KAALU : THE STORY

HERE IS THE STORY:


YESTERDAY

yesterday i called up kaalu to meet me.. it had been a long time that we hadn;t met.. he was busy, so was i.... no apologies there.,. he said that he was in sector 40 with someone and couldn;t meet me, he would get late in getting free.. so we decided to meet today...



TODAY


I called up kaalu at about 4 'o'clock..

"hi kaalu, kya kar rha hai kutte"

Kaalu" kuch nai yaar, lunch kar rha hoon maami k saath, tu bta"

i thought, lunch ya fir breakfast. hmmm ("_)


since i was relatively free tonight and had nothing to do related to work i said,"ghar aaja kaalu. fun karte hain. baut time ho gya mile he nai. aaj raat ka kuch plan karte hain".
I thought of having night stay, (it has been a long time since any night stay).

"ok" he said. "i;'ll be there in half an hour". (click)


i got up from my bed and went to get a shower.


I cooked myself some eggs and toast and some cold coffee.. nice breakfast.. yummy..

it was almost 5 o'clock.

i called up kaalu as he hadn;t come." aapka balance low hai. so u cannot make the call...."

SHIT.... low balance... reminder.. to get recharge...

i decided to call him from my official phone... "tringgg... trinnnngggg.... trinnnngggg triinngggg...."

no response.. What the hell... first he is late and then not picking up calls.. **beep beep**.. saala kutta.. ** BEEP BEEP** iski.. to mein… $%$#$%^%$^$^…. PHEW…


i decided to get my phone recharged till i waited for kaalu.. i drove down to the mini market and got the recharge coupon. As I was leaving the shop,i felt a slap on my back.


"kaaaluuuuuuuuuuuu", i shouted.
yes, kaalu was at the mini market., he had seen me leave the house and had followed me to the market.

"kya haal hai bhai", he said as we hugged each other.

"good yaar, teri wait karte karte mein reharge karvaane aa gya", i told him. " chal, ghar chalte hain".

i got on my bike and he followed me in his 800. we reached home. i parked the bike and asked him, the usual question :" SAMAAN LAANA HAI YA FER LE K AAYA HAI".

He said," nai, i didn;t get any samaan"

I told him,"i have some STOCK left, so don;t worry"


He said, "nai.. i don;t need any.. i have QUIT"


SILENCEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..............................................................................

i felt a chill up my spine.... I noticed that I had the door handle in my hand and the door was half open. I waited for kaalu to finish his sentence….

MORE SILENCE.........................................................



"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT???? You have done what????”, I asked.

“I have quit”, he said with a smile.

I felt the ground shaking, my legs went weak, I felt as if a thousand bullets had gone through my body, I felt as if MANN and PONDA were singing “QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART”. U know.. I FELT SICKKKKKKKKKKKKK..

“How the fuck can u quit”, I asked again.

“well its like this, I was sitting all alone on Christmas and decided to quit, and then I took a New Year’s resolution and it has been over a month now that I have QUIT.” He said.

I couldn’t believe it. KAALU of all the people. QUITTING. Just like that???

We went up to my room. I was still recovering from the shock. The guy was serious. He had really quit.

“you want a beer”, I asked. My mind was thinking maybe he has quit drinking too and I should have asked “do u want MILK???”

“ya sure”, he said. “I’ll have a beer”.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I had some Heineken lying in the fridge (old diwali present) so I brought up 2 cans and gave one to him.
I took a big gulp to ease the pain. He took a sip.

“ you know I was gonna quit drinking too”, he said after his first sip.

My beer was stuck in my throat and I felt my breakfast trying to get out of my mouth.

“QUIT DRINKING???” I asked him.
He said “ya, I was thinking about it”. He smiled.

I could not believe the person sitting in front of me. KAALU, a member of the BHORU CLUB had actually quit and was planning to go sober now? And on top of that he was smiling and saying all of this.
I would have broken his teeth there and then.

I had a distant vision of all of us having a reunion party, me, karan, nanda, jassi, mann, ponda and kaalu. We all had beers in our hands and kaalu was holding a MILK/JUICE.
What would kaalu do at our parties now? CHECK THE BILL???
KAALU WAS BECOMING A GIRL……………. (“_)


I laughed nervously at the thought and took another big gulp. We finished our beers quickly.

“listen, lets go to 17, see some chicks”, I suggested thinking that it may ease his thought process as well. “ and then we can go to HIMANI for some drinks later”. I half expected him to BITCH SLAP me.

“haan haan. Lets go” he said. THANKFULLY.

We went 17, lazed around. Roamed here and there. Say some showrooms on sale. (JASSI, pepe jeans has 40% off.) (“_)

we came to 35 and went to HIMANI’s.

HIMANI, memories flooding in. Himani, THE PUB, was our hangout ever since we had started drinking. Me and karan had discovered it way back when we were in class 12th and soon to join were nanda & Jassi. We had countless parties there, burned our precious BRAIN CELLS. It was our drinking paradise. The Blue lights, the bean bags, the same waiter greeting us since 2000. Yes, we owned this place.

Kaalu and me took a table near the big LCD screen.

“what’ll u have? Beer ??”I asked.
“beer continue karte hain”, he said. “oh and one more thing”.

“what now??”, I asked.

“I WILL ONLY HAVE VEG FOOD”, he said.

SILENCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………………………………………………………………….

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT???? You will have what????”, I asked.

“VEG FOOD. No NON VEG for me”, he said.

I felt the ground shaking, my legs went weak, I felt as if a thousand bullets had gone through my body, I felt as if MANN and PONDA were ……………………………………

U know.. I FELT SICKKKKKKKKKKKKK.. (AGAIN)


“kaalu, how can u do this to me”. I shouted.

“nai yaar, only VEG.” he said.


I looked back at all the years we had spent together, the birthdays, the parties, the kaimbwala nights, nights on my roof. The chickens we had eaten in all these places.
I was going to cry.

“are baat maan, order veg.”

The menu was shaking in my hand when the waiter came.

“1 pitcher of STRONG BEER ( kaalu suggested light), FRENCH FRIES and CHEESE CHILLY”.
Yes.. that was our menu. I felt like I was sitting with my MOM.

We finished our beers. Kaalu drank only 4 glasses, he though the might VOMIT.
“Can’t drink more now”, he said.

I ended up finishing the pitcher.

Kaalu dropped me home.



I sat on my bike as kaalu had left me. I dinlt know what to make out of this day and this meeting with kaalu. What is happening to him.
What is happening to all of us?
I didn’t realize that we had reached this stage that we will be quitting and not having fun like old times. Has the gap of all these years and all these kilometers finally caught up with us?

What will now become of THE BHORU CLUB with one of its top members behaving like this. All of a sudden. Is this the BITTER reality that we all have to face??

KAALU HAS
1)QUIT SMOKIN
2)BECOME A VEGGI
3)HIS CAPACITY IS 4 MUGS ONLY..


IS THIS WHAT WE ALL WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME???

I knew the answer to my question. But I refused to listen to it.


I was disturbed.
I came online to check my mail. Saw nanda there. Told him the story in brief.

“put it up online” , nanda said.

Good idea. Let the world known on how our friend had changed from a dick to a pussy.
HA HA HA..



SO HERE IT IS.. ALL WHAT HAPPENED TO ME.. I was feeling sad on going to Hyderabad. But if I have to live with this…………………………………………. I AM READY TO GO…


Cheers…!!!