Loop Stories - 2

In Sam'sVoice!

It was one of hot and irritating afternoons during my 5th sem exams. Me and Sujith were studying together for the first time. Our everyday schedule was to wake up at 10, have breakfast, come online and chat and scrap till 1, get out of the room, Take shower, read Bangalore times, watch tv till 3, have lunch, sleep till 5, Go out to Buttry and hang up with friends for a smoke and at 7, get back to home and get books and go to Sumith’s home and start to study at 8. Break for dinner at 10 or 11, plan to study for full night but would not study.

That day, Sujith had to attend his cousin’s wedding. So nobody was there in his house. I collected his house key from the buttry and went to his house. I kept watching tv until he returned. He came at 8:30 in the night and he was already stoned. He had packed us food from the wedding. We happily ate it and started to study. Sumith always insist that if you smoke up and study, you’ll remember many things from the book. I never believed in his theory. He lit the first joint and kept releasing smoke in circular shapes. In some instinct he proposed we drink and we got drunk in the next half an hour. I couldn’t study anymore. I dozed off on the bean bag and he on the bed.

I made a promise to him that I’ll wake up at 3 and wake him also up and we shall resume studying. I was not too sure that I’ll wake up. But I woke up at 3 still feeling high. I suddenly felt thirsty and went to kitchen. I knew the last time I switched on the light, the bulb had burst. Feeling guilty for bursting the bulb, I went to the dining room, struggled to climb the dining table and got the bulb from the socket. I brought it to the kitchen and again I had to struggle to get on to the platform next to the stove.

I have visited Sujith’s place a thousand times and I have even cooked on that stove but never before I had noticed there is a window right in front of the stove. It was too windy and I felt chills in my spine. I took a peering view of the whole city from the window. The flat was in 14th floor. I fixed the bulb and got down and tried to see in the window again. I noticed there was a woman. She didn’t look like any ghost. She was a plain woman with hands and legs in the front. She didn’t look like she was trying to scare me. She was just too calm and simple as if she was curious to know how her boy friend’s kitchen looked like or how would he look like in track pants.
I cleared my head and eyes and tried to take another clear look. She was still there cupping her hands around her eyes to see through the windows. I saw kept staring into her eyes. They were beautiful and pitch black. She had a cool radiance. She was probably trying to tell me it was cold outside. I kept seeing into her eyes and I was lost!

The next moment, as if I woke up from deep sleep, I swung into conscious but I was still standing in front of the window. I saw in the window. There was nobody. That moment I knew I am going to screw the next day’s exam.