Flight of the Shikra

"Is there anything you cannot do? Where did you learn this?"

I winked and in 5 minutes I had her hair brushed, combed and plaited.

"Sorry sweetie,I said, it is a little crooked, I am out of practice, the last time I did that was on my kid cousin when I was about 15 years old," I said as she critically examined her plait in the mirror. I put her compression bandage back on.

She leaned back, winced as she moved her leg, and whispered, "Kiss me, before Suman arrives."

A few minutes later, Suman came down with the food. "Hi Masterchef," I greeted her at the door.

"Where is my baby?" she asked.

I looked down at her tummy and asked, "You really don't know?"

"Ah, from the humour flowing around,I guess all is well," and she deposited her stuff on the dining table and strode into Neela's room. They hugged each other and it was obvious there was a lot of love and affection between them.

I asked Suman if she can stay a while, while I went up to my place and showered. I picked up Neela's clothes and told her I will put them through my washing machine, and I left the two friends together.

When I returned, Suman had fed Neela, so we both sat at the table and started on our meal.

"Neela tells me you were just awesome today."

I whispered, "I was shit scared Suman, I haven't seen Neela in tears, but knowing her, she must have been in intense pain. I fell short Suman, I am going to sign up for a first aid course, I need to know how to handle these things."

"She has been a lot happier since you moved in here, are things good between you two?"

"We are very good friends now, we have a lot of shared interests, jogging is one of them. I don't know why I didn't see the hole she stepped into. We were laughing and squealing one moment and the next moment she was screaming."

"It is not your fault, and she will recover soon, and I know you will take care of her."

"You will not be staying the night here? She will need you."

"I have been her friend for very long Narasimha, I know what she wants and I know what she needs. She wants you and she needs you. Take care of her, call me if you require anything."

"Does she know you won't be staying here tonight?"

"I told her the same thing that I told you just now, she needs you and she wants you to be with her. Vivek will come with the dinner and then drive me home. Get some sleep now, and I will call you before I leave."

"Suman?"

"Yes."

"I forgot to say this to you or Vivek earlier, Congratulations for the new baby, when is it due?"

"Another 7 months to go Narasimha, and we are so very happy."

"Let me look up Neela before I go."

Neela was sleeping. I kissed her lips softly and tiptoed out.

Narasimha

Suman and Vivek left after all of us had dinner. She helped me change into my nightwear, assisted me through the restroom activities before leaving.

Narasimha adjusted the air-conditioning temperature to a comfortable 22 degrees celsius, then removed my compression bandages for the night.

"I will sleep on the couch in the living room, call me when you need me," he said.

"Yes, and if you don't wake up, I will hobble across to the living room and poke you with my crutch," I said testily.

"Hey, what is up with you?" he asked.

I patted the space beside me. "This is your place Narasimha, so go get your toothbrush, put on your pyjamas and get your backside out here," I replied, with a big grin.

"I will see you in ten minutes," He said. He was back in six.

He checked if all the doors to our premises were secured, turned off the lights, turned on the night lamp and climbed into bed next to me. He kissed me on my forehead, then my lips, a small lingering kiss and wished me good night.

About ten minutes later I called out to him, "Narasimha, I can't sleep."

"Is your ankle hurting, sweetheart?"

"Yes, and sleep evades me."

He moved closer, put his righthand under my shoulder, and lifted me gently so that the left side of my head rested on his chest.

"Can you hear and feel my heartbeat?" he asked.

"Yes, I said, it beats like a war drum."

"Now put your right hand on your heart, can you feel your heart beat?"

"Yes, I can feel it, it beats like a kettle drum."

"Now breathe slowly, take long deep breaths and try to synchronise your heartbeat to mine," he said.

I don't know what happened, but I woke up only when the cuckoo clock chimed 6 in the morning.

I rested my chin on Narasimha's chest, staring at his face and as dawn broke outside and the daylight filtered in, I shifted my gaze to the window. I then noticed a huge lump in Narasimha's pyjamas. I stared at it for a while and then turned my face to look at Narasimha. He stirred and opened his eyes and it took him a moment to realise he was not in his own bed.

"Good morning Neela, for a moment I thought I was dreaming," he said.

"I haven't brushed my teeth, and neither have you but I want to be kissed anyway," I said.

