THE GIRL WITH THE MEMORIAL TATTOOS

Chapter 8 THE SOCIAL NIGHT

I 

n the evening, Surya was waiting for Andria near the Hostel gate. It was around 8 pm. She came after an hour. She was wearing a single piece sleeveless bedazzling black dress, extending up to an inch above the knee. 

‘Why are you so late?’ 

‘Sorry! I got busy with some work. Anyhow the dance starts around 9 pm’.  

‘You should have told, right?’ Surya asked angrily. 

‘I thought you know. Even I was going for the first time to the place’. She shrugged. 

They headed toward Over the Moon Restaurant. She went ahead, while he was parking the bike, promising him that she would meet in the restaurant. He parked his bike in parking slot while she took the lift in cellar. She was shocked which floor she had to go as it was her first time in that restaurant and clicked on the lift buttons. Nothing worked. The lights turned off. She started sweating a lot, with her heart rate increasing with slight chest pain, her hands began to tremor. She had this problem since childhood. These episodes occur occasionally. Exact trigger of the attack was either enclosed or dark places. She almost collapsed on the floor. She groped for a Propranolol tablet that she kept in her purse, which would be helpful in such a moment. She took it for her relief and the episode subsided. Again, the lights turned on and the lift took her automatically to the 8th floor. When she entered into the restaurant, it was fully occupied by so many people. At the center, there was bar counter, around a huge round wide pillar on which the Menu of the available beverages was written. She was already sweaty with that Black sleeveless dress and looked grotesque in that whole place. She looked for Surya. As he was not there, she shifted to a table nearby a social dance performance. A young guy in his formals and with charming look invited her for a dance. She accepted his invitation and involved in the dance. In the meantime, Surya came to that place, he couldn’t find her so he shifted his focus onto the Beers. But it was so difficult to read the Menu over the wide round pillar as half of the letters were on the other side of the pillar. Surya helplessly revolved around the pillar to read the menu. He looked like a lost kid in a procession. His favorite was Apple Cider. He asked the Bartender ‘One Apple Cider please’. ‘Sorry Sir, it’s not available this time’. 

Now Surya was confused about what he had to take. He saw two guys drinking freshly brewed beer over the counter. It’s creamy color looked like pineapple juice except the plenty of froth over the surface which confirmed it was beer. Another Bartender was serving that beer to those guys. Surya tempted to drink that. He asked, ‘What was it? Draught Beer?’ ‘Yes sir! Do you want?’ 

‘Yeah, please give me one’, he said and hoped that beer would calm him a bit. 

‘Small, Medium or Large?’ 

Surya didn’t hear properly but felt weird to ask again. 

‘Give me anything’. Surya told so naively as he was confused. 

Bartender gave a pitiful look as if Surya had been first time for any Pub. He took a tiny glass and was about to pour the freshly brewed Beer coming right away from the pipeline controlled by a tap. Surya wondered why was he giving so less quantity and argued with the Bartender  

‘No no! What are you giving in that?’ He annoyingly pointed out to mini glass which might have a capacity of 50 ml. 

‘Relax Sir! Just taste it’. He held the mini glass toward Surya.  

‘Hmm… good. Give me medium’ Bartender pointed big jug as he couldn’t hear properly what Surya said in the midst of loud noise. 

Surya anxiously said, ‘No no… that one’ he pointed to 500 ml mug wondering what he would do with a jug of Pitcher. 

When he was tasting the Beer, Andria came. ‘What are you doing here? Come on!’  

Surya was embarrassed to answer as he completely forgot about her and followed her to the social dance. 

Surya somehow settled with her at a table. But he was so nervous with the series of events happened. Spanish songs were playing on the background. So many couples were stepping to their moves in sync with the music. Andria was dancing with random guys on their invitation. One of the guys was so intriguing for Surya. He was a tall fair guy with some sort of innocence in his face, with a disproportionate body as if all the fat in his body was shifted to his waist. Good thing about that guy was that he wouldn’t allow his imperfect appearance affect his confidence. It’s what you call beauty inside. Surya was reminded of the movie ‘The Beautiful Mind’ in which the hero was a schizophrenic but still had a good heart. 

