Partners in Crime

Date - 4th November 2004.
Location - Mumbai, India

The time goes back to my third year of engineering at SNDT university. It started out as a perfect day. Natasha, Niharika and I had almost finished our work for the day. We were studying the entire day at Niharika's aunts place and working on our assignments.By the time it was 4:00 pm we were completely exhausted but proud of our accomplishments so we decided to take a break.The three of us took the car and went for a drive.

We were enjoying our time, the music and the conversation. In sometime an idea sparked into our minds. It was something we had never done before.We had seen other people do it,our parents had warned us against it ! But we still wanted to try it and thought it was exciting ! Natasha was not very sure about it ! But after debating over it she also gave in. It was decided that we were going ahead with it. There was no looking back.

But we didn't know how to go about it. We were scared because we didn't want to get caught. We were still in Niharika's aunts area and realized that we couldnt do it there. We waited for it to become a little dark and drove to Karter Road.
People who know Mumbai, know that Karter road is a busy place and everyone comes there for their evening walks.So we drove till the end of the road and waited there for a while till the people went back to their homes.

But to do what we wanted to we had to buy it ! We didn't know which one of us was going to buy it ! Niharika said she wouldn't do it ! So finally it came on me and Natasha ! Both of us decided that we will do it ! We stopped infront of a small shop and got out of the car. We were nervous and the shopkeeper knew we were just kids trying it for the first time. He smiled and asked us what we wanted.We just pointed out in the direction of the paket and gave him the money. He also warned us against it and told us " Beti iski aadat nahi lagaana! Buri cheez hai ! " (Girls dont get used to it ! Its bad !!) But it had gone too far and as decided there was no looking back. This was it !!!!

We had bought it ! Our very first packet !! It had four red squares on it. But then Natasha said we couldn't do it in the car because her mom would find out. So we drove back to Karter road, looked at each other and nodded ! We got out of the car ! While getting out of the car we already felt like heroes ! We were walking with style. It was low tide at that time and people who have seen Karter road know that it is infested with small rocks and that you can walk till the end and sit there. So we had found our spot. We walked till the end and sat where no one could see us properly. None of us were really talking. The conversation was restricted to mere essentials. I knew my hands were sweating, but it would be below my dignity to admit it so i kept quiet.

Niharika took out the packet and took one stick out. We all stared at it. Natasha and I didn't know how to light it. Niharika was the bold one. She held the stick in her mouth and used a matchstick to light it. Natasha and I kept staring at her blankly. She had taken the very first puff of her life. We saw the smoke coming out of her mouth and nose.But that meant it was our turn now. Natasha did the same and passed on the cigarette to me. Nervously i took it in my right hand and took a drag ! It certainly didn't taste very good but mind you for a second i felt i was in heaven.After a few cigarette's we thought we were pro at it. It gave us a high and we were in a different world all together.We felt that our problems would get solved and that life was good ! We were surely behaving like Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt from the movie Kaante and it reminded us of the song Rama Re -
Collar ko thoda sa upar chadhaake
Cigarette ke dhuein ka chhala banaake
Sochna hai kya, jo hona hai hoga
Chal pade hai fikr yaar dhuein mein udaake
Jaane kya hoga rama re, jaane kya hoga maula re.
We smoked our first pack and it was time to go home.We thought we were very smart and what we did was easy ! But then we didn't realize that the difficult part was yet to come ! We smelled of smoke and didn't know how to get rid of it ! So we went to another shop, bought a lot of menthol and deo's.We thought we had taken care of everything. This was too good ! We were smart !!!
By the time Niharika and I reached the hostel we both were dizzy and our heads were hurting like hell. We straight went to have a shower so that no one knows what we did. But the headache didn't stop and things went from bad to worse.Niharika started puking. I was feeling really sick and the headache was killing me. We called up Natasha to check on her. She too wasn't feeling very well. We realized our so called smart plan wasn't so smart after all. We felt very guilty about it but still decided that we will never tell it to anyone. We were partners in crime and would keep it to ourselves for the rest of our lives.We also made a promise that we will never touch the damn thing again !!!!