November 2013

"Can we go out tonight, Mahi bhai?"

"Where?" asked Mahi suspiciously.

Virat, being the idiot he was, did not improvise a quick lie and said, "To the bar down the street."

Mahi sighed.

24-year-olds.

They thought the world would become a big, happy, shiny present if you just got to get drunk.

"Please Mahi bhai, please, please," begged his juniors, which included Virat, Jaddu, Rohit and Shikhar.

Ash, Bhuvi and Jinks weren't begging, but hanging around in the background, but rather obviously hoping they'd be granted permission. Plus, with Sachin's retirement and all, these kids who had grown up watching him play were already high strung enough, and Mahi didn't have the heart to deny them anything.

"Fine," he said. "You can go, but stay together, and don't drink too much."

Virat had already grabbed Rohit's forearm and turned to bolt out of the door with a yelled, "Thank you Mahi bhai! We won't drink too much, promise!"

"And don't let Bhuvi drink," Mahi sighed to the room in general.

"No worries, Mahi bhai," said Jaddu confidently. "I'll handle everything."

"Yeah, sure," Ash said. "Because you used to lead the Drunk Club in Jamnagar right?"

"You remember," Mahi heard Jaddu say in delight as the rest of them trooped out.

Mahi was sure everyone remembered Jaddu's Drunk Club story-phase three months back. He used to go on day and night about them. If they were all to be believed, Jamnagar was the most progressive town in the universe, where no one batted a single eyelash at teenagers drinking and romping around doing whatever they wanted.

********

I should've known that I wouldn't get a wink of sleep till the kids come back, thought a wakeful Mahi four hours later, when they had showed no signs of turning up, and were also not answering their phones.

Not that he had called them many times, because they wouldn't want to be interrupted under the circumstances.

He hoped they'd be sensible enough to keep Bhuvi away from hard drinks; he gave vibes of being a 12-year-old kiddo, and alcohol would certainly not agree with him. Jinks, too, because he had never tasted a drop before. Shikhar said it was against his principles. Ash, he trusted, would not drink much, if at all. Rohit and Virat, he thought with satisfaction, would not dare. Mahi smiled at the memory of the thorough dressing down he had given a teenaged Virat and a Rohit barely 20 for trying to get drunk after a series. Which left Jaddu, who apparently had plenty of experience in the field, so Mahi hoped he didn't have to worry about him, too.

*********

Later that night, he realized that the person he had worried about least was the one he should've worried about most.

As Mahi was going from room to room, checking if all of them had returned and were sleeping instead of causing still more mischief, much to his horror, he came across a human form lying crumpled in the centre corridor, completely still.

He rushed towards it and knelt down, and discovered that it was Jaddu, sleeping. Judging by his heavy breathing, he was probably passed out.

"Jaddu?" whispered Mahi, reaching over to shake his shoulder.

No answer.

"JADDU." Harsher shake.

No answer.

Now, he could certainly not leave the idiot to catch his death of cold by sleeping out in the corridor for the whole night, decided Mahi.

So he put his arms around Jaddu's shoulders awkwardly and heaved him up with all his strength. Close by, he could clearly smell the alcohol on him. He set his teeth and started dragging Jaddu's dead weight to his own room, which was nearer, and that seemed to rouse Jaddu a little.

"Mahi bhai?" he slurred.

"Oh, so you are awake, are you?"

Mahi set him down on the bed and switched on the light and turned around to face him grimly.

Jaddu attempted to sit up, but he must've been feeling too poorly to do that, because he gave up and stared back at Mahi bhai wordlessly.

"Sleep now," said Mahi gruffly. "We need to talk in the morning."

For a moment Jaddu looked like he was about to speak, but he closed his eyes, rolled over and was asleep within moments.

He hadn't been feeling awkward like this when he had caught Rohit and Virat five years back, remembered Mahi belatedly. Why?

He knew why, of course.

Rohit and Virat...they acted like kids. Vulnerable, doubtful, trusting, everything you would expect from a kid. That kind you could deal with.

But Jaddu wasn't like them, not in the least. He was always cheerful, always happy, always confident. Mahi had known him for a couple of years now and was yet to see him upset. That kind you couldn't deal with, could you?

He realized that he was almost...apprehensive about confronting Jaddu in the morning, because what could you do with someone who hardly feels?

*********

Jaddu slept well into the morning the next day, as expected. All the others were up and about, even positively sprightly.

"Virat." Mahi cornered him before breakfast. "Didn't Jaddu come back with you guys yesterday?"

"What?" said Virat. "He did come back with us. We all came back together, just like you said," he added brightly.

"And he was conscious?"

"Conscious?" echoed Virat. "Why would he not be conscious?"

