That question actually was a hidden answer to a lot of other questions one would ask, coming to a theater like this. Old and unpopular, this cinema hall was the last place one would come to, but the movie was a smashing hit, and had also won critical acclaim. Being in a small town, the ticket rates were pretty low too. But as far as the regular works went, but for the small placard-like poster outside the gate, you could easily mistake it to be an abandoned structure. There were no show-timings on display, no grand gates, and no snack vendors inside the premises. Bottom-line, the movie was solely at the mercy of the single proprietor who ran it. He might start the movie any time he wanted. Or he might not.

Jeet answered her question with another – “Uh, do you guys want tickets?” She nodded. Jeet held out his crumpled ticket and smiled sheepishly. "I have just one."

The couple hesitated, unsure whether to term him stupid or generous. They were two of them, and this guy showed off his single ticket like he had an entire row in his palm. They conferred in hushed tones once again, the guy protesting every minute or so, and the girl trying to persuade him.

Then they turned to him. The girl stepped forward. “We’ll take it. How much?”

Jeet was about to talk about the arithmetic of number of tickets versus the number of people here, etc, but before he knew it, she’d grabbed it from his hand and stuffed the ticket fee in his hand.

He watched puzzled as the guy hugged her, and then quickly ran inside, throwing one last ‘thanks dude’ at him and blowing a kiss at her. Jeet was about to raise his hand, but didn’t; he just smiled back weakly.

“Thanks,” She said, smiling and pushing back a strand of hair from over her glasses. He just smiled back.

They waited for the rain to stop. She had a thick jacket on, but somehow the fact that she was alone now, made her cautious of the rain all of a sudden. He watched her as she collected the small drops in her hand, and smiled unknowingly. She suddenly turned to him, and he didn't know what to do. He turned away hastily, smiling nervously and looked at his watch, and then back at the rain. He didn't see her smiling back.

She continued playing with the water. He slowly turned to see. She was cute. And he liked girls with glasses. For some strange reason, he found them very sensuous. But he pinched himself and returned to reality. Maybe she needed a drop some place. But he was still curious why she agreed to take the single ticket. Why wouldn't she go in with him? And what kind of boyfriend left his girlfriend standing in the rain...for a movie? Weird. Maybe she didn't like the movie so much. But still...

“Uh…excuse me,” He said finally, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Umm...didn't you also want to...?"

“I know,” she said cutting him off. “It's ok if I didn't watch it. But he...he would give his right hand for this movie." Jeet couldn't believe she was saying this. She looked at his expression and laughed. "His favorite movie. And I didn’t want him to miss it.”

Jeet nodded, a little taken aback. Wow, what a girlfriend. Do they make those kinds these days?

They were silent for a while. It was her turn now. “We drove all the way from Bangalore, just so we could catch this movie here. You won’t get tickets back there, not for another week at least. We had other friends wanting to come with us, but...”, she shrugged. "They had other plans at the last minute. So - just the two of us.."

Jeet nodded. “So…do you have relatives here, somewhere you could go to? The movie’s gonna be about 2.5 hours, you know. You want to get dropped someplace?” He sounded concerned.

“Nah, don’t know anybody here.” There was an uncomfortable pause. “What about you? I'm sure you didn’t come to this hall only to give away your ticket. You didn’t want to watch it?”

“Oh, I’ve seen it once. Actually I'm also from Bangalore. I came for a family ceremony. Representing my parents actually. Didn't want to come in the first place, but you know how it is, right? Obligation and all...?"

She smiled, nodding in agreement.

"...And I thought of killing some time. A couple of other folks went relative-visiting. Wasn't interested. So...” He stopped mid-way, and looked at her.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" She said. The rain had stopped now, and they were still standing there.

He pursed his lips. "Um..don't know - maybe just head back to Bangalore. You?"

Umm...I think I"ll just head over to that cyber-cafe there. Facebook, chat..you know. Time pass." She giggled. He chuckled and nodded.

Then he suddenly remembered they'd not even introduced themselves. He extended his hand. "Hey...I'm Jeet."

"Oh," She laughed and shook his hand, perhaps remembering the same thing. "Mala."

"Hi," They said it together, and again laughed.

An awkward moment later...

"Ok then..I think I better go," Jeet said and turned to leave."

She managed a short ‘bye," and then "hey, thanks so much."

He just waved it away.

