Chapter#1 "Arora Men Dont Disrespect Women!"

Chapter#1

“Arora Men don’t disrespect Women”

G

ROWING UP IN INDIA DURING THE 90S WAS FUN. It was even better for me as I had a liberal family that included my parents and elder brother. I had the kind of parents who don’t put much restriction on you in terms of outings, clothes and allow night outs at girlfriend's place with only a call to parent of the host.

I was the first person in my class who got the cute teddy bear from "Chooi mui si tum lagti ho" song; courtesy my brother. My room was full of posters of current Bollywood heart throbs. And no one minded when I heard "Deewana tera" by Sonu Nigam on repeat about 35 times on my Walkman.

90s was about romance, my teenage years that made me believe in love, SRK style.
 Someone somewhere made for me who will fight all odds to be with me.
Sometimes I regretted having a cool family, as that meant when time came, my father will be too easy to convince. There would be no parental opposition and I would be married in a jiffy.
I did not. My marriage at 28 was a struggle. Lots of emotional drama and manipulations. I was a different person when I got married and wasn’t the same romantic who mentally played every romantic song with a faceless handsome hunk in her mind.
 A lot mature, a lot grownup and a lot broken girl (literally) walked down the aisle (literally).
All of it in due time.
Before that what needs to be told is the story that changed the romantic me into that broken girl. And I start with the day I fell in love or so I thought. The first day of Junior College.
Karan- my brother dropped me. We already were a gang of eight, from our school. So it wasn't first day per say, Junior college was just an extension of school.
My friends had saved a seat for me.
And then he entered.
Tall, dark, handsome- the man of my dreams. Well technically, a boy. Immaculately dressed.
Bingo!!Am kidding.
Purab entered- wearing Slippers, oiled hair, glasses and mismatched clothes. I didn’t look at him twice. He wasn't the conventional nerd, geek or whatever the term is. But he needed minor tweaking.
That brings me to myself. I was n tom boy with short hair and all jeans in my wardrobe with square rock band tee shirts that my brother and I picked up and shared. He was a Metallica fan and I, in addition to Sonu Nigam, my latest crush, was a fan of Enrique but to seem happening to my brother, I lied with MLTR. This was before I discovered Linkin Park.
Ours was a family where Dad had seen Beatles perform live on his many trips to US. Mom never missed any live cricket match in proximity when she was in college and had met Sunil Gavaskar and Pataudi for autographs.
So rock bands and Cricket was our religion. Dad had a huge collection of vinyl records and audio cassettes. 218 to be precise and he numbered them. I still remember the 100th audio cassette was a movie "100 days" with that song” sun beliya... shukriya meharbaani". (Another song of my day dream routine)
Every morning, we woke up to Anoop Jalota singing " mein nahi maakhan khayo"as dad put that on for us. Not that we were very religious. It was just a habit, some logic about positive vibrations.
And Sundays after we saw the latest release we would play games like, "What was the heroine wearing in that sequence?" "What was the number plate of the goon's Omni Van that gave chase in climax sequence?" We were the typical Kurkure family (a term I can now use, Kurkure wasn't in Indian market then)
That's who I was, a happy-go-lucky girl with a loving family. No drama, no sorrows. Life was a piece of cake.
Purab was the opposite. He always seemed scared. Later as I knew him better I realized he had a super strict dad, the kind who go through your examination paper after the exams and demand to know the reason for every mark cut. Poor chap! Or so I thought.

And then there was Shyla, my brother's girlfriend. She had the exact same parents like Purab. So usually, her parents thought she was my friend though she was four years older than me. You get the gist. 

Where am I going with this? I meant to document the events and people that lead to the change in me. And I am ending up talking about people in my life in general. Guess what I wanted to say was that I grew up in a family where relationships weren’t frowned upon. Karan had a girlfriend. We all knew and we all were cool with it.

I never was in a relationship though. Technically. Not that I was against the concept or something. Just that I never felt that way about anyone ever. Not till Arjun. 

