Game of Blogs 2 – Midway through the heart

Cyrus was probably having the best time of his life as far as he could remember. He found himself smiling and laughing at everything. His displeasure at things vanished away and all he could think of was enjoying life at its fullest. Such was his mental state of mind after weeks of endless conversations with Jennifer especially after her invite to Kochi to spend time with her.

Being a law student at one of the most premiere institutions in the country, he did occasionally find a lot of pressure to manage his time amongst exams, case studies, reviews and other projects he was working on. But being a topper in his class, he couldn’t resist letting go of his top status and worked even harder to follow his passion.

Naturally, almost every professor including the HOD of his department saw him as one of the most valuable students in the college and had high hopes for his career. It came as no surprise that he was one of the top few students chosen as chief representatives from the law college to attend the International Symposium in Mumbai, the following week
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Cyrus jumped at the offer, having been given a delightful getaway from his usual routine and a break from his good Ol’ Delhi. Cyrus received the complimentary airline and hotel tickets to Mumbai and couldn’t help but noticing it was a business class seat and the hotel was none other the famous Oberoi Hotel along the coastline of Marine drive in Mumbai.

Cyrus arrived in Mumbai the following Monday, a day when he usually spent the whole time at the college library pouring over countless books. As he entered the hotel, he couldn’t supress his awe of the grandeur of the hotel and considered himself lucky to be chosen as one of the top few for the international conference amidst several intelligent candidates.

After a refreshing bath in the Jacuzzi in his suite (that was a first for him!), he called the local cab to the venue where the conference was happening. He whisked past the beautiful broad streets of Mumbai, something contrastingly different to his Old Delhi. And as a mandatory stop, he stopped at one of the corners across the Bandra Worli Sea Link Bridge and took some panoramic shots across this engineering marvel alongside with many other tourists. After seeing the traffic pile up gradually, he quickly got into the cab and reached his destination.

The conference hall was huge and he could find almost hundreds of other aspiring law students in deep conversations in various huddles. He looked around for the registration desk when he happened to see a very vaguely familiar face. The man was in an old grey jacket, with greyish hair and carrying a brown tote bag in hand. Cyrus approached him and introduced him as one of the representatives from Delhi Law College and enquired if he was indeed the prominent Mr. Aryan Ahuja.

Ahuja, startled, looked up at this strange guy offering his hand. He looked quite taller than him, a typical law graduate face, large spectacles with an unkempt curly hair, but something in him made him instantly likable. Despite his appearance, Cyrus seemed to be a very intelligent person.

Ahuja smiled.  “Yes, I am indeed Aryan Ahuja” and offered his business card.

“What can I do for you Mr….eh?”

“I am Cyrus Daruwalla, law student from Delhi Law College.”

Formalities done with, common interests discovered, they very soon began chatting on the latest law cases that were causing media frenzy across the nation and soon; the topics stretched out from rapes to crimes to education. They soon decided to catch up in a local pub, which was the key hangout place for the college kids. The conference ended up by 5pm, and after some boring lectures, Cyrus felt quite relieved to head out to the pub with Ahuja for an engrossing conversation. As the drinks flowed, Cyrus felt himself very comfortable and opening up to Ahuja. Cyrus talked about his favourite authors and the fascinating books he had read. It was then that he mentioned about one intriguing author, Shekhar Dutta whose book he had read and was actually inspired by him to write his own blog.

Ahuja, for a second was taken aback when he realized that Cyrus was actually talking about his next door neighbour. Ahuja stopped Cyrus at that moment and remarked “Cyrus, this Shekhar Dutta you have been talking about for so long is actually my next door neighbour.”

Cyrus couldn’t suppress his surprise and was stunned a wee bit. He began enquiring about Shekhar even more and more and found himself in deep thought. He was quite startled and even sad to know about Shekhar’s personal life while he was all along presuming that Shekhar had a wonderful life, writing books in his past time.

After more than a couple of hours, Cyrus asked Ahuja if he could indeed meet Shekhar. Ahuja hesitated for a moment and said, “I shall let you know soon Cyrus.”

Cyrus eventually agreed and set about his journey back to Delhi. Throughout the flight, his thoughts seemed to revolve around the conversations with Ahuja, especially the ones about Shekhar. It was a long flight and he slowly drifted into a deep sleep.