It wasn�t just the beer. There were five people in the living room, and they had a lot to do with the headiness. Aryan lit another cigarette and yawned. It was way past three in the night. He looked around the room, and suppressed an insane urge to laugh.
He had also sweet-talked her into getting her famous Walnut Brownies too, as a special favor. She had agreed, on the condition that he swore to shave for once. That wasn�t too tough, he decided. Anything for those great bits of heaven she used to make way back in school.
Sameer continued to be mysterious all through Friday. He called on Saturday morning to check the address and said he would be on time, as usual. Aryan did stocktaking in the refrigerator and drove out to get more beer. The last time he and Sameer had gotten drunk together seemed eons ago. Seven years, the evening before he had left for IIT Madras and Sameer had moved to BITS. They hadn�t met since then, except once when they both happened to be in Delhi but had had no time for booze. They had stayed in touch like brothers, exchanging mails, chatting as often as they could manage, and lately-smsing like crazy.
Ishita came earlier, to help with the food, she said. Aryan pulled her hair and gave her a huge hug as always. She clicked her tongue and pouted. �You wont ever change, will you? God knows why you have this problem with my hair.� Then she smiled and added, �You look better without that awful beard you were growing. Glad you shaved. How is Aditi?� She winked and walked into the kitchen.
It was like they were back in school together. Except that Mansha had lost weight and looked half her size, and he couldn�t crack jokes about her braces and fat legs anymore!! For those few hours, they just forgot their humdrum corporate lives and took a U-turn into time. In school, they were a �gang� in their own right. Sameer had been the marks-magnet, but Mihir was the teachers� pet, with his shy smile and fetching dimples. Ishita had been the Mommy of the group-always the sane one, the mediator, the chocolate-carrying messiah from heaven who had answers to all problems. Mansha and Mihir were famous for their spectacular arguments on Nuclear Physics, the canteen food, F1 races and goodness knows what else. They were the best of friends that snarled and clawed and laughed together on every possible topic under the sun.
Seven hours of being back in school again, reliving moments that made their friendship so special. Five people lost in a world that had an innocent charm of its own, they sang their favorite songs, mimicked teachers, recalled fights and realized that time might have changed the lives they led now, but it certainly couldn�t change the bonds they formed in those precious years.
Aryan watched Sameer, very high and happy in life, listening to Pink Floyd in one corner, with Ishita sitting next to him, trying to understand why his hair was still so hopelessly unruly. He soaked in the picture of Mansha and Mihir sitting on the staircase with arms around each other and looking blissfully in love. Life couldn�t get better, he decided. He finished the cigarette and helped himself to a Walnut Brownie.
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