Dharam Yuddh - 2

 "So now that we've got Dharam's approval to do anything in order to secure his presidential position, we don't need to tell him our master plan."

"Our master plan? Sarathi, it's all yours."
"I know you are, my dear sleepy-head."

We rolled our cycles down Dharam's residential street. A Santhoshi Ma temple stood at the street's end, where Sarathi kept his cycle and strolled on inside. Vijay and I blindly followed.
"My plan begins with the imparting of this knowledge. Doing it in Devi's presence will ensure our victory!"
"Oh, so that's why you brought us into the temple."
Vijay and Sarathi blinked at me with blank smiles.
"Yes. Yes, Pavan. I'm glad you made the connection." Sarathi continued. "Sandhu may be strong and cool on the outside, but inside he has the greatest weakness ever. So common to mankind." Sarathi grinned. "Women."
Vijay chuckled.
"That's you as well."
"Hey now, shut up. Women aren't my greatest weakness."
"Oh no! What will Roohi say when she hears this?"
I laughed. Roohi went to Sandhu's school but was everything to Sarathi, except maybe girlfriend. Yet.
"Don't you dare take Roohi’s name. I'll-"
"Ah, so we can take Satya's, I suppose."
Vijay winked at me. I giggled, joining the bandwagon.
"Or Mithra's."
"Or Bhumi's."
"Or Yamuna's."
"Or Shailee’s."
"Hello hello! Shailee is not my girlfriend. She's my friend Shankar's girl." 

Roohi’s case was similar to many girls from a range of schools in our area. Sarathi’s abundant fan following gave way to too many lovers and followers.
However, Sarathi’s heart was already occupied by an unassuming girl from a little school a fair distance away, Thulasi Vidyalaya. Sarathi had gone there before transferring to Dwaraka, and he had promptly fallen in love with her. I had seen her do a flute performance three years ago in an inter-school competition. She had partaken in the seniors section at that time, making it reason to believe that she must now be in her first year of Master’s. I don’t think such a trivial thing would ever deter Sarathi from pursuing her.

Sarathi shook his head. "My girlfriends aren't relevant to our current problem."
"But you said Sandhu's biggest weakness is girls."
"Yes, so we'll go as girls."
"What?!"
"And ask him for whatever we want."

Vijay and I looked at each other with excitement.
"So we can straight up ask him to not meddle with Dharam in his campaign, and he'll give us what we asked for because we're dressed up as girls?"
Sarathi scrubbed at a random mark of vermilion painted messily on the pillar he was leaning on.
"Do you really think Sandhu will believe we are girls and accept our advances and promises?" He shook his head with a chuckle. "Pavan look at you, facial hair and all."
"Excuse me, I'm not Dharam to keep on shaving my face everytime a speck grows on."
"Sandhu will look through us. He won't accept our advances, but he will accept a challenge."

I frowned with confusion. "So why go dressed as girls in the first place?"

Sarathi's half smile magically filled his face with a shine. "To get access into the fortress that is Patna Public School."

~ ~ ~

Tuesday was very conveniently Mufti Day. It was an unofficial holiday similar to republic day, where we'd come in for one hour in the morning, sing songs commemorating our brave freedom fighters, and leave school with little donation boxes to raise funds for those in the honourable service of the motherland.

I wanted to be in the Army, and Dharam always encouraged me, saying I had the right personality for it. 

"You shaved, Pavan!"
I felt around my stubble uncomfortably.
"Uh, yes Dharam. I felt like it."
"It suits you."

This Mufti Day apparently happened at Patna Public School as well, according to Sarathi. It was a uniform free day but classes still happened. Vijay and I dumped our charity boxes into Dharam's more-than-capable hands and ran towards Dwaraka, where Sarathi was leaning outside on his cycle, waiting for us with a plastic bag. He grinned and stood up at the sight of us. 

"Ready to become girls, girls?"

Soon, three lovely looking ladies spawned at the gates of Dwaraka Nagar High School. Vijay was wearing a purple skirt and a matching indigo shirt. I got a long red dress Kurti and Sarathi literally glowed in his bright yellow Kurti with dark washed jeans.

