Permission

Kritvik Bhatt

“Man, sometimes, some stuff gets damned messed up, for some reason. Sometimes, you’re in a situation where you just… can’t decide on something. Sometimes it’s just that both the options are either appealing or not. And, I don’t know if it was life just messing around with me, but, what happened was… messed up. Damned messed up.”

***

The sky was, as it was usual at the time of the year, gray. The damned clouds still covered the sky, for some reason. It was morning, but it didn’t feel like morning because of the clouds.

The white school building was covered beneath them. As usual, the kids played football on the ground in front of the back gate of the school.

Inside our classroom, I was sitting on my desk somewhere at the center of the class. In front of me was Sana, who was sitting backward on the chair in front of me so she could face me. Everyone stood here and there, eating from their lunchboxes, and as usual, chatting and laughing and stuff was all over the classroom.

“Did you ask your mom about JenCon?” Sana suddenly asked, her face on her lunchbox as she was taking up a bite of the spoon.

“Nah, man.”

“Emo, ask her quickly, so I could make plans.”

“It’s still weeks away, man. No doubt, we’ll be on time.”

“Going that far is not a small deal, K.” She turned her eyes to me as she chewed food in her mouth. “And, it may not be easy convincing them, you see.”

I turned to her and nodded. “No doubt, you’re right.”

She turned her eyes to her food again as she gulped. “That’s why I want to take permissions quickly. I’m also searching online how we can get there by metro.”

“Damn, we’re gonna go there by metro?”

She smiled. “Cool, right?” She then took a bite in and turned to me.

I smiled as I turned to her too. “But… alone…?”

She gulped in. “Well, I kinda feel scared too, but my dad’s office is nearby, you see, so it’d not really—”

“So we can go with your dad, man,” I commented.

She shook her head. “He leaves at about eight in the morning so that he can reach his office on time. And, you see, JenCon starts at eleven, so it won’t be a really good idea.”

I nodded. “No doubt.”

“But if we need help with something, we can call him, you see,” She said as she took another bite in.

I nodded and took a bite in. “Okay then. I’ll ask my mom about it and then tell you tomorrow.”

“And, make sure you tell her that my dad works nearby. She might agree quicker if she knows we’d be safe.”

I nodded as I chewed.

“Anyway, what should I wear for that day?” Sana asked with a smile as she turned to her front at me.

I smiled too as I turned my head from my lunchbox to her. “Damn, man, you seem so excited.”

“It’s my first time, you see.”

“Obviously, me too.”

“And, you seem more worried than excited, you see.”

“Maybe because it’s my first time, you see.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Cringe.”

I chuckled, and she did too. “I know, man.”

“Anyway,” she suddenly turned serious, “do you have a metro card?”

I shrugged. “Dunno, man.”

“That’s sad. Like, we’d need them to get on the metro, you see. It’s really convenient.”

I nodded. “I’ll ask my mom about it too.”

***

“Huh? Why, mom?” I asked.

My mom was working in the kitchen, on the white worktop, cutting some vegetables as a kadhai lay on top of the cooktop. The kitchen had warm white lights, for some reason. I stood on her right, adjacent to her, with my butt balancing on the shelf. Outside the window on my back, the sun was setting down, and then evening had just begun, no doubt.

“Do you think that Delhi is so close?” My mom asked me back.

“Mom, but we would go by metro. I got the information from my friends. That metro station, for some reason, is literally in front of the entrance of the ground where JenCon is held. We’d just hop on the metro and some stations later, we’ll get off.”

“What is this JenCon?” My mom asked me back.

“Uh, it’s just a fair of games and stuff.”

“And you want us to send you there to see games?”

“Mom, it’d be fun. There’d be people playing, the creators would be there, the fans of the games would be there, and there would be dances and events and stuff,” I tried to convince my mom.

She then stirred the contents of the kadhai and it, for some reason, sizzled.

Sizzzz!

“Mom, we’d be safe.”

“Okay, dear, I’ll first talk about this with your dad, and if he agrees, you can go.”

I smiled. “Thanks, mom.”

“Now go. Aaryan will be coming to call you anytime.”

“Yeah,” I replied as I turned to my left and started to walk out of the square kitchen. I turned right toward the drawing room and started to walk from between the TV and sofa set. With a smile, I thought, “Now I just hope dad agrees too.”

I turned to my right at the end of the drawing room, pushed open the door of our apartment, and walked out to the dull common lobby, turned to my right at our shoe-rack, opened it, took out my pair of shoes, and then crouched down to wear them.

The elevator suddenly opened and a guy around the same height in the same casual pants and jacket as me walked out.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I turned my head to the front at his figure, who had stopped and stood in front of me.

“Good that ya are already here, pal.” It was Aaryan.

“Yeah, I was just getting ready to come down,” I said as I pulled up one of my gray socks.

Aaryan turned his head down and said, “Perhaps, Aakash might come today. Dunno about Rohit. Sooraj is busy with his own shit, as usual.”

“Yeah, man. Sooraj sure is being damned hard on himself, for some reason,” I said as I tied the laces of my right shoe, and then stood up. “But what about Rohit?” I asked him, my eyes a little frowning in doubt.

“Didn’t contact until now, ya see.”

I nodded. “And where’s Aakash?”

“He’s reaching the court directly in fifteen minutes,” Aaryan said as he turned back to the elevator. I too walked to the front behind him. He clicked on the button beside the lift, and the doors of the lift opened again. We both stepped in.