But before getting ahead of myself I should talk about Purab a bit more although he was in my life for the shortest amount of time, he was the one who initiated the first change in me. He changed me from a conscious girl to a confident one.

It was our first physics practical. Oh! That reminds me to also declare that I was a brilliant straight A+ student and was studying science to be an engineer like my Dad. So yeah, Physics practical... We were somehow paired together and were working on some tuning fork frequency. So we had an Edward-Bella moment in reverse. Not very original I know but remember this was 90s so I got there first before Bella. And I was the exact opposite of Bella, totally unfeminine and great at sports!

He struggled to take control and like the tough head I was, I didn’t give in. I wanted to do all the work myself. Finally he gave up and allowed me to take lead, all of it without us exchanging a single word. 

"Wow that was easy" I remarked at the end of it and he didn't even smile. That went on for many practical and during theory classes he would sit diagonally to me and give me weird looks. Not that I cared much. But then the looks started meaning something more and slowly I started noticing that he had honey coloured eyes, behind the stupid day-night specs he wore, that his Reynolds pen had a chewed up cap, that he never wore a watch.

I was struggling to understand my sudden interest in this guy. And so I let in Karan into my secret.

"You, my friend, have your first crush!" Karan remarked when I told him. 

We had just discovered cable TV and Karan was into the phase of imitating characters from American sitcoms.

He won't let me deny the charge and was in my college the next day to have a look at him. He made me see things in Purab which earlier I didn’t. For instance, Purab was taller than my brother who was a respectable 5 ft10 inches. Karan made me notice that he was just too fair for a guy. Basically, Karan made his teenage hormone high sister physically aware of Purab which wasn’t his intention I am sure. 

Anyway, I as a teenager was idealistic. My goals were clear- a degree, postgrad, a year off in Europe and then joining Dad's business. Love had no place there. I planned on meeting my partner but going by my day dreams that was supposed to happen on the first day of Grad school. 

My day dream about that was clear - I would go to college, some goons will be ragging me and my future husband will save me from them. We would have an amazing friendship for four years then he would propose and I would say yes.

And Purab with his fair skin and honey eyes wasn't the one!

He was just someone my brother teased me with. That soon changed as my gregarious brother broke the ice for me.

On my birthday, Karan picked me up from college and Purab was just behind me as we walked out of our practical class.

"Why don't you join us? Its Kiera’s birthday and we are going for some snacks." Karan invited him against my disapproving looks. 

And that was the day our friendship blossomed.

 What cemented our bond was when we discovered that Shyla was the daughter of Purabs mother's best friend. That started giving Karan reasons to be around HIM.

We started going for movies together, hanging out in college canteen... I never was a people's person. From childhood Karan was my only friend and accomplice and now Purab was in the circle.

I somehow wasn't popular with the girls my age. As girls around me were either jealous of my freedom and the one's with the same background as me were somehow a step ahead... A step I wasn't ready to take yet.

Let me explain, I had super cool parents, as I already mentioned, who let me wear anything, yet I could never bring myself to wear hot pants. Not that I didn't have the body for it, but I somehow was uncomfortable in it. I wore jeans most of the time. The only skin I showed was when I wore capris. While they wore shorts and minis- the one step I lacked.

I had the freedom to occasionally drink socially. Karan and my dad had a drink in evening sometimes. Mom was a big fan of red wine. But I couldn't warm up to alcohol. I wasn't a prude but something ingrained inside me told me it was wrong. I think my school nuns were responsible for my stand on alcohol.

Oh yes! And so the man of my dreams hated alcohol too.

My friends took this step too. The ones who I could've been friends with drank while I openly resented it. The step I lacked.

Next were relationships, as I already said I wasn't in any hurry to be in a relationship. It was to happen naturally and when I was in my twenties. Teenage was for fun and not the kind of fun that included roaming on a bike with boys.

I wasn't that person. So while my friends shared anecdotes about their first touches and stolen kisses. I was neck deep in studies. Another step I lacked. 