“Where did you get these dresses from?”
Sarathi shrugged nonchalantly.
“I have sources.”

Vijay looked at Sarathi keenly, his eyes shining and a soft grin adorning his cute, round face.
"If this is what you would wear if you were a girl Sarathi, I would fall in love with you everyday."
Sarathi shrugged, putting on some sunglasses.
"I thought so."

Sarathi took out his hair tie and his hair fell gracefully down onto his back. Sarathi had naturally long locks that curled beautifully near his ears and bounced on his neck when he walked. He almost always had it in a ponytail, sometimes high, sometimes low, and a bright peacock blue hair tie would always peek out of his dark midnight hued hair. Vijay always played with it. He wanted Sarathi to grow his hair out so much so that he could practise plaiting it. 

"Why don't you grow out your own hair then?"

Well, Sarathi's word was the truth for Vijay, who refrained from cutting his hair for the rest of the school year. It was April now, and while he had nowhere near the amount of luscious locks Sarathi sported, he could pass off as a modern woman as well.

I, on the other hand, with my obvious freshly-shaven stubble and my short, messy hair was the bane of this plan's victory. Luckily, Sarathi's girl Satya came to the rescue as she walked towards us, standing outside Dwaraka Nagar High School in our amazing outfits. She frowned at my legs.

"I can see your leg hair Pavan." 

I pulled my dress down in vain. She folded her arms and glared at Sarathi, who dramatically dropped his sunglasses onto his nose from his forehead, and nodded at her.

"Hey Satya! I'm Mohini!"
"Who the heck is Mohini?"
"That's my girl name!" Sarathi pointed at Vijay, "that's Rihanna, and this," I looked forward to my girl name, "is Sena."
I humphed in my mind. Sena was a pretty disappointing name.
"Well, where is Dharamraj Sir?"
"Sshh, he doesn't know about this."

Sarathi tried to put a hand up to stop Vijay from blurting the truth out, in vain though. I realise many times through the antics of these two that however much influence some people might have over a vast majority, the true control they have over a loved one depends on every situation.

Satya gaped confusedly.
"So this is a prank?"
"Yes, yes. It is a prank! And I need you to stay quiet and not tell anyone!"
Satya giggled.
"Who is the victim?" She asked excitedly.
"Huh? You!" Vijay huffed at her and signalled to Sarathi to make her leave. Sarathi put a hand up simultaneously stopping and reassuring him.

"Look Satya, for our prank to work we need a wig for sweetheart Sena over here." They turned to me. "Look at her, she looks like a fresh army man off to the border."
"So you want a wig? How long?"
"As long as my hair is enough!"
She grinned. "Of course the wig won't be as glorious as your hair. But I can see." She peeked back at the school gates and hopped onto her cycle, waving at Sarathi and pedalling away as fast as she could. Vijay looked on at her.

"I can't believe she is one of your girls."
"What's wrong with her? Actually, nevermind. I don't want you to answer that question." Sarathi shrugged with a smile. "I like her."
"Just like?"
"A like is the first step towards love. So isn't it automatically the better thing?" He placed his hands in his pockets and leant back on his cycle. "It's the first indication we get when we fall in love. To like, is to love."

I didn't understand it but it was nice to hear him talk while Satya sought out a wig for Sena to use. Soon she returned with a scraggly Aparachit-esque medium haired wig. She smiled sheepishly at Sarathi.

"I'm sorry, this was the only one I found. It was from a Halloween costume..."
Sarathi raised his eyebrows.
“You dressed as Aparachit for Halloween? I want to see that.”
Satya blushed and passed the wig to him.
Sarathi looked it over, chuckled and placed it on my head, slowly fixing it into place. I figured I must look like a more approachable female version of Aparachit, but not really. I just looked like a mop had been placed on my head and no one had even bothered to wring the water out if it at all. It was alright. Anything for Sarathi, I remembered.