She was still standing there looking bored when drove out of the gates. He wondered what she'd do for 2.5 hours now? Well, it was her problem. She was cute, though. He shrugged and drove away.


********


Mala walked out of the cyber-café just in time to reach the theatre. People were slowly milling out. She spotted him and waved.

“So, how was it?” She asked as they walked to their car.

“Awesome,” he said, grinning. “Thanks, Didi. But…what did you do? I was kind of worried…”

“Oh, it’s ok. I went online like I told you, and chatted up with a friend.”

“Ok, cool. And what happened to the ‘crumpled ticket’?" He chuckled.

“Hey! Go easy on him, ok? His name's Jeet."

"Ooooh..Jeet. Proper intro' and all, huh? " He ribbed.

"Shut up. And, you should be thanking him," she said getting into the car. "But he left soon after.” She pulled the car out onto the main road.

“Hmmm, what a pity. I thought you guys would go out for a coffee or something. How come he didn't ask you? Your glasses put him off, huh - Nerd? ” He ribbed her and laughed.

"Shut up.”

"But don't tell me you guys just stood there and spoke nonsense, di, come on..." He protested.

"Arre..it doesn't always happen that way, Bittu. Our age group is different. Not like you guys - fataafat intro and then disco. And who knows, maybe he's already committed, you know?"

"Yeah, right. Or maybe he thought I was your boyfriend," Bittu said laughing again.

She mock punched him. "Aye...Behave now."

Then she turned silent. "Actually...he could've thought that."

Bittu was physically bigger, though almost six years younger to her. And she did look a few years younger. It had happened before. And his stubble made him look a couple of years older. Funny, it never struck her.

Maybe she should've mentioned that Bittu was her brother. He was a cute guy actually. Nice too.

Oh well..destiny.


********

Jeet parked his car outside and ran into the Theater compound, he was looking around when one of the employees walked upto him.

"What are you looking for, sir?"

"I think I dropped my two-wheeler key here somewhere." He'd carried along his bike's key as well in the morning and must've dropped it when he pulled out his car keys.

"Oh, ok," Said the employee.

"Why, did you find something?" Jeet asked.

"No..nothing. It's not a key." Then hesitating, the guy pulled out a wallet and rambled on about how easy it was for people to just lose things, and how easily the blame came on them, and so on.

Jeet was a little irritated. "So, call him or something na? There must be some document inside - his driver's license.."

"Is this it?" The employee pulled out a small plastic card with a stamp-sized picture on it. Jeet took it from him and read the name. "Bharath Sippy." And then he saw the picture.

It was Mala's boyfriend. Shit.

"What time did the movie end?" He asked.

"Just now sir, about 15 minutes ago. Why sir, you know him?"

"Uh..yes. Yes..I..actually we'd come together for the movie. Umm, give, I"ll give it to him." Jeet asked for the wallet.

"See, sir..I'm giving this to you out of trust..." The man started again.

"Yeah, I understand. Trust me, I know him."

"Then it's ok."

Jeet also saw a business card in the wallet. There were seven to eight of the same, so it meant he was the guy. No harm in trying. He dialled the cell phone number in it.

********

"Bittu, your phone's ringing, " Mala said. Bittu was napping. He woke up with a start. "Huh?"

"Your phone."

He looked at the unknown number and frowned before answering.

"Hello? Yeah? Yeah, Bharath....oh, hi. Hey, thanks man..how did you..Oh shit. Really?" He searched his back pocket. "Shit..yes. Hey, thanks man. Yeah, no ..we're just nearing Srirangapatna. Ok..you will? Hey I hope it's not too much of a bother. Ok..no, we're not in a hurry. I'll wait here outside the town." He chuckled. "Hey, thanks again, dude."

He hung up. Mala looked at him quizzically.

"So..Mala madam. Do you believe in destiny?"

"What happened, who was it?"

"I'd dropped my wallet in the theater compound." he smiled.

"You irresponsible idiot," She chided.

"And guess who found it?"

"Who?" She looked at him and then at the road again.

"Crumpled ticket? Remember?" He chuckled and then laughed.

"You're kidding me."

He continued laughing. "I'm telling you. He's on his way now. Just pull up there na, near that dhaaba?"

She pulled over and turned to her brother.

Bittu looked at her sternly. "And now, Ms. Mala...please don't put on your nerd act again, ok?"

She mock punched him again and feigned anger, "Shut up, you..." Then they both burst out laughing.

*********