So there I was- a happy teenager stuck between the cool gals and the not so cool girls as I didn't fit in anywhere.

For most of them I was a show off.

For the show-offs I was stupid. Not that I cared.

Purab often made fun of my privileged background. He laughed when I pronounced the vernacular names of fruits and vegetables with an accent. I wasn’t a show off but my school never allowed any other language than English and I was stuck.  Ours was a friendship that survived on many silences we shared. Gradually Shyla, Karan, Purab and I started hanging out together. It gave an excuse for Karan to be around Shyla as her parents didn’t mind her being with Purab who was like a younger brother to her. The friends from school were slowly left behind as we four created our own world. A world full of excursions to nearby hill stations, outings in restaurants, movies and long drives.

 “Kiera is a lesbian!"

The rumour started in junior high by one of my so-called friend from school. News reached me and I didn’t know how to react! How does a 17 year old react to such trash? How do I prove I wasn’t? So I cried my eyes out. Didn’t go to college for more than a week and yes that was the time I started growing my hair.  I avoided meeting anyone including Purab.

After the week was over, I heard Karan had cornered the girl who started the rumour. He had a sincere, mature talk with her. I was surprised, if there was one thing my brother was famous for, it was his temper. And I was his cherished sister. No one was allowed to hurt me. Yet he maintained his cool.

How did that happen?

He entered my room to placate me as I was still refusing to go back to college. 

"I had a chat with that girl" he announced and I lost my cool

“Why would you do that? Now everyone will think I am lame enough to bring my brother into the fight!"

“No one’s thinking anything about you kiddo, only that you are a lesbo" He burst out laughing.

And fresh batch of tears started flowing from my eyes.

"It’s okay baby" he said as he wrapped his arms around me but be still had a hint of smile hidden.

“Junior College is for bad things to happen, that’s how you grow" 

“What did you say to her?”

The girl in question was from a different division of my school and we always fought over trivial things like marks and percentages. I never knew she would carry the grudge so far, as in five years of school since she joined, I  always beat her in everything.

The girl in question was also with her third boyfriend since 9th grade. She beat me there. My score was zero. Hence the tag!!

"Nothing I told her sternly that what she did was wrong, she should have confirmed the news first"

He burst out laughing again.

"Is it true? I will totally support you if that's the case" he said with his best fake serious face.

I had no answer.

"I don’t want to justify anything" 

I was hurt.

Next day of college. People were giving me looks or so I thought and then walked in Purab with a big red rose.

“I like you a lot! Will you consider being my girlfriend?" he said in the lobby between the physics lab and chemistry lab.

"Oh yes!"

A teenage I said.

Just because some stupid girl said I was lesbian. Just because I wasn't mature enough to understand it wasn't necessary to react to all trash talk. 

And because I thought here's a guy who wants to stand by my side, against the show-offs and the gossip mongers.

I was in love instantly. Or so I thought. 

Things changed a fair deal after that. Purab wanted to hang out after college most of the days alone. He did not want us to leave the college premises though lest his father saw us. He would accompany me for all my classes even when it meant him having to travel an extra 4km to reach my home and then the private tuitions.

And I was supposed to have long meaningful talks with him. I know I sound cynical now, as a teenager I was supposed to listen to his emotional turmoil and react accordingly. What I wanted to talk about was latest TV shows, Enrique and sports. And he wanted me to reveal my secrets to him, when I didn't have any.

And then he wanted to discuss Karan.

Our discussions were mostly him declaring how much he loved me, which seriously I thought was to get into my pants. We would generally be sitting in the college canteen having the over sweet tea and vada-paav, a delicacy he introduced me to. Seriously, it was delicious; I started despising my parents for not allowing road side food earlier. Yes these were the things they were particular about!! So a glass of wine was fine but food at the hawkers wasn’t! And then the same routine will begin, well not the same dialogues but roughly the same sentiment.

