Sirop de Vanille

In the capital of an insanely vast country, lived an evil evil man. Of course, it being a terribly huge nation, it did have its share of evil men, but this particular man was so evil, he was almost spectacular! His horrid gait, the shiny bald egg-shaped head, eyes that dripped malice and his ugly Bata sandals painted a truly ghastly image. His magnificently ugly face seemed to be etched out of sticky tar. Each feature was too pronounced, too sharp, too unkind. And his teeth could scare all your protective and over-powerful mythological Gods away!

He skulked around whenever they laughed for he needed their laughter and their bright warm smiles. He spewed evil whenever he talked, for it made them forget!  He scoffed and coughed at them all. He spat great amounts of fluorescent green evilness around… it was something you ignored unless you had been infected… at close quarters. Needless to say, not many survived such a lethal infection, for it drained you of the will to live, to laugh, to smile, to try… Well, to be honest, only one had survived the infection.

It was hot, so very hot, the kind of hot that made you curse under your breath. The kind of hot that is touted as the reason behind the launching of a thousand ships (no, it was not Helen’s fault! It was just too hot!). It was the season of taking frequent cold showers and super high deodorant sales! The earth was parched, the wind slapped it around – harsh, bossy, annoying, very much like a Math teacher. His Bata sandals made no sound as he paced another excruciatingly hot footpath. He smiled gleefully, tonight I will feast! The rain approaches…

She managed to trudge through the aandhi toofan towards her rented abode. It was an apartment complex like many others in the capital’s satellite town, Gurgaon. The security guards had nodded at her, and she had continued to trudge, slowly and steadily, towards the elevators. She waited patiently for the elevator in the deserted complex – she liked being alone with her thoughts after the corporate whoring she had to succumb to all day. The suddent clap of thunder followed by very fat drops of water falling on the dry earth made her smile. She inhaled the smell of wet earth and smiled a happy angelic smile. Chai and sutta in the balcony, she thought. The doors opened to a tiny metal box, she entered and pressed 9. She hummed a long forgotten melody. The lift stopped on the first floor to pick someone up. She groaned. He entered the tiny lift and she stared at her feet to avoid eye contact. She saw the Bata sandals and smirked. Congratulations on finding the ugliest sandals ever manufactured!, she thought and looked up. She saw his eyes, his evil, malicious, beedy black eyes and she couldn’t look away. Shit! She felt the tiny hairs on her neck and arms rising in fear. Why she should fear a balding shorty was beyond her comprehension, but she was feeling very afraid… very weak and faint… and terribly short of breath. She tried concentrating on her breathing, tried to take support of the cold steel walls that seemed to be closing in on her and this very weird although familiar looking man. The words “Danny Devito playing the Penguin” slipped from her reach as she collapsed in a very ungraceful heap. Oddly enough, she heard him snicker.

“Wake up little girl… wake up…” someone said.

She opened her eyes and shut them again, very tightly. How can someone be so ugly!, she thought.

“Wake up… are you alright?”, he repeated and her brain seemed to turn to mush.

“No…! I am not…” she replied and was not surprised when her vision blurred; tears fell… salty, uncontrollable and very wet tears.

He smiled an evil smile at her, she accepted it for a sympathetic one. He helped her get up and told her to go home. They were on the 9th floor and her apartment seemed to beckon her. Almost maternal in its call. She rushed to find some solace, she had never felt so depressed or low or completely rejected in her life. She needed her bed and tubs of ice cream and her trusty Gold Flakes… She ran to her apartment, tears blinding her. She fumbled with the keys and dropped them, the sobs racked her body and her soul as she collapsed on the floor outside her apartment.

“Why me?” she wept and wailed and asked no one in particular.

He rushed to her aid and opened the door, a green light shone in the palm of his hand as he handed her a short glass of green coloured JD on ice. She stared at him aghast, but couldn’t stop crying. It’s JD! It’s green! How can I?, she thought while he forced her to take a sip of the ridiculously tasty green JD. She hurriedly gulped the drink. Why?!, her mind screamed. She shrugged. He guided her in to her little two bed room house. Without asking any questions or switching on any lights, he took her to her bedroom, and helped her get into the warm soft comfort of her bed. She hugged her pillow tightly and sobbed. He placed his palm on her mouth, she’s so beautiful… Lightening crashed and thunder filled his ears, shocked, he pulled away his palm. He placed a few bottles of water next to her and walked out, shutting the door behind him. A bright fluorescent green light took over the apartment complex for a second and dissipated. He was gone and she cried herself to sleep. The guards rubbed their eyes and looked at each other. Neither of them mentioned the light. They lit their beedis and ordered some chai from the nearby dhaba. The storm grew stronger, unlatched windows and doors punctuated the night with clangs and crashes. The capital’s satellite tried to sleep.

