Chapter 3
It was 12.30 pm on a Sunday, 5th June 2006. After a long hot shower and frozen pepperoni pizza, Mohith sat in front of the huge glass window in his room. This gave a great view of a maple tree, which almost always sang him to sleep. The unoccupied apartments on the other wing and a construction site for some more new apartments filled the background of the landscape. A lonely orange Crane sat in the middle, resting after a full five and a half days of construction work.
The window was Mohith's favorite pass-time. His desk was right in front of it and faced the view. He enjoyed listening to Guns and Roses on his laptop and just gazing out the window.
Today was no ordinary day for him. He just sat there with his face buried in his hands. It was hard to tell whether he was sobbing for Mohith was a steadfast man who tried very hard not to show a softer side of his being.
He remembers the long distance call in the morning and wonders whether it was a bad dream materialized from the cheap home made Vodka Martinis he had last night with two Olives. Yet he knew that it was not so and that he had a lot of thinking and worrying to do.
Mohith rarely called home or his fiancée for it was a bit too expensive to call overseas from Germany. He was here in Dortmund Germany attending Post Graduate classes at the University of Dortmund. He came to Germany for three months for a semester of Robotics and Automation before he flew off to The University of British Columbia, Canada for his Masters Degree in the same field of study. He always wanted to see Europe and experience the cold and wet weather. He loved it and the pleasure of having some of the best beer in the world along with German sausages, called "Wurst", was giving Mohith the time of his life.
Two weeks and two days had passed in sheer joy. Not a care in the world. The only major problem he faced was deciding on whether to have cheap Spanish CAVA champagne or to have cheap German Vodka. He liked them both. Yet the dreaded phone call made him realize that playtime was over and eight more weeks of suffering stood smiling in front of him.
"Hello"
Said Mohith in a sleepy, hung over manner. He instantly knew who had called for no amount of Vodka can deafen Mohith from hearing the sweet voice of his Angel, Chaya.
Chapter 4
Chaya and Mohith first met when they were doing their undergraduate degree at the University of Bangalore, India. They studied in an affiliated college to the Bangalore University. It was a nice college and housed a multitude of foreign students who were struggling to prove a point in a foreign and different land. Mohith was a major in Physics and Chaya in Micro Biology. To this very day, Mohith wonders how four years of his life always related to Chaya for they had nothing in common. They were as distant as the blue sky and the wavy ocean and yet through the fire of love they somehow managed to merge in the horizon and understand the beautiful souls inside each other.
"Do you know the time over here Chaya?"
Said Mohith in a failed effort to anger her. He loved her when she was angry. Her face turned red and always ended up in tears. Then he would have to be the bigger man and go make love to her. He loved it.
"I know the time over there Mohith. Its about 5.30 in the morning right"
The time difference between India and Germany was -3.30 hours and Chaya had just had breakfast and needed the caffeine in Mohith's voice to get on with the rest of her day.
"So why are you calling me so early?"
Not that it mattered to Mohith for he was thrilled to hear her voice.
"I am in a training session at the Lila Palace and just needed to be reminded that I have a fiancé who was dreaming about me in a cold, dark and wet country. You know with the competition over here and all. A girl just might forget. You never know."
Chaya was always better at teasing Mohith. She knew where to attack and knew that she was bang on target this time also for the Lila Palace was one of the most beautiful and luxurious hotels in Bangalore. Some say that it rates seven stars and houses the most wealthiest and sexiest of travelers, foreign and domestic.
"Yeah right!" Said a very jealous Mohith struggling not to sound like an idiot.
"I am here with Nimesh and we are having a great time. Nimesh gave me a lift home after work yesterday."
"What??" Shouted a very angry Mohith. The Vodka he had last night evaporating from his skin. Paradoxically the hangover just worsened.
At that very moment Chaya knew that she had gone too far with her little game.
"Oh common Mohith! I was just playing with you. So tell me what did you have for dinner last night? You are eating right?? Don't you dare drink on an empty stomach!"
Chaya knew that Mohith enjoyed Vodka a little bit too much. She tried to stop it but in the end settled for balancing Mohith's diet with fruits and vegetables that would counter the corroding effects of the alcohol. Mohith knew this and some times had just one more for the road just for the extra attention given to him by his lovely nurse.
It may sound crazy but almost all Asian people felt good when asked about their last meal. They loved giving up the intricate details of it. Yet Mohith was too furious and jealous to hear her question. Even when they were freshmen in College, Mohith was a bit over protective of Chaya Patel. He didn't let her mingle with other guys and never let her even go to the cafeteria alone. Chaya found it very sweet but at times she was furiously annoyed. Yet Mohith kept on being the shadow which lingered on with every step Chaya took. After four annoying years Chaya learnt to live with it, enjoy it, love it and at times depend on it.
"He did what? And now he is there with you? Did he give you a lift to the hotel too Chaya? My God!" Mohith exclaimed.
"I'm out of the country for two weeks and you are riding around in this yahoos car. What was the name of that SOB again??"
Mohith knew all too well the name Nimesh. Nimesh was working with Chaya as an Assistant Marketing Manager. Both of them were marketers for a medium scale pharmaceutical company based out of Bangalore. They started work together one week ago and the name Nimesh always crept in and out of each telephone conversation, each e-mail and each sms Mohith and Chaya exchanged. It was starting to get serious.
