Dostana - part 1

P.S: This is a story by a friend of mine with hosting rights given to me :D I've split it into 3 parts as it was quite big..here we go :) njoy the story and feedback your comments :)

Friday, February 13, 2009, Friday
08:00 pm

"Chadthi Jawani..." blared the stereo. The gongs struck 8 in Vijay’s sub-conscious mind. He had never needed an alarm to wake up for dinner - Anand always took care of that. No sooner would Anand enter home after work, than he would switch on the damn radio. Snuggling deeper into the sheets, Vijay tried to ignore the music which had now risen to intolerable volumes.

“Don’t you want to shave, take a shower, and grab a bite and leave? You don’t have much time, dude and Preeti despises late-comers, remember” piped Anand from the shower.

Getting up from his bed, Vijay grabbed the towel and ambled on towards the other bathroom. Looking into the mirror, he reflected silently on the events of the afternoon. He had returned from work for a lil early today due to a bad headache and was checking mail for the last time before his siesta, was surprised to see a mail from Preeti. She recently got promoted as a Manager and was leaving to Mumbai for good. With her folks settled in Mumbai and growth in career, she was very much excited to get back there. All it said was

“Dear Pumpkin,
Its my last weekend tomorrow in Bangalore – in case you didn’t realize.
Wanna meet you @ 11 in the Valentines’ Day Special Concert by Aditya Kumar @ Firangi Paani.
Love,
Plum”

Aware that the evening might not transpire into anything remotely romantic, he had very reluctantly agreed to join her. Now, on second thoughts, he wasn’t so sure it had been a great idea. For one, he knew he still didn’t have it in him to bare his heart to her and more importantly he has this strange fear that something awful was going to happen that day.

“Hey Anand, I don’t think I should go.”

“You moron, this could be your last chance to tell her. You have been Preeti’s friend, philosopher and guide for 4 years. Need I remind that it was precisely this date that you broke off with Divya 7 years back. You’ve waited long buddy. Just go get her.”

Tidily decked in an ironed, dark green shirt (Preeti’s favorite color for a man) and reeking of expensive CK perfume, Vijay pulled his car out of his basement and set off to go.But on the way,he saw the DVD rental shop and stopped by. Got a few CD’s and went back home to watch Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. An hour into the movie, Vijay changed his mind and decided to go to Firangi Paani after all.