Sidharth Malhotra as Abhimanyu Singh

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             Everyday, she came to that quiet apartment for work, she didn't know why she wished to see the man behind those notes. Whenever, she swept and mopped the wooden flooring of the music room,  she looked at the picture perched on the table. Both, man and the boy, were handsome and skinny, and from the jeans and shirts she washed, she could tell that the man was tall.

              It was December, and college internal exams before Christmas holidays were approaching. She took out the math notebook from bag, flipped it to the page with formulas she wanted to memorize and placed it against the kitchen platform while she glanced into it in between her work in the kitchen. She had been doing this for few days now. She skipped dusting every now and then since it took a lot of time, and it never looked it required any dusting. Even when she didn't do any, it wasn't really noticeable.It saved her a lot of time to study. Sometimes, she used that time to sit and study in the tranquility of the house which the slum never offered.

            She had her math exam in afternoon that day. Early morning, while it was still dark, she walked to the apartment complex with all the formula's running in her head. She opened the door, kept the bag on floor against the wall in the kitchen, took out her math notebook and set it on the kitchen platform leaning against the tiled wall with the page of polynomial function to her. She picked up the broom from the small kitchen store that had door from kitchen. Lost in the formula's in her head, she walked upstairs, opened the door to the bedroom and walked in.

           Her eyes widened in shock and formulas stopped running in her head as her head and eyes registered something unusual in the bed in front of her. For a moment, she froze, she didn't scream, she just lost her voice, and then she immediately turned back to go when the naked man on top of a naked woman turned his head to look in her direction. She rushed out closing the door behind her with a bang. Embarrassed and breathing fast, she ran down the stairs to the kitchen with broom still in her hand. She couldn't believe what all just happened there. It all happened so fast. She wanted to delete the image her eyes just saw.

          She ran the tap to clean the dishes in sink, but couldn't take out the image she just saw. Many girls in slums said they ran into such scenes in slums by accident, luckily she hadn't, but she just did. She just now witnessed a man in an intercourse with a woman, even if it was for a second. For a moment she just froze at what was happening. She had never seen porn. It was not something accessible to them. Biology was one of her subjects in eleventh and twelfth grade. She remembered how even the teachers were so shy to teach the chapter 'Reproduction Systems'. They made one student stand and read the chapter for others and never explained a thing. Words 'penis' and 'vagina' were never uttered by the teacher. Students were told to prepare them well for board exams on their own and ask them if they had any doubts. Of course, no one ever went to them with any doubts. When one went to ask what intercourse meant, she was told it was like the to and fro movement of a piston inside a lubricated cylinder.

          She was sure the girl didn't see her as the man above her was on her way of sight. She had walked out before the man turned his head completely. She was not sure if he saw her, but one thing was sure, they knew that a third person had walked in during their action. "Why don't people lock the door when they do something like this?" she asked in her head completely disgusted at what just happened. She turned to clean the stove with her back to the stairs and living. Her eyes fell on the page of her notebook, she read a formula from it and started memorizing it instead of thinking of the consequences of the event.

       Just then, she felt someone walk in the kitchen, her heart started racing with fear. She didn't know what was going to happen now. If he was going to get mad at her and fire her for not knocking on the door before entering. But it was not her fault, he never used to be home at that time. How was she supposed to know that he was at home on that day? Then, she saw him from the corner of her eyes next to refrigerator at the end of the kitchen platform she was cleaning stove on. He was smoking as he opened the refrigerator to take out a bottle of beer. He was in track pants with no shirt on. He took a sip from the Kingfisher beer bottle and looked in her direction. She immediately moved the balls of her eyes to the stove. She was so nervous in anticipation. Still standing at the refrigerator with bottle in one hand, he took a puff of cigarette before blowing it in the air. The thought that there isn't really much difference between very rich and very poor people crossed her mind. Both start their day with smoke and alcohol. Only difference was in the money and the quality of bad stuff they were consuming. Rich were more polished in their manners than poor. She decided to be confident herself and not care about who the man in question was.

Man: Listen, make one cup of coffee for the lady. He ordered her in English.

She had never heard such an amazing, sexy voice of a man.

Raina: Last time I checked, it isn't in my list of work. I am sorry, I don't get paid for it. She said cleaning the gas without looking at him.

Man: Wooh! English speaking maid. Hmmmm...

Raina: You asked me in English, so I answered in English.

          She looked at him. Boy! He was such a fit handsome young man. What face! What body! She couldn't believe she saw a man more handsome than Hrithik Roshan. Her crush on Hrithik just got crushed by him. She immediately shifted her eyes to gas stove.'He is definitely not the older man in the pic. He is the boy in that pic but that pic is definitely old because he looks like in his mid twenties now' were the thoughts in her head.

           Studying her, he slowly leaned his back against the adjacent wall next to the refrigerator, his expression changing from surprise to smile. His eyes fell on the school bag in the kitchen.

Man: How old are you? He asked her.