"Listen Mohith; Nimesh didn't drive me here today. OK"
She lied, knowing full well that Mohith almost always called her bluff.
"We are here on a training program in marketing. He gave me and that other girl, who started work with me, a lift back home yesterday. No big deal!"
"Listen Chaya" said Mohith
If my parents or my friends see you riding around in another man's car, especially when I am out of the country, what would they think of me? They'd think that I'm incapable of holding onto my woman and that she is a hoe"
There he finally said it. The word "hoe" echoed in Chaya's ears like a bullet to the head.
"Ok Mohith. If you think of me like that then maybe I am!" She hung up the phone and almost threw it away in fury.
"The drunken idiot" she said to herself.
Mohith just stood there dumbfounded and holding on to the receiver in shock. He wished that the Vodka was still in him and that this was just a drunken nightmare.
Chapter 5
It was about 7pm in the evening. The sun was still up and had started its slow decent into the ocean. The cold crept in like a welcome friend to Mohith. He had just woken up from his afternoon nap. It was all he could do to get his mind off the terrible telephone call.
"What time is it?" he said to himself.
"I need a snack" he thought and went to his mini bar.
He opened it and saw some sausages, salami, yogurt, frozen French fries, eggs and some frozen pepperoni pizza.
"Ah all health foods" He reached for the beer.
"Beer is a good snack"
He said to himself and sat down with a cheap Maternus Gold beer in a plastic bottle. He hated the plastic bottles but knew that if he was going to substitute water with beer then the beer would have to be cheap. Indeed the beer in the plastic bottle was a bargain for he got a six-pack for just under E1.50 where as a bottle of water would cost him about E1.50 flat. Mohith liked to brag that he hasn't had a single zip of water for two weeks now.
He finished one beer in what seemed to be a long moment and kept the empty bottle in a rack under his table.
"That goes into recycling. Better f...... world for every one else except me. It's always the case."
Then he grabbed another one and said to himself
"Conserver water, drink beer! That's the way to go"
This was one of Mohith's favorite slogans and he picked it up from a sweatshirt he saw in India, when he was a freshman in College.
Mohith was a big man. He was about 5-8 and weight about 90 kilos. He had started minding his weight after he gained a lot in College. When Mohith was in school he was a power lifter and he gave up his hobby after getting into University. He always said that he had no time to engage in childish hobbies because College was very hectic and demanding. Yet every one knew that he had sacrificed 3-4 hours at the gym, to be with Chaya a little bit longer. Thus after 3 years of no exercise, great fatty food, beer and great sex, Mohith was a bit over weight. Yet this didn't show much for he was a big man with an overall huge stature and biceps. The barrel chest, military haircut and the tattoo on his right bicep defined his features as more of a biker thug than a serious student. Yet he was, according to his entire faculty, a brilliant student. Mohith topped his batch in his final year exams and became unanimously the "Best Student" of that year. This was an honour awarded to one student each year for his outstanding academic achievements and originality. This resulted in Mohith getting the scholarship for his Masters Degree. Mohith was pleased to have received this accolade but remained indifferent.
He was later quoted as saying
"It was all good fun and the experiences I gained from not sitting at the front row, not being regular to class, not giving a damn about what the professors taught and getting drunk every single night were the most important achievements of my three year College life."
This was true. Every one knew that Mohith self studied most of the time arguing that his classmates were far below his "IQ". He hated the kiss-asses and always managed to get the professors' attention with a sly sarcastic smile and a wise crack from the very last row. His excuse for sitting there was "far sightedness" and yet Mohith had perfect eyesight and wore glasses just to make himself look a little bit more presentable. He sat at the very last row of every single class even when he was the only student present. The teachers didn't mind for no punishment could make Mohith change his stubborn ways. Yet paradoxically he was a brilliant and dedicated student.
Suddenly Chaya's words came to Mohith's mind.
"Don't you dare drink on an empty stomach!"
"Yeah right!" he thought but knew that Chaya was right as usual.
He went again into the mini-bar and picked up some French fries and sausages and left for the kitchenette to make himself a snack.
The common kitchenette was a compact one facing the common living room of the 5th floor. It had an electric four-burner stove, huge refrigerator, and an owen. Much to Mohith's surprise it didn't have a microwave and Mohith was so used to using a microwave when he was in College.
He waited for the stove to heat up and started frying the sausages in the hot butter. Then he fried his French fries on the same pan with no butter. It wasn't frying at all but just browning the fries for consumption. Mohith really didn't care at this point.
"Hello" said Kinga as she walked into the kitchen with a pot of water to boil. She was a coffee addict.
"Hey you" said Mohith managing a flirtatious smile.
Mohith liked Kinga from the first day they met in Dortmund. She was a Polish girl of about 23, shorter than Mohith, great body and brunet hair. Her English wasn't very fluent but she never made a mistake. Her vocabulary was a bit small compared to Mohith's but they managed to communicate well enough.
"Fries in a pan? That's something new" she said.
"It works." Said Mohith knowing full well that fries in a pan was not for enjoyment but just for consumption.
"Well if it works then it's good" said Kinga with a wink and Mohith knew that the secret was out about the pan-fried fries.
Kinga had short wavy hair she almost always wore down. Today was the first time Mohith saw her neck because of her ponytail.
"Great day to look sexy Kinga. Good thing I am so depressed"
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