And Dharam. How could I forget him?

~ ~ ~

"Well my girls, we've arrived at Patna Public School now."

We got off Sarathi's rickety cycle. It was a miracle how comfortable it was despite doing triples and the terrible road from Dwaraka to Patna. And of course today, us in our uncomfortable lady costumes. Sarathi was enjoying his dress though, as he got off the cycle with ease and parked it to the side. I laughed at the thought of what we must have looked like. Three girls squished up together, riding a men's cycle up a bumpy road. Oh, that must have been a sight to watch.

We walked in the gates where all the other students were also wearing non-uniform. It must have been lunch break as they sat around, some studying, some gossiping, some playing an impromptu game of handball. They all stopped upon seeing us. The lunch time banter dropped and hushed whispers rang out in place of them. 

"Who are these three? I've never seen them here before."
"Must be newcomers."
"Or maybe they're our students only, but they've gone all out for a non-school uniform day." This person giggled. "Like Cinderella."
"We can't even recognise them!"
"Oh, look at them sauntering in."

I watched the crowd with amusement. The girls scanned us up and down with arrows of jealousy, armed and ready to be shot upon us like arrows in archery. The guys watched us walk down the hall with silly smiles on their faces. Some of them tried to stop us but the leading Sarathi edged away from them with a small smile. 

"Hai, hai! Did you see her smile?"
"Oh my, I don't think I could ever look at another girl again after this!"

This boy's girlfriend hit him and ran off as he continued staring us down. Noticing the sudden quietness of the halls, a couple of teachers ran outside and checked us out. They looked at each other with wide eyes.

"You go."
"What, no! Why me?"
"What if these kids are big shots?"
"Do they even go here?"
"Ask them!" The woman teacher pushed the man teacher forward into our path, as he cleared his throat and gave us a wonky smile. Sarathi stopped and looked up into his eyes. 

"Um... A-are you girls new here? W-what are your names, tell me, we'll check the roll. I just need to know because of your late arrival, easy, no pressure."
He was intimidated by us for some reason. Wait till he finds out I'm the son of the local Maruthi temple's priest. I’d get a tight one. From him, and then my father.

Sarathi looked back at us and offered the stage for Vijay and I to say something. We both shook our heads quickly, and he turned back with a smile. Before he could open his mouth and give the teacher a reply, another voice boomed from the crowd and gave him the reply he wanted.

"Leave them be, Sir! I'll bring them to you with the names you want." 

Sandhu, the tall, wide, athletic bully of this entire district. He was merely seventeen but sported tattoos on his large biceps, tattoos he got away with saying they were part of his family's traditional coming-of-age ritual. He wore a comical outfit, a formal shirt half tucked into shorts that were too small for him and showed his large thigh muscles. I feared for when he would sit on the ground. 

The teacher nodded at Sandhu and went away, telling the other teachers to leave it as well, and they walked back hurriedly into their staffroom. 

Sandhu looked us up and down, a smile slowly forming on his face, eyes widening with intrigue and lust. Vijay coughed, and I could hear the slightest hint of a laugh in it. 

"Want to come with me?" Sandhu beckoned for us to follow him to his area, and we walked along together. The narrow hallway, filled with students made sure to make space for their class president walking by with his three new gorgeous girls. The girl students looked at us with a sort of pity, and Sarathi's eyebrows furrowed. He spoke up.

"We are very glad you immediately understood we are here for you only." Sandhu stopped and turned around to face Sarathi. He edged closer, and sniffed Sarathi's hair, sighing with satisfaction. Vijay glared at him but Sarathi looked on plainly.

"We want a private audience from you."

"Done!" Sandhu laughed and beckoned us again. We took a couple rights, lefts, and walked down straight hallways, and noticed the dominance of Sandhu over this school. A group of frail boys wearing glasses and studying while eating their Chapathis saw Sandhu and stood up with a fear-induced respect. He smirked at them. 

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. I'll deal with you lot afterwards." 

