"Vrrooooooom...." my sleek bike sped in the dusty little streets of Parsa and on to the highway with Neema sitting behind. She sat nervously gripping my shoulder tightly with one hand and holding the metal tail frame of the bike with the other. I would fetch her from her house every morning...on her way back she took the bus since we did not get off at the same time. "Dai..do you have sisters?" she asked me once. I shook my head...I had a young brother, a Kurt Cobain worshipper, who was already a liability to our family. "Can I put a bhaitika on you then?" She asked again. I was always a gung-ho type...been there...done that...a real smartass kind. Never shed tears over most heart-rending events.... but this girl brought tears from my eyes all of a sudden and I had hard time hiding it. I promised her I would be there during bhaitika as long as I could manage.I then realized how dear was Neema to me. After a week when I started dropping Neema at her school, there was a knock at my door one evening, I was preparing some noodles for myself for an early dinner and was not willing to share ,I frowned at the sudden arrival of an unwanted guest. A lot of people visited me everyday, asking me to find a job at our establishment...and I thought this was no different until I opened the door. There were four people standing outside, one of them was Neema's dad....and I could smell trouble just by looking at him. We talked for 15 minutes where I was shoved and pushed around half that time. They departed with a warning...and I departed the next day...queitly. Not bidding goodbye even to Neema...for she was in more troubled waters than I was. The reason of their disgust was evident even to blind eyes and i ask myself what a fool I had been not to witness it at first hand. The whole village thought I and Neema were having a wild affair....more primal than the beast ruling the nearby forest. Some even forebode evil for the upcoming young girls if they went to the college much to my dismay. I started living in bhatarpur and commuted everyday to tandi, I never went back to Parsa....not even during bhaitika....it was the first promise I didn't keep. Wonder where Neema is now....she must have had beautiful kids by now....and a loving husband...and I wonder if she still remembers her dear brother.