He pushed me back on the pillow, and lowered his lips to mine. As we kissed, his left hand started kneading my right breast and his chest was pressed against my left one. I kept my right hand on his left and encouraged him into a rhythm. I broke the kiss and whispered, "Open the top buttons of my night-suit and put your hand inside, I want to feel your skin on mine."

He took his own sweet time over it, opening the buttons without allowing his fingers to touch my skin, enhancing that sense of anticipation, and then started caressing my breasts. His palm was warmer than my body. Sensitive man that he is, he was careful not to put his leg over mine. We kissed again, and his lips then started journeying south, to my chin, then down to my neck, to my cleavage, over my breasts, placing soft damp kisses as he kept wetting his lips often. I started to sigh, and then moan, I started taking his name again and again, and then his mouth found my right nipple, and as his lips puckered to suck, his tongue flicked across a caress and then continued to tease my nipple. His other hand started to softly roll and pinch the left nipple. Then my vagina started to spasm and a shiver ran through me. I held him tighter and moaned loudly. Narasimha had just given me a small 'boob-inal' orgasm.

Neela

As I lay, with my face buried in her cleavage and my hand on her breast, with a faint odour of a woman's wetness tickling my nostrils, I felt I was the cat's whiskers. I had brought my woman to orgasm, however mild, just with kisses and caresses alone. Yet another part of my mind told me this was probably just an evolutionary characteristic, a kind of alpha-male feeling. The truth was that Neela was a sexual dynamite waiting to explode. I just wanted to be the plunger.

I looked up. "How is your ankle, love?"

"It throbs," she said, "but so do other parts of my body," and she grinned.

"Hey today is your housekeeping day, how much time do we have before they arrive, I have to get us cleaned up and ready by then."

"You have a couple of hours, they come in early," she said

I propped myself up, rather reluctantly. I examined her ankle, the swelling was down. I hopped across to the bathroom, took a leak, brushed my teeth, and then came for her. I carried her in and placed her on the pot and stepped out. In a while, she called me in. I gave her a toothbrush and her toothpaste and held her up near the wash basin as she balanced herself on one leg. Then the routine of the previous day in the shower cubicle followed and finally she was dressed, the compression bandage in place. She unravelled her plait and managed to brush her hair and tie it up in a ponytail, just like the other day at the movies. I carried her to the couch in the living room, and placed a chair suitably to elevate her leg. I put the crutches and her phone beside her and told her not to budge till I returned. Then I hoped across to my apartment to shave, shower and change.

When I picked up my phone, there were 40 messages from her. I panicked and opened them, and started laughing. The messages read, 'You are awesome,' 'You are wonderful,' 'You are crazy,' 'You are all mine,' and so on.... Well, she certainly had a repertoire of adjectives.

She was still fiddling with her phone, when I got back. "You really are an idle devil," I said, as I fixed ourselves some coffee and breakfast, and then sent across a message to my office saying I won't be at the workplace for a week and that I was available on call and will be working from home. My boss called me to check if I was okay, and I explained to him that my friend had met with an accident and needed some support.

"I am glad you are not a nurse, Narasimha," Neela said.

"Why? Am I that bad?" I asked.

"You are a bad boy, and I wouldn't want to share you with other sick ladies," she said.

"Wow, that is some pun," and I stepped up to kiss her when I heard the front door open. The housekeeping ladies had let themselves in.

Sulochana and Champa fussed over Neela and were solicitous, expressing worry and concern on seeing Neela with a bandaged leg and with crutches beside her. For a while they totally ignored me. Then when Neela told them that I was the 'sahib' staying in the adjoining premises, they said their 'namaste,' the conventional folded hand greeting of India.

Neela instructed them on what had to be done, and they went about their work with a quiet professional competence. They seem to have a perfected drill, each knew what job they had to carry out alone and when to work on something together. They prepared Neela's room, sweeping, swabbing, vacuuming, dusting, changing the sheets and spreads, cleaning the bathrooms, replenishing the supplies... I realised that these were the same two ladies who cleaned my apartment and I had just taken them for granted and never met them over the last few months.

When they came in to do the living area, I picked up Neela in my arms, asking Sulochana, the taller one to follow me with the crutches. Both the girls were giggling and exchanging glances, it is not often that such intimacy is seen between a man and a woman not specifically related closely to one another.