Raina: I'll turn eighteen in another ten days, on December twenty. She said as she continued to wipe the gas with wet cloth.

Man: Thank God! I thought I was going to get arrested for child labor..... Well, I never thought a school going kid works for me. I always thought some woman works in my house.

Raina: I don't go to school. I go to to college. And in ten days, I'll not be even a minor.

Man: Which year?

Raina: First Year BSc.

He looked at the math notebook with formulas on the counter standing against the wall.

She saw him looking at her open notebook.

Raina: I have my math test today.

Man: I see. Mugging up formulas? He asked with a smile.

Raina: Yes. She smiled.

Man: What was your PCM( Physics Chemistry Math) in twelfth? He asked looking in her notebook.

Raina: Eighty percent.

Man: That formula for finding the roots of polynomial function is wrong. If you use that, all your answers will be wrong. She looked at him in shock.

Man: It should be minus there, not plus. He pointed in the notebook as he said the correct formula. She looked at him with doubt.

Man: You can check in the textbook if you want. I was good in Math. I studied Polynomial Functions in my First Year Engineering.

Raina: Thank you.

Man: You can ask me if you need any help in math.

Raina: How?

Man: Just leave a note, and I'll catch you at this time. He smiled.

 His smile was so infectious. She thought he was nice. She liked him except for the thing she just saw. May be she was his girlfriend.

He wondered what all she saw upstairs. He had not expected maid to come that early.

Man: Is this the time you come everyday?

Raina: Yes.

Man: Isn't it too early to go to somebody's house for work?

Raina: This is the only time I have before going to college. After college, I have my studies to do.

He nodded his head in understanding.

Man: What's your name?

Raina: Raina.

Man:  Raina, make a good cup of coffee, I'll pay you extra for that.

Raina: I'll take 50 bucks. She looked at him.

Man: What? He looked at her in shock.

Just then the girl upstairs called out from the room, "Abhimanyu, Abhimanyu". 

"Coming, babe," he shouted back.

Abhimanyu: Is it some out of world coffee you are going to make? He asked looking at her.

Raina: I'm going to get late for my college if I make coffee. I might even miss my first lecture. This extra money will compensate for that. Every extra money means a lot to poor people like us.

Man: Then why didn't you keep the change? He asked with a fold between his eyebrows

Raina: That I had not earned. This money is for the work I'm doing for you. I have the right to quote an amount for it.

He was impressed by her English diction, fluency, accent and voice.

Abhimanyu: Where did you learn English? It's really good.

Raina: English literature is my optional subject. I went to convent for poor girls as a kid and was a regular to English classes run for poor by the church. I learnt reading English by an American lady married to an Indian christian there.

Abhimanyu: That explains it. Very good. He was very impressed.

Abhimanyu: What do you want to become in life?

Raina: I want to become an IAS officer. She said as she started cleaning the platform after cleaning the gas stove.

He looked at the dark complexion of her face, oily hair, one long braided plait and loose clothes. She saw him looking at her in a kind of disapproval.

Raina: My Physics professor told, a vegetable vendors daughter became, so I think with hard work, I too can.

Abhimanyu: For that you have to dedicate yourself to studies only and only studies. Almost day and night. You cannot do that if you spend your day working in people's houses to earn money. You better leave it to your mom.

Raina: I never worked before this. My aayi only used to work here, before me. I started working only a month back when she fell down and hit her head on the floor. Doctor's have advised her rest for six months. Until then I'll have to work. It's not a choice. We need money to survive, so I need to work.

Abhimanyu: Oh! I am so sorry. He took a lot of quick sips from the bottle, and then downed the whole bottle.

Raina: It's okay!

Raina: It takes luck or gut to not rot in a rut.

Abhimanyu: Wow! Lyrical!

Just then the voice from upstairs came," Abhimanyu! What's taking you so long?"

Abhimanyu: Okay, I'll give you hundred. The girl upstairs should feel it came from a five star hotel. He smiled and opened the refrigerator to take another bottle of beer after throwing away the bud of the cigarette that he had finished smoking during their conversation.

He looked at her once again. She was not easy on eyes at all.

" Wash your hands before preparing coffee," he said as he walked out of the kitchen to take stairs to the bedroom. She looked at him. "I understand hygiene," she said back. There was something about his body, body language and the way he moved that her eyes followed him until he disappeared from the stairs.

          She prepared coffee, and finished dusting living room on the side. She could hear the piano, so she went to the music room with one cup of coffee on a tray. The door was open. She saw him sitting shirtless on a stool, and playing musical notes from a paper on the music rack of piano. The good looking tall girl was standing behind him in a T-shirt and shorts, her hands massaging his shoulders. The bottle of Kingfisher beer from which he was drinking was on the floor next to his stool.

         They looked at her as she entered the room. He stopped playing the piano. She offered the cup in the tray to lady. She looked at her up and down and made a disgusted face

Tall Girl: I don't want it. She said and turned to look at him.

Abhimanyu: But you asked for it.

