Chapter 9: Just Sidding!

It was late afternoon when Ameya was discharged. He wanted to meet Koli and ask her if she knew more about his accident. Just then his phone rang. It was Vineeta.

 

‘Hi Ameya. I hope you are feeling better. Koli madam wants to speak to you. Ameya didn’t know if he could broach the subject on the phone.

‘Hello Ameya. Feeling better?’

‘Yes madam. I am being discharged today.’

‘Yes, I know. You take good rest for two weeks. We’ll talk when you return. Take care. Thank you.’

The line went dead. Ameya had a sticking feeling. Till now Koli wasn’t allowing him to work and now finally when he had gotten around to earning her favour, this accident put the brakes on his plans. Something was always stopping him, He wondered if he should inform Rajesh. He decided to email him and ask for more time to furnish the report.

 

At home, his parents had prepared for his discharge. His bedroom was as pristine as the hospital room, courtesy his mother.

‘Amu, Siddharth called today. He is coming to Bombay. He wanted to check out the colleges.’

Siddharth was Ameya’s cousin in his mom’s side. He and Ameya spent many summer holidays together at his home town in Nagpur. Siddharth had always been in Nagpur and wanted to do his graduation from Bombay. Ameya welcomed the idea as Siddharth was amazing company. He was of much bigger built than Ameya, which made him look like the elder one.

 

‘Does he know about the accident?’, Ameya asked, slightly concerned about inconveniencing his cousin.

‘Yes, all the more reason for him to come running here’, Madhav said. Siddharth was full of life, yet humble. He was outgoing and easy to get along with. The only problem with Siddharth according to Ameya was his lack of deep interest in anything.

 

The next day, they sat at the lunch table, expecting Siddharth anytime. Instead Ameya got a text message from Siddharth asking them to not wait up and carry on with lunch. No one was surprised. Ameya tried reading some of his BSchool texts, but as he did then, he slept off immediately.

 

At the stroke of four, the door bell rang. Ameya, through his sleep, could hear someone loudly complaining about the traffic in Bombay. He smiled, cleared his throat and said, ‘Mumbai mein rahega toh aisaich hoyega.’ The loud voice stopped short.

 

‘Ameya…’, Siddharth’s huge form crowded the doorway as he smiled widely at his cousin. His smile vanished as soon as he saw the cast.

‘My god, what happened exactly?’

 ‘Nothing…got hit by a bike. Why are you late?’

Siddharth started his animated story telling. Ameya knew this break turned out to be a blessing.

 

‘Arre, I came in a share-cab, thinking I will get off at Nerul and check out some colleges there. But the share-cab went only till Panvel, From there I took the train to Nerul. It was lunch hour so no one was there. Finally at 2pm, I got a brochure from one college and left so I could get here in time.’

 

‘In time for what?’

‘The rock concert at Andheri Sports Complex…don’t you read Mumbai Mirror?’

‘I thought you came to check out the colleges’, Madhavi said from the kitchen.

‘If colleges stayed open till 9 in the night, I will definitely check them out’, Said Siddharth with a gleaming smile.

‘Fine…go get ready…you are early though.’

‘Oh I have to go there at 6 to get the tickets.’

‘You don’t have the tickets?’

‘Of course not. I’ll go there and manage.’

‘Show is completely sold out. You have no tickets. Still, I am sure you will return at 2am in the morning having attended it fully. Classic Sid.’

‘Yeah, yeah!’, Siddharth seemed preoccupied. He searched for a marker and wrote on Ameya’s cast, ‘Mumbai rocks. Traffic sucks.’