"Research Lab", announced the blue rectangular board fixed at the middle of the glass door. The block letters were painted in bold white. The entire corridor was dark except for the computer lab illuminated brightly with the hexagonal lights attached to the ceiling." No, you find some other guide. Dr.Alok will mentor only our team", argued a guy as his four other teammates nodded along. The other gang of three guys standing opposite them opposed him, "You are wrong. The professor had published his thesis at the University of Michigan on a similar topic we are working on. So, you better back off. He will prefer us over you..."
The lab's door creaked a little as Dr.Alok entered. He looked like a great personality in his black coat on a light green shirt inserted into his black formal pants. He gave a royal smile at the two teams as he walked like a boss. His tiny eyes seen through the round spectacles with a thick black frame made his golden face shine to compete with the evening star. He looked handsome and intellectual; an all-rounder indeed!
"Good evening sir!", wished both the teams as they bowed and rushed with their laptops to surround him like goons surrounding the hero to attack him. "Sir, our project uses the YOLO algorithm to detect defects in printed circuit boards....", began the gang of three displaying the first slide of their presentation. "Sir, you will find our project more interesting as it coincides with your major research work. It's about recognizing criminal activities in public and immediately intimating the nearest police station. It also uses the core concepts of DSA...", interrupted the other gang of five.
As the two groups went on simultaneously, Alok chuckled, shouting, "Stop!"The enraged groups enlarged their eyes at each other. "Sexy! Both of you are fighting for me. It's the first time I'm seeing someone fight the Battle of Buxar for me!..."
His eyes were stuck on the first row of computers. He recollected Nisha back during his college days-the evening she kissed his cheek in a silent corner of the ground floor. She held his cheeks in her hand and sobbed, "Alok saar, I can't see you becoming someone else's. I love you very much, Alok...When the student securing the highest in the class bags the first rank, why can't love be graded? If I love you a ninety-eight percent, Payal wouldn't be loving you more than seventy percent. So, whom should you choose, Alok?Whom?...". She sat down in front of him and wept bitterly.
Coming back to the present, the professor sighed and smiled to himself, "Why are you always there, Nisha medam? Yes, I must have chosen you...But, I realized it too late...I regret my foolish decision...I am sorry I also made your life miserable..."He patted the leader of the two teams, convincing them, "Guys, I will guide both of you."The two gangs smiled at each other and nodded as Dr.Alok continued, "I am the head of the research for Computer Science here. I have been invited and employed by your prestigious university to help all the teams and not just pick my favorite and omit the rest!"
His students laughed sarcastically as he looked around at the sparse population in the lab. He nodded and decided, "I want more and more young researchers to join our team. We must encourage girls especially."They nodded as he took his seat on the rolling chair beside and gestured for the others to settle down in the front rows. The team of three introduced themselves, "Sir, we are working on this project for an upcoming hackathon. It's an haute theme as well."The other team joined, "We are Masters students doing it as a part of our thesis." Alok congratulated them and concluded with a tip, "Guys, keep going. A small tip with which I would like to begin my duty is that a researcher must always have a daily goal and must accomplish it no matter what comes their way. Got it?"As they nodded, he asked the team of Masters to explain their work.
Meanwhile, at the Shri Ram's temple, an anxious Usha sat outside the bhajan hall. The other ladies went inside smiling and excited for their evening prayer. "Prasad?", asked the sweet Sandhya as she sat beside Usha and offered her a small brown paper bowl having hot and cooked green grams. She denied. However, Sandhya insisted, "Usha Ji, its god's gift for us, his devotees. You aren't supposed to refuse it. Taste it's nice!"
Usha chuckled widely as she nodded and took it. As she began eating, Sandhya enquired, "What happened to my friend today? Why are you dull?"Usha shook her head at which Sandhya consoled, "You can share with me if anything is bothering you. Aren't we friends now?"The scene of Dr.Alok getting out of his car flashed in her mind. She smiled to herself remembering how he took a stand for the right, arguing with Aashitha to cut her hand, in the chaos that happened outside the temple, the previous night. She remembered how he caught Nisha's hand like a hero and raised his voice in public.
"I feel proud of you, beta", thought she. Sandhya clapped gently and interrupted her, "Are you happy or sad, Usha Ji?"Usha nodded, replying, "A mixture of both, Sandhya Ji."
"Om Jaya Jagadeesha Hare....", began the prayer from inside the hall. "Oh! We will get late. The bhajans started earlier today. There are five more minutes left.", informed Sandhya as she stood up and peeped inside. Usha too stood up and interrogated her, "The guy who fought yesterday for that girl..."
"Usha Ji, who that girl? She is my beloved daughter, Nisha Verma!", smiled and corrected Sandhya. She further added, "I wanted to introduce her to you but where did you disappear suddenly last night? I lost you after we went outside the temple?..."
"I was freaked by the chaos. So, I ran back home. I stay close", justified the jovial Usha. Sandhya grinned and returned to the point, "Yes, so what about that guy? Do you know him?..."
"I am his...", she was about to reveal that she stopped and lied, "He spoke bravely. I am glad that humanity exists in the competitive and busy world..."
Sandhya smiled and revealed, "He and Nisha were classmates back in college. My daughter says that he is a very nice and calm gentleman. He is Dr.Alok Sharma, one of the best researchers in India, and was invited by the Rishi University of Delhi particularly to carry out and improvise their research. He is a great professor too...."As she went on, Usha smiled happily and swallowed her excitement at her son's success."Wow! Is he so famous now?", interrupted she. Sandhya shrugged, asking,"Why do you feel so happy for a stranger, Usha Ji?"She patted her, complimenting, "You are very sweet. People would generally feel jealous hearing success stories but you are unique. Glad to meet you, friend!"