***

The sun was setting. The sky was dark blue, and in about an hour, it’d be night. It would have been around six, no doubt. The dark clouds still covered most of the sky, but, for some reason, there were now some patches in between them.

At one corner of the park was the badminton court where the four of us were. Aaryan and I were in one team—with Aaryan on my right—and Aakash and Rohit were on the other side. We were hitting the shuttlecock smoothly, for some reason, and just making a flow of the game.

“Motherfucker, why d’ya think I’d be like that?” Rohit said, a little irritably.

“For real, mate, you do seem kinda nerd-type,” Aakash replied with a smile as he softly hit the shuttlecock to the front.

“Damn, man. My first image of Rohit was completely different. I thought he was some bully or some stuff.”

“I fucking am a bully, motherfucker,” Rohit replied.

Aaryan said with a smile, “Yeah, pal, all we do is bully people and shit like that, ya see.”

“I know, man.”

“I thought maybe… maybe he’s a nerd,” Aakash said with a huge grin.

“To be honest, ya were just a long list of motherfuckers we bullied, Kritvik.”

“Yeah, man,” I said with a smile as I hit the shuttlecock.

“For real?! They bullied you?!” Aakash exclaimed as he turned to me.

Rohit hit the shuttlecock toward us and said, “Yeah, Aaryan bullied the shit outta this motherfucker somehow, right?”

Aaryan chuckled. “Mm-hmm,” He nodded. “This asshole was a crybaby and a fucking nerd. If ya would have seen him that time, ya would have never thought about Rohit as a nerd.”

“Yeah,” Rohit said as Aakash turned to him on his right. “To be honest, this motherfucker was the real shit.”

“Damn, stop it,” I replied with a smile.

Aakash said, “You all be his moms or what? Exposing him in front of everybody like that!”

“Right, man. They both just don’t care, no doubt.”

“We just gotta tell him this shit, ya see,” Aaryan commented.

“By the way, Aaryan, when’s your birthday?” Rohit suddenly turned to Aaryan and asked him.

“On fifteenth, pal,” Aaryan told him as he hit the shuttlecock with ease. “And be sure to come, asshole.”

“Well, where’s the party?”

“Dunno, for now,” Aaryan replied as he turned to him. “But we’ll start the arrangements soon. When all that shit is decided, I’ll message you all.”

“Sure, motherfucker,” Rohit replied as he turned to the front. I had hit the shuttlecock toward him and he swung his badminton straight to the front at me again. “I’ll make sure I’m there.”

“Me too, mate. But it has to be fucking awesome.”

“Yeah, asshole,” Aaryan said as he turned to the shuttlecock and hit it toward him.

I thought, “Fifteenth… JenCon is on the fifteenth too, man.”

“No doubt, it was gonna get damned messy, man. What should I do? Should I attend his birthday party? Or should I go to JenCon with Sana, man?”

***

“And that’s what you get for this, idiot!” A man on the television screen screamed. He was a normal Indian uncle in his mid-fifties, maybe, but was clean-shaved and stuff, so he looked clean.

“B-But I—” A feminine voice shouted.

“Enough of your drama!”

My mom in a white t-shirt and loose salwar sat on my left, my dad in shorts and vest sat on my right, and I was at the center in my usual casual clothes. We sat on our gray sofa set, beneath the drawing room’s warm white lights. All three of us had our eyes on the screen and our plates of food in our left hands.

“These Indian serials are getting worse every day,” My mom commented.

“You say that every day, mom, and you still watch them every day,” I commented as I turned my head to my food to take a bite in. “I always prefer anime.”

My dad’s eyes were glued to the variety of voices from the television, filled with sound effects, obviously.

“Anime is worse than this.”

“No, mom,” I smiled as I chewed my food and talked. “You seriously need to watch it.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Great.” I took another bite in and started to chew.

A little period of silence followed between all of us, for some reason. I continued to look at the television screen and hear the dialogues and sound effects, obviously, and then I gulped down. Then, I turned to my left at my dad. “Dad.”

“Yeah?” He replied.

“I wanna ask you something.”

“What’s it?”

“I wanna go to JenCon with my friends,” I simply replied.

“Where?”

“NHAS Ground, Delhi.”

At that, he, no doubt, was surprised. He frowned and turned to me. “Delhi?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s this JenCon?”

“Dad, it’s, uh, this fair where all the fans of this game, Jenshin, come and have fun. The creators of the games are there, the fans are there, there are some comedians and events taking place, and some competitions and stuff. It’d be great.”

“And why do you wanna go there?”

“… To have fun,” I replied, looking directly into his eyes.

He nodded. He then turned to the front and said, “How have you decided to go?” He asked.

“A metro runs straight from our city directly to that ground, so we’d use that.”

“And all are kids? No adults?” He inquired.

I nodded, “Yes. But the father of one of my friends, Sana, works nearby in Delhi, so she said we could call him if we needed any help.”

He nodded. “I see.”

“So can I go?” I asked softly.

“Yeah, you can. But make sure you kids come back on time.”

I smiled. “Okay!”

My mom then turned to my dad and said, “But the kids…”

“They should know how to travel by metro too. He’s big enough.”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile as I turned to the front.

“Man, it was a lot easier than I had thought it to be, for some reason, man. I got the permission, but… I still had not decided if I’d actually go there or to Aaryan’s birthday party. No doubt, taking this decision was gonna be tough, man. But, I knew that I’d be able to solve it, for some reason.”