"You think your brother is serious about Shyla?"

I really had no idea and I said so.

“I really don’t know, Karan never discusses her with me" I replied.

"You should ask him, Shyla would be in trouble if her parents find out. They are not like your parents"

I just nodded.

“Are you serious about me?" He asked me next, while placing his hand on mine at the centre of table.

I pulled back.

"Define serious" I mumbled with mouth full of vada-paav, I had no idea how to behave like a lady around my boyfriend.

“You know like do u think about us, our future. How we will end up?"

“Do you?" I could come up with anything to not answer him, even play dead or maybe shout, “Look, Unicorn!”

“Yes I do, but am asking you"

"I don’t know, it’s way in future we still have to go to college" I couldn’t escape that day and decided to be honest.

"I know but that’s different, don’t you like imagine us together in future"

What was I supposed to say?

Yes I did imagine him while listening to songs, picture us instead of lead actors at movies but no one says these things aloud, not to the person at least.

So I was silent.

And he concluded for me.

“I am being silly Kiera, but you know I never felt this way about anyone"

One thing Purab was good at was saying what he felt.

“Karan loves Shyla I just know that" I said at last. Off topic. Like I said, Unicorns.

He gave me a strange look and again found my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine.

“I love you too"

He did.

At least the way a teenager understands love.

One of his school friends interrupted us and said something in his ear.

Purab got up from our table hurriedly and sat on the adjacent table.

I was confused and then a moustached man dressed in all white entered.

He approached Purabs table, they had a chat in their local language and the man left. But Purab didn't move. Not until his dad left campus I reckon!

An amused me left the campus on my scooter. A boy just said he loves me, followed by being a total coward.

"Karan, are you marrying Shyla?" I asked my brother once I returned home.

He gave me the where’s-this-coming-from look and I returned it with please-tell-me look.

"I suppose so" was his curt reply.

So I suppose he really was serious about Shyla.

I feel I am using a lot of Shyla conversation without talking a bit more about her. She deserves that wherever she is, she deserves a mention. As somehow Shyla was the one responsible for my first break-up.

Shyla M- I won’t go into her surname as it’s immaterial. What Karan saw in her? Beautiful, silky long hair which she braided to perfection. Doe shaped eyes which were always lined perfectly with kohl and an awesome attitude to go with it. I had never seen her angry and I think that quality itself is commendable. Shyla was in my brother’s class right from Kindergarten, but they only got close when they ended up in the same graduation school. I loved the way Karan looked at her, as if she was a fragile little bird who needed his protection and she responded by always looking up to him. Technically she had to, because she was a whole half feet shorter than him. She treated me with the same love and concern that she showered on my brother. In short, Shyla rocked and I had accepted her as my future sis-in-law.

It was the time when my boards were fast approaching, and so was my brothers and Shyla's final semester of college. Shyla had already hinted that her parents wanted to marry her off as soon as she finished college, but somehow Karan wasn't taking the hint. He had plans of going abroad for his MBA.

That day is still etched in my memory, Purab and I were in the canteen, and it was a usual day with him trying to hold my hand, I trying to shrink back and distract him and nodding at the right places over his reverie about his childhood.

Everything after that was super-fast. I saw my father rush inside the canteen. He looked worried, and was relieved as soon as he saw me. He glanced at Purab even as Purab pulled his hand back from where it was resting on my hand.

"We're going home, miss your remaining classes". I knew something was wrong. Dad never came to my college. He put me in his car and we drove silently for a while. I was feeling guilty about him seeing us like that.

"Some goons beat your brother up" my father said and I lost it. I pictured Karan in the worst state and all my what’s how’s and whys were met with silence as Dad just stared at the road, his lips were held tightly and his knuckles had turned white with the gripping on the wheel.

"You are not going out of home until I fix this" He announced and I knew better be quiet.

I was out of the car as soon as we pulled in the driveway.

Karan was sitting on the sofa with a bruised lip, badly swollen eye and a bandage around his temple.

