Bal Krishna was saying “srimati aaspaas” tonight but we were still doomed dum and our luck was hiding only it knew where. Bale, Sinka (fu gada dhalla jasto Sudip Sinka), Dhyak (always used to fuss about dhyak while playing guch.cha), and I (well, what was I called? It is for them to say…afai ta ke bhanai bho ra) were quite close growing up. We started smoking the same gaida thuto together, shared the same bowl of chhyang in Boudh.dha, and enjoyed the one and only siri quarter bottle together palam pa, though. And to show our solidarity, we put our hindi dialogue infested minds together to write an undeniable love letter to the same girl-Bhawana. Bhawanako naam lekhna saath yo umera ni feri ke aaudhi rau thada bhaka ni.. Anyways, after two third of a bottle from Mukesh dai’s bhatti, Sinka declared his intention about giving that love letter to Bhawana before sundown tomorrow. You were startled but we had every reason to doubt Sinka’s declaration. I must admit, Sinka turned out to be the man of his words. He dared in his own mind, meaning no twat, bis, bhang, dhaturo, gaja …etc played any role, to give that letter to Bhawana before sundown and he did but after sundown Bhawana’s brother gave our Sinka a big dhyappa. Bichara sinka! We got the point and swiftly got rid of the love letters we were carrying ….you know..for Bhawana. Sinka, however, was not discouraged by that unfortunate dhyappa. He called many aas paas after that but most of them were sadel, and the remaining ones ended with dhyappa. Still, he kept on playing aaspaas with more vigor and was rewarded at times. We had to go thru his every reward until he got the next one. We were sick of that, though. Hamro chai khai ke taal namilya namilya…Dhyak and I were like aakas ko fal aankha tari mar. Bale’s bya was going on and Sinka had already started to play the game Aaspaas, of course. As always, he was the dum and was counting but the player did not seem to be interested. Sinka assured us saying “this is how the typical game starts”. How could dhyak, and I dispute? After all who were we to challenge Sinka? Yes, Sinka was right. We were just anadis. May be it was anaris (you know the ones without nari—sundari). We were more interested in Sinka’s game because Bale’s game was like jutpatti-no thrill ke. Sinka said “let’s go have some fuel”. “Khoi gaanth?” Dhyak asked. “Dai sanga hinna ke ko chinta talai.” Sinka said and led the way. We followed. Later Sinka admitted that he hijacked some cash envelopes sitting next to Bale during that khutta(goda) dhune item. We got enough cash for plenty of twat, and sitan. After we came back with twat fuel, Sinka got a bit bolder with his Aaspaas player. At one point, I noticed that the player – a girl who was a bit short for the word “sundari”-started to respond with smile. Sinka elbowed us to show how he is the man. I was having hard time staying up. Dhyak was saying the same thing. “Sittaima payo bhandaima yasari ni twat khanu…thukka…aba dekhi khanna yasari ma…thadnai garho bho yaar” Dhyak said. Ho yaar, yesima tyo chhoyela pani kuiya re chha kyare…kya pet dhussa bhai ra bhanya mero ta…” I spilled my byatha. Sinka got up and left. Dhyak and I both looked at him heading toward the girl who smiled a bit at Sinka then went inside the bya ghar. “Bya ghar mai?” Dhayk asked with his eyes. “Ani ke thanya ta Sinka lai taile?” my eyes replied as if they knew. Sinka followed the girl and they both went inside. “Sinkale nai fela parni kina hola hai?” Dhyak asked. He knew I don’t have the answer. I remained silent but inside I felt terrible. 30 minutes passed by. Sinka did not come back but the girl came out. “Go ask her” Dhyak ordered me. “Ask what?” I looked at Dhyak. “Where is Sinka?” Dhyak slurred. “lagi ra chha…why don’t you go ask” I told him. Dhyak lai ke sanak chale chha he went to the girl and said something. The girl smiled and said I don’t what. Tyo keti le tyasari hasera bolda malai kya dikka lagyo bhane. I said to myself “dhikkar jindagi…sangai Sinka ka bata ka pugi sakyo….”. Dhyak came back. “What did she say?” “hasdai tha chhaina bhanchhe radi” Dhyak expressed his frustration. “Don’t call her this and that..Dhyak”. I was serious. Who knows afno ni na palo aauni ho, jhino aasha palayo man ma ani chhittai woyilayo pani. Later came Sinka asta byasta halat ma. Cloths looked a bit dirty. Pantsko ghudama ta ghasko daag chha. “What did you do?” Dhyak asked Sinka looking at his stained outfit. Sinka just smiled and said “tya aba bya ghar bhitra bhadragol…thau ni khali raincha…ketile baira bhani ani isara gari” “Then?” I asked with drumming heart. “Then had to go outside…adhyarama kata kata …ghar ghur bho..tara ni kam chhai sake…man kya halungo bho bujhis…” Sinka said. With his smile, Sinka was repeatedly pushing Dhyak, and me to the nilkadako jhyang. We were badly wounded. “kam chai bhayo re…” Dhyak, and I felt like the moment when we put all we got on burja, and when the guy took the twak off langur double, and itta triple showed up. “Alachhina” dhyak was still mad at the girl, who was still, occasionally, looking at us with lajalu muskan. Sinka looked at her and asked “how is she?” “Sittai diye ni chaidaina tyasto ghorpa” Dhyak was quite bitter then. Sinka did not like that comment. I did not agree with Dhyak…sittaima diye ta…haina …I had my own thinking distinct of Dhyak’s, of course. “Ani kattiko maja aayo ta?” I asked Sinka. “maja ko ta kurai nagar...jado ma baira tyo pani chham chham chhum chhum gardai bityo ek chhin ta. Afulai kya aatturi chhuti ra bela ma.” Sinka spoke. “Ani keti le ke bhani ta? You know during that time when you were doing chham chham chhum chhum and stuff like that”. Sinka tied a knot between his caterpillar forehead, and asked “keti le ke bhani re? what was there for her to say?” “She did not say anything? See, I told you she is a pro…must have done several times” Dhyak spat and asked Sinka “so, how much you paid?” “Paid for what?” Sinka was not liking the tone of Dhyak’s voice. I knew I had 100 rupees in my pocket. So, with hope I intervened…I did not want to antagonize Sudip Sinka because he was the one who could lead me to her….hya Dhyak chup lag. So, Sudip..I tried to be nice. “She came back a while ago, what kept you there longer?” I asked. “I don’t about her but when I thought I was done and was getting ready to come back here, but then I had to go for the second round. Man, I felt so tired. “ Sinka replied. “What? 2 times?” Dhyak almost screamed. People looked at him. That girl got up from the jagge and went inside the house looking at us. Now, who was supposed to follow her? I got up and was still debating if and how should I go? Will 100 be enough? I was still debating but the girl came back to the jagge. “fast huna parchha ke yasto kura ma…” I was scolding myself. Then suddenly Sinka got up crutching his stomach, and almost ran toward the back of the bya ghar saying..”yo samet tin choti hunhha…feri aaile ni wakka aaula jasto cha…tyo rachhesnika chhoyeila khanna aba…”