"Oye! Aren't you done gossipping yet? Join us quickly!", squealed the widowed leader lady, as her wrinkled face frowned at Usha and Sandhya. Sandhya bulged her eyes at Usha and signed her to come inside. As Usha nodded, Sandhya hurried inside, apologizing to the leader lady who faked a smile and resumed playing her tambura.
Tears flooded Usha's eyes and she swallowed them as she recapped feeding young Alok of twenty with yummy aloo pooris with channa masala. She sighed and faked a smile as she looked around, cursing," Bloody Payal! She partitioned my family like that of India and Pakistan in 1947. How did you fall for such a wretched woman? Is that what I taught you as I raised you, beta?... Will I ever see you, talk to you and feed you lunch again?" Anyway, she wiped her tears and left inside. She sat down beside Sandhya, joined her hands, and closed her eyes. Sandhya shrugged at her and doubted her to be hiding something about Alok.
"Yes, mom. Yeah, I left. I will be back home in another half-an-hour", said Nisha, hanging up and throwing her phone on the slang as she drove. It was already eight that night. She took a left turn to enter a street that had nothing but the milky crescent moon smiling at her from the sky and the street lights shining bright enough to portray the road. Her car suddenly stopped. She bulged her eyes as she turned the key and attempted to start the engine over and over.
"Shit!", cried she, hitting the steering wheel. She opened the door and stepped outside. She looked pretty in her plain dark blue round-necked T-shirt with a small circular crevice beside the neck. She looked chic with the light red lipstick and dark black kajal around her eyes. The make-up suited her light brown skin quite well. She looked around to find none. She opened the car's hoods and looked inside with the bright flashlight from her smartphone. "No idea!Looks like the radiators got heated up again", diagnosed she, closing it roughly.
She turned behind and was alarmed by the thin young guy with hair like cabbage on his head. He smiled at her as he scratched his head. She checked him out and shrugged, asking, "What do you want?"He nodded and extended his hand. She stepped backward as he narrated, "Look at my hand. I can read it...Extend yours. I can read it too..."
Dr.Alok coincidentally passed by the street but went straight in his car. "Wait! What was happening there?", wondered he. He reversed his car and peeped into the street. He looked through his window and closed his right fist at the mad fellow trying to catch Nisha's palm. Nisha hid her hands behind herself as she walked backward to leave the street. She shrank her eyes to give him a look of disgust. The man whom she had always loved, was about to rush toward her when a man around their age, in a red turban, and a metallic bracelet in his hairy right hand, drove his black jeep inside. The stranger was fair with a thick beard covering his face. He wore a dark pink shirt inserted into blue pants.
He stopped beside Nisha and got out. He gestured for the mad fellow to go away. He pushed the creep to the ground. The mad then sobbed and ran away. "He was so creepy!Yuck!", commented Nisha. Raftaar nodded and smiled at her. He revealed, "It's not his fault though. The guy is a semi-crack. He stalks pretty young or middle-aged ladies like you going alone in the street at night."Nisha made a sad face as the creep was busy sobbing and running to the other end of the street. Dr.Alok shrugged watching them secretly from his car. "Who the hell is he?", thought Alok.
They shook hands as Raftaar introduced himself, "By the way, hello, I am Raftaar, marketing manager at Lily Shampoos. And you?"Nisha nodded and introduced herself as a senior software engineer at George Healthcare Solutions. "Calling a stranger girl pretty late night, aren't you a creep as well?", remarked Nisha, grinning along. He chuckled, shaking his head along and defending himself, "Oh Nisha, how are we strangers now? Didn't we just introduce ourselves?"
He leaned back on his jeep and blushed a bit, continuing, "What's wrong in calling a woman pretty? They ought to like it..Isn't it a nice way to begin a new friendship?"He extended his right hand at her. Nisha chuckled and shrugged while Alok applied all his force and pressed the steering hard. He frowned at them as he watched them from his car hiding behind the tree.
"Raftaar, why should I talk to you?Thanks for helping me and that's it!", commented the curious Nisha, looking back at her non-functioning car.
"So that I drop you!", replied the fun-loving Raftaar, laughing along. Nisha looked around and slammed her forehead, "Oops! I didn't even think about it."They shook hands and Alok breathed hard from far." No! I can't lose her again after twenty-eight years", decided he, horning his car as he drove into the street. Raftaar and Nisha turned at them as he got down from his car and jogged, waving at her.
Alok stared at her stationary car as she blushed and waved back. "Sexy! Shall I drop you, Nisha?", offered he, at which her smile narrowed.
"Oh wow! This guy is the creepiest this night. He just called you sexy...Ain't I better?", interrupted Raftaar, laughing along.
"It's his slang", informed Nisha, frowning at Alok and reminding him, "Drop your wife, Payal. How can I exercise her rights? What's wrong with you?"She was about to leave when he caught her hand and pulled her toward him. She stumbled on the speed breaker beside and fell upon him. His hands were firm around her waist and hers on his shoulders. She breathed hard as their eyeballs rolled hither and thither at each other. She frowned again and stood up.
She raced to open the jeep's door and sat inside as Alok gazed with his meek and hesitant cute eyes."Oh! This is what people call show don't tell. Haha! Now I get it!", exclaimed Raftaar, as he waved at Alok and sat in the driver's seat. The jeep raced, leaving the blank Alok behind. "Nisha, no!Listen!", cried the professor, chasing it for a minute while Nisha frowned at him through the side-view mirror.