Tall Girl: Yeah, but now I don't want.

            Raina was confused. She looked at him. He asked her to keep it on the table there. She walked to the table to keep the tray on it. She was about to go after leaving the tray on table when he asked her to handover the cup of coffee to him. "I want to see if it's really worth it's cost," he said with his eyes twinkling.

            He picked his wallet kept on the muscial rack of paino, pulled out a note of hundred rupees from it and gave it to her. She took the money, picked up the cup of coffee from tray and offered him. His eyes fell on her hands as he took the cup from her. He noticed how fair and luminescent the skin of her hand was in contrast to her dark and dry face. 'How unusual,' he thought. He saw her walking towards the door

Abhimanyu: Best of Luck. He wished her.

Raina: Thank you. She turned her head and smiled with dimples. 

She was at the door when he called out," Wait". She turned to see. He slide his index finger of left hand on the table behind him since he was holding the cup of coffee in his right hand. He showed his finger layered with dust.

Abhimanyu:  I thought, you were using all the brooms and surf excels.

Raina: Sorry. 

Abhimanyu:  From next time, take care of it. 

She felt very bad as she walked out of the room.

Tall Girl: God! How can you even keep such a girl as maid? She is so ugly. Looks so unhygienic. I just can't think of anyone drinking that coffee made by her. Even maids have such a good dressing sense these days. If you see them in malls you wouldn't be able to tell that they are maids. They have their hair shampooed and know how to style themselves. And look at her! She is walking talking coconut. She stinks of coconut. Her hair is so greasy. Looked like she was wearing someone's maternity clothes.

Abhimanyu: You know, looks are not important to all girls. Some girls are beyond that, and it's a good thing. She is studying BSc in a college, wants to do something in her life. She has math and English literature as her subjects. Isn't that a bigger achievement than looking good for a girl from her background?

Tall Girl: These words don't sound good especially from your mouth when you are always hunting for good looking girls. She came in and now the whole room stinks of coconut. How can you employ such unfortunate looking girl.

Abhimanyu: I actually saw her for the first time today. I never know who is working for me. Anyways, she is just too dark. Her features aren't bad.

Tall Girl: Really?

Abhimanyu: Yeah. He took a sip of coffee from cup.

Tall Girl: I can't believe you drank that coffee.

Abhimanyu: Trust me, it's really good. You should try it.

Tall Girl: No way, I would rather have some coke.

Abhimanyu: Alright, take here. Leave some for me. He handed her cocaine wrapped in a paper from one of the drawers in the table.

            Raina hadn't left. She was eavesdropping on their conversation. The moment she heard the girl cry out, 'God! How can you...' she couldn't move from there. She didn't really expect any good from a bimbette like her. Looking good was all these girls had in their life and she couldn't care any less for a shallow thing like that. But she was surprised at the whole coke thing in morning. 'Coke? Are they drinking Coca Cola now? How weird are they to drink Coca Cola early in the morning and how weird this guy is to drink beer, then coffee then Coca Cola. Uff, rich people' she thought. Very rich people and very poor people are similar in a lot of ways. Both alcoholic, gambler, womanizer, multiple affairs, have mistress. Latter has no bank balance while the former has it in loads. Only middle class families had real family values, and sense of responsibility towards each other.

Days passed and she didn't bump into him again.

            It was her birthday, her mother and maasi made sooji ka halwa in morning before she woke up. They also prepared aloo matar and poori for breakfast in her maasi's room before she left for work. She was surprised with birthday wishes by them when she woke up. They had purposely changed her alarm to 5 am that morning. She got angry on her mom for stressing herself, but was also so touched by their gesture. Everybody ate breakfast together.

             After breakfast, she went to work. She opened the door of as usual quiet house. Walked to the kitchen, bent to put her bag down. When she straightened up, she saw magazine 'Yojana' on the kitchen counter with a note. She immediately picked the note and read..

Happy Birthday.

To succeed in something like IAS, studying text books is not enough. You need more. I have taken annual subscription of Yojana magazine on my address, but it's for you. It will help you towards your goal. Doing things doesn't lead to success, doing right things in right time and in right way does. So, invest your time reading correct material. You or your mom can take it from my house every month. If you want it at your address, let me know your address, I'll change it to that. Now, don't say you have not worked for it. It's not always about gut but also about luck sometimes. When luck comes and wants to help you, you should recognize it and allow it to work for you and not try to oppose it. Why I want to help you? It's a very valid question. I want to see if I have it in me to guide someone to achievements as it will be my achievement. It's all selfish, no kindness. So, take it.

         She finished reading it and wrote on a sticky, "A big thank you" and drew a big smiling smiley next to it. She hated people who drank and smoked like her father. She had told her mother that only thing she wanted in her life partner was that he should not smoke and drink. She didn't know how and why, this man was so likable despite his bad habits.By nature, at a time, she crushed only on one man. She knew he was her new crush since she didn't feel anything towards Hrithik now.