"People pass out from excessive drinking sometimes, you know," said Mahi patiently.

"But Jaddu didn't, obviously," said Virat, as if Mahi was being stupid. "He has drunk a lot more in the past, this was hardly a big deal for him."

"Hmm."

Later, Mahi, who was sore from sleeping on the couch, and tired from worrying about the scolding that he must execute soon, was coming out of the shower when he finally found Jaddu rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

He started when he saw Mahi.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"My room," said Mahi. "I found you passed out in the corridor at 4 last night, would you like to explain that?"

"Passed out in the corridor?" said Jaddu, who clearly had no recollection of it.

"Yes, a pretty risky thing to do, too," said Mahi sternly. "You might have been stepped upon."

As Mahi had expected, Jaddu's lips twitched up in a grin. Rohit and Virat would never have dared to grin when he used that tone, thought Mahi, halfway in despair now.

"It's not something to laugh about," he said in as serious a tone as he could muster. "I told you not to drink excessively."

Jaddu's grin faded, and for the first time ever, Mahi saw a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

"I didn't think that much would get me drunk," he said after a while. "It wasn't all that much, Mahi bhai, really..."

"You didn't think that much would...? Most people have a very good idea about their tolerance if they've drunk even a couple of times, Jaddu."

Jaddu mumbled something inaudibly, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm already going to ground you for two weeks," said Mahi. "which may be extended to two months if you don't speak louder."

"I hadn't ever drunk before yesterday." Jaddu's voice was a whisper, but at least it was audible.

"Ah," sighed Mahi. "I suppose we should've guessed that your Drunk Club was hypothetical."

"It wasn't hypothetical," protested Jaddu, looking up now. "It exists—I was part of it—"

Mahi raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't drink with them," said Jaddu with a glint in his eye. "But I joined in the rest of their antics. You know, they could pass anything off under the pretext of being drunk, and who would check if one among them is actually drunk or not?"

In spite of knowing that he should maintain a serious face, Mahi grinned. "You mean you orchestrated their antics, sober."

Jaddu looked pleased that Mahi bhai had caught his point.

"I believe you, of course," said Mahi, who instinctively knew when someone was telling the truth. "But why did you not drink when all your friends were?" he asked in honest curiosity.

"Because—I—" Jaddu was back to mumbling. "My mother told me not to. Right before she—you know—"

"Oh, Jad," said Mahi, pulling the hunched boy into his arms before he could stop himself. "I'm sorry—I shouldn't have asked..."

Jaddu looked completely confused as Mahi bhai hugged him and patted his head with all the tenderness in the world.

Seeing that he was not going to speak, Mahi said, "Then why did you, yesterday?"

Jaddu's face flushed.

"I'd told them stories about the Drunk Club and all...it'd have been lame if I didn't," he explained.

"Heavens, Jaddu," said Mahi. "They're your best friends, you don't need to be pretend someone you are not—not in front of them at least."

Jaddu contemplated.

"And not in front of anyone, if it harms you in some way. You can't go around drinking so much that you pass out, Jad. Nor," added Mahi. "drive around at a dangerous speed to show off, or go too deep into the sea, or anything similar. I can't remember any more examples at the moment, but you get my point?"

"Yes," said Jaddu obligingly. "I do."

"Good," said Mahi, smiling. "Just so you remember this, you're grounded for two weeks inside the hotel except for necessary visits to the field and airport."

"Mahi bhai," said Jaddu whinily. "We were planning to go to the zoo tomorrow—"

A loud roar of "VIRAT" echoed outside the room.

"I DIDN'T DO IT, IT WAS SHIKHAR!"

"What's the need to visit a zoo, since we're living inside a zoo?" muttered Mahi.

"What?" said Jaddu innocently.

"Nothing," said Mahi. "And you're grounded, sir, zoo or no zoo."

Jaddu's shoulder slumped.

Mahi bhai felt himself beginning to relent and quickly said, before he could change his mind, "Maybe you can explain everything to your friends, and they'll put off the visit for a couple of weeks."

"Ok," said Jaddu ungrudgingly.

He pressed his fingers against his temple like he had a headache, which wouldn't be surprising considering the amount of alcohol inside him, thought Mahi bhai darkly.

"Go down for lunch, it's about to close in half an hour, and come straight back here," said Mahi, fetching a crocin from his suitcase. "If you still have a headache, you can take this afterwards."

Jaddu obeyed wordlessly with a grin at his big brother that struck to Mahi as particularly childish, as much as the other kid's.

Deep inside, he realized, Jaddu wasn't really that different from Rohit or Virat.

It was just his exterior that was different. Different and unique and completely Jaddu-esque.

🌚

🤭