Vivek dropped Suman over with the lunch packs and I decided to hop across to the supermarket nearby to replenish our grocery and other supplies.

I also got a plastic chair and a stool for Neela to be used in the shower, and a bed table so that she could have her meals on the bed, as also use her laptop to do her work.

Suman and Neela were closeted in, probably working and at the same time talking and sharing confidences as all girls do.

We had lunch, I answered my mails, looked through some reports, made some calls, worked on some new processes that I wanted built for a client. The day can to an end.

I saw Suman off at the door, she gave me a quick hug and whispered "Lage Raho Munnabhai" into my ear and winked. It was a common Hindi phrase as also the name of a popular Bollywood Hindi movie, and the words roughly translated to 'keep at it brother.' I winked back. It felt nice to know Suman was supportive of our relationship.

I settled down beside Neela, and she drifted across to me and assumed the same position, her head on my chest."How does this synchronising heartbeats stuff really work?" she asked.

"It actually doesn't," I said, "I just diverted your attention from the pain in your ankle, till the painkiller you took at bedtime kicked in."

Then after a long pause...."You are so young Narasimha," she said.

"Yes, Grandma, I am," I replied.

"Be serious Narasimha, You know that I am eight years older than you!"

"Would William Shakespeare have produced his masterpieces if Anne Hathaway had said the same thing?" I asked.

"You are too rational, some things aren't always rational," she countered.

I propped myself up with my back to the headboard, she moved up with me, her head close to my shoulder. I leaned to the side and switched on the lamps in the bedroom.

"Here is the irrational stuff. Look at us there in the mirror Neela," I said, "and tell me we don't look beautiful together?"

She stared at the mirror for a long time, and then she said, "I agree, we do, we really do."

"What took you so long to say that?"

"Oh, I knew that in a jiffy," she was being her mischievous self again, "I was trying to decide which part of you I should bite. Your neck? Or your cheek?"

"Countess Dracula, may I make a humble suggestion?"

"Yes, Pageboy."

"How about my nipples?"

"Why not indeed? Take off your nightshirt," she commanded.

I switched off the lights and slid down the headboard till I was flat on my back. "Sorry Countess, it is your turn tonight to undo the buttons."

Somewhere between the bites and the kisses, between the squeezing and the caressing, we went to sleep. When I woke up, Neela was staring into my eyes, her chin on my chest.

"No housekeeping, and no jogging today, and your review with the doctor can only take place after 9. So I am not getting up and neither are you," I said.

"Look buddy, at the moment I am the one on top holding you down." And she started kissing me.

"Can I ask you something Narasimha?"

"You can ask me anything Neela."

"How big is your penis?"

"Less than two inches," I said, "unless my Countess has bitten that too off, when I was asleep."

"You crazy cretin, how big is it when you have an erection? When you are excited? When you are horny? How big is your hard-on?"

"Keep your expectations low sweetie, you won't be disappointed then."

After a while she said, "I know it is big Narasimha, I saw it rising under your pyjamas a little before you woke up."

I hugged her tight and said, "Rest assured my little vampire, when you are ready, every millimetre will be used to make love to you. And there is nobody else who can stake a claim to it."

Narasimha

The chair and the stool that Narasimha had bought were a lot more functional than the earlier ones. I let Narasimha lather my back and when his hands drifted to the front, it felt so good that I stretched and pushed my breasts forward for him to cup. "Your breasts are blemish-less, Neela," he observed, "and they are so firm, I must compliment your parents' genes."

"True, they always looked a lot younger than their age."

I hesitated, but then I decided, what the hell, this man really cares about me, and I said, "Narasimha, this is going to be a bit embarrassing, and I forgot to ask Suman yesterday, but my chums are expected anytime."

"What is so embarrassing about a natural process? Just tell me which brand of pads or tampons you use, and I will get them for you."

"I have a menstrual cup in a black bag in the bottom drawer. I just want you to boil the cup for me in water for a few minutes and bring that and the bag here, I can manage all the rest."