Over the next thirty six hours, she slept a fretful and restless sleep. She dreamed of him – she tossed and turned – she dreamed of his shiny egg-shaped head, and his eyes. She whimpered in her sleep and woke up several times to drink water. She saw the green light, the green slivers and the green lightening. She saw sad faces and heard laughter – it scared her senseless. She slept on, hoping for it to stop. She muttered and she mumbled. Evil, she said. Bata, she whispered. Eventually, the madness did stop. It stopped when she woke up with the sound of her cell phone battery dying. She jumped up, searched for her phone in her large handbag, found her cell phone charger and plugged it in. She then went to the bathroom and peed for the longest time. She had time to recollect her thoughts and recall the elevator incident. She shivered and hugged herself. Soon, she put all her energies in scrubbing herself clean of the elevator and the floor and that horrid looking man. She stripped her bed and pillows, she cleaned with a vengeance. She had never felt so dirty… never. So, she scrubbed.

She was scrubbing her hands with Dettol hand wash when her phone rang. She rinsed and dried her hands on her t-shirt. She picked up her phone, smiled at the name flashing on the tiny screen and plopped happily on the bed.

“Hii… Happy…”, she sang into the phone.

“Where the hell have you been?”, he screamed.

“Wha…?”

“Where are you? What are you doing? Why haven’t you called back? We were supposed to meet yesterday!”

“No. We were supposed to meet today… I”

“We were supposed to meet yesterday… anyway… where have you been?”

“At home.”

“I’m coming over.”

He hung up. She stared at the phone and then decided to check the calendar.

Wow. I missed his birthday. I slept through his birthday. SHIT.

She tried unsuccessfully to narrate the elevator incident to him. Details seemed to swim in and out of her mind… green JD… A strange man gave me JD and I drank it up?! She let out a strangled frustrated growl and he stared at her with disbelief and disappointment on his face. He had refused to accept the birthday gift she had bought a month in advance for him. She begged him to take it, and he just sat there muttering, I cannot believe this shit, over and over again. She tried to tell him, she even mentioned the green light and he rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know what happened… I’m really sorry… I was here… sleeping… unable to wake up”, she repeated and started crying. “It was horrible, Adi! That man, he… I don’t know what he did… I was so sad and I fainted and I couldn’t breathe. He helped me inside the house and left. I couldn’t get up… just kept on lying here… I don’t even remember his face clearly now… I just remember the Bata sandals!”

He smirked and she walked to the bathroom and carried her pillow covers back to show to him. “See…”, she handed him a damp, kajal stained pillow cover as evidence.

He sighed, shook his head and said, “I never did claim to understand you…  anyway, are you hungry?”

She looked up, startled, and didn’t answer him. ”Babe… are you hungry?”, he tried to give her a hug and she just handed him the gift. She nodded and her stomach growled hungrily. They smiled.

He went to the kitchen to find the take out menus and was soon ordering some spicy Indianised Chinese food. She sat there cross-legged and rocked herself while humming some long forgotten song. He was back at her side and nibbling on her ear and then neck. She smiled and turned towards him, hungry and demanding. Their clothes were discarded, hands claimed skin, soft and damp and very warm. The lamp cast shadows on the wall… shadows moving in perfect unison with gasps and ragged breath… The thunder lit up the skies as they devoured each other… The bell rang, announcing the arrival of food.

She switched on the air conditioner, and sat back on her now newspaper covered bed. They both filled up on chowmein and chilli chicken. They ate and slurped on coke (with lots of ice), happily. The storm started growing strong. She kissed him, hungrily. He smiled and poured her some more coke. The rain fell hard on the air conditioner, vying for their attention. They were happy and radiating positive bright yellow warmth. She tilted her pretty head and stared at him. He looked so delicious and so warm… so bright and beautiful. He smelled so good… edible…

“I want you…” she announced.

“Again!” he laughed.

“Yes… I’m going to eat you up!” she said, surprised at the surity in her voice. As she moved towards him, she knew she meant it, she knew she was going to eat him up, devour his positive radiance, his happiness and his energy… she believed it as a strange hunger took over her. His eyes widened in surprise and fear as he fainted. She cradled his head in her slender arms and kissed him, breathing him in. Sucking the life out of him, she thought. The bright yellow dimmed while she sucked on his happiness… while she drank positivity, she could see herself through his eyes. She was child-like and in need of protection when he hugged her; she was goddess-like as she rode him; she was beautiful in his arms… she stopped suddenly. Just in time, careful not to damage him, not to hurt him. She kissed his forehead when she was done, and decided to let him sleep for a bit. He whimpered in his sleep and hugged her pillow. She sighed and walked out of the room.

Out in the balcony, allowing the rain to drench her, she lit herself a cigarette. She touched her palm to her mouth… tears rolled down her pretty face as she smiled – a wide uncontrollable smile. She stared at her palm – glowing a bright fluorescent green. Fuck!, she thought, as she smiled and laughed at the many bright yellow warm glows enjoying the rain. She smiled and she couldn’t stop, she had never felt so good. Fuck! She giggled.

Footnote: The title of the story was arrived upon after a giggly discussion with Mr. PD Das. He said Devil, I said Evil. Fun fun!