Surya lost in his thoughts. His experience with this adventure club, the memories made with his new friends, the dance, the trek, the night hangouts, the passion of exploring new places meeting new people felt so surreal. It’s a kind of escape from his family. These people who he was travelling are not judgmental. They accepted the way he was. They have no expectations and are least bothered about reforming him. He recalled Neha, Bharat, Chakradhar, and Sudheer. It was a pleasant time chilling with beer and girls. It’s so different from his stressful life in Hyderabad. His family was so judgmental with an ultimate goal to reform him. Surya himself felt so perfect but the way people judged him with trivial incidents and controversies dismayed him.  

Recently, he involved in a trap of a girl, his subordinate. She initiated the conversation, asked for his i********:. Surya started texting with her. She asked about the girls he was hanging out. She had rivalry with one girl who he hung out with. She told negatively about the girl that she stole her phone. She asked why he hadn’t got married instead of hanging out with girls. He felt offensive. What right did she have to poke on his personal life? Being frustrated, he texted that ‘Marriage takes time. I am having an active social life so that I don’t get desperate with girls. If I get desperate ultimately you intern will suffer’. And that girl took a screenshot of that and showed it to the HOD. He called her parents and told badly against him.  

His life changed ever since. His parents were constantly nagging about the incident and started policing him. He was grounded at his home and wasn’t allowed to hang out with his friends on weekends as his friends are outside his profession. What was the logic in not meeting with his non-medico friends and especially girls? If he was more restrained, he would be more frustrated and text to girls in social media to compensate for emptiness. Ultimately texting girls would lead to every problem similar to what he was having then.  

There was so much tension with his family. One day he was having a driving test. His day began badly. When he drove his car out of his home in reverse gear, he hadn’t opened the gate completely. So, he got stuck in the middle. He absentmindedly drove the car out. The front bumper was damaged by crashing with the gate while he was gyrating the wheels. It felt like a bad omen. He had that thought constantly nagging in his mind. He was so worried what his parents would say. He didn’t know how to cope up with such mental t*****e. Somehow, he convinced himself that he would get his car repaired after the driving test and things would be the way it was before. It would cost him but it’s a lot better than constant nagging of his mother. When he reached the RTA office, he got a call from his mother arguing about the incident. Surya thought his mother hadn’t see and all those incidents would go unnoticed. But once he got the call from his mother, he had felt so much guilty and shame. He had to give a driving test too at the moment. When he was about to give his test, he got a message from his brother to delete a w******p status. It was regarding the before day’s Salsa event he had been with his friends. He put a hashtag ‘Love Salsa’. His brother wanted to remove it as it would show people that he had been enjoying with girls and wouldn’t get married. That irritated him so badly. He went into a rivalry with him the moment through texting. It affected his level of attention and concentration. He wondered how he would perform his driving test. He was waiting in the line for his turn. He observed previously how to do it by watching others doing it. His turn came eventually. He steadily and slowly, in the first gear finished the patterns of 8 and H. He passed the test fortunately. When he came home, he had been involved in a hot argument with his brother and had never talked with him since then. 

Surya knew few basics of Salsa but would never be sufficient to give a performance confidently with a girl. And Salsa gave somewhat bad memories with his family though he loved the art. So, he kept watching other guys doing Salsa especially Andria and her random partners. At one moment he saw those guys touching her waist holding her closer. Surya teleported himself to being with her, dancing together instead of that guy. He felt so jealous that he wanted to stop the guy but it would have created a scene. So, he refrained his urge of smashing the fellow. 

Soon, a lady sat opposite to him on a chair. She looked so tired after dancing a lot. But still she was getting invitations to dance and she continued dancing with jest. Surya was sitting alone while she initiated the conversation.  

‘What is so motivating to you? The dance or the girls?’ She winked.  

Surya became alert.  His own thoughts were drowning him.  That soft but confident voice was so relieving for him. He looked at her face. She looked beautiful with sleeveless shirt exposing her waist and torn jeans. She was tall and attractive. Surya winked, ‘Yeah! Obviously, girls’. 

‘You know what? You truly enjoy when you do the dance instead of watching these girls’. 

‘Never agree with anything else more. I was kidding before actually’. 

‘Come on. Let’s do!’ She passed her hand as an invitation for dance with a gentle smile and told whimsically’ you don’t learn by sitting and watching.’ 