Sandhu turned and examined Vijay and I, raising his eyebrows at my hair. I panicked about its effectiveness and bumped straight into the door Sandhu had opened out for us. The inside of the room was black. 

"Be careful, it's even darker inside, but I'll turn on the dim lights and then we can have fun." He grinned naughtily and closed the door with a loud bang behind us. We stood for two minutes in the darkness and I felt Vijay grab my hand before letting it go and grabbing Sarathi's instead. The dim lights came on and Sandhu walked in from the darkness with an obvious attempt at a swagger. I was used to seeing Sarathi's effortlessly stylish walk everyday, this did nothing to me. But then again, I'm not Sena. 

"So, how shall we begin, what-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we came for a slightly different purpose."

Sandhu's smile faded. He frowned a little and shrugged nonchalantly. It was obvious that he was trying to be nonchalant about it though.

"Well then, what is your purpose?"
"You must promise to choose one of us..." Sarathi trailed off.
Sandhu waited for him to finish, before piping up again.
"Only one of you?"
"I mean, it's easier that way-"
"There's no question about it, it has to be you, you beauty!"

Vijay and I watched from the sidelines as Sarathi stood planted in his spot and Sandhu started to slowly trail his fingers over Sarathi's arms. I started breathing faster. What was Sarathi doing? What happened to the plan? How didn't Sandhu look past our blatantly obvious disguises? I tensed my jaw and watched with confusion, as Sandhu's fingers reached Sarathi's chin, which he lifted up and edged his face closer, slowly puckering up his lips. 

Vijay burst out laughing in the heat of the moment. Sandhu dropped Sarathi's chin with a grunt, while Sarathi smiled at Vijay. Vijay clasped his hands together and shook his head at Sarathi.

"I can't hold it in anymore! Please-" No words came out. I started laughing along at his plight. Sandhu's fists trembled and he glared at Sarathi.
"Let's throw them out the room and then-"
"Continue? Really? I thought you would have figured by now."
Sandhu's eyes widened and his mouth opened a little, like a fish examining a bait.
"What do you mean? What should I have figured, by now?"

Sarathi took off his sunglasses and Sandhu immediately recognized the dark, gleaming eyes that had defeated him in cricket battles 18 times in the last two years. Sandhu stifled his mouth and fell back, gagging. Sarathi folded his arms and watched amused.

"Now that's enough overreacting I think."
"How dare you? What sort of a prank is this?" Sandhu coughed. "I was about to kiss you! Argh!" He facepalmed himself with both hands. Sarathi came closer and patted him on his shoulder, which Sandhu hurriedly brushed off and put up a threatening finger.
"Don't you dare touch me again!"
Sarathi shrugged.
"Well, we still came here for you only. We got our private audience, and now we want our promise to be fulfilled."
"What stupid promise?"
"Oh, did you forget? The one where you promised you'd choose one of us..."
"Bleurgh, I learnt my mistake there!"
"Don't interrupt me. We want you to promise to choose one of us to fight with."

Sandhu swallowed his saliva and looked at Sarathi with disgust. I didn't know how anyone could look at Sarathi with disgust. His glowing face, always-present half-smile, and twinkling, mischievous eyes were enough to make even the most evil of hearts melt.

"You're challenging me to a fight? And you thought dressing up as a woman would do it? How cowardly can you be?" Sandhu laughed. "Actually, wait. You're the biggest coward in this entire locality aren't you? I will never forget the way you sabotaged my cricket team eighteen times to save your school's team's asses from being whooped."
Sarathi shrugged again, laughing slightly. "I'm just saying, I never sabotaged them. It was flu season."
"Save it, Sarathi!" Sandhu poked at Sarathi's chest, which looked like it must've hurt. Sarathi's smile didn't change. Sandhu turned to Vijay. 

"You might be good at running. You keep at that. Make sure to run far away from me any time you see me, alright you little baby?" He spat. Sarathi clenched his jaw. He didn't like anyone speaking about his beloved cousin this way.

