We bring you excerpts from the latest book of Penguin India's Metro Reads series.
Ravinder Singh is the author of I Too Had a Love Story. After working as a computer engineer for several years at some of India's prominent IT companies, Singh is now pursuing his MBA at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.
His next book Can Love Happen Twice? is all set to hit the bookstores.
On Valentine's Day, a radio station in Chandigarh hosts a special romantic chat show. Ravin and his three best friends are invited as guests to talk about Ravin's love story. But surprisingly everyone apart from Ravin turns up. As the show goes live, there is only one question in every listener's mind: what has happened to Ravin?
To answer this question the three friends begin reading from a handwritten copy of Ravin's incomplete second book.
Here is an excerpt from the book
Dusk had fallen when Amardeep walked out of the exit gate of the busy Chandigarh airport. A chilly winter welcomed him for the very first time to The City Beautiful. The evening was even more beautiful for it was Valentine's Day. Love was in the air and red was the colour everywhere. The temperature must have been close to 4 degrees. Adding to the winter chill was the cool breeze which was blowing that evening, compelling the just-arrived passengers to pull out their jackets.
Enjoying the initial few moments, Amardeep let his body feel and embrace the cold surrounding him, but he could not bear it for long. Soon he pulled out his jacket and zipped it up till his neck. The foggy breath that he exhaled was visible. It was that cold.
At the exit door, the constant announcements, the honking taxis, the crazy relatives and the masses of passengers all made the place chaotically noisy. A few taxi drivers had besieged Amardeep, offering him a paid ride. Amid the hustle-bustle of getting a passenger one of the drivers almost lifted his bag and asked,
'Kithey jaana hai, paaji?'
Amardeep quickly retaliated by snatching his luggage back from him. With this gesture he signalled his disagreement to take a cab.
He then made his way out of the gathering. In one hand he had his favourite Economic Times and a half-filled water bottle while in the other he held the handle of his wheeled bag which he rolled in tandem with his walk. He walked up till the parking lot where there was not much of a crowd. The place was calm. Underneath a row of tall lamp posts, there stood scores of cars. Amardeep perched his back against the bonnet of the first car in the series. By then the exposed parts of his body had turned cold. He placed the newspaper on the bonnet and put the water bottle over it to prevent it from flying off with the wind. Looking here and there in search of someone, he rubbed his cold palms against each other and breathed out a puff of warm air to warm them up.
Seconds later, he pulled out his cellphone from the pocket of his jeans and switched it on to make a call.
'Yes, I am at the parking lot,' he said and kept describing the whereabouts of the place he was at, until a black Santro stopped right in front of him.
'Raam j-i-i-i-i-i-i!' shouted someone as the door of the car opened.
It was the nickname with which Amardeep had been baptized during his college days, and it still hadn't left him.
His friends Happy and Manpreet had come out of the car to embrace Amardeep. A round of warm greetings and smiles occupied the next few minutes. It was nostalgic for them to meet each other after so long. The last time they had been together was during their first reunion, which had happened almost five years back. Maybe that's why they couldn't help themselves from celebrating this moment with a long, melodramatic hug. It might have been bizarre for others to watch the three guys hugging each other on a Valentine's Day evening!
The headline on the fluttering Economic Times under the half-filled bottle over the bonnet of the car behind them read, 'Supreme Court finally does away with Section 377; Homosexuality now legal in India.'
Moments later, while Happy dumped Amardeep's luggage in the rear of the car, Amardeep took the back seat and relaxed. Happy started the vehicle