Surya was thrilled to dance with her. It’s the first time had ever done Salsa with a partner. Kind of nervous but still excited. She held her hands in semi-flexed and prone position and placed her palms over his hands which was in semi-flexed but supine position. Surya began dancing to her cues. 

‘Front’ the lady was tutoring. Surya was dancing one step forward and one step back complementary to her moves. 

‘Side! Left… in place! Right… in place’. 

‘Back! Left… in place! Right… in place’. 

Shift your weight along with move’. 

Surya was enjoying dance with her. She was smiling gently with proper eye contact. So surreal and impressed with the lady’s confidence. ‘You are doing pretty well as a beginner. Just keep practicing’. These words boosted the spirit of Surya. 

He later sat on the chair being tired, facing the woman. She asked out of curiosity ‘What do you do?’ 

‘I am a General Surgeon. What about you?’ 

‘Oohhoo! General Surgeon! Even my father was General Surgeon. I am a lawyer for last 28 years’. 

Surya shocked, drank a glass of water and responded a moment later relieving from the effect it made on him ‘So you might have started your practice since you are 2 years old’ winked Surya. 

The lady laughed and told, ‘Not 2 but 22’. 

Surya was calculating her age on an imaginary abacus as if he was solving some IIT problem. ‘So, your age is 50 years!’ Surya exclaimed. She looked like she was in her 30s. 

‘How do you know Andria?’ she asked inquisitively 

‘I just met her few days back’ still absorbed in the shock. 

He looked at Andria dancing on the dance floor. She was like a dish of butter garlic lobster everyone craved, but only few could afford. 

‘You don’t even know her much and you have been hanging out with her. You know what?’, she came closer and whispered into his ears. ‘You are an easy target for terrorists’ mocked him with laughter. 

‘Yeah I know. I felt a sort of thrill having s*x with a terrorist. My mind is ticking like a time bomb every time I see her. She might have inserted a timebomb indeed’, he winked. 

‘By the way I am Raavi D’cruz’, she shook her hands with him. ‘You did it! You are so fast. You don’t look so’. 

‘Hello Madam! Don’t judge a book by its cover’.  

‘I am intrigued to ask you one thing’. 

‘Yeah. Shoot!’ ‘Is that love or l**t?’ 

‘I am not sure. I feel timeless with her company.’. Surya laughed and had a glance on Andria. She was so involved in dancing with some guy. It felt so beautiful to look at her smile but sensed some trouble behind it. Surya had the feeling that whoever he would get closer would leave him eventually. So, he developed this attitude of living in the moment, love unconditionally and expect nothing. As he was gazing at her she threw a glance at him. By then she finished her dance with her partner and gave a ‘high five’. She gestured to him to come up for dance. Surya hesitated initially but wanted to give a try. ‘You can’t learn by just sitting and watching’. He mustered all his courage and paired up with her. She took his left hand and gently let it land on her waist while other hand on her palm. He slowly got involved with the moment. He was dancing rhythmically to music with her, following her cues, spinning her with the rhythm of music. He forgot everything else. It didn’t matter even if the world ends up at that moment. 

Surya felt like spending some more time with her. While they were leaving, Surya had seen Raavi who involved in a dance with a guy. He looked over his shoulder and bid bye. She gave a gentle smile being involved in her dance. 

‘I hope you didn’t get bored. I don’t know you are such a good dancer’, Andria told apologetically. 

‘Thank you. I was not bored. The old woman gave good company’. 

‘Which old woman? Raavi? She is so beautiful, right?’  

Surya still struck by her presence, her charm and her looks. ‘Yeah, she is 50!’ Surya exclaimed. 

‘OMG! 50! I can’t believe it’.  

‘I felt jealous with those guys who danced with you’ She winked. 

She laughed and playfully hit her head on shoulders and placed it there. She looked haughtily and smiled pleasantly. 

Chatting with her was increasingly relaxing and devoid of anxiety. He could survive being a general surgeon and having her as his girlfriend. He was staring somewhere contemplating deeply. ‘What?’ She broke into his thoughts. ‘Nothing. I am imagining how you would be looking at your 50. More precisely how many teeth do you have?’ Surya bared his teeth widely like Hyena! 

Andria opened her mouth wide in exclamation, made her eyes widened and slapped his wrist with pretended anger. 

Raavi was watching them until Surya disappeared followed by Andria.