Sandhu walked up to me. I licked my lips and looked into his eyes. We were the same height, but that was only because of Satya's knee-high boots she had lent me to cover my leg hair. It had worked so far but was very itchy. If I had known I would be wearing knee-high boots, I would've definitely worn socks.

"You. Pavan Kumar. You do a hundred Surya Namaskars a day don't you?"
I nodded slowly. Well, it depends. This morning I did a hundred and thirty two. Yesterday, I struggled to complete eighty. But a hundred is the average most of the time.
Sandhu smirked at Sarathi.
"Your friend is too awestruck by my presence to even speak with me." He laughed and turned back to face me. He felt my biceps and smirked, suddenly bending down and rolling the dress Kurti up. He examined my chest and raised his eyebrows, impressed.
"Lovely. Oh well, I definitely choose Pavan for the fight." He looked me in the eye. "You do know how to fight right?"
Sarathi walked up into the middle of us. "This won't be a normal fight. We're going to do a Kabaddi match."
“Ha! Best! What new technique is this, Sarathi? Giving me the prize on a silver platter before the challenge itself?” Sandhu glared me up and down. “Sarathi, I’ll snap your sightworthy friend here like a twig.”
Sarathi ruffled my hair.
“I’d like to see you try, Sandhu.”

~ ~ ~

Sarathi was neatly folding up the girl’s clothes and placing them in different bags.
“This yellow Kurti was… Roohi’s… And Vijay’s set was from…” He bit his lip. “Wait, I’ll come back to that one.”
“Don’t forget Satya’s wig and boots.” Vijay laughed, as he played with the Aparachit wig that had adorned my hair a few hours ago. “Would you fall in love with me if I wore it?”
“The red Kurti is from Jammu.”
Vijay raised his eyebrows. “Jammu’s the tall and hairy one, isn’t she?”
Sarathi frowned and folded it up.
“Don’t talk about Jammu like that. She’s beautiful.”
Vijay rolled his eyes.
“And you say your greatest weakness isn’t girls.”
Sarathi chuckled.
“My greatest weakness is none of your business.”

“Om Savithre Namaha.” I mumbled, and started my hundred and forty second Surya Namaskar of the day.
“Why don’t you do anything else to work out, like push ups or running?”
I was in Bhujangasana. I mentally debated whether to answer Vijay’s question now or after the round. I gave an answer while switching over to Parvathasana.
“I just… Like this. It’s… Easy to remember.” I panted and finished the round.
Sarathi was still wondering whose dress the purple and blue shirt and skirt set was from. He looked up at me.
“Pavan, are you ready?”
I sat down and caught my breath. I stared down at the little mosquitos in Sarathi’s bedroom, trying to decide which of these three hotels to get their midday meal from. I would assume Sarathi had the tastiest blood, but I wouldn’t want a mosquito to bite him.
“Yes… Sure.” I checked the time on the Mickey Mouse clock which hung at the front of the room. Sarathi’s younger sister Shubha had made it and had hated it so much it had lain carelessly under her bed for ages. Sarathi had seen its potential for use and hung it up in his room.
The match was in two hours. 4 pm at the cricket grounds behind Patna Public School. I had eaten a hearty lunch but was still feeling hungry. I wanted to ask Sarathi for food. I got up and started another round.

“Om Arkaaya-”
“Pavan, do you know why you are doing this?”
I tightened my clasped hands and finished the mantra in my mind. Of course I knew why I was doing this. For Dharam.
Sarathi smiled as if he had read my mind. Well, that was not unusual. He’d always say the most accurate things right after our mental doubts.
“Pavan, I want you to understand that you are fighting not only for the victory of your literal friend, Dharam… But also for the principle.” He placed Mohini’s sunglasses into Jammu’s bag. “Righteousness. Justice.”
“Dharam doesn’t have a straight English translation.” Vijay added matter-of-factly. Sarathi snatched the wig out of his hands and Vijay pouted mockingly. I smiled.
“I understand. Dharam… Is important.”

Vijay cried out loud and hit his neck. The mosquitos had selected a hotel.