Free When a Lawyer Falls in Love by Amrita Suresh Page A

their orders at the ice cream parlour. ‘Okay make that a strawberry, for me too,’ suggested Souvik hastily to the man behind the counter. Aminute later, he walked towards the table holding the ice creams where Jaishree sat sipping water. She seemed a little uneasy.
     
    ‘I think we should head back. I don’t like sitting here.’ Each time Jaishree spoke in long sentences, she was very serious. Souvik agreed after a second of hesitation. Holding their cones, they walked out of the place that had a glut of dating couples.
     
    It was pleasant outside. Acool breeze blew while deep grey clouds filled one corner of the sky. Jaishree’s light green salwar with a bright yellow dupatta fluttered in the wind, playfully dancing about. A few rebellious locks had broken free from her flimsy hanky giving extra work to her dainty hands that kept pushing back her strands behind those delicate ears. Jaishree was wearing hanging earrings that she had picked up at the exhibition. The light green stones danced animatedly when she spoke and occasionally caressed her slender neck.
     
    When Souvik was with Jaishree, silence was the only thing that did all the speaking. Souvik actually liked it that way. With Jaishree it was always a comfortable silence, Souvik was slowly learning. This in turn truly amazed him. Of course they had spoken during their almost two hour long date. Souvik had told her about his plans of going abroad, his brother’s wedding and his ideas about his future, and even his plans for the country! With such grand plans, if nothing else, Souvik could at least look forward to being a politician.
     
    Jaishree in a series of monosyllables had informed him that she came from a close-knit family with her elder sister already married. Her mother had passed away in a freak accident six years ago and now it was just her father and grandmother who stayed in their ancestral home. Jaishree spoke mostly Tamil at home, hence the lawyer in Souvik deduced that those from Tamil Nadu had a linguistic advantage when it came to matters of planning a future with Jaishree.
     
    They had crossed the road and had reached the college gates when it started to rain. With their melting strawberry cones they started jogging towards the building and Jaishree suddenly let out some pure hearted giggles. Souvik stopped to listen. He had never before heard Jaishree emit such happy sounds. They had trotted some distance when Jaishree decided it was futile to run, and a walk in the rain would be far more pleasant. The romantic in Souvik was delighted.
     
    Licking the last of their soggy cones, Jaishree and Souvik walked through the steady drizzle alternately laughing and avoiding muddy puddles. Souvik was suddenly thankful to the municipal department for doing such a shoddy job in laying the roads. He had never seen Jaishree so ecstatic before. She had transformed into a little child as she went about giving a girlish squeal before crossing huge puddles in the middle of the campus road. After a point, she was crossing each puddle with the deliberate intent of getting splashed.
     
    The rain washed sky watched over the playful pair as they made their way back to the hostel. The sweet smelling earth and the cool breeze from the freshly scrubbed green leaves seemed to give their approval as Souvik sat down to write in his diary after drying his hair. This had been the most romantic evening of his life.

 
     
     
    Nineteen
    ‘He deserves Paradise, who makes his comrades laugh— so goes a line from the Holy Scriptures. In that case, I’m sorry to disappoint you folks, but my services can’t be availed of in Hell. Try not to miss me,’ Ankur was saying, a mischievous grin on his face.
     
    He was standing atop his chair making his grand speech to an amused audience. Ankur often doubled up as a class comedian, entertaining a bored set of students during a free hour. The school boy in him made him indulge in chalk fights and he had once even dislodged