Narasimha started the boiling process, and then came back to pat me dry with a towel. He patiently stood beside me, handing me the tissues and the soap while I prepared the cup, and discreetly left the bathroom when it was time to wear it. When he carried me out of the shower, he looked into my eyes and said,

"Don't hesitate to ask for any help Neela, like when you want to be helped in emptying the cup, or cleaning it again. I am always there for you." I just tightened my arms around his neck.

I found it easier to dress up by myself, Narasimha bandaged me up and drove me to the hospital. The doctor was quite happy with the speed of recovery and told me to stay in bed and give my ankle absolute rest for the next five days, and then check back with him.

"You will be good in five days Neela, and after that you will need the ankle support for about a month. You will still need to be careful with your feet for a while, so I have this absolutely terrific idea."

"What are you up to now?"

"Six days from now, once the doctor gives the all clear, I am going to drive you down to 'Tracks,' the bicycle shop. I am going to get each of us a light road bike, complete with helmets, knee guards, the works, and we are going to cycle every day since jogging is not an option for you for the next few months."

"Okay, you cauldron of crazy ideas, what happens when I can start jogging again?"

"We cycle down to the lake instead of the park, jog there and then cycle back"

"You are a loony, buddy, you really are!"

After Suman left for the day, Narasimha seemed restless.

"What is wrong my friend? Start talking," I said.

"Can we sit on the lawn outside for a while?" He asked.

"I usually sit on the 'jhoola' in the evenings, especially on the days you are not around, take me there."

He carried me out, and folded my leg so that it did not hang out of the seat, then he sat beside me.

"You know, we have these swings right inside the home, in the living room in southern India, it's a part of the house design. It is called 'Oonjal' in that part of the country."

"Why did you want to come here?"

"I wanted to show you the stars, it has been cloudy for so many days, but today there are some breaks in the clouds."

"Do the stars make you sad," I asked. I was now tuned in and very sensitive to his moods.

"When I am happy, the stars make me happier, when I am sad, they make me happy, but mostly, they make me curious."

"I sense a kind of despondency right now, or maybe an urgency. Why?"

"You are right, Neela, it is a kind of impatience, I want my teenager on steroids back, it hurts me to see you incapacitated."

"What is that bright star, low in the horizon?"

"She is the planet Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty?"

"Is she more beautiful than me?"

"She is a tease, she hides her beauty from me. But I am smart, I use various filters on my telescope and peer into her surface."

"That does not answer my question."

"You are more beautiful than her, she is a Roman goddess, you are my goddess."

"Show me some more stars."

"That is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, it is in the constellation Canis Major, or the big dog, that is Canopus, in the Constellation of Carina, which is Latin for the keel of a ship. Canopus was the navigator of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, whose wife Helen ran away with the young prince Paris, of Troy, leading to the Trojan war. And that is Rigilkent, in the constellation of Centaurus. Centaur is a creature with the body of a horse and the torso of a man, so he has four legs and two arms. Rigilkent has two companion stars called Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is the second closest star to us, our sun being the closest."

He rambled on and on, showing me the constellations, how they got their names, and the stories associated with them, why Scorpio rises only after Orion sets, why Andromeda is tied to a rock, why Ophiuchus holds a serpent......

"I have read Greek and Roman mythology Narasimha, but only you could show it to me on the largest IMAX Dome ever," I said pointing to the sky. "Now let us go to bed, and you can tell me some more bedtime stories."

He carried me in, and we tucked in for the night, comfortable and secure in each other's arms. We spoke some more, he felt at peace, we did wake up together twice during the night and kissed each other to sleep.

I was able to manage a lot of my activities by myself the next day, but he was around and that was very reassuring. He made sure that I gave my ankle a lot of rest.

A couple of days later, I was able to hobble around on just one crutch, and then gingerly, I could move around slowly. During the next visit to the doctor, he temporarily dashed Narasimha's hopes. He asked us to wait a month before we embarked on our cycling activities.

As I got better, Narasimha got back to sleeping in his apartment. I climbed up to his place every morning, the shots of 'kaapi' were waiting, we cuddled and kissed for half an hour, then Narasimha went out for his jog, I went back to my place. Though I missed him next to me on the bed at nights, I was not yet ready to give him more access to my body or ask him to move in with me. It was in one of those cuddling sessions, when he was gently rubbing my back that Narasimha asked me, rather hesitantly, if he could give me a massage.