Half Girlfriend (1)

asshole doing here? It's amazing how quickly the mind switches from
figuring out a situation to commenting on it.
I had no idea why Rohan had come to college. Maybe he wanted to
buy the building and turn it into a hotel. Well, that seemed unlikely as
he didn’t enter the building. Both of them got into the Bendey and it
drove off, with Riya s BMW tailing Rohan’s car. The students in the
lawns released collective oohs and aahs.
‘I also want a loaded boyfriend,’ I heard a girl near me say.
‘Is he her boyfriend?’ I asked her. I shouldn’t have but I did. Like
I’d proved earlier, my impulse control is rather weak.
‘How do I know?’ she said and walked away.
I could still smell the burning fumes from Rohan’s Bentley long
after he had left. Or maybe it was my burning insides.
*
I had to talk to Riya. I decided to do it during Harmony, the annual
cultural festival of St. Stephen’s. It would be my final attempt to
rescue our friendship. The festival had various cultural competitions
such as choreography, music, debates and treasure hunts. Students,
including the day-skis, stayed in the college until late at night. Riya had
already won the music competition in the solo English vocals category.
She was also taking part in Western choreography.
I took my place in the audience early, sitting in the front row facing
the makeshift choreography stage on the front lawns. Boys from all
over Delhi University had gatecrashed.They sat at the right vantage
points to ogle at the St. Stephen’s chicks. Some of these boys
resembled men back home. They spoke loudly in Hindi. They whistled
every time a pretty girl came on stage. Stephanians, of course, hated all
this. We were way too dignified to express our lecherous feelings in
such a public manner. We ogled nonetheless, but in a dignified way.
A dozen girls wearing pink tights and silver-grey tops came on
stage. Riya, the tallest amongst them and the easiest to spot, stood in
the centre. Stage lights changed colours. A commentator spoke in a
husky self-important voice. He spoke about evolution and how all life