He smiled as he saw me.

I didn’t need to ask what happened.

“Shyla’s father found out" Karan announced and that one sentence explained what must have happened.

“We can go talk to them; this is no way to behave" Dad said.

“Dad, Kiera is fine, let’s drop the issue. Let some time go" Karan said.

Later when we were alone in his room. I asked Karan what he planned next.

"Heal" he replied with a chuckle.

"After that?"

“See kiddo, I am guilty about putting you in this spot. I never knew Shyla’s parents would fall so low, that jackass threatened to hurt you" he said referring to Shyla’s dad.

"Yeah but you can’t blame Shyla for that" I didn’t want him to leave her.

"I am not blaming her, I am worried for her. I don’t know what such a man will do next"

We never saw Shyla again by the way for a very long long time. (Read- Karan married)

Karan tried to find out but couldn’t. I tried to find through Purab but it was as if she never existed.

Karan spent all his time in applying for colleges since then. Our home changed a lot after that. Everything was the same superficially but we all were changed. I did not have the same freedom again; Karan or Dad dropped and picked me up from college. Dad wanted me to go out of town for my engineering and Karan was being sent to UK for his MBA. All these plans existed earlier too but now the urgency was different.

Where was Purab during this time? He remained by my side. We talked during practical and on days when Karan came to pick me up. Karan would always look at him for some news about Shyla but he had none.

He kept supporting me by saying profound things like" You need not worry when I am with you in college. Nothing will happen etc. And I would remember the day he deserted me because he didn’t want to be seen with  a girl by his father.

We had our board exams and I was studying for my mathematics paper late at night when Karan entered my room

“I miss her Kiera" he announced as he threw himself on my bed.

“I miss her too" I said which was true.

“I failed her." He announced next.

“Why aren’t we going to meet her parents, convince them somehow?"

“It won’t work kiddo; things really got bad that day"

I had a fair idea about what happened, but not all details. I knew her dad had slapped Shyla in Karan’s presence and Karan had reciprocated by stepping between them which resulted in him making some calls to beat Karan up.

“I just can’t believe such people exist" I said out aloud as I was thinking about that day.

“They do Kiera and I am responsible for not being able to protect you and the girl I loved from them"

“Would you have married her?" I had to ask.

“My plan was MBA and then marriage but today if I find her, I will right on the moment"

"Let’s find her then; you guys elope" the romantic me, said.

Karan laughed and got up to ruffle my still shoulder length hair.

"That” he emphasised  “I can’t do" he said.

“Seriously Bhai- I called him Bhai on occasions like this, "DDLJ is a crap movie. Elopement works for such parents"

"I can’t kiddo" Karan said again.

“Why the hell not?"

"Because Arora men don’t disrespect women! That’s one promise dad took from me when you turned 16. To behave with all women the way I would like my sister to be treated, why do you think I like Purab so much?

 He asked and then continued with the answer “That guy is genuine"

He suddenly got up and left my room, but not before his parting shot, "Also papa knows now and we both agree Purab doesn’t have the guts to go beyond holding hands" he winked.

"Shut up" my cheeks were flaming with embarrassment.

"Or else we need to have the s-e-x talk soon" he spelled the words out.

"Get out" I nearly shouted.

Karan left my room and I was thinking here’s my brother, my hero who is suffering and yet maintains his principles and his love for me.

I loved him a bit more thereafter.

The men of my family, I was proud of.

Men who could easily have retaliated that day, after all Dad had the power and money but men who maintained decorum and men who won’t disrespect women.

I was proud of my family.

My thoughts were interrupted by Karan entering my room again with a serious face. He was carrying his Walkman and he inserted one of his earphone in my right ear as he placed his head on my lap.

“I miss her”  he said again as Sonu Nigam’s voice filled my ear. We lived the drama of 90s

“Yaadein teri aane lagi, Jaan jaane lagi hai…

Ho ke Judaa kyun tu mujhe aajmaane lagi hai”