The House of Sumit Panjabi
* This one is For Sumit… The most wonderful boy I hve known… I hope he turns into a most wonderful Man*
Thanks for always being there.
The Stale Smell of Used Socks
The Bedsheet with Countless Holes from Cigarettes
A Shoe Without A Sole
A Playstation
A Heap of Clothes From the Laundry
And in The Midst of All…
The Best Bachelor I’ve EVER Known
9:30 P.m, 24 August 2006
I knock the door of a plush apartment, kohl spread on cheeks from the tears, fiddling with the car keys, hair in a mess, bags packed.
A loud noise form inside and a thing tiny young man opens the door and asks “Yes?”
“Sumit?” I almost squeal.
“Sumit Bhaiya!!!” He yells.
A couple of profanities later, he steps out and takes only a brief look at me. “Neha?”
“I left home.” Simple and sweet.
He leans inside and shouts. “Ravi, Abdul, Shreyans, Lalit. All of you, out. Come back after 2 hours.”
A parade of 20 something boys marches out and without a word disappear into the hallway. He takes my arm and leads me inside.
“You’ve been crying?”
“No.”
“Ok. You want Water?”
I nod my head.
“Shankar!”
out comes the tiny boy again with a glass of water.
“You wanna tell me what happened?” he asks pointing to my bags.
“No.”
“Ok. Smirnoff?”
I nod again. “I need a light”
He gets up and brings a match box. Hands it to me and then watches as I fish out the pack of cigarettes from my bag and clumsily light a cigarette.
“You’ll be staying?”
Another nod.
“Shankar, go to the market, get chicken and half bottle of smirnoff.”
20 minutes later
I take another sip from the plastic tumbler in my hand and snuggle some more into the blanket that he borrowed from his neighbour.
“Now tell me. Why did you leave?”
I look at him. He is two years younger to me. Most loyal friend of my sister’s and a favorite of my father’s. When did he become so wise, I think to myself. And another fit of crying came over me. In the last three months, what with the men, alcohol, depression and drugs… he has been the only thing holding me together. Being there everytime I have called out to him. The only friend in an alien world. In a minute I poured out my heart to him.
12:30 a.m
“Sleep now.” he eases out the plastic tumbler from my hand and puts on another blanket on me (which I guess was the one he would have slept without) “I’ll leave the window open for fresh air. Wake me up at 7 in the morning. I’m sleeping in the hall.” He slipped quietly from the bedroom.
7:00 a.m. 25 August 2006
He’s already up and shaving.
“Go and get ready, breakfast will be ready in 15 minutes.”
I left, for the first time missing having an elder brother. He would have been something like Sumit. Just elder to me.
8:45 a.m.
“Have you reached office?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then, I’m leaving for college. Pick me up on your way back in the evening.” He says casually, the most comforting words that I could have wanted to hear today.
“Alright Panjabi. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
*Forgive me dear readers, for this one has no end. And for the rest of my life, I would hope that it never has*
- Neha
DJK says:
I wish I had a S.P in my life.
August 26th, 2006 at 06:49 pm
Shweta says:
U r lucky to have such a wonderful friend. n even i hope that it never ends.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed”
September 21st, 2006 at 12:28 am